Over recent years, numerous surveys have found that employees are wanting better work life balance, and it has consistently been in the top 4 requirements of employees looking for a new job.
We have seen some businesses embrace this requirement and offer more flexible working hours and others offering better maternity or paternity leave. How does this actually impact employees? Do they actually see the benefit of these new policies?
Some of my clients have told me that although their company releases new policies and says that they are working hard to offer improved work life balance, it can often be frowned upon when employees actually TRY to make the most of these benefits.
Other companies see work life balance as fluffy and not relevant to running the business. These companies are severely missing out on potentially making increased profits. Improved retention, motivation and performance as a result of better work life balance arrangements has been shown to increase organisational profits.
Freek Vermeulen has written an article in the Harvard Business Publishing to address such issues. It is a most interesting read and is a must for all Business owners and executives.
http://blogs.harvardbusiness.org/vermeulen/2009/04/the-case-for-worklife-programs.html
For more information on how you can manage your work life balance visit our website or email Jennifer.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Monday, April 20, 2009
How can you manage redundancy and the current job market?
Smart Company cite today that job advertisements in Australia fell by 8.5% in March as unemployment rises to a four and a half year high of 5.5%
With these statistics being published daily, more and more employees are feeling increasingly uneasy about their job security.
So if you have been made redundant what can you do? How can you ensure that your job applications will be selected or even read? Recruiters and employers are now receiving a high number of applications for each position they advertise (in some cases over 100). In order to get through such volume, very tough "culling" activities are common.
With this in mind it is now more essential than ever to ensure that your resume and job applications are appealing to the recruiter. You will have approximately 3-5 seconds to grab the recruiters attention. What are you doing to grab their attention? How are you demonstrating that you are the BEST person for the job?
Read through Overcoming Resume Roadblocks to increase your job application to interview conversion rate.
For further advice on ensuring your career transition is as smooth as it can be visit Incite Coaching's Career Coaching Page.
With these statistics being published daily, more and more employees are feeling increasingly uneasy about their job security.
So if you have been made redundant what can you do? How can you ensure that your job applications will be selected or even read? Recruiters and employers are now receiving a high number of applications for each position they advertise (in some cases over 100). In order to get through such volume, very tough "culling" activities are common.
With this in mind it is now more essential than ever to ensure that your resume and job applications are appealing to the recruiter. You will have approximately 3-5 seconds to grab the recruiters attention. What are you doing to grab their attention? How are you demonstrating that you are the BEST person for the job?
Read through Overcoming Resume Roadblocks to increase your job application to interview conversion rate.
For further advice on ensuring your career transition is as smooth as it can be visit Incite Coaching's Career Coaching Page.
Friday, April 17, 2009
Are you taking your chances?
I was playing solitaire today, waiting patiently for the aces to come out, moving over the remaining cards to eventually get out. I got out once out of, I don't know how many times, I lost count. I suddenly realised that the reason I was only winning 1 game every now and then was because I was just waiting for my opportunities to come to me. In the next game I started looking for my opportunities and sure enough I found them and I got out.
Economists are telling us that we are currently in the midst of one of the greatest financial downturns in history. We have seem a significant increase in job losses, people are becoming more conservative with their spending and some of the world's best know organisations are no longer. There are always people who prosper in times of financial difficulty, by seeing the opportunities which are available to them. John D. Rockefeller was able to make millions during the great depression to eventually become America's first billionaire.
Seeing and creating opportunities is critical at this time. What opportunities have passed you by? Can you create new opportunities to get you closer to your goals?
Focus on what you want, take advantage of everything you can and you'll soon see your cards coming out.
To find out how you can realise opportunities before waiting for them to appear, email info@incitecoaching.com.au to get your free report
Economists are telling us that we are currently in the midst of one of the greatest financial downturns in history. We have seem a significant increase in job losses, people are becoming more conservative with their spending and some of the world's best know organisations are no longer. There are always people who prosper in times of financial difficulty, by seeing the opportunities which are available to them. John D. Rockefeller was able to make millions during the great depression to eventually become America's first billionaire.
Seeing and creating opportunities is critical at this time. What opportunities have passed you by? Can you create new opportunities to get you closer to your goals?
Focus on what you want, take advantage of everything you can and you'll soon see your cards coming out.
To find out how you can realise opportunities before waiting for them to appear, email info@incitecoaching.com.au to get your free report
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Crack the Easter Egg Calories
Easter is a great time, you get to relax, catch up with friends and family, it is generally less pressure than at Christmas and you get to indulge in Easter eggs! Excellent!
Have you ever thought how much you are consuming? Are you feeling the pangs of Easter indulgence guilt? Do you feel sluggish?
Here's a bit of an after Easter reality check and some tips to cracking those unwanted calories.
Indulgence:
1 Cadbury's Creme egg
Calories: 170
Crack the Calories:
2.74km walk (approximately 33 minutes at a steady pace)
18 minutes jogging
20 minute playing singles tennis
Indulgence:
1 medium hollow chocolate bunny
Calories: 260
Crack the Calories:
4.19km walk (approximately 50 minutes at a steady pace)
29 minutes jogging
31 minute playing singles tennis
Indulgence:
1 large chocolate bunny
Calories: 1050
Crack the Calories:
16.93km walk (just under 4 hours at a steady pace)
1 hour 56 minutes jogging
2 hours 3 minutes playing singles tennis
How will you crack your calories? Can you get off the bus a stop early? Go to the gym before or after work? Go for a run in your lunch break? Organise some friends to go for a walk after work? Join a local sports team?
Exercise is a great way to release tensions or frustrations from work. The increase in endorphins in your body will leave you feeling great, motivates and will help both physical and mental wellbeing! Tell a friend or colleague of your plans to increase your accountability
Take action now, call a friend, make a decision or get up and go for a walk.
Here's a bit of an after Easter reality check and some tips to cracking those unwanted calories.
Indulgence:
1 Cadbury's Creme egg
Calories: 170
Crack the Calories:
2.74km walk (approximately 33 minutes at a steady pace)
18 minutes jogging
20 minute playing singles tennis
Indulgence:
1 medium hollow chocolate bunny
Calories: 260
Crack the Calories:
4.19km walk (approximately 50 minutes at a steady pace)
29 minutes jogging
31 minute playing singles tennis
Indulgence:
1 large chocolate bunny
Calories: 1050
Crack the Calories:
16.93km walk (just under 4 hours at a steady pace)
1 hour 56 minutes jogging
2 hours 3 minutes playing singles tennis
How will you crack your calories? Can you get off the bus a stop early? Go to the gym before or after work? Go for a run in your lunch break? Organise some friends to go for a walk after work? Join a local sports team?
Exercise is a great way to release tensions or frustrations from work. The increase in endorphins in your body will leave you feeling great, motivates and will help both physical and mental wellbeing! Tell a friend or colleague of your plans to increase your accountability
Take action now, call a friend, make a decision or get up and go for a walk.
Back to work blues to Maximum Motivation
Well it’s back to work for some of us, after a great and well deserved long weekend, how do you feel? Are you excited about getting back or are you wishing you were still lying in and eating Easter eggs?
A lot of my clients tell me that getting back into the swing of work after a holiday or long weekend is really hard. Finding your focus and motivation (and sometimes brain) after a few days off can seem so foreign.
How can you get yourself motivated to get back to work? Follow these 3 simple steps to get you on your way....
1. Know where you are heading - set an intention
When you analyse some of the key success strategies of leaders and influential people, more times than not you will find that they know exactly where they are headed and why.
Do you know what you are going to achieve today? Or are you returning to work, hoping that checking your emails and talking to colleagues and clients will give you some direction? Define what you are going to achieve at the beginning of the day to give you direction. Combine this with a short daily intention and you will find that your focus is significantly increased.
Intentions are 1-6 words that will quickly remind you of what you are to achieve today. Write it somewhere you will see it all day or share it with a friend, boss or colleague to increase accountability. I have an intention daily and it really helps, today my intention is to 'Be Creative.'
2.Success breeds success
Once you have defined what you are going to achieve today, think about what steps you need to take to get you there? What is the one thing that will make you the most profit? Get you closer to your goal? or save time? Do this one thing first and gain momentum as you tick off the most relevant tasks first. You will quickly see that success does actually breed success.
3. Reward yourself
It is hard to get back on track, so be sure to reward your successes. At the beginning of the day set milestone rewards for completing tasks (e.g. going out to get a coffee, or meeting a friend for lunch). Ensure that the rewards are something that you actually want to ensure that you are motivated to get them.
N.B. Spending hours organising your day and setting goals and intentions as this will totally defeat the object. Invest 10-15 minutes at the beginning of the day whilst having your coffee or breakfast.
A lot of my clients tell me that getting back into the swing of work after a holiday or long weekend is really hard. Finding your focus and motivation (and sometimes brain) after a few days off can seem so foreign.
How can you get yourself motivated to get back to work? Follow these 3 simple steps to get you on your way....
1. Know where you are heading - set an intention
When you analyse some of the key success strategies of leaders and influential people, more times than not you will find that they know exactly where they are headed and why.
Do you know what you are going to achieve today? Or are you returning to work, hoping that checking your emails and talking to colleagues and clients will give you some direction? Define what you are going to achieve at the beginning of the day to give you direction. Combine this with a short daily intention and you will find that your focus is significantly increased.
Intentions are 1-6 words that will quickly remind you of what you are to achieve today. Write it somewhere you will see it all day or share it with a friend, boss or colleague to increase accountability. I have an intention daily and it really helps, today my intention is to 'Be Creative.'
2.Success breeds success
Once you have defined what you are going to achieve today, think about what steps you need to take to get you there? What is the one thing that will make you the most profit? Get you closer to your goal? or save time? Do this one thing first and gain momentum as you tick off the most relevant tasks first. You will quickly see that success does actually breed success.
3. Reward yourself
It is hard to get back on track, so be sure to reward your successes. At the beginning of the day set milestone rewards for completing tasks (e.g. going out to get a coffee, or meeting a friend for lunch). Ensure that the rewards are something that you actually want to ensure that you are motivated to get them.
N.B. Spending hours organising your day and setting goals and intentions as this will totally defeat the object. Invest 10-15 minutes at the beginning of the day whilst having your coffee or breakfast.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
What can you learn?
I started reading Richard Branson's 'Business Stripped Bare' last night and already I am hooked. It is an easy read, hilarious at times (that guy knows how to live and what his priorities are in life) and is packed with invaluable information, not only for business people, for everybody.
One point that has really stuck with me, is his idea of 'there is no reverse on this thing.' Richard uses it in the context of business. Once you have started to invest in a new business or venture, you can't put it into reverse and change what has happened. What you can do is use what you have learned from the experience, to ensure that that situation doesn't repeat itself.
I think we can all learn something from this, we will never step in the same part of the river twice. So what positive learnings can you take from your experiences? How can they empower you to make decisions or changes moving forward?
No doubt there will be more insightful learnings coming whilst I read 'Business Striped Bare' so stay tuned.
One point that has really stuck with me, is his idea of 'there is no reverse on this thing.' Richard uses it in the context of business. Once you have started to invest in a new business or venture, you can't put it into reverse and change what has happened. What you can do is use what you have learned from the experience, to ensure that that situation doesn't repeat itself.
I think we can all learn something from this, we will never step in the same part of the river twice. So what positive learnings can you take from your experiences? How can they empower you to make decisions or changes moving forward?
No doubt there will be more insightful learnings coming whilst I read 'Business Striped Bare' so stay tuned.
Monday, April 6, 2009
Relax and enjoy the process
Have you ever felt like you really 'must' do something or you 'need' to get a certain outcome?
You are not alone. I don't know about you, I recently found I was putting more and more pressure and deadlines on myself. Think of the tasks that you do on a weekly basis, work tasks, home commitments, social engagements, sporting commitments, child care responsibilities as well as trying to find time to look after yourself.
I soon realised that with all this running around and trying to get to my goal, I was no longer enjoying the process of actually working towards my goal. I was stressing myself out!
You are more likely to reach your goals if you enjoy what you do. This doesn't just apply to your work, it applies to all areas of life. For example, if you enjoy a certain sport, such as hockey, making time to play that sport will go higher up your list of priorities. You are more likely to play and receive the health, well being and cathartic benefits associated with playing the game.
If you enjoy your work, you will be increasingly motivated and focused whilst in the office and therefore achieve more, or reach your goals sooner.
If you are putting undue stress on yourself you are less likely to enjoy the process of completing the actual tasks that will help you reach your goal and this can lead to procrastination, panic, indifference as well as other states.
"Relax" I told myself "Enjoy the process and the results will surely follow" and they did. Within a week of relaxing and enjoying what I was doing, I realised that I had already moved closer to my goal, had met some amazing people to help me along the way and most importantly, had FUN!
Do you need to relax a little?
You are not alone. I don't know about you, I recently found I was putting more and more pressure and deadlines on myself. Think of the tasks that you do on a weekly basis, work tasks, home commitments, social engagements, sporting commitments, child care responsibilities as well as trying to find time to look after yourself.
I soon realised that with all this running around and trying to get to my goal, I was no longer enjoying the process of actually working towards my goal. I was stressing myself out!
You are more likely to reach your goals if you enjoy what you do. This doesn't just apply to your work, it applies to all areas of life. For example, if you enjoy a certain sport, such as hockey, making time to play that sport will go higher up your list of priorities. You are more likely to play and receive the health, well being and cathartic benefits associated with playing the game.
If you enjoy your work, you will be increasingly motivated and focused whilst in the office and therefore achieve more, or reach your goals sooner.
If you are putting undue stress on yourself you are less likely to enjoy the process of completing the actual tasks that will help you reach your goal and this can lead to procrastination, panic, indifference as well as other states.
"Relax" I told myself "Enjoy the process and the results will surely follow" and they did. Within a week of relaxing and enjoying what I was doing, I realised that I had already moved closer to my goal, had met some amazing people to help me along the way and most importantly, had FUN!
Do you need to relax a little?
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