As we start out in the month of May, it is beneficial to reflect on what May Day means to many countries. On May 1, 1886, hundreds of thousands of workers in the U.S. marched in support of the eight-hour workday. From that date, It actually took 54 years of struggle before we [...]

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Continuing my response to the reader who requested advice for those who were on the “front lines” and didn’t have a project-driven day (see the original crisis management post), I’m going to address customer-driven jobs.
If you were hired to answer telephones, such as in a call center, then obviously you cannot decide that [...]

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In a post that I wrote last week about crisis management, I presented some techniques for limiting the pressure of deadlines. Responding to this, one reader commented that it wasn’t useful advice for those “on the front lines who don’t have jobs that come with laptops, travel, and corporate jargon.”
I recognize that not everyone [...]

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“Where did this week go?”
That common phrase can be interpreted in two different ways:

It was a great week. I had so much fun/got so much done that it flew by.
I don’t feel that I accomplished anything I had planned, and it is already the end of the week.

It is not hard to figure out [...]

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Disorganization is a major cause of job dissatisfaction.
If the disorganization is your own, then you can choose to make changes. However, whether you are the disorganized one or the organized one working with a disorganized colleague, that lack of organization has an impact on you.

Who does the disorganized person interrupt when they need something? Who [...]

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Two pieces of legislation, one from the House and one from the Senate, relating to mental health issues have recently passed. It is the latest step in a seven-year effort to craft a mental-health parity bill requiring insurance plans to match mental-health benefits with those for other medical conditions. The next challenge is [...]

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Another meeting to attend, and you won’t get any work done again today! That’s a common complaint in some companies, yet the schedule of meetings continues. There have been some changes with teleconferencing and videoconferencing, but the gatherings still occur with regularity.
A new study coming out from the University of North Carolina, Charlotte (Steven [...]

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Have you noticed your corporate network slowing down lately? If yes, you might want to do a quick check of where employees are logging their time. With the proliferation of video sites like YouTube, more staff members are checking out the latest postings. Other popular sites include Yahoo, Fox, MSN, CNN, and [...]

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Tomorrow is designated as “Organize Your Home Office” Day. Whether you work full-time from home or simply pay your bills and file personal records at home, having an organized office space can change your outlook.
What makes a home office a good setting in which to work?
1. Furniture
Too often the home office is composed [...]

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Even if you are not a large company, there are easy ways to deal with outdated, confidential materials, other than sitting in front of a shredder feeding 3-10 pages at a time.
In my work with small companies, how to get rid of documents is a frequently asked question in the struggle to manage paper. [...]

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