Women With Only One Female Boss Have It Bad?

A new study finds that your boss’ gender can affect just how much pain he or she seems to inflict. Researchers at the University of Toronto used data from a 2005 national telephone survey of working adults in the United States and compared the stress levels and physical health problems of men and women working in one of three situations: for a lone male supervisor, a lone female supervisor, or for both a male and female supervisor.

The study found that:
Women who had only one female boss reported more psychological distress (such as trouble sleeping, difficulty focusing on work, depression and anxiety) and physical symptoms (such as headaches, stomach pain or heartburn, neck and back pain and tiredness) than women who worked for one male boss.

Women who reported to a mixed-gender pair of supervisors also reported more of these symptoms than their peers who worked for a single male boss.

Men who worked for a single supervisor, regardless of the supervisor’s gender, had similar levels of distress.
Men who worked for a mixed-gender pair had fewer mental and physical symptoms than those working for a lone male supervisor.

The findings, specifically those of female subordinates with females bosses, contradict theories suggested by previous studies that demographic similarities between a boss and their subordinate would promote harmony in the work place, while demographic differences would create problems.

The researchers speculated that these contradictions may stem from the stereotype that it is more “normal” for men to be leaders and display the typical leadership characteristics.

Something about the nature of the work itself is influencing these health differences. For example, women working with a woman supervisor might tend to be found mostly in the “caring sector or in jobs that tend to be under-resourced, under-funded and under-valued,” such as social work or education, creating stress both for the workers themselves and stress for the boss that might trickle down to her subordinates.

Time To Suck It Up And Change You Ways As Companies Begin Firing Middle Management  

With so many companies cutting their rank and file workforces to the bone because of the tough economy, it seemed inevitable that some firms would eventually get to the fatty middle — middle management that is. They get paid more than the rank and file, but they’re not at the top of the corporate food chain. These factors create a precarious situation for middle managers, and things could get worse if the recession drags on.

So, now is a good time for supervisors with one underling, or one thousand, to start making themselves indispensable to those folks in the corner offices. But how do you do that? Author Janet Banks provides her observations of middle management layoffs and why some supervisors were able to survive.

Here’s what she had to say:  “I had to go through seven rounds of cuts at one company and I had to make the final decisions on who stayed and who would go. What I learned is that you can’t control what people are going to do but you can control how you’re going to be perceived. The ability to have a positive attitude is critical as opposed to a person that’s so fearful that they take everyone in the downward spiral with them. You’re in good shape if you can project positive energy, and look at what is most relevant in terms of the work at hand.”

One of the key characteristics of a manager that tended not to get cut was that they remained upbeat and never acted like it was the end of the world. Another big plus is being flexible, she stresses. During a downturn in the business cycle, priorities of a business can change dramatically. That means you have to be ready to shift gears and look beyond the goals you set during up times.

There’s also a lot to be said about humor and making yourself lovable. It’s all about having the right people on your side during the downsizing war. If you only concentrate on protecting your job, you’ll be out of touch with what’s happening around you. People want flexibility and a positive attitude during layoffs. It’s what this crazy world demands.

Human affairs require adaptation and the avoidance of the repetition compulsion.

Leaders have to achieve psychological independence to enable them to apply their talents to the work at hand. This independence frees the leader to expand on his or her talents and thereby become an object to allow subordinates to identify with and to cultivate and apply their own talents in the interests of meeting and even expanding on objectives.

Through years of research work, writing, and reading it became even clearer to HBS professor emeritus Abraham Zaleznik that he was on the edge of understanding and adopting two principles: Leaders need a healthy dose of narcissism to lead, and they also need a healthy dose of paranoia to avoid the trap of group dependency.

An individual’s character is outwardly represented while it is a product of development starting with early childhood. Even when leaders try to hide and disguise their character, their traits are recognizable to others.

Character is on display as leaders structure their organizations and go about making decisions. Some prefer to be intimately involved in the decision process. Others prefer to delegate early on and to remain at a distance from the give-and-take of reaching conclusions.

Zaleznik’s latest book, Hedgehogs and Foxes: Character, Leadership, and Command in Organizations is titled from the notion of the ancient Greek philosophers that hedgehogs know one big thing while foxes know many things. Applied to leadership, hedgehogs reduce reality to one single principle, while foxes know many things and are prepared to adapt to a complex view of the world.

Managers are oriented to process, while leaders are attuned to substance. Process is concerned with establishing procedures for solving problems, while substance deals directly with the problems at hand. Process is soon related to obsessive thinking and depressive emotional states, while substance energizes and draws on imaginative thinking. Managers tend instinctively to delegate; leaders like to get involved in working toward solutions to substantive problems.

Mirror-Hires Lead to Corporate “In-Breeding”

When you recruit and hire new employees, do you often find that you’re searching for people just like you? If you do hire employees this way, then rest assured that you’re not alone.  At the same time, however, you’re also just like many bosses who are selling themselves and their companies short. 

There are several very positive reasons to hire “clones.” Clearly, you know what you want in a good recruit. You know what works in your company in terms of knowledge, skills, attitudes, outlooks and behaviors. In brief, you know what leads to top-notch performance and victory.  Therefore, it’s easy to believe, if you take that philosophy one step further, that the more candidates you hire with your specific set of skills, the more successful you and your company will be.

On the other hand, by hiring a clone, you may be missing out on a number of opportunities that may prove difficult and problematic. That’s because for the sake of conformity, you might be rejecting people with skills both complementary and supplemental to your company that would permit its culture to grow and expand with outcomes that could create a more productive, innovative, challenging and rewarding environment.

The inevitable result is that the new hires look like, think like and act like you, the boss. This “group think” situation results in employees not challenging each other, not asking enough “why” questions, settling for agreement where disagreement would conceivably produce more options, perspectives, opinions and viewpoints. 

Consider being open to diversity, not just in terms of race, gender or sexual orientation, but also in terms of skills, attitudes, interests, backgrounds and experiences. The key words here are “collaboration” and “innovation.”

You must realize that if you aren’t managing your own professional image, someone else is. 

The definition of Professional Image is a set of qualities and characteristics that represent perceptions of your competence and character as judged by your key constituents. Most people want to be described as technically competent, socially skilled, of strong character and integrity, and committed to your work, your team, and your company. Research shows that the most favorably regarded traits are trustworthiness, caring, humility, and capability.

“People are constantly observing your behavior and forming theories about your competence, character, and commitment, which are rapidly disseminated throughout your workplace,” says HBS professor Laura Morgan Roberts. “It is only wise to add your voice in framing others’ theories about who you are and what you can accomplish.” Keeping on top of your personal traits is only part of the story of managing your professional image. You also belong to a social identity group—African American male, working mother—that brings its own stereotyping from the people you work with, especially in today’s diverse workplaces.

For example, African American men are stereotyped as being less intelligent and more likely to engage in criminal behavior than Caucasian men. Asian Americans are stereotyped as technically competent, but lacking in the social skills required to lead effectively. Working mothers are stereotyped as being less committed to their profession and less loyal to their employing organizations. All of these stereotypes pose obstacles for creating a positive professional image.

Despite the added complexity of managing stereotypes while also demonstrating competence, character, and commitment, there is promising news for creating your professional image! Impression management strategies enable you to explain predicaments, counter devaluation, and demonstrate legitimacy. People manage impressions through their non-verbal behavior (appearance, demeanor), verbal cues (vocal pitch, tone, and rate of speech, grammar and diction, disclosures), and demonstrative acts (citizenship, job performance).

In order to create a positive professional image, impression management must effectively accomplish two tasks: build credibility and maintain authenticity. When you present yourself in an inauthentic and non-credible manner, you are likely to undermine your health, relationships, and performance. Building credibility can involve being who others want you to be, gaining social approval and professional benefits. If you suppress or contradict your personal values for the sake of meeting societal expectations for professionalism, you might receive certain professional benefits, but you might compromise other psychological, relational, and organizational outcomes.

Gaming manager is one of America’s surprising six-figure jobs, as compiled by Forbes.com based on the latest U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics salary data.

Flight attendants: The top 10% of flight attendants earn $102,660 a year. Florida is the top-paying state for this occupation.

Farm, ranch and other agricultural managers:  The top 10% earn $103,660 a year. Florida is the top-paying state for this occupation.

Sales representatives, wholesale and manufacturing, except technical and scientific products: The top 10% earn $103,910 a year. New Jersey is the top-paying state for this occupation.

Network systems and data communications analysts:  The top 10% earn $105,980 a year. New Jersey is the top-paying state for this occupation.

Loan officers:  The top 10% earn $106,130. The median annual salary is $53,000. Alaska is the top-paying state for this occupation.

Gaming managers: The top 10% earn $106,220 a year. Nevada is the top-paying state for this occupation. Duh!

Real estate sales agents: The top 10% earn $106,790 a year. The top-paying state for this occupation is Hawaii.

Database administrator:  The top 10% earn $106,860 a year. Maryland is the top-paying state for this occupation.

Insurance sales agents: The top 10% earn $113,190 a year. New Jersey is the top-paying state for this occupation.

Market research analysts:  The top 10% earn $113,390 a year. Washington is the top-paying state for this occupation.

Teaching (post-secondary):  These teachers earn an annual salary in the range of $41,650 and $135,380.

Utah is about to become the first state to switch to a four-day workweek for thousands of government employees. Starting next month, it will be “TGIT” for Utah state employees. As in: “Thank God It’s Thursday.”

The yearlong experiment is aimed at reducing the state’s energy costs and commuters’ gasoline expenses. The catch: They will put in 10-hour days, Monday through Thursday, and have Fridays off. They will get paid the same as before.

It’s official: The average knowledge worker has the attention span of a sparrow.

Roughly once every three minutes, typical cubicle dwellers set aside whatever they’re doing and start something else—anything else. Constant interruptions are the Achilles’ heel of the information economy in the U.S. These distractions consume as much as 28% of the average U.S. worker’s day.

One out of every 20 job applicants screened last year had a criminal record

When one company found $3 million dollars and their CFO missing, they called Ken Springer, the president of Corporate Resolutions, a business investigations concern.

Mr. Springer, a former white-collar crime specialist at the Federal Bureau of Investigation, started Corporate Resolutions in 1991 in New York, and has expanded it to 25 employees and offices in London, Boston and Miami, with a fifth planned for Hong Kong in October.

Most of his clients are private equity lenders and hedge funds that ask him to conduct management background checks at companies they are looking at, and to look into suspicions of wrongdoing at companies they hold stakes in. As layoffs increase, so does employee theft. And as loan defaults rise, so does the need for banks to track down the assets of borrowers.

There is plenty of wrongdoing out there. Employee theft alone exceeds $400 billion annually.

After spending nearly three decades investigating larceny in the workplace, Mr. Springer has some suggestions, especially for smaller companies, which are particularly vulnerable.

• Mr. Springer’s primary recommendation is to screen all potential employees, starting with their résumés. If you detect a single lie, he says, throw the résumé in the wastebasket. Be wary, too, of claims that are difficult to verify, gaps in applicants’ job histories and vague descriptions of what they did. If, for example, the computer hardware company tried to contact the three references listed by the candidate for chief financial officer, it would have learned that one was dead, one did not exist and the third had a low opinion of the candidate. Mr. Springer suggests that after authenticating the facts in a job candidate’s résumé, a background check should be done.
• Require job applicants to sign an agreement that allows you to do background checks and drug tests on them at any time during their employment. Make it clear that you plan to conduct such investigations. The troublemakers and other bad eggs will probably walk away.
• Make sure current employees know that everything on the company computer is company property, and that you have the right — and intention — to monitor their use and their e-mail messages.
• Never let the chief financial officer write checks or open mail.
• Buy fidelity insurance to cover theft by employees and vendors, which on average represents 5 percent of a company’s revenue.
• Look for red flags, for example, employees who never take a day off, a sign that they may be covering up a fraud.

Study Shows Average Age of Management Positions Now 25 Years Old

Generation Y people born after 1981 tend to climb to managerial posts in companies at a relatively much younger age than their older counterparts. Employees born after 1980 tend to first become managers at an average age of 25.3, compared to 31.8 for their counterparts who were born in the 50s. The Y-generation people seem to climb the career ladder faster as they tend to have stronger ability to learn and a stronger work ethic, according to the poll.

Most of the business executives said they do not particularly consider employees’ ages when they are choosing new leaders within their corporations. They choose according to negotiation and coordination ability. The ability to solve problems and professional abilities are more important factors when they are considering promotions.

Interestingly enough, the Y-generation people do not necessarily perform well in management terms. According to company executives, managers aged 39-48 were the best performers.

 The Labor Department on Friday said nonfarm employment fell by 80,000 jobs in March, more than expected and the biggest drop in five years. Financial markets saw this as reinforcing the need for further Federal Reserve interest rate cuts.

Adding to the bleak picture, the Labor Department said a total of 152,000 jobs were lost in January and February, sharply above the prior estimate of 85,000, and the jobless rate jumped to 5.1% from 4.8%, the highest since September 2005. Construction employment fell 51,000, the ninth consecutive month of job losses.

Factory employment fell by 48,000, the biggest decline since July 2003, exacerbated by a 24,000 fall in auto manufacturing jobs that the department said likely reflected the impact of a strike at an auto parts maker. Most economists, having seen a third monthly decline, were now convinced that the economy is in recession.

The numbers drew calls from Democratic presidential hopefuls Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama for aid to families facing foreclosure on their homes, while Republican candidate Senator John McCain said tax cuts and streamlining burdensome regulations were needed to foster growth.

A New York Times/CBS News poll released on Friday showed the economy’s deepening woes were weighing heavily on the minds of Americans. Of those polled, 81% said they believed things were “pretty seriously” on the wrong track, up from 69% a year ago and 35% in early 2002.

Workers in certain industries can have more comfort in knowing that, even if they are fired, there is so much demand they should be able to find another job very quickly.

Talk of a recession and creeping unemployment rates are enough to make you wonder: Where can you find stability in unstable times? Kiplinger consulted career experts and combed through job trend data to come up with five industries that should provide safer havens to workers, no matter what the economy is doing. No matter what field you work in, you have the possibility of losing your job. But there are things you can do to protect yourself and increase your odds of getting another job, just in case.

Healthcare  
Many of the nation’s fastest-growing careers are in the health care industry, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. An increasingly aging population fuels demand in this field. Some specific jobs with stable prospects include doctor, nurse, pharmacist, physical therapist and physician assistant.

Education
Teachers for any grade level who specialize in high-demand fields such as math, science or bilingual education should have an easier time finding and keeping a job. And the outlook for college instructors looks stable, too. College enrollment is rising as the number of 18- to 24-year-olds increases. Some areas of the country are more stable than others for teachers because education jobs follow population trends. So teachers in fast-growing states in the South and West, such as Nevada, Arizona, Texas and Georgia, will have more opportunity than in slower-growth areas in the Midwest and Northeast.

Security
Crime doesn’t stop in a recession. That makes security jobs, such as police officers, detectives, private security guards and international security experts, a good bet. Layoffs in this industry are rare. In the off-chance law enforcement officers lose their jobs to budget cuts, they have little difficulty finding jobs with other agencies because demand is so high.

Environmental Sciences
The current “green” movement reaches far beyond changing your light bulbs to fluorescents. It’s also translating into a solid career choice. The BLS expects environmental careers, including ecologists, hydrologists, environmental chemists and others, to grow 25% over the next decade.

Government
Some of the most stable jobs around are within the federal government, where firings and lay-offs happen at just one-quarter the rate in the private sector. One reason: Even in hard economic times when big businesses are forced to downsize, the government must carry on. And only one in every 5,000 non-defense workers is ever fired for poor performance each year. Crazy odds! Due to an increasingly aging workforce, the government is doing a lot of hiring lately, especially among the 20-something crowd.

What perks would drive a normal person to consider the graveyard shift? 

Money money money! Yet money isn’t the only benefit. There are other intangibles, like greater autonomy, fewer meetings (all the higher-ups are sleeping!) and the likelihood of getting promoted sooner since there are less people to compete against.

1. Registered Nurse (RN)
Day Shift: $54,500 annually
Night Shift: $55,700 annually

2. Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN)
Day Shift: $36,300
Night Shift: $38,400

3. Certified Nurse Assistant (CNA)
Day Shift: $22,200
Night Shift: $22,600

4. Truck Driver
Day Shift: $31,300
Night Shift: $36,000

5. Bartender
Day Shift: $24,600
Night Shift: $31,200

6. Waiter/Waitress
Day Shift: $16,500
Night Shift: $22,500

7. Verizon telephone operator
Day shift: $890 weekly
Night shift: $979 weekly

8. Television writer/ news writer
Writers on the night shift get a 15% differential hourly rate.

9. Nanny
Night nannies generally start their shift at 2 p.m. and work until 10 p.m. They receive about 20% more than daytime nannies

10. Pharmacist
Median Total Cash Compensation: $97,700
Night Shift: differential varies significantly, from 2% to 10%

Embellishing your resime is one thing; lying is another.

Most bosses are pretty forgiving if you come clean about a minor brush with the law or a supervisor so nutty he sent you running for the door. Yet resume tinkering is practically an epidemic. Superheated competition for jobs, especially those with big paychecks, tempts many to pump air into their resumes. A gig as an administrative assistant expands into a management title. A mail-order MBA is passed off as the real deal. Most bosses are pretty forgiving if you come clean about a minor brush with the law or a supervisor so nutty he sent you running for the door.

An annual employer survey turned up “inconsistencies” in the work histories of nearly half of job-seekers last year, with 20% of applicants providing false or misleading information about their educational credentials. Discrepancies in verifying past employment were up 13% over 2005 and up 7% involving education. Job hunters should be forgiven for feeling like they are criminals before they even get to the interview. But increasingly, employers are looking to protect their reputations and deflect any liability if they unwittingly hire a crook or a fraudster. So job offers routinely come with a big string attached — passing a background screen.

5 Things NOT To Do On Your Computer At Work 

If you’re reading this at work, you should probably be asking yourself: Am I actually allowed to browse online and read news stories at the office? The parameters for computer use at work (and even at home) are often confusing. We communicate, network, watch our TV shows, do our grocery shopping, and get our news on our computers. But it’s no free-for-all. Employees should know exactly what their employer’s policies are for e-mail and Internet usage, because workers are losing their jobs after computer-based missteps. Here are five ways to log on and lose your job:

1.) Blogging. While some blogging advocates say a well-executed blog can boost your career by presenting your best side to the HR executives Googling you, there are limitations.

2.) Playing. Solitaire, that ever seductive way to while away the hours, is probably not a great choice for the workplace. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg caught sight of a solitaire game on a city employee’s computer screen in 2006 and fired him. “I expect all city workers, including myself, to work hard,” Bloomberg said then.

Richard Bayer, chief operating officer of the Five O’Clock Club, an outplacement and career coaching organization, says employees who use a company computer for personal matters on company time — whether playing solitaire or checking on their 401(k)’s — are essentially stealing from their employer. “It’s a new, 21st-century form of theft,” Bayer says.

3.) Look at Dirty Pics. Nearly one third of bosses have fired workers for misusing the Internet, according to a recent study by the American Management Association and the ePolicy Institute. 84% of those employers said the reason was the viewing, downloading, or uploading of inappropriate or offensive content. The computer system belongs to the company, and courts have consistently sided with employers when it comes to computer-related terminations. So look at that stuff on your own time.

4.) Posting Your Pictures. Social networking may quickly gain an air of formality. Employers are beginning to monitor social networking sites. Not only do companies fear employees posting proprietary information, but they also don’t want to find photos of the boss dancing on the table drunk at the holiday party. Opinions posted that run contrary to company values can also get employees into trouble.

5.) Write R-rated e-mails. More than a quarter of employers have sent an employee packing for e-mail-related offenses, according to the American Management Association/ePolicy Institute survey, and 62% of those said it was for inappropriate or offensive language. When you write, just assume that someone inside the company is reading it. Most of the 43% of companies that monitor e-mail do it automatically, but 40% have live human beings reading and reviewing it.

Employers largely are concerned with their legal liability noting that a growing number of companies are choosing to archive electronically stored information, rather than erase it, and it’s subject to discovery in a federal lawsuit.