Do you still have stacks of business cards on your desk or tossed into desk drawers?  No matter how tech savvy my clients seem to be, managing business cards remains a time management challenge. In many instances, I am comfortable with my clients using either paper or electronic means as long as they only use [...]

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45% of U. S. workers are satisfied with their jobs, the lowest per cent in the past 22 years, according to the Conference Board’s annual survey. The fact that only 45% of workers are currently satisfied with their positions does not bode well for productivity in the workplace.  What can companies do to improve the [...]

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Question:  What country’s workers log more time on the job than people in any other country?  From what we read every day, it can sound like Americans are winning in terms of long hours, work-related stress, and poor work-life balance.   However the winning country is…South Korea! According to the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development, [...]

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I recently watched four-year-old children “playing” soccer, and it struck me that the activities they attempted and the characteristics that they modeled could easily transfer over into creating an ideal work environment.  There was no fear of trying something new. Each one got to play and contribute. All played to their level, including the handicapped. They [...]

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Has anyone described you recently as sanguine, phlegmatic, melancholic or choleric?  We may not use these terms as common descriptors anymore, but these are the personalities that Hippocrates categorized. While it is important to recognize your own personality traits and those around you, it is also important to recognize communication styles.  The problem is that, while personalities [...]

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In a world of distractions, what kind of work environment do you need to improve productivity?  There are constant debates about the value of cubicles and open floor plans versus enclosed offices.  Companies switch back and forth over the years, trying one and then succumbing to trends or complaints and reversing their layouts. While there can [...]

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We all recognize that an outsider coming in to speak or train has a degree of automatic credibility.  Even if the Human Resources Department has someone who can provide information on the same topic, there is cachet in hiring an external source. Since I am personally one of those outside people who are brought in [...]

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It is a common dilemma:  Should I work over the weekend so that I keep up, or should I take time off to maintain a work-life balance?  The more frequent response seems to be, “Keep working.”  A survey from the Society for Human Resource Management found that 70% of workers go beyond scheduled hours and extend their work week into [...]

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I am certainly not one who is looking for more bills to pay.  However that may be coming soon because some Internet providers are considering a move from a flat rate, which they feel is no longer realistic given the increasing traffic demands, to a pay-for-usage plan. Although I am all in favor of saving [...]

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Want to limit how much you get done?  Work in a germy office and see how many ill coworkers it takes to affect your productivity level.  It would be great to limit the areas of susceptibility but reality is that there are germs on every surface, not all of them harmful.  Most of the time [...]

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