According to USA Today, this summer Utah will become what experts say is the first state to institute a mandatory four-day work week for most state employees.  Gov. Jon Huntsman, a first-term Republican, says he's making the change to reduce the state's carbon footprint, increase energy efficiency, improve customer service and provide ...

It’s interesting.  You always hear about supermoms trying to do it all, but what about superdads?  Here’s what Stephanie Armour at USA Today has to say about this issue: Todd Scott, 32, has two children under age 5.  Each workday, he leaves his job at Himmelrich Public Relations in Baltimore at 5 p.m. to be with his family, and ...

Every year, I get asked by one media outlet or another how to handle the office holiday party.  This year, I decided to share the advice I and others provided to the Wall Street Journal last weekend:   “We spend so much time communicating on Blackberries and e-mail, the office party is a rare opportunity to really meet the people who ...

Thanks to Penelope Trunk for sharing a great post from Nina Smith over at Queercents.  In recent years, I have met many gay colleagues who felt more comfortable being out of the closet at work, then with, say, their parents.  Smith maintains that gays who are out at work have stronger careers.  She herself developed a closer and ...

This week, a top reporter for WMAQ-TV, Amy Jacobson, was fired after she was videotaped hanging out poolside with Craig Stebic, whose wife has been reported missing.  Jacobson told the Chicago Sun Times that she was on her way to go swimming with her kids on her day off when Stebic's sister, Jill, invited her to the house to discuss the ...

In April, I’m doing a tour of corporations, in the U.S. and abroad, during which I’ll speak to C-level executives and managers about the current generation of twenty-somethings, also known as the Millennials, and the effect they’re having on the workplace.  Millennials are known for being empowered, ambitious, and devoted to changing business ...

[ImageAttachment]   This week, the human resources field is abuzz with the news that napping at work can help prevent heart disease. The catalyst?  A study just published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, which is being covered in thousands of news outlets, including Reuters and the Washington Post, as we speak.  To reach ...

Last week, Yahoo! ran a piece about people in the public eye who made big professional strides and damaging missteps during 2006, and how we can learn from their experiences.  Here are some of my thoughts on the subject, some of which were included in the article.   Amelie Mauresmo, who won two tennis majors this year after years of ...

The Society for Human Resource Management reports that CCH Inc., a provider of HR and employment law information and services, has released its 2006 Unscheduled Absence Survey.  The rate of unscheduled absences rose to 2.5 percent in 2006, the highest it has been since 1999.  Unscheduled absences cost some large employers an estimated ...