by SPONSORED | Sep 20, 2019 | General Management, Jobs
For many employees, the physical work environment ranks among one of the top factors that influence their decisions to join a company. With a global war for talent intensifying, the workplace can be a strategic asset that distinguishes an organisation as an exceptional employer.
Linda Trim, a director at Giant Leap, a workplace design specialist company, said: “As workplaces look to attract the best and brightest, companies are turning to design to help differentiate their work environment, focusing on an increased understanding of what employees really need to make them happy and engaged at work.”
The magnetic workplace
How can workplace designers create a magnetic workplace that attracts employees?
“The most important principle is that the office space should make people feel really good,” said Trim. Landscapes, nature views or the introduction of plants in the office strongly influence productivity, because there is a powerful bond between human beings and the natural world referred to as biophilia. Studies have shown that being surrounded by nature improves both physical and mental health.
Feel-good spaces should also be tactile and have ample daylight. Living walls or biowalls and natural materials bring a sense of the outside into the work environment.
Office appeal and productivity can also be improved by offering a variety of interior settings that allow employees to choose where they want to work that day based on the mode of work required.
“For example, in the morning, workers could gather in a cafe style area for coffee and informal interaction. In the afternoon, they can move to a gathering place designed for teamwork or to a privacy ‘hive’ for focused work,” said Trim.
Magnetic workplaces support the unique roles, work styles and personalities of each individual. They provide a range of space types, furnishings and multi-functional common areas that draw people in and keep them wanting to come back to the office.
Coming challenge for design
Telecommuting offers employees an alternative to working in a traditional office. This trend, combined with the number of hours people now spend online, means that individuals are interacting in vastly different ways than they once were.
Remote work is likely to become the norm. The designing challenge, therefore, is to create a space that attracts employees back to the office.
“A magnetic workplace will be defined as one that is so appealing that employees who might otherwise work remotely from home or in a coffee shop, choose to come and spend their day at work,” she said.
There are already examples of this in co-working spaces that blur the lines between office and social venue.
“Knowing that our future workplaces present a greater emphasis on virtual communication, workplace designers will be challenged to create physical spaces that encourage face-to-face interaction and speak to our innate need for human connection.
“Many view the workplace as a second home, so employees will be drawn to magnetic workplaces offering comfortable environments where they can work, socialise and simply be themselves,” Trim concluded.
Linda Trim is a director at Giant Leap, a workplace design specialist company.
by SPONSORED | Sep 20, 2019 | General Management, Jobs
Megan Greenwell, a columnist for The New York Times answers two workplace questions about how to deal with age discrimination in the work space.
Q from “London”: I am an advertising creative who has been unemployed for more than six months. I’m having difficulty finding a full-time position because being in my ’50s and I fear that I’ve been thrown out with the trash in favour of new blood.
No matter how I tailor my job applications, cover letters and CV with clever approaches, I can’t get my foot in the door, only compliments on my videos or LinkedIn connections.
I’ve sent solicited and unsolicited applications to more than 100 companies, but no luck. Some of this could be because I haven’t recently won any major industry awards, which carries weight in this competitive industry, or maybe the positions are genuinely filled.
I can’t hide my experience, nor can I turn back the clock. Time and money are now running out.
Q from “New York”: People need to stop prefacing workplace conversations with older people with terms like “Hon”, “Dear”, or “Sweetie”. Ageism is real and despicable. It is becoming more and more prevalent.
Those of us who are still in the workforce particularly loathe those terms. At 66, I am in excellent health. I dress well, walk fast to my workplace and pride myself on every compliment.
Yet too many professionals presume I am hard of hearing, frail, forgetful or otherwise impaired, to the point where they address me as one would a small child. Could it be the silver bob?
Of course I have email. And yes, I actually would prefer text, and yes, I am going to swirl around you fast enough on my sneaker-clad feet to make you spin if you do not stop texting and crawling along the road.
A: I know I’m supposed to be the expert here and behave professionally, but I have never called anyone “Sweetie” and aspire to both a chic silver bob and your level of pithy and acerbic writing.
I have a solid archive of questions about age discrimination and few good answers. It is a huge issue and it is absurdly difficult to fight, truly a terrible combination for an advice columnist.
New York, you’re surely right that you’re being patronised for your age and London, you’re surely right that your age unfairly plays into how your job applications are evaluated.
The problem, as I learnt when I turned to an outside expert for guidance, is that age discrimination is difficult to prove, by design.
A 2009 Supreme Court decision endorsed a higher standard for showing that advanced age is the cause of different treatment in the workplace than the threshold for other types of discrimination.
As a society, and I include the judiciary, we seem to view age discrimination as less serious and less wrong than other forms of discrimination because an employer has a right to run their business the way they want,” says Laurie McCann, a senior attorney.
London, you’re in the toughest possible position because you can’t say for sure that any company discriminated against you, just that the pattern seems clear.
“Hiring discrimination is the most difficult to prove because you rarely have any evidence,” McCann said. “You don’t know who got hired instead of you, you don’t have the comparison of if they’re younger or less qualified.”
So what is an older person who still has bills to pay supposed to do?
Even seemingly small changes can help. McCann’s advice is to keep up with trends in CV writing. For example, opening with a career objective is outdated, she said.
Emphasise your technological skills to the point of overkill; develop a social media presence. Leave graduation dates and other giveaways out of your CV so you don’t make it easy for employers to reject you.
Some online hiring platforms won’t allow you to move through the system without including those dates, but avoid them whenever possible.
Everyone can take a lesson from New York. Fight back when someone makes prejudicial assumptions or treats you unfairly at work.
Frustratingly, none of these practical strategies address the deeper societal issue. “We haven’t made many inroads in fighting those stereotypes (that older workers) are not flexible, that they’re stuck in their ways,” said McCann.
Neither of you can solve that problem on your own, so find some allies. London, start canvassing acquaintances in your field and age cohort about how they got their jobs, and whether their companies are hiring. Consider forming a support group that lobbies for change.
Volunteer to coach and mentor others in your industry. That will expand your network, provide another impressive line for your CV and show that you still have some irreplaceable skills.
While you have no obligation to keep things in perspective when you’re trying to find a job, try to remember that the youth are not the enemy. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t put them in their place when they suggest you aren’t fluent in emoji, New York, but they’re frustrated by being patronised and passed over, too.
McCann has a 22-year-old daughter who’s looking for a job, and she says she’s been struck by how similar her experience is to those of the age discrimination plaintiffs.
We can only burn down the system if we all work together.
Megan Greenwell is the editor of Wired.com.
by Des Squire | Sep 13, 2019 | General Management, Jobs
Much has been said recently about the position of women in business and the need for education as a means of unlocking businesswomen’s self-belief.
None of us know what the future holds in store. What we do know is that change is inevitable. To be adequately equipped for change, it is essential that we develop the necessary skills to deal with such change.
The question is, how do we prepare for changes in our work environment, how do we predict an unknown future in our work environment and most importantly, how should women prepare for the future?
Any woman working for a company that has developed a culture of learning and established the importance of the role women play in business is lucky. Such a company would have taken care of the development needs of all employees, irrespective of gender.
In addition, such a company would have developed a learning path or a continuous development programme for women, as well as men during the course of their career with them.
However, to remain in demand in the workplace, it is essential that women in particular continue on a path of personal and professional development. Women need to develop and demonstrate their leadership skills, communication skills, inter-personal skills, ability to be innovative and ability to compete with their male counterparts.
These are some of the skills sought by employers and are always in demand in the workplace, but historically seem to have been the domain of men only. This is not to say women did not possess such qualities, because they certainly did, it is just that many women were held back for some reason.
Many of the people I train say: “The company does not offer such programmes for women.”
The result is that women do nothing to develop these skills. Many sit back waiting for others to train them or feel they are in a “no way forward or no future” situation.
It is time such women took control of their own development and future. It is time such women did something to be noticed in the workplace. It is time such women took an active role in promoting themselves, their abilities and capabilities. It is time such women took ownership of their future.
What you should do:
• Identify the areas you want to improve on and choose one or two. Concentrate on them over the next six to 12 months;
• Develop a long- and short-term self-development plan. It can include further education and training to develop the skills you need to advance in your career;
• Consider your current position and the company you work for. What does your company do and what are the essential skills required in the company? After you have identified these skills, undertake some training to ensure that you become multi-skilled;
• Do not jeopardise your future by concentrating only on the skills necessary to do your current job? Multi-skilling is the way of the future;
• Finally, broaden your horizons by learning as much you can about the world of business.
When was the last time your read the business section in the press? What changes have taken place recently in the economy, your profession or industry?
No one can predict the future, but you can stay ahead of the competition by staying informed and by taking charge of your personal development.
Des Squire is a managing member at AMSI and Associates. Call 082 800 9057 or email des@amsiandassociates.co.za.
by Elizabeth Grace Saunders | Sep 13, 2019 | General Management, Jobs
Deadlines are powerful forces in our work, signalling what’s most important, forcing focus and driving tasks to completion. That’s why projects that don’t have a deadline can languish on your to-do list for weeks, months or even years.
Sometimes this happens because a project is ambiguous, boring or messy. You naturally deprioritise it whenever possible, because working on it feels uncomfortable.
But other times you don’t mean to avoid the project. You just never get to it, because items with clear deadlines feel more pressing.
You probably don’t get a lot of external flak for delays on non-deadline tasks, but internally it can feel frustrating when projects sit untouched.
With important but not urgent items, there’s the anxiety that at any moment someone might ask you about their status and you will have nothing to show.
So, how do you motivate yourself when you want or need to get something done, but you don’t have a deadline?
As a time management coach, I’ve found that three simple strategies can help you finally move forward.
1. Make a deadline
If a project doesn’t have a deadline, there’s no reason you can’t make one up yourself. For example, you might decide that you want something done by a certain date, you could choose to spend a certain amount of time on a project each week or you could make a goal to take one step each day towards completion.
Write down your commitments, ideally marking them in your calendar. If you know that during busy times you’ll just put off non-deadline tasks, look for a lighter time in your schedule and then really commit.
By defining exactly when you want to get a project or parts of it done, you help yourself understand where it falls in the order of priorities. Plus, you make working on the task feel more urgent.
As you think about how you want to schedule the project, keep in mind how many tasks you need to complete that don’t have a stipulated end date.
If you have a number of items with no deadline, you’ll increase your odds of making progress if you pick just one to work on each month. You’re more likely to finish a project if you focus on only one over the next 30 days, rather than juggling a few non-urgent tasks all at once.
2. Enlist positive peer pressure
Sometimes the only way to move forward on deadline-free activities is to enlist support. When you tell someone your timeframe for completing work and regularly send them updates, you have a greater incentive to make progress.
Some people like to tell their goals to one person such as a team member, boss, friend or coach and then report back to that individual.
Others may decide to do a more public declaration. Consider telling a few people or posting on social media that you will do a certain activity by a specific time.
This strategy can work if you have people in your network who will remember and follow up with you.
Alternatively, you can collaborate with someone on your project. For example, you might set up a time for you and a colleague to work together on it or you may simply sit in the same room as someone who is working on a separate task.
This strategy works best if you let them know what you intend to do during that period and then report back at the end of the session.
The communication and proximity hold you accountable because your colleague knows what you should be doing at that moment.
Also, it creates a mini working environment, so you don’t feel like everyone else is out enjoying themselves while you are stuck working.
Choose the approach that’s most motivating and comfortable for you. All of these options create accountability, so even if there isn’t a real deadline, there’s a sense that you’re letting someone down or not sticking to your word if you don’t follow through.
3. Incentivise yourself
The last way to spark action is to create compelling incentives for yourself. There are a few ways you can do this. Try to give yourself a reward for the work you do. For instance, once you spend an hour on the project, you can go to lunch.
The rewards don’t have to be big or lavish. They just have to be things you want to do.
If rewards aren’t a powerful enough incentive, try penalties instead. For example, if you don’t spend an hour on your side hustle, you can’t watch your favourite TV show or, if you don’t complete the training module you bought, you can’t listen to any podcasts.
The idea is to tie the penalty to something you enjoy doing regularly, so you won’t ignore a task that you’re not inclined to invest time in.
Finally, you can try to make a reward part of the process of getting work done. For instance, you could let yourself go to a coffee shop or a park if you complete a task while you’re there.
When you do this, you’re combining a pleasurable experience with the need to focus on a project that you might otherwise not work on.
Motivating yourself to do non-deadline tasks is a challenge, but it is not insurmountable. Try these strategies to make more progress today.
This article first appeared in The New York Times.
by Supplied by MSL | Aug 16, 2019 | General Management, Jobs
One of the ways women are able to reach self-fulfilment outside of the male-dominated corporate life is to choose a life of entrepreneurship and build their own businesses.
However, even here the struggle for women to be treated as equals is ongoing.
This is according to Rene Botha, the Stellenbosch area manager for Business Partners, one of Africa’s leading risk financiers, who says that while a female co-owner may be in a slightly better position than a corporate employee, there is no guarantee that the power relations between the co-owners are immune to society’s deep-seated male orientation.
She listed 10 pointers for female business owners to ensure that they are treated fairly within their companies:
1) Claim your seat at the boardroom table
Too often, the female partner in a business gets stuck in the mundane day-to-day management tasks and relinquishes the strategic role to the male partners in the business.
Make sure you remain involved in the strategic leadership of the business, even if it is not your inclination. When the time comes for the big strategic decisions to be taken, you will want to be fully part of it.
2) Don’t get stuck in mundane tasks
The stereotypical domestic and secretarial support role of females somehow inhibits their impulse to outsource or delegate mundane tasks so that they can get on with the role of business leadership.
Review your daily activities and identify those that you can easily delegate.
3) Prepare to be seen as a pushover
As the female partner in the business, you will be seen as vulnerable to persuasion from time to time. This can come from a difficult client who wants to change payment terms, a worker making unreasonable demands or a partner wanting to bend the rules.
Be ready for this and work on a firm, clear response to get any such illusion out of the way.
If you do tend to be overly sympathetic to special pleading, work on a tougher stance that puts your interests and the interests of your business first.
4) Stand up against discrimination
As a co-owner, you are in a good position to help create a culture of fairness in and around your business.
However, that will require you to assert yourself against any form of discrimination and bullying that you come across in your business dealings. Whether it is between management and workers, clients and staff or among the co-owners themselves, do not let bad behaviour slide.
5) Cultivate an attitude of calm assertion
One of the perversions of gender inequality is that male outrage tends to be seen as passionate and righteous, while female anger is easily dismissed as hyper-sensitive and hormonal.
No matter how justifiable your anger is, it is often strategically better to keep a lid on your emotions and to express your disagreement in a calm and forceful manner. It is not always easy, but it can be learnt.
6) Become tech-savvy
Even in non-technical industries, the modern office is full of technical equipment. Don’t hobble yourself by leaving all the technical issues to your male partners to solve.
Learn the basics and stay up to date with the latest technical developments in your industry.
7) Don’t let guilt rule your decisions
Business is hard and there are going to be times when you have to spend extra hours at work away from your family.
There are also times that you will have to step away from the business to spend time with your loved one.
Both your life partner and your business partners have to accept a certain degree of flexibility. Focus on getting the balance right, manage expectations both at work and at home, and take care that your decisions are not driven by feelings of guilt.
8) Work on your business network
Social interaction between men can easily develop into acquaintances that are useful for business, but not so much among women.
At this stage of society’s development, it seems that networking among women has to be more of a conscious effort to translate into useful business alliances by organising specific business-focused gatherings.
9) Get your paperwork in order
Make sure that your co-ownership, your partnership agreement and the division of roles are formalised on paper and that essential formalities such as key-worker insurance is in place.
That goes for any business partnership, but especially for those between husband and wife, where formal business arrangements tend to be neglected. It can become a major headache when circumstances change.
10) Involve your life partner
If your business partner is not your life partner, make sure they get to know each other, as well as the needs of the business.
There will be days when you spend more time with your business partner than with your life partner. Good communication and understanding can prevent resentment from taking hold.
“Bearing the above in mind, there’s no reason why women business owners can’t experience as much success in business as their male counterparts,” Botha concluded.
Supplied by MSL on behalf of Business Partners.
