Category Archives: work/life flex

Is bringing your dog to work the best fit?

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Not long ago I read a piece that said Nestle Purina Company allows its employees to bring their dogs to work.  When I think of bringing my pets to work the first thing that comes to mind is “that could be a disaster” in an office setting. Now I don’t know about you but if I took either one of my dogs (especially Buddy, my yellow lab) I wouldn’t be able to do jack! But then in reality and since I work mainly from my home office, I do bring them to work and they are constantly bugging me to eat, play, or go outside to potty!

I see the premise behind this but can’t see it working in the real world! The premise of course being “providing one measure in offering a better work-life balance for its employees.” Dude! What a beautiful thing. But is balance the right word for this? Is there even such thing as work-life-balance? I know my friend Cali Yost would tell you its more about work-life-fit. She is dedicated to empowering individuals to strategically manage the way work “fits” into their lives–because as she says “It’s fit, not balance and helping organizations create strong work+life fit partnerships with their employees is crucial.”

So What Is Nestle Purina Up To?

The maker of dog and cat food – Nestle Purina Petcare Company,  has 9,850 employees globally, most of them in St. Louis, where the company’s based. And yes, they’re hiring; a spokeswoman says the company has openings for marketers, copywriters, accountants, engineers, sales representatives, paralegals, and more. But before you apply, make sure you’ll fit in with a furry-friend-loving culture. “Bringing pets to work is a major plus,” one employee wrote on Glassdoor.com regarding this issue. “Pets on the work floor make everyone happier.” (Is this realistic? I think my dog Marley would totally bite someone if they came by her “desk” while she was taking her nap).

Indeed, work-life balance is about more than reputation or keeping employees happy; it’s mainly about retention. Offering flexible scheduling is the most effective way of improving employee retention rates, says Dick Finnegan, a former human-resources director and CEO of C-Suite Analytics, which helps companies decrease employee turnover saying -

“The more liberal companies can be with letting people pick their own schedule times, letting them work from home, letting them–especially people who travel a lot–have no established schedules, letting people leverage technology to work from anywhere–the more companies aggressively offer those things, the higher their retention.”

If your company doesn’t offer flexible policies, perhaps you should look to your direct boss to help you figure out a way to create a comfortable balance for your employees between their work and personal lives.

So what’s your opinion? Is this just a fad or is this the new way of figuring out how to jump through hoops and the “out of the box” thinking that is required in this new millennium and with the new demographic changes we are facing?

This post was from the archives published HERE in 2011. 

My Recap of SHRM’s #WorkFlex12 Conference – and how it affected me, personally

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I had known for about 7 months that I would be attending SHRM’s WorkFlex 2012 Conference here in Chicago that commenced yesterday because they had asked me to be one of their session speakers. And I knew that they were having a roll-out of some fabulous speakers, but I had no idea how much it would change me personally.

Sometimes we find ourselves in a funk, especially when we’re trying to juggle (Work and Life) the very things we are preparing to discuss in some sort of public seminar or speaking engagement. This used to happen quite frequently when I traveled and spoke across our nation many years ago. I never thought it would happen to me this time.

I’ve been doing this juggling act with work and life now through so many life-changes; the loss of a job, the loss of my husband’s career and trying to help him navigate his next move, car issues, home issues, family issues. Add all this to your current work-load and starting a new business is sometimes very challenging. Who am I kidding? It’s sometimes overwhelming and keeps me up at night (and not in a good way).

I headed to the conference on Wednesday, not making Tuesday because of many of the issues I stated above. I had been up all night the night before heading in and was running on about 2 hours of sleep. I knew it was going to be a long day and I would need to somehow dig down deep for some kind of supernatural strength to be able to make it till the end of my session, not to mention blogging and sitting through numerous sessions and a few keynoters that I wanted to be in on.

I will admit that I have been on an emotional roller-coaster and a bucket of nerves for several weeks now. And I was starting to feel sorry for myself and I could sense myself chewing on a bitter weed of discontent. Even my close friends were kind enough to point it out. I had indeed become a Debbie Downer to be around. One of those very people I can’t stand to hang with, I had become.

And guess what? Something happened.

I had sat in on a couple of fabulous sessions back to back in the morning and was able to live-tweet several nuggets. And then I went in to hear JR Martinez speak.

As he began we found ourselves laughing at his humorous jabs at the audience and then so many of the things he shared began hitting very close to home and I kind of had an epiphany. Something started shifting inside me. A paradigm shift, for lack of a better explanation.

If you haven’t heard his story I highly recommend it. Having come through so many challenges (which seems like an inappropriate word) and finding the strength to go on is his mantra and was what I needed to hear to get me outta my funk.

Here are a few things he shared that struck me:

  • Everybody has a story. (This is something to always keep in the back of our minds, especially when we’re dealing with people. It tends to make us more sympathetic).
  • Being flexible is MUST! Plans change, either by our choices or the fact that life is unpredictable. But even the high rise buildings around us are created to be flexible to be able to stand the atmospheric conditions.
  • Adapt and Overcome! No matter what comes your way.
  • Every single person has strengths and weaknesses. When we find ourselves in a crossroads of life, we need to find our strengths. Dig deep!
  • There comes a point in life when there’s nothing else you can do but simply throw your hands up and laugh! Even in the midst of difficulty.
  • Your life can completely change in one moment. How are you going to respond to it? Are you going to quit or fight?
  • In his darkest of times he made the decision to forget about his long-term plans he had created and focus on the short-term. How could he remain positive – today? Tomorrow will take care of itself.

In the end, he started talking of how he made it out of his “funky time” because he started thinking of how he could give back. He started volunteering his time, through his darkest of moments, and visiting others who had gone through horrible experiences of their own. This drew him out of himself and his own pity party, and once again, created purpose.

Sometimes we need reminders that cause us to think differently, whether it’s how to incorporate new ideas in the workplace, juggling our own work and life initiatives, or simply seeing that inside each and every one of us is a hidden strength that if found can pull us out of the deepest and darkest of places. They cause us to once again help us re-focus, re-group and find our purpose.

Thank you SHRM, for bringing this conference to my city and allowing me to have been a part of something life-changing.

Adjust your Work-Life to join our LIVE Hangout on Work-Life with guest @JudyMartin8

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Today I will be chatting it up LIVE with my pal Judy Martin, of WorkLifeNation.com. We will be hanging out on Google+ which you can join in on the hangout, watch the LIVESTREAM on Google+ or on my Youtube. The recording will be added here after the fact.

Since we are headed to Chicago next week for SHRM’s Work-Flex Conference and October is National Work and Family month, I thought it would be cool to gather an industry expert who is way more qualified than I, to discuss this issue in a LIVE video chat. So I asked my online pal Judy if she would be interested in sharing her knowledge with me and she agreed.

A little about Judy

Judy is an Emmy award-winning journalist and the founder of WorkLifeNation.com. “Transforming Stress in an Always-on World.” She’s been tracking trends in work-life integration, workplace wellness, career development and business for two decades. She has contributed to NPR, Marketplace Report, BBC Radio, CNBC Business Radio, Forbes.com and News 12 Long Island.

As a stress management consultant, Judy combines her skills as a breaking news reporter, volunteering in Hospice-related work and as a yoga and meditation teacher ~ to help business executives better manage stress in the work-life merge. She released her first CD – Practical Chaos: Reflections on Resilience in 2006.

Hangout Overview: Here are a few things we will be discussing during the hangout

  • Is Work-Life Balance even possible?
  • Over-loaded and stressed out employees
  • Technology and it’s affect on work-life
  • Reducing Stress in the work-life merge

UPDATE: We had a blast hanging out with Judy Martin discussing this topic. Here is the recorded hangout >

Think twice before posting that pic to Instagram!

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We’re still in HR Conference mode with two extraordinary conferences here in Chicago this weekend (HR Technology Conference and HRevolution) and then a couple more the end of October (SHRM’s Diversity and SHRM’s Work-Flex Conferences).

These conferences are great and have some of the best speakers and sessions on what’s up in Human Resource Management and also gives us a chance to hang out with fellow HR folk and talk shop – whether it’s the latest technology or the idiot at work who wrongfully tweeted crap about our current President.

They also give us a chance to hang out, get to know each other in a more personal way with all the after hour parties and such.

TAKE HEED

That being said, I think it’s safe to say that keeping in mind that your online brand matters, especially when attending these HR parties (or even your own WORK parties).

We all love Instagram and the ability to immediately share pics of us with our online friends we meet IRL (in real life) and show the world that we think we’re important cause we’re hobnobbing with the cool kids.

But let’s get something straight – posting pics on Instagram and sharing to Facebook or Twitter the one of you dancing on the bar while using the #hashtag of the event,  is gonna bite you in the rear come Monday when you go back to the office. You’re likely to hear the phrase “I’m sorry. You’re no longer employed here.”

Then you’re doing the job search thingy and find that everything has spiraled out of control in your little world. You may even have a heart attack when someone tells you “I’m sorry you’re just not a good fit for the job” because they can’t get that party pic outta their head.

Okay, I know this sounds a little extreme, but this stuff happens. It not only makes you look “wild and crazy” but it takes away from the purpose of the event and sharing socially. It diminishes it, really.

We’ve come so far with Social Business and Social Sharing in the world of work and especially at our conferences in keeping those informed who were not able to attend the conference. Why would we want to ruin it and take us all back to the year 2000? (It only takes one bad apple)

So this is just a friendly reminder to think before you post. Whether at a conference, a church picnic or at work.

And as our friend William TinCup always reminds us “Just use common sense.”

Stop:You’re Killing Me with your BORING Presentations!

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A lot of you know, and some of you don’t, that I have been working on my last presentation of the year for SHRM’s Work Flex conference here in Chicago, October 23rd and 24th.

This will be my last conference I attend for 2012, and yes, I’m honored to be speaking on the 24th on “Gaining a Competitive Edge in a High Tech World.”

Having said that, I have been putting off the actual PowerPoint presentation for my session and have been losing sleep over it for months now. I have literally laid there awake in bed thinking “How am I gonna pull this off and add some excitement to my presentation?” You know, keep everyone awake. I love using humor but sometimes it’s very dry and not everyone gets it, especially HR.

If there’s anything I hate, it’s a boring presentation. I have been in numerous sessions and some were good and some, not so good. Some just simply put me to sleep. And I get that some HR topics aren’t the most exciting things to discuss and yet have to be brought “to the table.”

I love when I finally get up before a group and speak but it’s the anxiety before it actually takes place that almost puts me in the grave.

Even when I used to travel professionally and sing in front of thousands I would work myself into a frenzy right before only to get out there and do my thang and LOVE it! They say a little nervousness before something like this is good for you, or normal, but I’m not so sure.

So I wanted to take this awesome opportunity from my friends at SHRM (Society of Human Resource Management) with whom I am a regular contributor over at WeKnowNext, and do it up right. You know, do something different that would actually take a ho-hum presentation to a spectacular, technical masterpiece (cough, cough). And since the topic has to do with “setting yourself apart” from the rest and incorporating technology into the workplace, I wanted to be able to do that in my presentation.

There’s nothing worse than seeing a presentation with massive amounts of statistics and data and or hundreds of bullet points. Learning to present like Steve Jobs is something I’ve been studying for awhile now. Steve mostly used pictures (after all, a pictures worth a thousand words, right?) in his presentations and captured the attention of the audience through various means but he kept it simple and that’s something I wish most folks would do.

There were a few who did this at this past year’s Illinois SHRM conference and I was captivated. They were very effective and kept us entertained and we learned something in the process.

STOP it, I beg you, with your overload of information and keep it simple, stupid!

I finished my presentation just yesterday and I must say, I’m glad that it’s finished. I know there are a few things to fine tune, but the overall presentation, content and use of technology (in going with the theme), I FEEL, is good – though I can’t make any promises. But then again, I often think things are funny, when they aren’t to anyone else.

I am passionate about sharing with others how to incorporate the use of social technology into their strategy for their businesses and organizations and I’m hoping they’ll catch that wave of excitement and be entertained along the way.

I’ll gladly share the presentation on my SlideShare afterward for those of you who won’t be able to attend.

Wish me luck!

Photo Credit: GeekoSystem

Sleeping with the other woman – Siri (your smartphone)

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As I was discussing a social media strategy for a potential client this week, something they said rang in my ear for a few days.  ”I never turn my phone off. I even sleep with it because I’m afraid I’m going to miss that one important call or email.”

Her comment immediately took me back to my daughter being home for Christmas and sleeping with her phone. As I watched her sleep (not in a creepy way come on, I’m her Mom) I noticed she kept waking up and texting her friends back who had texted her during the night. I asked her “How in the world do you ever sleep?”  To which she just shrugged her shoulders.

A few months back Volkswagen announced that they shut down workers’ BlackBerry email service at night as part of an agreement with labor representatives.  The reasoning behind this decision? To create a better work-life balance.

Here is the full story at Wired.

The decision to shut down email service at night was made to protect the 1,154 non-exempt Volkswagen employees from spending 24-hours around the clock attached to their work email. The BlackBerry can still be used for telephone purposes during ‘blackout’ times, email is the only capability that has reportedly been curbed.

The agreement specifies that unionized workers will see their email turned off a half-hour after the workday ends, and won’t have email access again until a half-hour before the next workday begins.

At this time reports say this agreement only affects workers employed at Volkswagen’s six plants in Germany working under collective bargaining, employees outside Germany are not a part of any BlackBerry use restrictions. Additionally, any executive level employees are also exempt from this new requirement.

It’s also been reported in recent months that burnout has become an issue for many workers. Many other German companies, such as Deutsche Telekom and Henkel, have also imposed less stringent restrictions, recognizing that too much connectivity isn’t always a good thing and breaks are necessary.

Reuters reported, “German IT body Bitkom published a study this year showing that 88 percent of German workers are reachable for clients, colleagues and bosses by e-mail or mobile phone outside of working hours, compared with only 73 percent two years ago.”

The VW works council explained that modern communication capabilities “also pose dangers.” Some members of management may expect staff are “always available” and receive emails after work hours. This agreement will curb that idea. Their spokesperson was noted saying:

“The operating agreement provides that the server is for the BlackBerrys of exempt employees for half an hour before and half an hour down at the end of flextime,” said Thust. “The agreement was received very positively.”

Smartphones are often blamed for the lines of the work-life balance being crossed. This has a high potential for essentially never-ending the workday if a boss expects round-the-clock connectivity or an employee feels pressured to stay connected in order to keep their job.

The New York Times reported earlier this year, “There’s a palpable sense “that home has invaded work and work has invaded home and the boundary is likely never to be restored,” says Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project. “The new gadgetry,” he adds, “has really put this issue into much clearer focus.”

These days there are many other reasons that we feel we MUST stay connected off-hours. (Think FACEBOOK). Why must we feel like we cannot turn it off? What is really THAT important?

Are we really concerned that we will miss that most important business call or are we so narcissistic that we will die if we don’t see how many “likes” we received from our amazing status updates?

I’ve been down that road. But I’ve made it a policy for some time now to turn my phone off at 9:00 PM. And / or during times with family where I don’t need the interruption. In my opinion, nothing is too important that it cannot wait from 9:00 PM – 6:00 AM. My family and friends have my home number and know where to reach me.

Experts say you should turn the phone off at night and keep it in another room, other than your bedroom. So you won’t have the temptation to check  it in the middle of the night.

What’s your take?

Read more on VW’s policies: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/316649#ixzz1hehJUq45

Read Sleeping With Your I-Phone, The New Addiction

Balancing work and family – Oh PSHAW!

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Okay, I just had to use that #oldschool word Pshaw! In fact, I love it! Somehow I’m sure that word has since been translated into our 21st century phrase “Yeah, right!”

I’ve been trying to balance work and family for years now.  I think one of the hardest times of trying to do that was when I was working 40+ hours a week for GTE-Mobilnet in Houston in my early twenties. I had also started traveling on weekends beginning my professional singing career with my then husband. At the same time, within months, found out I was expecting my daughter. Talk about needing some kind of balance!

The next year and a half was horrific. In fact, looking back on the whole thing makes me stop and say, “How in the heck did I manage that?”

Here’s how it went down

I would wake up in the morning vomiting from morning sickness only to go have a bowl of cereal (I couldn’t tolerate any hot foods nor the smell of it) and then my ex would drive me to work (only about a ten minute drive). I would have to pull over on the way to work to puke my cereal cause I couldn’t hold anything down. I would get to work and need something in my stomach so I’d head down to the first floor cafe and get something to eat only to go back up and run to the ladies room to you know, puke it up. This happened day in and day out, all day, all night. Exhausting!

Add to that working 40+ hours in the corporate world and no break on the weekends because at 5:00 PM on Fridays I would head out to go to a singing gig – either somewhere back around Alabama, Mississippi or Louisiana and then on to the next singing gig and so on, and so on…..only to arrive back in Houston at home – yeah, in time to go back to work on Monday morning. I remember stopping on the side of the interstates being down on my knees vomiting while cars flew past me. And I won’t even mention the smelly, disgusting bathrooms in Louisiana.

I wound up having to be admitted to the hospital several times during my pregnancy from being dehydrated. The only cool thing? I didn’t gain weight.

Somewhere around the eighth month the sickness started to lesson and by then I could not wait to have that precious little girl. I continued going into false labor and my hospital was downtown Houston (I lived in the far north suburbs – about an hours drive) and they would send me home saying it’s not yet time (BUMMER). I found out the reason for the false labor was because when I would sing, and air would push down on my diaphragm it would then cause me to go into false labor. And could not be avoided. The final time I yelled, “I’m not leaving this hospital until I have this baby!!”

Nevertheless, I simply had to ride it out. I had to make the best of it.

The Dreaded Call

While on maternity leave I received a call from the C-Suite (my boss included) on speaker phone that I could return back to work, but I could not return as Executive Assistant to the General Manager. Instead, I was being allowed to come back as a Customer Service Rep. I couldn’t believe it! I had stuck it out – through the most horrendous time and dealing with all the physical hardships that went with it, and still mistreated and demoted.

I seriously had to stop and think, “Do I want to do this? Am I too proud to go back? Will I have to walk in there with my tail between my legs?” ….. Of course they weren’t taking away my salary – but for the first time I felt replaceable.

I decided I would go in there and act as if it didn’t bother me at all. I was determined not to let them get the best of me and just roll with it. It wasn’t easy, but as it turns out – was the best thing for me. My previous position was so stressful and I was always having to put out fires. I was constantly taking that @#$% home with me and it affected my relationships, family time, and my health.

I remained in that position for about five more months, just long enough for my new daughter to continue getting insurance and care – and long enough for me and my ex to get our act together where we could start traveling and singing full-time. I went on to travel ten years singing while able to travel with my family, while homeschooling my daughter and making bookoodles of cash – doing something I never thought I would be able to do!

It all worked out – and I learned a little humility in the process. However, it did make me wonder if it had anything to do with me dressing up as a pregnant nun on Halloween, at eight months (the VP of GTE-Mobilnet was Catholic) HA HA!

Sometimes we have no control over our work situations and even the things that come along in life – but we do have control over our responses to them. I know, that sounds cliché and dumb. But there is something to be said for how we allow it to affect our family relationships and to look at them instead as opportunities of growth.

I’m a firm believer – it all works out in the end!