Whatnot At Work

Working Moms Prefer Part-Time

A new study on working mothers shows that their ideal choice is to work part-time. 60% want to work part-time but 75% work full-time.

Results from the new study:

• 60% of working mothers think part-time is their best option. (Up from 48% 10 years ago.)
• 21% of women with children under 18 think full-time is the best choice.
• 19% think that not working at all is the best option.

Latest figures on working mothers:

75% of working mothers work full-time.

The discrepancy between what women want and what is currently available to them in the workplace represents a huge opportunity for companies to attract and retain these employees. What women want is benefits and flexible schedules. Companies willing to provide them will win out in the long run.

Personal Information Management

Personal Information Managers (PIMs) are software tools to manage and organize your personal information (contacts, emails, notes, calendars, bookmarks). Here is a list of 160 free PIM utilities. The list is ordered based upon feedback provided from this site, so if you are in the market for one of these, try the ones near the top of the list first.

Constructive Commuting

Got a long commute? Follow this example. She turned a two hour commute into two hours of work-free and family-free writing time and completed her first book. A good example on how to turn wasted time into constructive time.

Happiest Countries In The World

Adrian White, an analytical social psychologist at the University of Leicester has created an interactive map showing the happiness quotient of each country. According to his research, happiness is more closely tied to health than it is to wealth or education. The rankings:

1. Denmark
2. Switzerland
3. Austria
4. Iceland
5. Bahamas
6. Finland
7. Sweden

Canada came in 10th and United States came in 23rd. We wrote about a previous study that found Switzerland had the highest quality of life, followed by Canada and Austria.

Keep On Truckin, With Seniors

Trucking companies are hiring seniors to drive their big rigs to help fill the growing shortage of long haul truck drivers. This benefits both the retirees and the trucking companies. The retirees, usually working as husband-wife teams, get a chance at a new career that takes them to new places while earning a pay check. The benefit to the trucking company is a pool of safe drivers eager to work.

On the road, among all drivers, those 55 to 69 have the lowest fatality rates for adults, according to a 2004 National Highway Traffic Safety Administration report.

Overtime Worse For Women

A new study finds that women tend to snack more and exercise less when pulling overtime. They also tend to smoke more and drink more caffeine. This causes weight gain and declining health. Men don't seem to get the munchies when they work overtime. Both men and women tend to drink less alcohol when they are working a lot of overtime.

To combat the ill effects of overtime, companies are encouraging exercising and healthy snacks: fruit, low-fat yogurt, low-fat crackers. A company mentioned in the article compensates employees $75 per month for exercising one and a half hours each week.

Breast Feeding Friendly Award

The state of Rhode Island is honoring five companies with awards for best breast feeding programs for their employees. According to the state health director, companies that accommodate breast feeding benefit from reduced child care medical expense claims, reduced employee turnover from new mothers, and higher employee productivity as a result of less missed days caring for sick children.

How companies can successfully accommodate breast feeding:

• Flexible work schedules, allowing time to pump breast-milk.
• A clean, private space (not a toilet stall) for pumping.
• A sink nearby, where pumping equipment can be cleaned.
• A refrigerator for storing pumped breast-milk.

Men Not Working

More men are giving up on working because they cannot find jobs in their salary range or in their field. Instead of taking work that might be considered beneath them, 13% of men in the US are just staying home and living off their savings.

About 13 percent of American men in this age group are not working, up from 5 percent in the late 1960’s. The difference represents 4 million men who would be working today if the employment rate had remained where it was in the 1950’s and 60’s.

Don't Be Nice This Summer

Don't be too nice to your employees this summer. Companies have a tendency to be generous with summer vacation time for families. This could be an invitation for lawsuits on discrimination against singles or childless couples or favoritism towards workers with families. Managers should take care to hand out vacation and holiday requests without preference towards parents.

Telecommuting Could Save Big

Following up on the flex time theme, a new study released from the University of Maryland reports that only 2% of Americans currently telecommute. The National Technology Readiness Survey, full report (pdf), also found that less than half of workers take advantage of the opportunity to telecommute.
Some of their findings:

• 2% telecommute full time
• 25% of workers have the opportunity and type of job suited to telecommuting
• 11% of the above workers telecommute
• 91% of workers drive to work
• The median commute for US workers is 20 minutes and 10 miles each way
• 82% of American workers have internet access at home, 69% high speed

And the surprise finding: if every one of the 25% that could telecommute did so, it would save those employees $3.9 billion dollars in gasoline costs. The time savings from those employees not commuting would be equivalent to 470,000 full time jobs.