When the NCAA college basketball tournament gets under way every March, experts warn about how much productivity is lost due to workers obsessing over office pools. But one management professor is pushing the opposing view. "Such activities at work do create a bond among employees and increase their interest in being at work and foster a climate of solidarity," said Diane Swanson, a professor of management at Kansas State University, in a news release. "Instead of people sitting solemnly around and not connecting, these kinds of things can help to connect people and create bonds around a focal point of interest." But what about those who feel pressured to join in? "That could actually hurt morale." So, having an office pool is great for morale, except when it isn't.
BY THE NUMBERS:
GLASS CEILING
86
Percentage of U.S. adults who believe that the "glass ceiling" still exists for women in the workplace, according to a March survey of more than 2,500 American adults conducted for Adecco USA Workplace Insights. Ninety-five per cent believe that "women have made important advancements in the workplace over the past 10 years."
59
Percentage of U.S. adults who say women are treated differently than men in the workplace. Of that number, 42 per cent say women are treated worse, while 17 per cent say they receive more favourable treatment. Sixty-one per cent of female respondents believe they are treated worse than men.
TAKE A MEMO:
POWERHOUSE PAs
British newspaper The Daily Mail has declared the dawn of the "powerhouse secretary." The paper says the traditional role of a low-level secretary has "evolved into a dynamic multi-skilled personal assistant enjoying a pivotal position at the heart of the company - and earning up to £100,000 [$203,000] a year." The paper cites a survey by Gumtree.com, a classified-ad website, that found 76 per cent of personal assistants in Britain "said they were privy to confidential information," and nearly 25 per cent speak at least one foreign language and have a postgraduate degree. The survey also thankfully revealed that only 2 per cent of PAs have purchased underwear for their boss, perhaps the best measure of true respect.
UNEMPLOYED ARTISTS:
BACK TO SCHOOL
The Danish government has come up with a plan to solve simultaneously a shortage of teachers and the problem of unemployed artists: turn the artists into teachers. "At 2.7 per cent, Denmark has the lowest unemployment rate in the European Union," reported ArtInfo.com. "Yet in 2006, an average of 11 per cent of graduates from art schools - including those who studied music, theatre, and film - were jobless." Art school administrators are not impressed. "We have always had an unemployment rate higher than average, and if politicians want to employ arts graduates as teachers, they should do so," said Mikkel Bogh of the Royal Danish Academy. "But they should not ask us to train students as teachers." If the plan goes through, theatre graduates could soon be telling their students, "I'm not a teacher, but I play one in the classroom."Craig Silverman is the author
of Regret the Error: How Media Mistakes Pollute the Press
and Imperil Free Speech
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