Posts Tagged: work environment

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26
Oct 09

The economy is causing unhappiness at work

The Economist on unhappiness at work:

“A survey by the Centre for Work-Life Policy, an American consultancy, found that between June 2007 and December 2008 the proportion of employees who professed loyalty to their employers slumped from 95% to 39%; the number voicing trust in them fell from 79% to 22%.”

The article puts the primary blame on the poor economy, but also suggests that micro-measuring employees (how many times did you smile at a customer today?) and mixed messages about company loyalty play a significant role.

Bob Sutton discusses the data further. Particularly, he is interested in how companies will fare when the economy returns.

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8
Sep 09

Innovation through Play Time

Matt writes about How playtime is responsible for Post-It Notes, Lasik, and more

“In fact, that’s how IBM invented the application of laser for eye surgery. A group of IBM scientists were experimenting with laser for improving IBM products. One scientist wanted to see what the effect of laser would be on a cut on his finger. Intrigued by the results, the scientists experimented on cows’ eyes and eventually human eyes. IBM eventually licensed out the technology, making millions in profit.”

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20
Aug 09

Veggie first, local second

According to the Worldwatch Institute, to best way to improve the environmental impacts of your diet is to eat vegetarian foods first before eating local.
“As it turns out, when we look at life-cycle analysis, a “cradle-to-grave perspective” on food products, food miles are “a relatively small slice of the greenhouse-gas pie,” says DeWeerdt. In fact, according to a comprehensive analysis last year by Christopher Weber and H. Scott Matthews of Carnegie Mellon University, final delivery from the producer or processor to the retailer accounts for only 4% of the U.S. food system’s greenhouse-gas emissions!”
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26
Jun 09

Necessary Non-Value

Everything a company does, can not be directly coorelated to benefiting the customer. Ester Derby says it best in Non-valued added, but necessary:

“tasks that don’t directly add value to the customer, but enable delivering value to the customer. Sometimes these are the tasks and functions that enable the business to stay in business–like accounting, or payroll, or management.”

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17
Jun 09

Knowledge work can’t be done in sound bites

Maggie Jackson says:

“The average knowledge worker switches tasks every three minutes, and, once distracted, a worker takes nearly a half-hour to resume the original task, according to Gloria Mark, a leader in the new field of “interruption science.”

Interruptions and the requisite recovery time now consume 28 percent of a worker’s day, the business research firm Basex estimates. The risks are clear. As one top executive told me, “Knowledge work can’t be done in sound bites.” “

From Fighting a War Against Distraction via The Practice of Leadership

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