Nobody likes any idea as much as they like their own. And nobody likes their own ideas more than upper management. They'll pick a course, no matter how ill-informed or ill-advised that course is, and steer into it full steam ahead. And, yet, still, there is something admirable, at least, in that kind of confidence; no matter how foolhardy it might sometimes be, that attitude is probably how they got where they are in the first place—that or it's their parents' company. Still, sometimes, as a bu…

Often in the workplace, the reclusive and introverted workers will find themselves disadvantaged—no matter how productive they are—with none of the clout and relationship status to cash in and help them when things go wrong or misunderstandings occur. Unfortunately, this situations usually involve some inability to talk their way out of a nonsensical request from management—the strong-headed manager having already made up their mind before they walked in the door that their "strange" quiet subo…

Volunteering your time to an organization remains exactly that: volunteer work. You're not being compensated for your time, so you'd hope that your contributions would at least be appreciated and that you'd be treated respectfully during your time there. Still, organizations that rely heavily on volunteer work can have the tendency to—well, forget this—and take the unpaid hours of their dedicated volunteers for granted, treating them as if they were subordinates instead. After all, where there…

When you get overly worked up about your job, it's important to remember it's just a job; it's not like someone's life is at stake or anything… Of course, this logic doesn't really apply if you're a Cardiothoracic surgeon in the middle of an operation because—well, someone's life is literally at stake. Other forms of employment with the same level of gravitas also need not heed this advice. Still, there's no use crying over cut onions—if you can help it… and there's no use getting overly worked…

This web designer was responsible for managing and maintaining a collection of websites that their organization maintained for clients, but their organization had a particularly strange policy where requests from clients always needed to be considered with their boss telling them that they couldn't say no to requests, regardless of whether or not the requests actually made any sense, were actually good ideas“features” or would bog down and ruin the performance and interface of the web sites. Gr…

When you're young, you have all the ideologies about how you're going to move to the big city and live in lofted apartments while you hang out in coffee shops and bars with your friends and all laugh about how carefree your lives are… Oh, and you're working in humanitarian aid and making a difference in your work, too. As things progress you come to ind that you've instead found yourself in a corporate job that you despise, working as a means to an end, all your money is going to rent and if yo…

New managers accidentally create more inefficiency while trying to reduce it—a match made in heaven. Of course, it doesn't help that their workers are more than happy to go along with their awful plans and process changes to show them just how stupid those policies are. Oftentimes, these changes are just quickly swept under the rug and never mentioned again, with very little repercussion ever eventuating for the members of management who made the blunder. On the flip side, you know for certain…

Ahh, retail… a fine industry where middle manglement regularly tries to shove a dirt sandwich down your throat while whispering sweetly to you it's actually honey. The story shared in this post is a tale as old as time in retail, where management will happily tell you with a smile that the company's official policy is that the customer comes first… but that the unofficial policy is that making sure staff never claim or report overtime also comes first. So, then, what happens when you're working…

When someone ruins what could have otherwise been a great job for you, there's no better feeling than helping them on their way to unemployment as well. This worker made the tough decision to leave a job they loved due to the unbearable attitudes of the workgroup's executive directors, who had a propensity for taking credit for others' work and rewarding themselves for doing so while deriding those workers who had actually done the work for them. After being accused of underperformance in what…

You're always told that you should be friendly with team members—but not too friendly. Despite encouraging team bonding and after-hours unpaid recreational activities with your team, organizations have a tendency to get a little weird about things if you get too close or if things get too recreational . This, of course, doesn't apply in the service industry for some reason, where it's generally expected that staff will almost certainly engage in an interpersonal free-for-all. Still, this parano…

Being charged with the responsibility of a section of a business usually means that it's implied that you'll hold that section's interests at a level of most importance and not jeopardize them over petty slights and egotistical battles with your subordinates and external parties. Yet, some people can't help themselves and let their ego get involved in every possible decision, finding themselves battling for superiority at every step of the way rather than managing the task they've been employed…

Health and Safety is no joke—though often made into one by one of those weird things in workplace culture that is handled with complete polarity depending on the organization you work for. If you work for a “cowboy” small business owner whose organization's growth has far outpaced the professionalism of its structure, one where the owner is used to taking risks that place themselves in danger, relishing these moments with machismo and bravado, bragging about them for years afterward. They now f…

We have this tendancy as a society to assume that just because someone is notably successful in one area that they must be a paragon of humanity in all other ways when—well, this often couldn't be farther from the actual truth. See, there's this thing that happens to those who have early success—or have success thrust upon them thanks to nepotistic opportunity—where they also think they're better than everyone else. If they found their success through a singular focus on their chosen path, it's…

KPIs are an important part of business operations, ensuring that workers are on track. Still, you've probably heard about “SMART” goals before, and while the acronym itself might be a little bit dumb, it still stands to reason that the “A” in “SMART” stands for “Attainable”—and for good reason. There's nothing more demoralizing than when managers set staff an intentionally unattainable goal— The managers who set these types of goals usually take their methods to memoirs from 1980s business magn…

There's this weird thing that happens in employment, you're there to get a paycheck—no question about that. And while your employer will want to pay you (close) to market rate if they want to keep you they're always going to want to pay you as little as they possibly can get away with. You want more, they want to pay less, probably figuring that they'll get the same amount of work out of you regardless. This dynamic will hang over any employment agreement you enter into. There becomes a point t…

Time management is an important skill when it comes to your working life. It's a huge determining factor in ensuring that you get enough done and get it done on time. Prioritization and organization are key components here, preventing you from feeling overwhelmed even in the face of a long to-do list. Meanwhile, organization ensures that you can maintain efficiency without getting in the way of yourself, keeping stress at a minimum. Of course, it's only natural for your manager to share an inte…