Links You Can Use: Dec. 31-Jan. 4

A Happy New Year to everyone!

In 2013's first Links You Can Use, surveys show that employees are experiencing more stress but are taking fewer sick days (the bad news), but also that workplace wellness programs work (the good news). In addition, find a good breakdown on the importance of "training your successor." Managers shouldn't be worried about grooming their own replacements. Instead, they should try to maintain a level of complexity, if possible, for their staff to keep them interested in staying with the company. After all, complexity is one of the three requirements for job satisfaction.

Uh-oh. One of your more experienced staff members is leaving to pursue other opportunities, taking years' worth of institutional knowledge and experience. Read this blog post to see why managerial oversight of training and career development will help minimize employee turnover. (Triple Pundit)

Links You Can Use: November 12-16

Find out how to establish a cohesive work culture, how to "manage up" when a supervisor seems difficult, and why it's best to have zero expectations about privacy when using work email. All this, and more, in this week's Links You Can Use.

What's the most important thing in establishing a culture at work? One expert says it is the people you choose to hire and offers tips on selecting candidates. (Chicago Tribune)

A clinical psychologist offers advice on how to "manage up," especially when dealing with difficult bosses. (American Psychological Association)

Plugging the Brain Drain

The statistics are breathtaking: according to the Pew Research center,  every day from now until 2030, ten thousand Baby Boomers will turn 65. (1) Every day.

In other words, hordes of working people are retiring, planning to retire, or thinking about retiring.

Who are these people? Very often, they’re the people in your organization who best know the whys and wherefores of your projects and procedures. They’re the ones who have so internalized tasks and deliverables that they’ve never even written the steps down. They’re the ones who remember why a certain project succeeded and why another failed and how that affected the company’s direction. In short, they are the holders of what’s known as organizational memory.

And they’re retiring.

What can you do to capture their knowledge? How can you make sure they don’t take the organizational memory with them?

Short & Tweet: (Mostly) Managerial Advice Under 144 Characters

Twitter didn’t invent the brief message; people have been saying important, useful, and even inspiring things in under 144 characters since humans started talking. Most, though not all, of these quotations are relevant to being a manager.

Abraham Lincoln: I do not think much of a man who is not wiser today than he was yesterday.

Albert Einstein: Imagination is more important than knowledge.

Albert Szent-Gyorgi: Discovery is seeing what everybody else has seen, and thinking what nobody else has thought.

Annie Lennox: Ask yourself: Have you been kind today? Make kindness your daily modus operandi and change your world.

Darrell Royal: I try not to make the same mistakes today that I made yesterday.

Friending Colleagues on Facebook: Pros and Cons

With over 900 million people on Facebook, chances are your coworkers are on the popular social networking site.

Is it ever OK to friend a colleague? That’s a tricky question. People you friend on Facebook will be able to see your information, photos, and life updates. If you have anything personal or potentially embarrassing on your profile, it could affect your professional image.

But Facebook has been around since 2004, and many users now know how to control what others see by tweaking their privacy settings. And it could be beneficial for your career to be friendly with the people you work with.

So what to do? Let’s go over the pros and cons.

Planning for Difficult Conversations: No Reason to Go It Alone

Having difficult conversations can be anxiety producing, so it can be helpful to plan in advance—and even more helpful to have the guidance of an objective, knowledgeable person. A great place to get this guidance is from your Employee Assistance Program (EAP).

As an EAP, we offer solutions for many complex management and HR issues, including communicating with employees regarding work performance standards.

Here’s an example. Of course, due to confidentiality concerns, we can’t provide an actual case study, but this represents a not-unusual phone call.

Sam, an HR manager, called the EAP because he had to provide difficult feedback to an employee, Jessica, on her work performance. When working on more than one project at a time, Jessica became stressed and snapped at co-workers and even Sam.

Sam wanted assistance in preparing for the performance discussion. The EAP counselor, Julie, helped Sam to structure the upcoming discussion into three parts:

Preparing Your Co-Workers for Your Vacation

You’ve booked the tickets and the hotel, mapped your road trip, or planned how you’re going to spend your staycation. Whatever you may be doing, one thing is certain: you’re going on vacation!

Ideally, things should proceed smoothly at work while you’re gone, with few, if any, interruptions to your time away. But if you leave tasks unfinished or if your colleagues are unclear what to do in your absence, you may find yourself fielding phone calls and answering emails when you want to be lounging poolside or hiking through the woods. Here are some simple things you can do to help everyone prepare for your time away: