I really like working the Friday before Labor Day. Not only do I get out early, but the people who usually hassle me are on vacation. And I’m in an extra good mood because this week, there was a plethora of links to do with my favorite pet peeve. Some of these links are only tenuously linked to the workplace, but let’s just pretend they are totally on topic, mmmmkay?
This is a post that I’ve had in draft form all week. Friday afternoon seems like a good time for it.
Falling Off the Productivity Wagon is intriguing, really. Here’s the premise: You’ve been working hard. Then not so hard. And maybe it’s because you’ve been checking email often, or you’ve been sick, or something personal has come up. But it’s time to get back on track with these tips!
Generally speaking, I loathe the notion of “productivity” in terms of workplace behavior because it is notoriously hard to measure on an individual level. Yes, if you sew jeans, you can track the number of pairs per hour. But few of us can keep a top pace for long. Because if we were meant to be “productive” human beings all the time, I’m pretty sure we would have been born with gears (and even then, machines break!).
You cannot be productive all the time at work, and I’m not even sure what that means since I think productivity is pretty invisible at times.
Generally speaking, the biggest impact of downsizing on the employees that remain is a significant loss of morale. It’s hard to worry about being next, particularly if the lay-offs seem random. At a certain level, large scale lay-offs re-introduce the notion that we don’t work in a meritocracy (where merit and hard work are always rewarded), and that’s an idea that many of us try to keep at bay so that we can sleep at night.
For managers, after a lay-off, it’s a particular challenge to structure the work lives of employees so that they are reassured.
DOWNSIZING. Restructuring. Headcount reduction. Whatever they are called, layoffs instill dread, guilt or both in managers. The loss of a job is among life’s most traumatic events, and even many hard-nosed managers hate to force that experience on their colleagues.
Because of this, managers can become so consumed by the prospect of firing people that they fail to adequately reassure and remotivate the employees who remain.
But they make this mistake at their peril. Study after study has found that employers who eliminate jobs may not bolster productivity over the long run. Too often, their anxious and overworked remaining employees become risk-averse and unproductive, or leave for other jobs. As companies hire new workers or turn to outside vendors to compensate, the short-term savings from layoffs can evaporate.
After a downsizing: How to motivate? explores exactly how you can reassure current employees that their jobs are safe so that they can continue to work.
The problem, of course, is that often you cannot reassure them of this truthfully.
Lily Ledbetter spoke at the Democratic National Convention last night. You’ll recall that she was the unfortunate victim of a rather stupid Supreme Court ruling, which said that if there’s female-male pay disparity in the workplace, you must submit a claim within a certain number of days or the disparity doesn’t matter.
“My job demanded a lot, and I gave it 100 percent,” Ledbetter told the convention. “I kept up with every one of my male co-workers.” The salary differentials, she said, “affected my family’s quality of life then, and they affect my retirement now.” She noted that in dissent, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said the ruling made no sense in the real world. “She was right.” In response to the ruling the House of Representatives passed a bill that would change Title VII to ensure that claims like hers would be valid, but in the Senate, Republicans have prevented a vote.
“We can’t afford more of the same votes that deny women their equal rights,” Ledbetter said, asserting that “equal pay for equal work is a fundamental American principle.”
Yesterday, Jim and I went out for linner (the meal between lunch and dinner that’s also known as dunch), and a bunch of tweens were around in their school clothes. It was 103 degrees outside, and one of the tweens was wearing giant suede laced boots (Jim said, “Is that like a Lord in the Rings sort of footwear?), and another one was wearing tweed (I said, “They must be really hot right now. I hope they don’t faint.”)
This reminded both of us of how as tweens and teens we would wear totally inappropriate clothes in August and September, when it was roasting outside, simply because it was back-to-school time and we saw these clothes in magazines, and they fit what we thought we should be wearing at the time: sweaters, cords, boots, parkas, etc.
This story was prompted by Eloise Grey in Treehugger ”with immaculately tailored shapes evoking 1930s and 40s styles,” all of which would lead to fainting right now. Thank God we’ve grown up and can wear shorts in August. Perhaps that’s the moral.
So, here’s a story you also never see: Toyota Idles Factories. Apparently during the slow times, rather than laying people off, Toyota is letting them catch up on education and clean-up. Wow.
As the U.S. auto industry sheds workers, and even Nissan offers buyouts, Toyota is sticking by its proud—and expensive—tradition of no layoffs during hard times.
“This was the first chance we’ve really had to live out our values,” says Latondra Newton, general manager of Toyota’s Team Member Development Center in Erlanger, Kentucky. “We’re not just keeping people on the payroll because we’re nice. At the end of all this, our hope is that we’ll end up with a more skilled North American workforce.”
This is a new issue here on Surviving the Workday: employees who make up problems and then solve them to look important. New! Not something I’ve read about!
In late 2005, the night manager of a suburban Atlanta restaurant called owner J.D. Clockdale to boast about how well she had handled an irate female customer. The customer “ranted and raved” about a botched order, but calmed down after the manager gave her a free meal, Mr. Clockdale recalls being told.
The problem: the tale was untrue — as Mr. Clockdale discovered by reviewing surveillance footage and phoning the customer, who was an acquaintance. He concluded the order mistake was minor and remedied without histrionics.
Mr. Clockdale confronted the night manager, who confessed that she invented the altercation to look good. “She wanted more responsibility,” he says.
Fascinating. And sometimes people do these sorts of things consciously, and sometimes it’s unconscious. In any case, it’s one of those issues that seems fairly prevalent, but hasn’t received a lot of attention.
For the second day in a row, I have a comment on a workplace story that involves butts. I’m not sure what exactly this means, but this is the dumbest protest I’ve ever seen. Please take notes on how social activism can manage to lose the entire message simply by disrobing.
Warning: You will see some butts. It’s not sexy.
I do not wish to see butts in the workplace.
Fort Hays State University fired a professor who mooned others during an altercation during a debate. He didn’t have tenure:
Becoming a YouTube star by mooning a room of students and professors doesn’t exactly provide job security for a professor without tenure.
If there was any doubt about that, Fort Hays State University cleared it up Friday when it dismissed Bill Shanahan as assistant professor of communications and debate coach. The university acted after a video posted on YouTube showed Shanahan exchanging four-letter words, jumping up and down, and dropping his pants in an extended argument with a debate coach from the University of Pittsburgh. While the altercation took place in March, the video surfaced only this month — and it has attracted thousands of views, prompted debate, and inspired some to set the incident to music.
If you click on the video in the quote above, you’ll see some very lively people, and possibly a quick view of Bill’s butt in the first minute. I stopped at that point. I couldn’t watch any more yelling before 8 a.m.
Also, I’d like to suggest some grooming to the professor before he looks for a new job.
And whose pants slip off that quickly? I think he must be a veteran mooner.
So my mother-in-law’s grandchild #6 just arrived (no, it wasn’t my doing) and his name is something pretentious and French. Did you know Sacha is short for Alexandre? I didn’t either. Anyway the kid was born precisely on time, thus setting a precedent he will have to live up to. Much in the same way as I write this column every Friday. Not that I resent it, mind you, but I am feeling sort of blase about the whole thing today. Which is why it’s a good thing that I have so many links about our favorite subject, the world of education, after a long summer drought. It practically writes itself!
Yes, indeed. Sometimes we just don’t know where our blind spots are.
In one of my first jobs, I worked as a receptionist for a doctor who insisted that I read the book of Daniel when I was done with my work for the day. And I should note, I was ONLY allowed to read the book of Daniel.
Perhaps that’s why I found this so funny.
Via Maud
New research on transgender experience in the military:
A Palm Center analysis of the data, also released today, showed that over a third of survey respondents reported having experienced some form of discrimination in the workplace and 10% of respondents were turned away from the VA due to being transgender, while many reported other forms of discrimination including lack of respect from VA doctors (22%), non-medical staff (21%), and nurses (13%). In addition, among those who served under the “don’t ask, don’t tell policy,” 1 in 5 were questioned by an officer about their sexual orientation, a violation of the military’s DADT policy. Nearly two thirds reported there were suspicions about their sexual identity. Pre-transition transmen were twice as likely pre-transition transwomen to report suspicions about their sexual identity.
Dr. Jeanne Scheper, Research Director of the Palm Center, a think tank at University of California, Santa Barbara that studies sexual minorities in the military, said that “the survey adds to the growing evidence that the impact of the military’s ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy varies by gender,” and corroborates recent pentagon data that show women are disproportionately affected by the ban on openly gay service. “More research is needed,” she added, “to understand the full impact of the policy on all members of the military,” but she said that the existence of the policy itself makes that almost impossible.
Did you catch that 1 in 5 surveyed were questioned about sexual orientation? I also note that the Palm Center has small travel and research grants for those of us who study sexuality and the military.
I’m having some computer issues, but in the meantime, my essay/book review Can spirituality help at work? is live at UU World. At the moment, I’m wondering if spirituality can help with my dying laptop.
Thanks to Philocrites, staff, and friends for excellent editing too.
One of the best home improvements that Jim has made to our property was fencing us in and the outside world out. I realize that sounds anti-social and possibly human-hostile, but I will explain. Our house has a front porch, which we use as an extension of the living room with a grill and outdoor furniture. Sometimes I work out there. Ever since the first day we moved in, we have had a steady stream of people who walk up our driveway and end up on our front porch. In one way or another, they are all selling something. A sampling:
And, other than the summons, that’s probably in an average month. I kid you not. What is truly odd to me is that even though I grew up on a very main street, we did not have this many solicitors at our door as we do now in rural LA County. I think that the fact that I grew up in an upper middle class neighborhood, and that I now live in a lower middle class neighborhood explains this somewhat. I think we are more vulnerable here.
Now part of me knows that that sales is honest work some of the time, but I also think that some of it isn’t, and I don’t feel any obligation to open the door just because someone is banging on it. I’m not convinced that’s safe, particularly if I’m alone. These folks are always male, almost always bigger than me, don’t seem to listen to me, and fairly aggressive. That’s not a recipe for safety.
But our fence system isn’t perfect.
Exhibit A: I had the misfortune of opening the gate this evening at the same time as a sales person was in the driveway. He was selling phone services. At first, he presented himself as someone from AT&T checking on our service, and flashing his badge. How’s our phone service? Fine. He had my name. Whatever. And we use AT&T for the Internet, right? No….I said. And then it hit me. He wasn’t wearing quite the right logo for AT&T on his badge, and then I knew exactly what he was doing. More or less.
A neighbor and friend had told me about the new job her son had. She was very excited. He was subcontracting with a service that provides additional contracts to AT&T. He goes door to door. She insisted that he only went to people who had “indicated interest” in switching services. Lord knows what that means. It sounded like a horrible job, and I had a little chat with myself on what my moral obligation was to inform her that this was one of those scam jobs that you have at age nineteen and hopefully never again. Since he was only paid based on sales, and seemed to be employed as a subcontractor, it seemed like it wouldn’t last long, so I suppressed my inner meddler.
In any case, since this wasn’t my friend’s son, tonight I said I wasn’t interested in changing services, adding services, spending or saving any money, had to go, and please don’t come back. Then he tried to tell me that our neighbors had signed up, and that our neighbors had suggested I would be interested at which point I sort of guffawed and closed the gate. As if any of our neighbors would do that. We know our neighbors.
*keeping the gate locked*
*considering any other options than AT&T (who bought our previous carrier)*
Apparently she-who-must-not-be-named manages a Friendly’s. This story is too peculiar to be true between the nameless manager, lack of understanding of the notion of “theft”, and the suddenly available butter crunch.
I used to go to Friendly’s when I went to Smith. Before I knew I was lactose intolerant.
Bookmarks on telecommuting on Pimp Your Work.
I’ve written about telecommuting in the most detail here: Pros and Cons of Telecommuting and How to Convince Your Boss to Allow You to Telecommute.
I blamed my slumpy mood yesterday on the fact that I had to run out in the middle of the day for dog food, and then haul the giant bag around the parking lot, into the car, and then back home. Sometimes being out in the mid-day heat (95-105) is enough to wipe me out for a few hours. I tried drinking a lot of water, eating more protein and carbs, but today I’m feeling the same slump. I think it’s just this: August.
In childhood, I can remember the dread of August, the back-to-school sales, and the continuing heat when we went back to school. And now I think the adult version might just be a sort of slightly depressed slump for a week when I want summer to end.
Dear Ms. Theologian,
I started a new job a week ago. It’s an amazing job and I love it and the people I work with are great but they’re all men. It’s no problem. My problem is I was so afraid to not get the job, but I am 3 months pregnant and I don’t know how to tell them. What should I do?
-Scared
Dear Scared,
Ms. Theologian can understand why you’re scared. Being pregnant and starting a new job are both huge changes. However, I think that learning more about pregnancy discrimination and your rights will help. Pregnancy discrimination is on the rise as you may have heard. And to clarify what exactly is illegal:
You cannot refuse to hire a woman because she is pregnant. You cannot fire her because she is pregnant. You cannot demote her or dock her pay because she is pregnant.
This is important information for you to know. So while you didn’t initially disclose your pregnancy to your employer at the job interview, you really had no legal (or moral in Ms. Theologian’s opinion) obligation to do so. You should not feel guilty.
It might help to understand why there is an increase in pregnancy discrimination.
1. Part of the reason is that there can be significant economic costs to an employer in terms of insurance and covering your time off in some fashion. At least that’s the perception on the part of the employer.
2. Part of the reason is there are a number of stereotypes of what pregnant women are like:
In one study published in 1993 in the Journal of Organizational Behavior, pregnant and non-pregnant women performed tasks that were rated by college students drafted for the research. While both subjects performed the same, those who were pregnant consistently received lower performance ratings. They were viewed as overly emotional, often irrational, physically limited and less than committed to their jobs, according to the report. [Ms. Theologian’s reaction: AYYEEE! Can you believe this?]
In another study, pregnant women were interviewed about their own experiences on the job. About half said their supervisors’ reactions to their pregnancies were negative, according to the report published in 1997 in the Journal of Business and Psychology.
They also reported intrusive comments from co-workers, including such comments as, “Why are you eating so much?” and, “Do you have stretch marks yet?” About half of pregnant women managers said subordinates became upset or hostile. [Ms. Theologian’s reaction: Between the negative reactions from the bosses and subordinates who are upset and hostile, this just sounds potentially awful.]
Some specific advice from Ms. Theologian:
Other suggestions from readers?
-Ms. Theologian
P.S. If you’d like to write to Ms. Theologian, send an email to ms dot theologian at gmail dot com.
There’s a new web site: Transgender at Work. It has quite a bit of information, and seems to be still under development. Possibly the most useful tip for me was how Gretchen used a Powerpoint presentation to inform HR about how they could help in her transition in the workplace. Sometimes you just have to speak the right language to get people to listen.
Consumerist has three air travel tips for business travel (and all other sorts):