It's no secret that a lot of employers in as many industries allocate more budget to hiring than they do to staff retention. This is a bit silly when you consider that large organizations will go on to spend tens of thousands of dollars on recruiting, onboarding, and training processes—in addition to value lost due to lost time and productivity of vacant roles. Though some of this cost is silent or not immediately apparent on the books and, in contrast, the idea of approving even half that mone…

Customer service blunders that'll cost you your sleep

When you know you are a valued employee, one your company cannot afford to lose, you have a lot of leverage when negotiating benefits and pay. The problem is, unless you actually threaten to quit, companies will not be in a rush to give you more than they think you deserve, which is usually much less than what you do deserve. So employees threaten to quit, and some manage to get what they want from their current company, and some end up actually quitting and getting a better deal somewhere else…

There's always that one coworker who knows how to get away with taking credit for everyone else's hard work. You put in the effort, lose sleep over the details, and then they swoop in, ready to present it all like they thought of it themselves. This exact situation happened in one office until one clever employee decided to turn the tables. After watching his entitled coworker repeatedly swipe his projects and pass them off as her own, he put together a presentation just for her. Packed with co…

Since many offices have switched their layout to an 'open space' type of work environment, the reality is that there is not a lot of privacy in the office. Not only do many employees find themselves working when they face their coworkers all day long, but there is also a trend of getting glass doors for all the rooms in the office. This means that there is pretty much nowhere you can be at work without someone else being able to see you, maybe other than the bathroom. This ongoing trend leads e…

How many assignments do you reckon you submitted in your journey to find a job? A couple? Dozens? Hundreds? People who have been looking for a job for quite some time, have probably gone through dozens of assignments they had to provide to hiring managers and recruiters. Out of those dozens, at least some have been later used by the company they applied for, even if they didn't get the job. Admittingly, this happened to me a while ago. The company I interviewed for used my ideas on their social…

When people use the term “not leadership material” they can mean a wide variety of things. It can mean that you're not suited to the organization's toxic expectations of complicity and your unwillingness to follow whatever directive is passed down to you blindly. It can also mean that your performance isn't up to standard or that you don't prioritize interpersonal relationships and kiss the appropriate rear ends often enough. “Doesn't do the things I want them to,”

You get a raise, you get a raise, you get a raise!

"wE cAnT AfFoRd iT"

'If it ain't broke don't fix it' could not be any more clear, and yet many companies, especially in the food industry, keep trying to change things that don't need changing. Surely, every single one of us can think of a food product that we used to love, but then something about it changed and suddenly tasted disgusting. I'm sure it will not come as a surprise to know that companies do that because they are trying to reduce costs and use cheaper products. And when you use cheaper products, well…

If a workplace can get away with dumping new responsibilities on employees without giving them anything in return, you can bet they will give it a go. There are plenty of employees who won't notice they are being taken advantage of, and will gladly agree to more work with nothing in return. They will probably convince themselves that it is good for the experience, and at least they can put the extra responsibility in their resume, for the next job to come. If you are not interested in gaining '…

Getting to do what you always wanted to, ever since you were a little kid, is something very few people can claim they achieved. Think about it, how many people do you know who can actually say they work in their 'dream job'? If one does manage to work in their dream job, they might have to work extra hard to keep a firm hand on it. You never know when will be the day your boss might get tired of you, and losing a job you actually love is a lot harder than losing a job you couldn't care less ab…

Caught trying to return a Halloween costume AFTER Halloween... SMH

If you do your job too well, you're simply going to make everyone else look bad by comparison. Instead of earning yourself the praise you deserve, you actually just wind up putting a target on your back while everyone quietly wishes you'd just disappear and stop making all of their jobs harder by setting the bar so high. Usually, your boss won't just come right out and tell you to stop working so hard or being so competent, saying the quiet part out loud would only make them and the team look w…

Ruthless commands never inspire loyalty in an office environment

In every industry, there are things that folks outside of said industry would not necessarily want to know about. For instance, if you're eating at a restaurant and you learn that they don't clean the kitchen nearly enough, you might never want to eat there ever again. If you work at a company and you learn that the truth behind who gets promoted and who doesn't has absolutely nothing to do with merit, you might be discouraged. But like all secrets, the truth is bound to come out, and while it…