Here’s an illustration from the trenches of a nurturing corporate culture.
A call this morning from a colleague revealed a conundrum. This person had just returned from a leave of absence and found her cubicle had been messed with by the numerous freelancers who had covered her leave.
CBS’s Sunday Morning program offered a lesson from an elephant and a dog that us humans can learn a lot from at the work life merge. The immense differences between a giant pachyderm and doggy weren’t enough to keep them from their daily duty of peacefully hanging out on a sanctuary in Tennessee.
We all indulge in watching video on-line at work at one time or another, but research from Nielsen Online finds that the workday is now prime time for video watching. The Center for Media Research breaks down the results from Nielsen which might have incredible implications for broadcast commercial television, companies which choose to peddle products via theInternet during the workday, and productivity in the workplace.
Out comes the crystal ball in the form of the news headlines tracking the journey on the elusive quest for work life balance. Gazing into my new Mac Book Pro, there is a flurry of activity on all the social network sites harping on the global economic meltdown, job losses, and the need for better balance contrasted with guidance from the positive to the practical pundits who grace the web.
Here’s what I see coming down the pike:
Seniors at the Springtree Retirement and Assisted Living Facility in Sunrise Florida came alive over the last year in a new way. Driven by a desire to help children in refugee camps in Darfur, resident Denyse Duda along with recreational director Linda Forrest started a program which improved the lives of those living in the assisted living facility while reaching out to children across the globe.
When CNN’s Ed Henry was appointed to the Washington bureau and assigned to cover President-elect Barack Obama, his knowledge of things – work life – emerged. I think it was an organic thing. A kind of extra perk of his intuitive journalistic prowess.
We leave 2008 with some of the most progressive initiatives toward the elusive quest for work life balance – in the face of a cacophony of disheartening workplace news. But even with unemployment at record highs amidst recession, there is much to look forward to in our time of “change.”
In our 24/7 high-tech global marketplace, our work life scenario changes exponentially. 2008 is chuck full of illustrations mirroring that fact, the least of which was the election of our first African American president. President-elect Barack Obama ran on a platform of change and a promise to create or save, an estimated 3 million jobs – and he used social media tools to nail the top spot.
Oh, to be a member of the incoming president’s press corp. Talk about envy. Tagging along with President-elect Barack Obama doesn’t require bundling up for the Chicago cold during the holidays, but instead, just the right amount of suntan lotion on the sunny shores of the Hawaiian island of Oahu.
Outplacement consulting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. offered a tasty side dish with its jobs report today which predicted that job cuts next year will surpass 1 million. It touted social networking tools such as video resumes – as the wave of the future job search in the face of rising unemployment.
