Let’s swear off rudeness at work
Leah Eichler, The Globe and Mail:
“A man eager to get to his job interview pushes another public transit user out of the way and tells him to go forth and multiply – with himself. The commuter arrives at his appointment, only to discover that the gentleman he swore at is none other than the executive waiting to interview him.
This actually happened recently in London and not surprisingly, the story went viral. It obviously touched a nerve, since many of us can relate to being mistreated by our fellow commuters and quietly hope for retribution. But such incivility doesn’t stop when we get off the train. Rudeness permeates the workplace, too, and it’s just plain bad business.”

Athletes Help Cheerleader With Down Syndrome Defy Bullies
Bill Chappell, NPR
If you have time to read or listen to only one story today, make it be this one. It’s really heartwarming.

The 10 Best Ways HR Can Improve Workplace Creativity and Innovation
Cliff Stevenson, i4cp
“In i4cp’s newest report, Human Capital Practices that Drive Innovation, human capital professionals were asked to rate their organizations’ effectiveness across eight types of innovation, including often overlooked elements such as product development and process effectiveness innovation. By creating an index of effectiveness scores, combined with i4cp’s Market Performance Index rating for each respondent, i4cp was able to determine the top ten human capital practices that not only drive innovation, but are also correlated to overall market performance.
The best news is that all of the practices that were found to be the most effective were those on which HR could have immediate impact — from seemingly small things like promoting values to major changes such as the creation of online forums to foster new ideas.”

What You Owe Your Employer – And What Your Employer Owes You
Liz Ryan, Forbes contributor
“Nearly every day someone asks me “Now that the old working world is gone, and the corporate ladder is sawdust under our feet, what does a paycheck actually buy an employer? What does a working person owe his or her job, and what does the job owe an employee?”
This is a great question. I answer this way:
“An employee’s job is to give his or her best work every day. A manager’s job is to give the person a reason to come back to work tomorrow.”

The casual workplace is making sexual harassment harder to identify—and stop
Vivian Giang, Quartz
“A lewd text in the middle of the night, disturbing comments made in the waning hours of some work event, offhand jokes about sexual escapades in company-wide emails—decades after the Mad Men era of patriarchal office etiquette, data suggests our more casual workplace may be making it difficult for some employees to identify and protect themselves against gendered harassment.
Take, for example, Ellen Pao’s closely followed lawsuit against venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.”

Moving the Engagement Needle
Steve Boese, Human Resource Executive
“It could be the most vexing paradox in HR and talent management today: Employee engagement has emerged as one of the most pressing challenges—if not the most—for business leaders, while overall employee-engagement levels remain depressingly low in most organizations. The most commonly cited “macro” employee-engagement survey from Gallup reports about 31 percent of U.S. employees as “engaged,” with more than half (51 percent) of workers “not engaged,” and a worrisome 17.5 percent “actively disengaged” in 2014. These engagement levels, while up a bit from 2013, still remain stubbornly low when compared to most HR leaders’ goals.
It is a troubling set of circumstances—we know engagement levels are too low (and have been for a long time); and we know that increasing engagement levels will improve productivity, increase innovation and enhance customer service. But for many organizations, moving the needle on engagement has proven difficult. ”

CEOs, They’re Just Like Us: The Secret Lives of Company Executives
Kristen Felicetti, AOL Jobs
“The fictional CEOs and top executives on film and television live fantasy lives of luxury and indulgence. Think Miranda Priestly’s chauffeured town car and high-fashion wardrobe, Christian Grey’s private helicopter, Don Draper’s expensive scotch, or Jack Donaghy’s finely tailored suits. However, when it comes to your own office, the company CEO is probably living more modestly.
CareerBuilder released a lighthearted survey that took a look at the preferences of those who command the corner office. The study was conducted online from November to December 2014 by Harris Poll on behalf of CareerBuilder among more than 500 executives (hiring and human resources managers in senior leadership positions including CEOs, CFOs, COOs and Senior VP).”

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