The Career Encouragement Blog

Different Pay Plans for Different Generations?

I like Ann Bares' posting on "Should Rewards be Tailored to Generational Differences?"  She says "no" and offers thoughtful commentary why.  She also self-discloses her bias:

"I am a Boomer and admittedly prone to thinking that we get a little carried away with all this generational difference business.  My life experience suggests to me that we're all different ... and similar, and that we all share characteristics with many peer groups - not just generational, but gender, religious, geographic, occupational, recreational/hobby/dining preference, etc."

I am NOT a boomer, but I agree with her perspective and offered a comment of my own for her to consider.  You can read the full posting and comments here.

Being Nice

Seth Godin writes about how very badly people want others to be nice to them, how little it costs to be nice, and how these two combine to create a terrific business opportunity for many organizations.  I love this posting  on so many levels. 

We have several major stressors going on in American society at this time - a very expensive war, an increasingly vitriolic political race where truth and lie are so intertwined on both sides that neither option seems favorable sometimes, and a major market meltdown that is going to have long-term ramifications that the current bailout plan doesn't address.  In the latter case, it doesn't help that we all know SOMEONE (or ones) made money during that meltdown and will likely go unpunished for their rank greed and carnage.   It adds up to a lot of reasons to be frustrated and not so nice at times. 

Yet, there are many more reasons to be nice:

1. It's the right thing to do.  It would be a shame to allow ourselves to behave in a manner that is less than the very finest we possess inside ourselves simply because circumstances around us have set us off a bit.

2. It feels better.  Being crabby may produce a very brief sense of relief as we blow off steam at co-workers and neighbors, but in the long-term it usually makes us feel rather bad about ourselves.  On the other hand, when we can rise above circumstances and be nice, we can have  lasting satisfaction in a job well done.

3. It's easier than (or at least as easy as) being rude.  If we are honest with ourselves, we have to admit being nice doesn't take any more energy than being crabby and rude. 

4. It's profitable.  As Seth Godin notes, there is a very real profit opportunity to be found in being nice to your customers!

Are you nice to others at work?  How can you be nicer starting right now?  How could it benefit your company if you were nicer?

Check out Seth's posting here and leave us a comment with your experience being nice at work (or a time when someone was nice to you) and it made a profitable difference in the business!

The Employee Free Choice Act

The proposed Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) is a misleading title for this tricky piece of legislation regarding union representation.  No one in their right minds would argue that employees have the right to organize and unionize if they want to.  But the Free Choice Act isn't about having the right to unionize - it's about allowing union organizers scary latitude to create situations that can be covertly and blatantly coercive to employees. 

HR Capitalist makes deft use of the a metaphor of the Presidential election and explains this legislation and why it is bad for both employees and employers.  If you haven't already examined this proposed legislation and what it could mean for the American workforce, I encourage you to educate yourself about it before election time.

The Color Preference Assessment

Can the colors you enjoy tell you something about what career you would be good at?  The developers of The Color Career Counselor think so!   Learn more about the test in this article on MSN Careers, and scroll to the bottom for a link to the assessment. 

Like most career assessments the results are somewhat generic, but you may find them validating.  I am a "creative" type (no surprise there) any my secondary type is "researcher" (again, no surprises).

Enjoy!

I'm back! Now what should I write about?

In mid-August I left for a 2-week overseas vacation.  2 glorious weeks with family and no e-mail or voice mail!  I was so relaxed when I returned that I extended my that marvelous "vacation glow" by not being particularly ambitious (including not blogging) for two more weeks.  But - a leopard does not change it's spots, and I cannot change who I am.  I think about career development a lot and I have a lot I want to say on the topic.

A couple of days ago I was at the grocery store and was leafing through people magazine in the checkout line.  There was an article about minority authors and how they chose to write about the things they wrote about.  There was an interesting quote by Toni Morrison - I didn't actually buy the magazine so I am going to paraphrase - it went something like this:  "Once you decide that you are NOT going to write about the white man and his establishment, you open the door wide to all kinds of possibilities."  (my apologies to Ms. Morrison if I have misrepresented her meaning!).

The quote really got me because I think that on this blog I often write and give advice from the perspective of the establishment.  I grew up poor and in some ways sheltered (isolated?).  So when I entered Corporate America I had a lot of new things to figure out.  I have spent the last several years figuring out the "game" so I could have success and I like to share what I learned so that others can succeed also.  But I realize I do often represent the "establishment."

Do I want to take Ms. Morrison's advice and take that off the table?  What would happen to this blog if I did?