8 Common Workplace Stressors and How to Handle Them

• By Siamak Farah
• September 30, 2013
• comments

Most businesses have great security systems in place to protect their “property.” Small businesses place cameras on-premise while larger businesses have gates, security guards, and electronic entry cards. Yet, the real thief responsible for more than $200 billion annual loss in US businesses is lurking within.

That bandit is none other than stress in the workplace. Many are unaware of their stress, and others feel they simply can’t do anything about it.  In reality, the do-nothing attitude is causing loss of productivity, unhealthy workplace relationships, costly employee turnovers, absenteeism and increased healthcare costs. A simple examination of your business can eliminate or highly reduce this silent productivity killer.

It behooves us to look at why people get stressed in general. While blanket statements like “poor working conditions create stress” are agreed upon by all, these statements may mislead us in looking for the right answer, or when trying to ask the right questions, such as: “Google’s workplace is quite enviable, but does that mean that Google employees have no stress?”

Let’s explore stress factors common amongst most people, whether in the workplace or life.

1. Lack of time or perceived lack of time

When you drive to ...

If It's So Hard to Fire Feds, Why Are So Many Federal Leaders Risk Averse?

• By Jackson Nickerson
• September 27, 2013
• comments

Ask EIG is your chance to seek answers to public sector management challenges and conundrums. Submit your questions here.

When it’s so hard to fire a federal employee, why are so many federal leaders risk averse? I’ve never seen anybody get canned for making a mistake, yet we all walk on eggshells as if any mistake will mean our heads. Why do you think federal leaders are so unwilling to take chances?

--Anonymous

Several of the recent Ask EIG columns have explored questions about performance measurement and encouraging innovation among workers. This week’s commenter asks a similar question but one that focuses on leaders instead of employees. 

A recent report on innovation in the federal work force by the Partnership for Public Service using OPM’s Best Places to Work in the Federal Government survey data, argued that based on the extent to which government agencies are innovative, that on the whole, innovativeness has been slipping in each of the past three years.  If being fired is an unlikely and extraordinary act for federal leaders, as the commenter suggests, why might innovativeness be falling?  Why are leaders unwilling to take risks, especially when risks in the name ...

The States Where Women Make the Most (and Least) Compared to Men

• By Jordan Weissmann
• September 27, 2013
• comments

At some point or another, you've heard the stat that American women earn just 77 cents for every dollar that men make. But what about state to state? Is it as bad in New York as, say, Ohio or Wyoming? In a new report, the Center for American Progress offers up this coast-to-coast breakdown. The pay gap ranges all the way from a low of 15 cents in places like Vermont and Nevada up to 36 cents in Wyoming. (More story after the chart. Also note: CAP tracks what women earn compared to white men specifically, though that doesn't seem to have changed the average disparity). 

So what does this tell us? Before getting to that, we need to talk a little bit about the raw wage gap as a statistic. Because it has problems. Enough problems that my editor Derek Thompson and I strongly diverge on whether it's even a useful measure. (I say it is, he says it isn't.) When someone says women earn 84 cents on the dollar compared to men in New York or 70 cents on the dollar compared to men in Utah, they're comparing all female workers and all ...

How to Manage Your Inbox so You Don’t Miss a Life-Changing Opportunity

• By Brooke Allen
• September 27, 2013
• comments

Many people hate their inbox, but I love mine. I get hundreds of emails each day. At least a few times a week, I get a request for help from a stranger, and these give me a thrill. Doing a little favor for someone is a great way to kickstart my day. It gives me the energy to tackle the much bigger problems that are part of my routine.

When I was young, if you told me you had a problem, I’d be likely to counter with a problem of my own—rather than help you solve yours. That all changed on the morning of May 6, 1982, when someone told me there is no shortage of work, and when the money dries up, the work piles up. I had been unemployed for months, and he suggested that rather than look for jobs, I look for people with problems and try to figure out how to solve them.

A few days later I began writing to everyone I knew (about 200 people in all) saying that I was looking for problems to solve. Almost immediately an investment bank asked me to read some computer code and write a user ...

Moving from Process to Practice in Performance Management

• By Robert Shea
• September 27, 2013
• comments

After more than 20 years trying to measure and improve performance, federal agencies are beginning to adopt cultures of continuous improvement and have shown progress in using data to help make decisions, according to a newly released report.

The report found that most of the progress is taking place at top agency levels, but has not filtered down to the program level, where greater support from leadership is needed. In addition, collaboration with Congress remains a sticking point.

These and other findings are based on interviews by the Partnership for Public Service and Grant Thornton with more than 50 Performance Improvement Officers (PIO), the agency officials charged with helping organizations measure and improve results, focus groups, and a survey to gauge the success of performance management efforts.

The report, Taking Measure: Moving from Process to Practice in Performance Management, showed PIOs think recent changes have produced meaningful advancement. They said that focusing on a few top goals, as required by the Government Performance and Results Act Modernization Act of 2010 has renewed enthusiasm for measuring performance, and that quarterly reviews required by the new law have been a huge step forward, bringing top leaders into the conversation about performance goals ...