JOB. CAREER. WORKPLACE. SUCCESS MAIN PAGE INDEX

REACHING 2,250.000 READERS AROUND THE GLOBE	\|

____________________

Staff brand colleagues as 'lazy'

Businessman takes a nap

"Dead wood" staff can be hard to work with.

An overwhelming majority of bosses and employees think that some of their colleagues consistently under perform. An Investors in People survey found 75% of bosses and 80% of staff thought some colleagues were "dead wood" - and the main reason was thought to be laziness. Nearly half of employees added they worked closely with someone who they thought was lazy and not up to the job. However, four out of ten workers said that their managers did nothing about colleagues not pulling their weight. According to Investors in People, the problem of employees not doing their jobs properly seemed to be more prevalent in larger organizations. The survey found that 84% of workers in organizations with more than 1,000 employees thought they had an under performing colleague, compared with 50% in firms with fewer than 50 staff.

Tell tale signs: The survey identified the tell-tale signs of people not pulling their weight, according to both employers and employees, including:

Prioritizing personal life over work
Refusing extra responsibility
Passing off colleagues' work as their own

Both employers and employees agreed that the major reason for someone failing in their job was sheer laziness. "Dead wood" employees can have a stark effect on their colleagues' physical and mental well-being, the survey found. Employees reported that they had to work longer hours to cover for shirking colleagues and felt undervalued as a result. Ultimately, working alongside a lazy colleague could prompt workers to look for a new job the survey found. But according to Nick Parfitt, spokesman for human resources firm Cubiks, an unproductive worker isn't necessarily lazy. "It can be too easy to brand a colleague lazy," he said. "They may have genuine personal problems or are being asked to do a job that they have not been given the training to do. "The employer must look out for the warning signs of a worker becoming de-motivated - hold regular conversations and appraisals with staff." However, Mr. Parfitt added that ultimately lazy employees may have to be shown the door. "The cost of sacking someone can be colossal and damaging to team morale but sometimes it maybe the only choice."

JOB. CAREER

THE WORDS YOU SHOULD NEVER USE IN YOUR JOB APPLICATION

What not to say in an application

Application form

There are no "mistakes" only "valuable lessons"

Never say "never" but always mention your "achievement", is the advice for job hunters trying to fill in application forms. Admissions advisers and psychologists at the University of Hertfordshire have drawn up a list of the 10 top words to make a good impression in applications. They have also listed the 10 worst words, including "hate" and "nothing". This advice also tells applicants not to say "mistakes" but to mention their "valuable lessons".

'Don't panic': If applicants are worried about having too many valuable lessons, the Hertfordshire academics also recommend avoiding other less than positive words, such as "panic", "problems" and "awful". None of these words is a good way of selling your skills to employers, suggest the academics. If you want to push more positive buttons, there is a list of feel-good words for applications, which will produce a more appreciative reaction. These good words include "experience", "involved", "planning" and "developed". The advisers say companies or universities will see many similar application letters - and that the choice of language generates a positive or negative impression. For instance, over-emphatic words such as "never" and "always" could give a negative impression that "the applicant is making an exaggeration which is seldom true". "Every recruiter and admissions officer will have to assess hundreds if not thousands of personal statements from hopeful applicants and will make their decisions based on what they can see on paper. "Choosing the right words is therefore vitally important if your application is to stand out from the rest," says Karen Pine, a psychologist at the University of Hertfordshire.

APPLICATION FORM WORDS

10 Best: Achievement, active, developed, evidence, experience, impact, individual, involved, planning, transferable skills

10 Worst: Always, awful, bad, fault, hate, mistake, never, nothing, panic, problems

The smart way to succeed: Award winner thrives by finding talent

Photo: Spindle, Stairs and Railings won the RBC Royal Bank Small Business of the Year award Thursday night. President Kevin Halliday says the key to success is hiring smart people.

Kevin Halliday has a simple formula for business success: hire people better and smarter than yourself. Halliday has been using that philosophy with great success over the years with his Spindle, Stairs and Railings company. On Thursday night, the company captured the RBC Royal Bank Small Business of the Year award passed out by the Calgary Chamber of Commerce during an awards ceremony. "One of the biggest things about the success of this company is basically our management style -- our management team," said Halliday, president of the company. "Our hiring practice -- basically we've hired great people to run it. One of the biggest things I always say is that I hire people better and smarter than me because they only make me look good. "The thing is surround yourself with people that are great. I don't know how to make a circular stair, personally. But I know how to get great people that know how to do it. I don't need to know how to do it. I need to be the visionary . . . bringing these people together has actually helped our growth." Over the past few years, the company has won a number of awards for its unique work. For example, Profit Magazine in June listed the company among Canada's 100 fastest growing companies with revenue growth of 727 per cent in five years. "With each one of these, it just gives us more credibility as a fast growing company," said Halliday. "With our new innovative product lines and our management style, that really sets us apart from anyone else and our training programs. Just to be able to be recognized as one of these companies that are moving forward in our training and in our new product lines and in our railings and doing things outside the box (is great)."

The company, which was incorporated in 1999, manufactures, supplies and installs custom spindles, stairs and railings. It operates out of its own 25,000-square-foot facility with 55 employees -- 30 are in the trades. Other finalists for the small business award were Pockar Masonry Ltd., (Malcolm and Serena Holbrook) and The Bike Shop Ltd. (Kevan MacNaughton). On Thursday night, the Chamber also awarded Carmen Creek Gourmet Meats, with partners Kelly Long, Dean Andres and Pieter Spinder, the Bennett Jones Emerging Enterprise of the Year award. Long, president of the company, said persistence has been the key in the company's success. "We've run into so many hurdles and so many obstacles and we've just been persistent. That's been the key. Teamwork too. I think we've put some great people together that extend beyond the partners," said Long. Carmen Creek markets and sells high-end bison meat from bison in Alberta and Saskatchewan. It has experienced phenomenal growth since its inception in 2003. Long said that, when the company first began, it needed some help in different areas of marketing and the processing side of the industry. A company called Vantage Foods helped them. "We have some unbelievable outside support, and I think that's a big part of it too," said Long. "A huge support too from other companies helping us get to where we are. Even our competitors, believe it or not." She said it's a "huge honour to be recognized by our peers." Other finalists for the emerging business award were K2C Industrial Automation Inc. (Sahdev Sharma) and PixelTech (Susan Mellon). - My Mario Toneguzzi.

Unhappy workers 'at illness risk'

Stressed business woman

Even a small drop on job satisfaction can lead to burnout

Unhappy workers are more likely to become ill, according to a new study. satisfaction are most likely to encounter emotional burnout, reduced self-esteem, anxiety and depression, say researchers. Even a modest drop in job satisfaction could lead to burnout of "considerable clinical importance", the report warned. The study of 250,000 employees was carried out by Lancaster University and Manchester Business School. Depression and anxiety were now the most common reasons for people starting to claim long-term sickness benefits, overtaking illnesses such as back pain, it found. Professor Cary Cooper, of Lancaster University Management School, urged employers to seriously tackle the issue with "innovative policies". "This would be a wise investment given the potential substantial economic and psychological costs of unhappy or dissatisfied workers," he said. "Workers who are satisfied by their jobs are more likely to be healthier as well as happier."

'Automated' : Professor Cooper said the changing nature of work was also having an impact on employee's health. He said: "New working practices and technological advances are rapidly changing the way we work. Many jobs are becoming more automated and inflexible. "Organizations are reducing their permanent workforce and converting to 'outsourcing', which is increasing feelings of job insecurity." He added: "These trends have contributed to a 'workaholic' culture throughout the UK and Europe - a climate that is impacting negatively in the levels of enjoyment and satisfaction employees gain from their work."

Workers want bosses to 'get lost'

Office workers

Would workers really be happier without bosses?

Most workers reckon that their bosses are excessively bureaucratic, apportion blame wrongly and are inconsistent in decision making, a report has found. Sirota Survey Intelligence questioned 3.5 million staff over three years at firms including global giants Shell, Tesco, Microsoft and Dell. The belief that managers hamper staff is deeply ingrained, the report showed. Instead, workers want to know what is expected of them, have competent bosses and better cooperation across the firm. 'Out of the way': Sirota argues that the biggest challenge for many companies is creating an enthusiastic workforce as this is a key element of a successful organization. Dr David Sirota, Chairman of the research firm, believes that too often managers get in the way and hinder their staff's natural enthusiasm. "People come to work, to work," Mr. Sirota said. "Unfortunately, they often find conditions that block high performance, such as excessive bureaucracy burying them in paperwork, and slowing decision making to a crawl. "Management has to help employees perform, which in many cases means getting out of the way."

People in a meeting

An increasing number of companies are reviewing their family-friendly policies. See how you can make a difference in your workplace.

What you can do

Even if you work for a company with practices that feel like they're from the 1980s (all work, no play), chances are you're surrounded by a working culture that's at least open to the idea of change. What and how much you can do to change your working culture depends on what your job is, and who your employers are. If you're a junior clerk working for a lawyer whose family-friendly policies haven't moved on since Victorian times, you're obviously up against it more than if you're a senior manager just back from maternity leave in a company genuinely committed to change. But everyone can try to make some changes. One New York City firm allowed employees to work extra hours early in the week, then take a half-day off on Friday. Although it was designed to help working parents, even those without children welcomed it as a great step forward. In two years, the company turned around a severe recruitment problem and employees who were regularly headhunted said they'd prefer to stay put. Try some of the following to bring about change in your workplace.

Set up a parents' group

Many companies are willing to think about moving in the right direction, but lack the expertise to know what's needed. What they need is a parents' group - a body of employees who juggle the needs of work and family, and can provide ideas on how to make a real change for working parents. Getting together a group of like-minded people shouldn't be difficult and you'll find you're a lot stronger together than individually. Once you've got the beginnings of the group together, talk with managers in your section about what your group could achieve and why it's important. Stress that having the group won't be a threat to the company, but an opportunity to improve morale and production.

Spread the word

Lots of companies have improved productivity and retained skilled personnel because of family-friendly working practices. You can find examples in the trade press, business sections of daily newspapers and from organizations such as Working Families (see Related links). Collect clippings and show them to the people who count where you work. Display these success stories on notice boards so everyone sees what can be achieved. Also keep copies on file so you can refer to them in meetings.

Be positive

Be as positive as you can about your situation. Instead of grumbling, explain which things could be better and how. Managers aren't interested in gripes unless they're the preamble to a solution that will improve things for everyone.

The great thing about family-friendly practices is that they work - and employers as well as employees benefit from them. All you need to do is work out the strategies and make your case. On an individual level, encourage those around you who seem to achieve a good work-life balance. If you're in a managerial position, never criticize or allow criticism of a colleague who leaves work at an agreed time for family commitments. This is good family-friendly working, and it should be aspired to!

DEALING WITH YOUR BOSS

Two women talking

Negotiating your rights

Parents of children under the age of six (or disabled children under the age of 18) have the right to apply for flexible working and employers are obliged to take any such requests seriously and deal with them properly. But what' the best way to ask?

A golden opportunity for change

On 6 April 2003 the Government introduced the right for all parents to request to work flexibly, and obliged employers to consider these requests seriously. If you'd like to take advantage of this, the first thing you must do is think carefully about what changes you'd like and plan a strategy that will work for you and your boss. Remember, this isn't a right to change - it's a chance to have your point of view heard and for it to be given fair consideration. Under your new rights, you must make your case in writing and your employer must arrange a meeting to consider your request within four weeks.

Know what you want

Before you put pen to paper, you need to do a little research into what you want and how likely you are to get it. Think about how you'd like to work: is it practical? Be as imaginative as you can, but remember to look at the situation from your employer's point of view too. Talk to other people who have experience or expertise that may help your case. If you're a member of a union, talk to its equal opportunities official, and have a chat with your company's human resources department. Find out how flexibility is working elsewhere in the organization - if it's going well, your boss is more likely to consider your application. Look closely at your contract - it may contain clauses that could help you. And spend time thinking through how your suggestions could be beneficial to your employer. For example, if you're thinking of asking for compressed hours, you could point out that it would give the company telephone cover during lunch hours.

Handling negotiations

When talking about your request with your boss, remember these tips:

Start by saying something positive about the company's family-friendly policies, such as a recent achievement or its general openness to change (even if it doesn't seem particularly open to you!).
Stay calm and try not to get emotional.
Aim high, so you have room to negotiate and still end up with a working option that's an improvement on your current conditions.
Think about what your employer's objections are likely to be, and have solutions ready. This will make you sound serious about what you're suggesting.

Getting your answer

Even if you don't get everything you'd hoped for, it's important to remain on good terms with your boss. You have the right to apply for flexible working once a year, so you can always re-think and reapply.

Bear in mind that your boss will be keeping a close eye on any new ways of working that have been introduced. Be aware, and make them aware, that there might be teething difficulties but that these shouldn't write off the whole scheme.

Changing your work culture and lifestyle