October 10, 2003

Zen without leaving your desk
Posted by dwong@bostonworks.com">Dean Wong at 2:13 PM -

While a lack of job creation and increased layoffs have been the most obvious effect of the economic downturn these past few years, one positive outcome has been increased worker productivity and business unit efficiency in the workplace. In fact, economists say productivity has risen at an annual average of 5 percent during the initial stages of this recovery, faster than any rebound in 40 years.

The cost to workers has been less recreational time, increased stress and free-floating tension. But some workers have discovered there are a variety of behavioral and visualization/meditative techniques available to help workers relax when stressors hit.

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Power women
Posted by dwong@bostonworks.com">Dean Wong at 1:58 PM -

While the glass ceiling still exists for women seeking many of the top jobs in a company, more and more women are reaching the top tier in IT than ever before.

"We're seeing more female CIOs in client companies across the board," Deloitte & Touche senior manager Diane Toscano told NewsFactor's CIO Today Magazine. "As more women are doing training in management, they're coming in better prepared for those executive-level slots."

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Full court press
Posted by dwong@bostonworks.com">Dean Wong at 10:33 AM -

US Treasury Secretary John Snow said yesterday that evidence of a rapidly improving economy is "irrefutable and unmistakable" and a rebound in the job market is not too far behind.

Snow was in town yesterday to talk up President Bush's economic policies, as the administration has begun a full-scale public relations blitz on campaign issues.

We're now getting into a strong recovery, and with a strong recovery, I'm confident we're going to see a pretty good job pickup in the months ahead," Snow said. "Consumer spending remains strong, housing remains strong, [business] spending has come back, and all of that suggests the job picture has to improve."

All I can say is bring on the jobs, bring on the jobs, bring on the jobs.

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October 8, 2003

Carrier is leaving Syracuse
Posted by jbutler@bostonworks.com">Jason Butler at 10:51 AM -

As you all know, I'm one of those horribly annoying Syracuse grads who congregate here in Boston. I don't get back up to the 'Cuse often, but I still keep tabs. That's why this story jumped out at me this week.

Carrier Air Conditioning is leaving Syracuse, moving its manufacturing overseas and leaving thousands jobless. This hits me personally, not just because I spent two years walking around the Carrier Dome on the way from Sadler Hall to class, but because I interned at this very factory.

Back in '93, Carrier brought a bunch of us OPM (Operations Management) majors in to help them with their kaizen transformations and other aspects of Total Quality Management. Now, they've decided the best way to improve their quality is to get the hell out of town.

The story is a sad one, told many times.

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Mmm, cookies
Posted by jbutler@bostonworks.com">Jason Butler at 10:50 AM -

Christopher Ryan sends in a pointer to the latest innovation: business-card cookies.

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October 7, 2003

Sous chef forced to cook up another job
Posted by deisenhart@bostonworks.com">Douglas Eisenhart at 3:56 PM -

From PRI's Marketplace radio show, a mini-case study on facing and dealing with a job transition in this continuing tough economy:

The slow economy and the struggling job market mean that more people are being forced to start over. Executive sous chef Jim Dowling is one of these people. Performing in the only job he has ever known, Dowling clearly had talent, but the work was physically difficult – and he had to quit because of chronic neck and back pain. So, what should he do now? While he had an idea to start a multicultural food class in public schools, he wasn’t sure how to get the ball moving. With the help of The Life's Work Center, an unconventional career counseling organization, he’s meeting with others like him in group sessions to try to get a business plan together. Now, he’s moving forward.

To access the segment, go to the Marketplace archives for October 6th, scroll down to the piece entitled "Sous chef’s forced to cook up another job," and click on the link or speaker icon.

Happy listening. And if you're really interested, you can hear more pieces from the Marketplace "Starting Over" series, which "highlights individuals that weren’t satisfied with just making a living -- they wanted work that gives them a life."

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The older you get, the harder you work
Posted by dwong@bostonworks.com">Dean Wong at 10:19 AM -

Early retirement? Living off of Social Security? Moving South and living the good life? For many Americans, such a reality is swiftly being replaced with the knowledge that they'll be working well into their Golden Years.

Such is the case for Patsy Sechrest, 58, wife of 38 years and mother of two grown children who once thought she'd be retired by now or at least counting down the days, but insteads finds herself serving flapjacks every morning at a Hardees in Archdale, N. Carolina. Sechrest is just one of an increasing number of older women finding they must continue working for money and benefits.

This day will be the fourth straight in a stretch that will go on for 13 in all. She often works 50 hours a week, earning $8.50 an hour for awakening at 3 a.m. so she can be unlocking the Hardee's by 4. By 4:05, she is firing up the biscuit oven. By 4:30, she has the fry vats bubbling. By 5:15, she has the entire restaurant ready to go, and by 5:25 she has her headset clamped in place when, five minutes early, the first customer rolls up to the drive-through window in search of a sausage-and-egg on a bun.

"There you go, hon," she says, handing it to him, and the way she says this makes it sound as if there's nothing else she'd rather be doing at this hour, that she welcomes the back twinge that comes when she leans out the window, and the grease fumes already penetrating her shirt, and the mystery smell that turns out to be unemptied garbage left by some night-crew member, a teenager probably, bored out of his mind, with no concept of what it's like to be a woman nearing 60 who is opening a restaurant in the dark hours because she needs the money to live on.

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Sleepy but happy
Posted by jbutler@bostonworks.com">Jason Butler at 9:16 AM -

I don't know about your office, factory or dock, but here at BostonWorks world headquarters, the only talk around the watercooler is about our beloved Red Sox, and their insane victory last night.

The angel of unrequited baseball dreams smiled last night on the Red Sox as their Dominican superstars -- Pedro Martinez and Manny Ramirez -- paced an improbable comeback from a two-game deficit in the best-of-five American League Division Series to eliminate the A's in a 4-3 thriller

Bring on the evil empire.

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October 6, 2003

BostonWorks' #1 Sox fan
Posted by dwong@bostonworks.com">Dean Wong at 11:24 AM -

If you happened to be sitting near the lower left field wall for Game 4 yesterday, or else saw the centerpiece photo in the special Playoffs03 pull-out in today's Globe, you might have caught a glimpse of our very own Tim Murphy, BostonWorks Director of Marketing and Product Development.

The "hardest working man at BostonWorks" was taking a break from his usual work-all-weekend schedule to cheer on the hardest working team in baseball. Go Tim! Go Sox!

btw, is that one of those snazzy BostonWorks baseball cap's he's clutching in his left hand?

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Execs dinged by low-level HR staffers
Posted by jbutler@bostonworks.com">Jason Butler at 9:51 AM -

Here is a really interesting article from CareerJournal about executives who are comfortable working with C-level counterparts, but blow their job chances by working poorly with the entry-level HR screener.

What's worse, you may have to undergo one or more HR interviews before you get to see a hiring manager. It's alarming to think that a person with perhaps two years of business experience is making quick and unilateral decisions about whether a senior-level candidate stays in the candidate pool. But it's common practice, so be ready for it.

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Jobs abound in India's technology sector
Posted by jbutler@bostonworks.com">Jason Butler at 9:47 AM -

Times may be tough for technology workers in Boston, but it's boomtime in Bangalore.

"The market is booming. I can pick and choose a firm of my choice," said the 28-year-old engineer, who has been in the industry for about five years.

Is it me, or does this sound a lot like 1999 in Seattle, San Francisco and Boston?

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Cowboy Up
Posted by jbutler@bostonworks.com">Jason Butler at 9:33 AM -

Whether it's the kindergarten teacher picking the perfect sticker to calm the five-year-old, the sales manager delivering the perfect value proposition to close that big client, or the designated hitter hitting the game-winning double with two on and two out, you gotta love it when your stars come through in crunchtime at work.

At least, that's the way it looked from the right field bleachers :-)

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