Where do your best ideas come to you? If you said SHOWER, well, you’re not the only one. But what is this “shower effect?” And how can you, uh, use it outside the shower? University of Virginia and University of Minnesota researchers set out to determine why “mindless” tasks like showering can inspire those brilliant thoughts. Turns out, it really hinges on that [...]
We tend to think of grit as the highest of benevolent traits. People who finish marathons even after they’ve broken a bone, that kind of thing. But as Annie Duke, former professional poker player, puts it, in a lot of arenas (like poker), “knowing when to quit is a survival skill that separates elite players from the rest of the pack.” Put another [...]
Are you sure your remote workers are productive? There’s only one way to find out: surveil them! I am kidding. A recent Microsoft survey concluded that managers have a little something called “productivity paranoia” going on. They’re afraid that remote workers aren’t getting enough done, despite the fact that remote workers nearly unanimously report being MORE productive when working from home. But the [...]
The average 10-person meeting costs an organization $2,340, according to Glassdoor, based on mid-level salary averages. There are other costs that can’t be easily quantified, like bored, annoyed employees being interrupted in the middle of their valuable work. Yet for all their bad juju, meetings remain a central feature of most workplaces. Columbia Business School professor Christopher Frank suggests asking yourself 4 questions [...]
Ready for your next job interview? You’ve done your research, right? I assume you’re on it! But just in case, here are the 3 things you really must research before you step or Zoom into an interview… 1 Who is interviewing you — whether it’s one person or multiple people, try to get their names in advance so you can at least check out their [...]
Inflation is out of control. Recession seems imminent. Unemployment hasn't been this low (3.5%) since 1969. So with all the economic hysteria in the headlines, why are so many companies still hiring? The pandemic brought intense staffing shortages, and a lot of companies are still playing catch-up, trying to get back to a “just right” number of employees. Employees, for their part, are [...]
Think you don’t have time in your busy workday to get outside and get some fresh air? Think again. You don’t have time NOT to. According to just one study by the journal Public Library of Science (PLOS) One, spending four days immersed in nature without tech increases one’s creativity and problem-solving capabilities by 50%. Wow. The study goes on to say that [...]
If there’s one thing you can say about scammers, they’re resourceful. Just when you come up with one way to thwart them, they get even more inventive with their scams. And so it is that #recruitingscams are getting more and more sophisticated by the day. The #betterbusinessbureau believes that 14M people in the US are targeted annually by employment scams (2020 data), who [...]
Whether you’re on #TeamWFH or #TeamOffice, you can’t deny that the work-from-home movement has been a game-changer for many disabled people. As Bloomberg reports, Americans with disabilities achieved a record-high participation rate (since 2008, anyway) this past summer. Specifically, per the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the labor force force participation rate (LFPR) for persons with a disability in 2019 (pre-pandemic) was 20.8% while [...]
Happy Halloween! Out of deference to today's "holiday" we will discuss a related spooky topic - Ghosting Coasting. (huh?) Ghosting coasting: An activity that’s become rampant in this volatile job market, where under-qualified candidates, brought on by desperate companies, disappear before they can be fired for their poor performance. The term is most often used in the restaurant industry, where a serious dearth [...]