Like many, I spent part of this past weekend cruising through the local malls in search of holiday gifts.  In doing so, I encountered a wide variety of teen workers whose attitudes ranged from outright indifference to quiet hostility.    

Mall jobs were coveted when I was a young worker and it got me thinking that perhaps the perspective has changed (or maybe my local mall has anger management issues).  So, for all those youthful holiday employees who think they have it bad, I present 2007’s Five Worst Teen Jobs, as compiled by the National Consumers League:

1.  Agriculture: Fieldwork and Processing     

2.  Construction and Work in Heights

3.  Outside Helper: Landscaping, Groundskeeping, and Lawn Service

4.  Driver/Operator: Forklifts, Tractors, and ATVs

5.  Traveling Youth Crews

Not only does NCL feel that these are the worst jobs, but these are also the most dangerous to teens.  According to the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, a young worker is injured on the job every two minutes and dies due to workplace injury every five days.

I ask those disgruntled teen mall workers to watch for paper cuts, ink stains and overly stuffed bags.  Oh….and remember to be thankful that you’re not on the receiving end of a rogue forklift or hedge trimmer.

Let’s keep the conversation going. 

This was the subject of an article recently published by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer entitled, “Boeing Bosses Spy on Workers”. The reality is that this is more common than you might think.

The Seattle P-I described the methods the firm uses to protect its volumes of highly sensitive intellectual property, employing redundant teams of internal investigators to ensure that the information does not fall into the wrong hands.

One such team, dubbed “enterprise” investigators, has permission to read the private e-mails of employees, follow them and collect video footage or photos of them. Investigators can also secretly watch employee computer screens in real time and reproduce every keystroke a worker makes, the Seattle P-I has learned.

So how far is too far, given that Boeing does disclose their ability to monitor activity each time an employee logs onto the internal network? Doug Klunder of the ACLU felt that reading private emails was “highly questionnable”, adding that -

“it’s a tricky area because there aren’t a lot of legal protections in Washington and in most states where we have employment-at-will. There are some privacy rights of employees, but they are limited relative to the employer.”

According to a 2006 Forbes article entitled “How to (Legally) Spy on Employees”, published after the now famous Hewlett-Packard board spying case, employers are way ahead of employees relative to monitoring. It quotes findings of an ePolicy Institute study which found that over 75% of employers monitor employee website connections, with 26% having fired workers for misuse.

Hopefully reading this blog won’t get you into too much trouble…

Let’s keep the conversation going.

Monster released the results of its 2007 Work/Life Balance Survey late last week and the findings were…well…somewhat out of balance. In surveying 506 HR professionals and 803 workers, Monster found that:

- 89 percent of employees polled believe work/life balance programs, such as flextime and telecommuting, are important when evaluating a new job, yet only about half of HR professionals polled consider work/life balance to be an important initiative for their companies
- Only 29 percent of workers view their employer’ s work/life balance initiatives as good or excellent
- 61 percent of HR pros believe there will be more employer-provided work/life balance initiatives in five years, and only 56 percent believe that general work/life balance will improve in the future
- 60 percent of employees say they spend too much time working – with about one-third (35 percent) blaming their boss’ expectations and one-fourth (26 percent) saying they overwork to fit in with corporate culture
- 91 percent of workers have worked directly with someone they would classify as a “workaholic.”

Not surprisingly, increased utilization of technology only makes the situation worse, with 64 percent expecting to work more because of PDAs and 72 percent because of laptops. And the use PDAs effects their interactions outside of work too, say one third of respondents. I can vouch for that if you read my posting on “Pearl of Wisdom”.

So what’s a poor unbalanced soul to do? Advice ranges wildly, from “mirroring your boss” to “saying enough is enough” (sources left out to protect the innocent).

In my experience, having a casual conversation with your superiors is helpful, provided you have a concrete example of something you are trying to impact that can be presented. This can range from improving your backstroke, running time or cooking skills to spending more quality time with your pet, significant other, parents, children or volunteer organization. These items create a more tactile impression and appeal to one’s human nature, even among the most inhuman of bosses.

Let’s keep the conversation (and balance) going.