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February 08, 2012

Amazon to open real-world store this year: report

Amazon doesn’t need any PR bumps, but let’s give it one anyway, shall we?

A_com_logo_RGBMy favourite Amazon story goes like this: one weeknight in 2010, I caught a late-night showing of The Social Network. Certainly, it was the year’s best movie, and so inspired was I that I came home and said, Hey, I oughtta read the book that was made from.

So sometime after midnight, well into the a.m., I placed an order for Ben Mezrich’s “The Accidental Billionaires.” Before the end of the next work day, it was at my door.

I’m not a paid Amazon advocate, just a fan of its convenience. So why, then, would a service as punctual as the web retailer actually open its own bricks-and-mortar store?

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Posted at 12:36 PM in Consumer news, Current affairs, Shopping | | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

February 06, 2012

Pension plans rank low when evaluating job opportunities: report

According to a new report from the BMO Retirement Institute, Canadians don’t place a high priority on employer pension plans when evaluating job opportunities. In fact, a pension barely hits job seekers' radar at all.

AdOnly seven per cent considered a good retirement pension to be the most important factor, compared to salary (47%) and flexible work arrangements (22%).

And, if they already had a job, only 9% felt it was very likely they would switch jobs if the new employer offered a better workplace pension/savings plan.

Nor do most people know what makes for a 'good' pension plan to begin with, BMO reports. More than half (51%) couldn't identify the must-have features they'd include if given the opportunity to design their own pan.

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Posted at 05:29 AM in Career, Compensation, Workplace | | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

February 01, 2012

Is your job application being swallowed up by tracking software?

Have you ever applied to a job online?

Stock-photo-15624810-resumeYou might have – some 800,000 Canadians were without job at last check – and found that it’s a mystifying enterprise. Seven, eight times out of ten, you’d have to guess, an applicant spends an hour on his application, uploading résumés, filling out blank fields and writing a custom cover letter, only to send it off and that be that.

You click send, you never hear again.

Time and time again this has either happened to you or someone you know, and there’s a reason: most every company worth its salt these days uses an applicant-tracking software, which automatically sifts applications based on keywords and formatting.

Here’s how to ensure your job application doesn’t get lost in the tracking “black hole.”

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Posted at 10:23 AM in Career, Current affairs, Workplace | | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

November 15, 2011

How much time should a woman take off work to raise children?

In Canada, we may pride ourselves on our generous parental benefits, but even the most family-friendly employer will secretly groan when notified about an employee’s pregnancy, warns careers columnist Leah Eichler.

AdWhen you're preparing to add a new member to your family, work is often the last of your worries. But little mistakes and oversights can turn that parental leave into a big mess – which generally lands at the mother’s feet.

Taking a truncated leave can cause more problems than it solves, for instance, including exacerbating health risks for new moms.

But some employers still clearly view mat leaves as being on par with taking a year off to learn skydiving. And then there's the actual cost of repeatedly taking time off to raise kids.

So, how much time should a woman take off work to raise children? And at what point does that time away negatively affect her career aspirations?

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Posted at 10:00 AM in Career, Family finances, Legal affairs, Workplace | | Comments (26) | TrackBack (0)

November 09, 2011

Are you working more now than you ever have?

Feel like you're always at work? Well, you're not alone.

AdA recent survey released by Towers Watson found that two thirds of Canadian and U.S. companies admit to  asking their employees to work longer hours. And it's slowly killing them.

"In the short run, having employees work extra hours can increase productivity, but in the long run, extended hours can negatively affect employee well-being and retention," Towers Watson’s Laurie Bienstock told Benefits Canada.  

Overall, 60% of Canadian respondents report that employees have been working more hours over the past three years, and just under half (47%) expect this trend to continue over the next three years.

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Posted at 10:33 AM in Books, Business news, Career, Economic news, Unemployment, Workplace | | Comments (15) | TrackBack (0)

October 05, 2011

Forget who gets the car, birth order may impact your career

If only the kids would get along, instead of blaming everything on their brothers or sisters.

Ad But the reality is that all siblings aren't created equal and they don't get treated as such. Firstborns, for example, often get shafted because parents are stricter with them, while later-born kids often have fewer rules to cope with.

Now, however, it turns out that those first-born kids are the most likely to earn six figures and hold a top executive position among workers with siblings, according to findings from jobs website CareerBuilder.

Meanwhile, middle kids are the most likely to report holding an entry-level spot and earning less than $35,000.  

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Posted at 09:07 AM in Books, Career, Compensation, Economic news, Workplace | | Comments (24) | TrackBack (0)

May 18, 2011

Uncovering how managers really feel about their employees

Attention HR:  Before you start spending money on leadership training for managers, find out how they really feel about their employees.

Employ According to a recent University of California study, much of the company's success depends on how managers view their subordinates.

In what he describes as the first study to examine leaders' conceptions of followers, psychologist Thomas Sy found that "if managers view followers positively — that they are good citizens, industrious, enthusiastic — they will treat their employees positively".

"If they think of their employees negatively — that they are conforming, insubordinate and incompetent — they will treat them that way. Manager beliefs about employees impact organizational outcomes," he maintains.  

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Posted at 01:14 AM in Business news, Career, Small business, Workplace | | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)

May 11, 2011

Nervous workers show signs of presenteeism

Determined to get that project done on time, even though you feel like crap? Worried about staying home lest your boss think that you're not totally committed to your job? Or maybe you don't have any paid sick days to begin with?

If that sounds familiar, you're probably guilty of "presenteeism" — the insidious act of showing up at work even though you should be at home getting over whatever it is that ails you.

Presenteeism isn’t as obvious to spot as absenteeism, because it’s harder to tell how much an illness affects a person's performance than to know how often someone simply doesn’t  show up for work.

One American study suggested that presenteeism costs the U.S economy up to $150 billion a year, thanks to workers who perform well below their usual levels all the while passing on their ailments to their co-workers.

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Posted at 02:34 AM in Career, Economic news, Workplace | | Comments (12) | TrackBack (0)

January 25, 2011

Thinner women earn bigger paycheques: Study

A new study suggests that employers seem to treat women exactly the way the fashion industry does – by rewarding very thin women with higher pay, while penalizing their average-size counterparts with a much smaller payday.  

Scale Skinnier-than-average men, on the other hand, cash smaller paycheques than their average-weight peers, according to the study, published in the Journal of Applied Psychology.

Thin women earned about $16,000 U.S. more a year on average. In contrast, thin men earned about $8,000 less than their more brawny male coworkers, a trend that tapers off only when the big guys’ weight hits the obese level, it seems. 

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Posted at 07:01 AM in Business news, Career, Compensation, Workplace | | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)

January 19, 2011

If you only had a year to live...

"If you were going to die soon and had only one phone call you could make, who would you call and what would you say? And why are you waiting?"

Those are just a few of the questions posed by Stephen Levine, author most recently of A Year to Live: How to Live This Year as If It Were Your Last in which he reports on an experiment he and his wife, Ondrea, conducted by living one year as if it were their last year on earth.

If time was short, we’d probably all resolve to fully live each twenty four hours. Work less. Make amends. See the Pyramids. Stop worrying about money.

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Posted at 07:22 AM in Career, Frugal living, Retirement, Workplace | | Comments (31) | TrackBack (0)

December 07, 2010

Employees appreciate benefits more during recession: Report

There’s nothing like a recession to deepen employees’ appreciation of being able to get a massage or their teeth fixed without digging into their pocket. 

Bene 77 per cent of respondents in a recent survey say that the value they place on their benefit plan has increased dramatically this year.

So much so, that a convincing 90 per cent believe the quality of their plan is excellent (48 per cent) or very good (42 per cent). 

Are employers getting the payoff they expect by treating their workers with such beneficence? It would seem so.

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Posted at 06:59 AM in Career, Compensation, Workplace | | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

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AUTHORS
Gordon PowersGordon Powers

A long-time fund company executive, Gordon Powers now heads up the Affinity Group, a financial services consulting firm. Gordon was a personal finance columnist for the Globe & Mail for many years, has taught retirement planning...

Jason BucklandJason Buckland

The modern-day MC Hammer of money, Jason can often be seen spending cash that isn’t his with the efficiency of a Wilt Chamberlain first date. After cutting his teeth as a reporter for the Toronto Sun, he joined the MSN Money team with...

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