By Lynne Curry Question: I face a situation that has no easy answer and no good solution. As the newly hired human resources director, I supposedly enforce our organization's code of conduct and oversee the human resource issues. I report to the report to the chief operating officer, a bully who runs roughshod over any employee unlucky enough to cross his path. If I keep my … [Read more...] about Stop a bully senior manager without losing your job
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5 ways to say goodbye to the procrastination blues
By Lynne Curry The report’s good, but not good enough. You should have worked on it a week ago, but you put it off. Friday afternoon, you panicked. You killed a perfectly good weekend to get everything finished by the Monday morning due date. If you want to break the “put it off until nearly too late” habit, try these five strategies. 1. Decide you’ll start projects when you … [Read more...] about 5 ways to say goodbye to the procrastination blues
Reference checking: I thought they weren’t allowed to say that
What’s your understanding of the reference checking process? If you’re like most managers and job seekers, you probably think former employers are only allowed to confirm previous employment dates and title. Certainly they cannot, and will not, offer negative commentary about workers as it would be a violation of corporate policy—and perhaps it is illegal as well. If this is … [Read more...] about Reference checking: I thought they weren’t allowed to say that
Resignations: It’s not the pay, it’s people problems
By Lynne Curry It’s not the money driving the Great Resignation, in which 4.3 million employees quit their jobs in January, followed by another 4.4 million in February.1, 2 A major research project completed a couple of months ago makes this clear. The MITSloan Management Review researched 600 companies that had higher quit rates than their sector benchmark and assessed vast … [Read more...] about Resignations: It’s not the pay, it’s people problems
8 ways to make your meetings zoom by
By Lynne Curry If you dread meetings–attending them, hosting them–and long for meetings to become more than a necessary evil, you can make it happen. Not long ago, I hosted a two-day, 15-hour meeting that the 17 attendees said “zoomed by,” “was fun, kept me engaged the entire time,” and “made an hour seem like five minutes.” Here’s how we did it. 1. A “you” start We started … [Read more...] about 8 ways to make your meetings zoom by
Is your law office vulnerable to Russian cyberattacks?
The White House is urging businesses to review and improve cybersecurity because of a heightened risk of cyber attacks from Russia. A statement from the Biden-Harris Administration advises businesses to take the following steps: Mandate the use of multi-factor authentication on your systems to make it harder for attackers to get onto your system; Deploy modern security … [Read more...] about Is your law office vulnerable to Russian cyberattacks?
Watch for harassment by emoji in your office
By Lynne Curry “How much trouble are we in?” the office administrator asked. I looked at the sheaf of text and Slack messages, loaded with emojis, and stopped on one sent in early March that asked, “Good to know you’re almost done with the project and headed for the weekend. Do you garden?” flanked by an eggplant emoji. Other texts included peaches, dump trucks, sweat … [Read more...] about Watch for harassment by emoji in your office
Helping your employees help Ukraine
By Lynne Curry My inbox flooded when I challenged readers “are you brave?” writing about the woman who crashed Russia’s main state news broadcast to protest the Ukraine invasion, https://bit.ly/3N21Wot and then challenged employers with “what’s occurring in the Ukraine creates widespread grief. Are there ways you can channel your employees’ anger and sense of powerlessness by … [Read more...] about Helping your employees help Ukraine
Carve out some calm amid the chaos
With the demands of your job as a manager in busy law office, turnover in today's staffing market, worries about world upheaval, and your own personal challenges outside work, life is stressful. Executive leadership coach Hortense le Gentil says you need to reclaim some mental space to make room for your intuition. Here’s her advice: Let your brain take a break! Breaks allow … [Read more...] about Carve out some calm amid the chaos
Russian-American workplace discrimination: It’s a thing now
By Lynne Curry Question: Like many other employees that need highly skilled employees and want to diversify their labor pool, ours has hired several Russian emigrants. Other than coworkers complaining that these employees’ accents make understanding them difficult, we had no problems—until Russia invaded Ukraine. At first, nothing occurred that created worry. Many of our … [Read more...] about Russian-American workplace discrimination: It’s a thing now