Staff Management Tips

Like the title says, ageism or age discrimination is not in your best interest. What on earth am I talking about you might ask? It’s very simple. In management you are often called upon to recruit new staff members and often times, without perhaps consciously realizing it, you are guilty of age discrimination. Ageism or more commonly refereed to as age discrimination, is as widely ‘practiced’ as race, disability, religious, gender and sexual orientation discrimination is around the world. Deciding who gets the job based purely on a persons age is definitely not in your best interest. Here’s a few things to think about.

Let’s face it. If we’re 100% honest, there isn’t one of us who doesn’t prefer to be surrounded by good looking young people especially at work. Youth often means vitality, energy and enthusiasm. But, it also can mean, immaturity, inexperience and a lack of responsibility. As a manager who hires new staff, you need to keep in mind what is best for the company you work for and not whats best for you in terms of ‘eye candy’ around the workplace. Over the years, I have seen so many managers, especially males, think with something that wasn’t their brains and hired someone purely on their looks and not their abilities. And the hiring of these recruits mostly ended in disaster in one way or another because they just were not suited for the position they were hired for. I walked into one position and couldn’t believe the amount of female sales people who walked the halls who looked the same. Big breasts, tight skirts, tight blouses and blond hair. And once I got to now them a little, they were also a bunch of air heads. I’m not saying for one minute though that all females who look like that are as dumb as dog poo but this lot were. Hired purely for their t and a. Age discrimination can also go the other way and that is against younger people. What I’m saying is that you have to hire the right person for the right job. They have to have the necessary skills, acumen and perhaps even some experience in a related field and if they happen to look like a model, well, that’s all well and good. But, hiring someone just on the basis of their good looks, I’m all against that.

A friend of mine who’s in his forties now has a lot of experience and knowledge in management. But, do you think he can find a job that suits his abilities? He has been looking now for a month for a suitable position or something even close. He has registered with a lot of job search agencies and even though it’s illegal, the vast majority ask for his age and to add insult to injury, they require a head shot to be submitted with his resume. He has asked them why they need a head shot and mostly they reply it’s for the client or it’s for them so they can put a face to a name. What a load of rubbish! I’m all for giving young and inexperienced people a go but only if the position allows for that.  If I need sales people, I want them to be able to sell and not just flirt with the customers to get a sale. You cannot build a lasting relationship with a client based purely on your looks. You need to have abilities and certain skills to be able to do that. I would rather hire an older man or woman with great sales skills than a young person with model good looks and no sales skills whatsoever. Which is going to make me money and help me achieve the sales targets? I think that’s a no brainer don’t you?

The bottom line here is this. If you are a manager who is responsible for hiring new staff, please think with your brain. You need to ask yourself, why am I hiring this person? Is it because of their abilities and suitability for the role which isn’t based on any biased against that person or is it because the person has model looks and it might be ‘fun’ to have that person around the office every day? If you chose the person who fits into the latter category, you wont last long as a manager and your management career will very quickly die in the ass. I have seen it happen to others and it will happen to you. Make no mistake about that. It’s a lot cheaper and less time consuming hiring a person who is a good fit for the job no matter what their age is. To me, an older person usually represents maturity and a wealth of experience and knowledge and that is something more valuable than having model good looks. Don’t fall into the trap of ageism or age discrimination. It is clearly not in your best interest.

In our busy lives in the management world, sometimes sleep deprivation is an unwanted by product of the job. The long hours, the stress, taking work home instead of unwinding and getting away from work can all play a part in our not getting enough sleep. The cost to businesses of employees falling asleep or losing concentration on the job can be enourmous. These costs can include increased errors and accidents, increased absenteeism, increased drug use, higher group insurance premium and decreased productivity. Not exactly good for the bottom line is it? However, there are some progressive companies out there who are taking this matter very seriously and tackling the problem head on.

They are allowing their employees to have a nap at work if they feel they need it. Some are even going to the lengths of letting them have a bed in their office. Personally I prefer a sofa large enough to stretch out on. Here’s a simple management tip that worked for me in this situation.  Some days I used to find that I started to drift off looking at a computer monitor all day so what I did was I went down to my car, got in, locked the doors and had a small power nap for fifteen minutes or so.  It was amazing how much better I felt after wards. Much more alert and positive. Can you imaging if your whole workforce was like that? Remember though that napping at work is a little different from sleeping on the job. If everyone were to slump in their chairs, heads back, mouths open and snoring loudly, it wouldn’t be a good look would it? What I’m talking about is a quick power nap if they feel they need it. Some companies have a room set aside for their employees to go in if they feel they need to unwind for a bit. It sounds like a very lazy thing to do but because of our lifestyles and stress, we all get like that from time to time. Not many of us get the recommended eight hours of sleep every night for one reason or another.

However, there would need to be a shift in the organizational culture for this to ever work. Employees should never be penalized for doing this if your company decides to go down this progressive road. There is no need to go out and develop a company policy on the napping do’s and don’ts but what needs to happen is to remove the stigma that can often be attached to napping at work. We have all heard the jokes and taunts I’m sure when we see a colleague at work who looks like he’s about to fall asleep at his desk.

If you are having issues with some staff who seem not  to get enough sleep for whatever reason, obviously part of your role as a manager is to address that with them and see if you can’t be of any assistance in solving the problem. Sleep deprivation is a serious thing both for the person and the company they work for. Allowing your employees to have a small power nap could just be the key to get your productivity up and the workplace negativity down. Have a think about it or better yet, sleep on it.

In our busy lives in the management world, sometimes sleep deprivation is an unwanted by product of the job. Here’s a novel idea some companies are trying out.

In our busy lives in the management world, sometimes sleep deprivation is an unwanted by product of the job. The long hours, the stress, taking work home instead of unwinding and getting away from work can all play a part in our not getting enough sleep. The cost to businesses of employees falling asleep or losing concentration on the job can be enourmous. These costs can include increased errors and accidents, increased absenteeism, increased drug use, higher group insurance premium and decreased productivity. Not exactly good for the bottom line is it? However, there are some progressive companies out there who are taking this matter very seriously and tackling the problem head on.

They are allowing their employees to have a nap at work if they feel they need it. Some are even going to the lengths of letting them have a bed in their office. Personally I prefer a sofa large enough to stretch out on. Here’s a simple management tip that worked for me in this situation.  Some days I used to find that I started to drift off looking at a computer monitor all day so what I did was I went down to my car, got in, locked the doors and had a small power nap for fifteen minutes or so.  It was amazing how much better I felt after wards. Much more alert and positive. Can you imaging if your whole workforce was like that? Remember though that napping at work is a little different from sleeping on the job. If everyone were to slump in their chairs, heads back, mouths open and snoring loudly, it wouldn’t be a good look would it? What I’m talking about is a quick power nap if they feel they need it. Some companies have a room set aside for their employees to go in if they feel they need to unwind for a bit. It sounds like a very lazy thing to do but because of our lifestyles and stress, we all get like that from time to time. Not many of us get the recommended eight hours of sleep every night for one reason or another.

However, there would need to be a shift in the organizational culture for this to ever work. Employees should never be penalized for doing this if your company decides to go down this progressive road. There is no need to go out and develop a company policy on the napping do’s and don’ts but what needs to happen is to remove the stigma that can often be attached to napping at work. We have all heard the jokes and taunts I’m sure when we see a colleague at work who looks like he’s about to fall asleep at his desk.

If you are having issues with some staff who seem not  to get enough sleep for whatever reason, obviously part of your role as a manager is to address that with them and see if you can’t be of any assistance in solving the problem. Sleep deprivation is a serious thing both for the person and the company they work for. Allowing your employees to have a small power nap could just be the key to get your productivity up and the workplace negativity down. Have a think about it or better yet, sleep on it.