Management Blog

Obese workers face discrimination: survey

A new survey on recruitment processes has found many employers are reluctant to hire obese job candidates due to concerns over job performance, The Sunday Telegraph reports.

The Talent2 study indicates only 44 per cent of respondents would not be hesitate to an employ overweight worker; nearly half of the survey participants thought obese people took more sick days.

In addition, around 40 per cent said they thought obese workers did not present well at top-level meetings with clients.

According to the article, policing this form of prejudice is difficult as anti-discrimination laws do not specify that it is an offence to discriminate against someone based on physical appearance.

No holiday for 'on call' workers

Holiday, what holiday? A large number of Australian workers were required to be 'on call' over the Christmas holidays, according to a recent survey.

The Seek survey of 1,000 people indicates 85 per cent of respondents were required to be contactable by their workplace despite being on leave.

The Business Sense Blog says the survey found 63 per cent were on call via their mobile phone, 13 per cent checked emails on their PDAs and 9 per cent used their laptop to work from home.

Are your staff 'rusting' away?

Psychologists have coined the term 'rust out' to describe workers who waste away in unchallenging or uninspiring job roles, news.com.au reports.

The story quotes experts who believe workplace boredom is booming as a result of too many meetings, repetitive jobs and growing organisational bureaucracy.

It's claimed some employees are more prone to 'rust out' than others, most especially those who are not as open to new experiences, disorganised or less social.

To alleviate the problem, a number of 'boredom busting' solutions are suggested, including allowing less experienced staff to project manage areas that reflect their interests and strengths.

Good and bad news for retail

Economists predict consumer spending will grow by approximately 4% in the first half of 2008 before experiencing a decline as the year continues, Smart Company reports.

Electronics – including digital cameras and flat screen TVs – overseas travel, fashion and male grooming products are all predicted to sell strongly in the first half of the year.

Categories that have been identified as facing the prospect of slowing sales are home furnishing, gardening products as well as newspapers, books and magazines.

Analysts say the second half of 2008 will see an overall decline in retail spending as a result of growing concerns about household debt.

The secrets of breakthrough companies

After speaking to thousands of US businesses in order to define the characteristics of 'breakthrough companies', former CEO and author Keith McFarland discovered some surprising results.

In a recent Inc. magazine profile, McFarland identifies the following traits as being indicative of highly successful companies:

Happy staff - the management of breakthrough companies actively work towards building feel good workplaces

Point of difference - top companies have diverse workforces; a characteristic that results in the sharing of different viewpoints

People first - breakthrough companies nurture talent with systems in place that allow their staff to grow

Trail-blazing - leading companies continually redefine their imperatives and often ignore conventional wisdom in the process

Body language for deal makers

Understanding the importance of five subconscious indicators can help you become a more effective deal maker, according to Entrepreneur magazine.

The following five body language indicators are described as offering a window into another person's inner feelings. In summary, these are:

Lip service – a lip protrusion and/or crossed arms indicates confident resistance, a no means no indicator

Eye spy – watch for eye rubs, which often indicate disbelief or a lack of confidence in the person speaking

Ear, ear – an ear tug gesture is said to reveal that someone wishes to interject or indicates the speaker is talking too much

Mouthing off – placing an object in the mouth, a pen, finger, eye glasses etc, may indicate a strong desire for something

Instant recognition – look for micro-expressions, quick splashes of emotion that indicate true feelings about a word or phrase

Top workplace taboos revealed

A US survey on habits employees consider to be the worst workplace taboos has delivered some surprising results, The Daily Telegraph reports.

The study found 45 per cent of people thought snoozing on the job was the worse workplace sin; kissing a colleague was the second most heinous crime while stealing from an employer came in third.

Other taboos mentioned included spreading rumours about a colleague, drinking alcohol, snooping around outside work hours, fibbing about education and taking credit for other people's work.

Ethics experts say taboos exist in order to define acceptable behaviour; it's suggested that when staff continually break these unwritten rules a workplace will suffer from a lack of harmony.

Is it time to phone a friend?

An increasing number of British and US companies are adopting employee referral schemes to attract the best and brightest new staff members, the Financial Times reports.

It's claimed employee referrals are a cheaper, more effective alternative to traditional recruitment methods with recommended staff tending to be more loyal and productive.

A law firm profiled by the article offers its team members between £5,000 and £2,000 for successful recommendations; another, a bank, offers up to £500 per referral.

However, the practice has its critics; it's been pointed out that employee referrals can result in a lack of diversity, as workers are generally friendly with people similar to themselves.

Job candidates demand salary details

Finding a job really is a numbers game with a new survey indicating 85 per cent of people want to know a position's salary before they apply for a job, The Daily Telegraph.

According to the study's author linkme.com.au, the absence of an advertised salary is one of the key reasons why job hunters decide not to apply for a position.

The company says that with the jobless rate at historic lows, candidates are in a position to pick and choose their jobs making the addition of salary details a wise move.

'Ugly' companies perform better

A study of breakthrough companies has found ugly companies - i.e. businesses in unglamorous industries - generally perform better than 'sexy' companies, Inc reports.

The story claims that while companies like Apple and Google receive a lot of attention from business journalists, ugly companies, such as US bolt manufacturer Fastenal, are the high performers.

After reviewing 500 companies, the top nine performers were found to be in industries that most people would consider unsexy proving ugly equates to profitable.