4 Ways to Earn Points With Your Boss

Posted on May 30, 2013 by admin

Your boss helps you navigate issues with your career and your boyfriend—amazing! But even if your supervisor is beyond friendly, you still have to put some thought into how you interact with her: When employees get personal advice from their bosses, they usually see it as part of the boss’ job—while managers view it as a favor that should be reciprocated in some way, according to a new study published in the Academy of Management Journal.

Researchers from the International Institute for Management Development in Switzerland and the University College London closely followed a recruiting agency to see how emotional helping (support for a personal problem, dilemma, or any negative emotion) worked in a typical office. They sent out virtual surveys and found that about 70 percent of the workers said they expected their managers to provide them with emotional support, both with office-related issues and personal problems. And that expectation was pretty accurate: 75 percent of lower-level employees and 71 percent of middle managers said they received support from someone above them in the company.

But here’s where it can get messy: When a lower-level employee received emotional support from a manager, they were more likely to see it as just part of the boss’ role, while the managers viewed it as totally outside of their job description. So even if your boss notices you’re upset and gives you advice about your roommate trouble, she probably considers it a voluntary favor, not part of her job. Perhaps even more importantly, the managers expected their employees to return the favor with increased loyalty and commitment to the company, while most employees didn’t feel the need to reciprocate at all.

“You’re more likely to invest time in someone where you see a reciprocal relationship,” says LinkedIn Career Expert Nicole Williams. “If you do get a manager that is even slightly engaged in your development, you want to reinforce your appreciation by really giving it back to them.”

That doesn’t mean you need to work late every night or stay with your company for 20 years. These little tricks are actually way more effective at making sure your boss feels the love:

Ask if she needs a favor
It sounds like a no-brainer, but just asking your boss “How can I help?” is one of the easiest ways to get on his or her good side, says Williams. While it’s great to be able to anticipate your boss’ needs, you run the risk of being totally off-base or failing to pick up on something when you don’t open up the lines of communication. “If you ask [this question], you’re indicating interest and you’ll get specific information with which you can act,” says Williams. Plus, your boss may feel less guilty asking you for a favor when you’ve already offered.

Don’t knock the little things
Even if you’ve long since retired from being an intern or assistant, remember the power of a simple coffee run. Many employees see favors like this to be beneath them, but if you notice that your boss is struggling and there’s no other way you can help, this unsolicited gesture can really make a difference. “Sometimes that’s all you can do,” says Williams. “You can’t write the report for her, but if you see she’s been working all night, just look to do the things that are going to support her in her role.” That can be anything from grabbing her favorite soup from the corner deli to dropping off a double espresso on her desk. “Don’t be afraid of being considerate,” says Williams.

Log some bonding time—off the clock
It may seem intimidating, but putting in some extra face time with your boss—outside of the office—can really boost your relationship with a supervisor. Williams noted that one of her colleagues had a lower-level employee ask her if it was all right to book her Monday-morning manicure at the same time and place. While this may seem too personal for some managers, this particular boss thought it showed initiative and creativity, plus it gave them a time to leisurely plan the week ahead while catching up. You can use the same tactic by asking your boss if it would be ok to attend the same networking event or yoga class together. Not sure if it’s too personal? Follow your boss’ lead, says Williams. If she occasionally spends time with other employees outside the office or if she talked to you about a particular hobby or event, feel free to ask if you can join. And make it clear that you would totally understand if they’d rather you not tag along, says Williams.

Don’t wait for an excuse
Showing your boss a little extra appreciation is crucial even before they’ve offered you emotional support, so don’t wait to repay the favor. “If you take the time to do these things, you’re going to find that your boss is more inclined to help you out,” says Williams. At least once a week, take a minute to look for ways to make your boss’ job easier—from leaving an interesting article in her inbox to clueing her in to an upcoming industry event. “Whether they’re doing you a favor or not, this is good for your career,” says Williams.

photo: Creatas/Thinkstock

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5 Money Lies Your Boss Is Telling You

Posted on March 14, 2013 by admin

The number of calories in a carrot versus a Big Mac. The price of a Jason Wu dress compared to a Jason Wu for Target dress. The hotness quotient of Ryan Gosling…or Meatloaf. There are some things that you don’t expect to be equal. One thing you do? The amount of money you and a male coworker earn—for doing the same exact job.

According to a recent study from the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, women working full-time in 2012 made 80.9 percent of what men took home in weekly pay—a drop from 82.2 percent in 2011. In terms of annual salary, women lagged even further, earning just 77 percent of what men raked in, a half a percentage point down from 2011. That means women made an average of $ 691 a week in 2012 (less than in 2011), while men earned about $ 854, a small gain over their 2011 pay.

Part of the reason for the discrepancy is that women often don’t negotiate as much as men do. It’s intimidating—especially given a lot of the lines bosses like to dole out, like “You’ll get fired if you tell any of your coworkers what you make” or “We can only give cost of living increases.” The thing is, these statements—and several others your boss may make to stand in the way of you and a pay increase—just aren’t true. Business coach Lisa Gates, cofounder of She Negotiates, a company that provides negotiation training for women, debunks some of the most common whoppers—and explains savvy ways to get around them.

“We don’t have the budget for raises this year.”
First, research how your employer’s faring. For public companies, go to Google.com/finance, enter the name of the organization, click on it, and then go to the “financials” link on the left-hand side of the screen to see a summary of profits and losses. If you work for a private company, scan their website for an annual report, or check business journals in your area—they often publish special issues detailing local financial statements. If you find out income is up? “Tell your boss that you know the organization’s doing x percent better than last year, and explain how you’ve contributed to the bottom line,” Gates says. Another tip: Your company might have a separate budget for bonuses versus salaries, so brainstorm with your boss about whether there are any extra pockets of money to tap into. On the other hand, if your workplace is legitimately under financial stress, request other incentives instead—like more vacation, working from home once a week, a nicer office, or an assistant.

“Sharing compensation information is prohibited.”
It’s actually against the law to forbid staffers from discussing salaries—it violates the National Labor Relations Act. And since knowing where you rank helps you gauge whether the raise you’re requesting is reasonable, it’s worth asking trusted colleagues. “That said, if you’re only talking to female coworkers, you’re not getting a clear picture of the pay scale across genders,” Gates points out. Instead, see if you’re underpaid at sites like GlassDoor.com or GetRaised.com. Then you can go to your boss armed with accurate info to help you achieve salary parity.

“There’s a pay structure we need to keep in place so you won’t be making more than your higher-ups.”
BS alert: If sharing compensation information is “forbidden,” how would your coworker know you’d surpassed her? In any event, the best retort is to propose being given a new title that better reflects your job description. Gates suggests having a conversation with your boss about the job you were originally hired for, and how what you’re actually doing goes above and beyond that. And what goes great with a promotion? A raise, of course.

“It’s not time for raises.”
“Typically, budgets are established at a certain date,” Gates agrees, “But this could also be corporate code for, ‘I just don’t want to give you more money.’” Respond by asking your boss, “When will that time be, and what do I need to do to put myself in line for a raise?” Frame it like a discussion, not a demand: Tell her what you’ve accomplished, and ask her to help you fill in any blanks so you know what goals you need to meet to ensure you make bank in the future.

“Corporate doesn’t allow raises bigger than the standard cost of living increase.”
Compensation almost always has some wiggle-room, but your boss may have to go to bat for you by asking her higher-up for more money. Since she’s probably reluctant to rock the boat, you need to prove it’s worth her while. “Using specific examples, lay out what you’ve done to boost profits and productivity, and explain that your salary should correlate with those results,” Gates says. If she still gives you pushback, say something like, “In my research, I’ve discovered that the market value of my position is x. I want to continue to help you hit your targets and exceed them, to be as valuable to you as I possibly can. In return, I’d like you to value my contribution, too. Can we brainstorm ways we can meet each other’s needs?” Calling out the fact that you’ve done your homework shows her you know what you’re talking about, and emphasizing how your getting a raise is also beneficial to her softens things.

“You’re already at the top of the pay scale.”
If your company uses a pay scale (a tiered salary system commonly used in union, government, and public jobs to ensure equal compensation for everyone with a certain level of experience), find out whether the salaries they offer are in line with the rest of the market by checking websites like GlassDoor.com or the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Making less than your peers in a similar line of work? Print out those reports, bring them to your boss, and say, “It seems there’s a disparity in the salary range for my position, and I’d like to talk about re-benchmarking the pay scale. Can we review the classification so that it’s more in line with what my research shows me?” If possible, have the conversation over lunch to set a relaxed tone. “Starting off with small talk, like asking about her kids or vacation plans, releases the bonding hormone oxytocin, which makes her more receptive,” Gates says. “Plus, it’s hard to be contentious when you’re enjoying delicious food.”

photo: Photodisc/Thinkstock

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How to Ask Your Boss for Feedback

Posted on March 11, 2013 by admin

You get in early, stay late, and work your butt off every moment you’re on the clock. But does anybody notice? As it happens, many women ask themselves the very same question: Nearly half of working women feel underappreciated at work, according to the American Psychological Association’s new Work and Well-Being Survey.

In the online survey of 1,501 employed adults, 48 percent of women polled said they feel less valued than their male coworkers. Worse yet, less than half of the women feel they’re paid enough for the work they do, and even fewer receive non-monetary recognition—like kudos from the boss—for their contributions.

Sure, it would be nice to score a raise or a promotion. But getting valuable feedback from your boss and knowing you’re appreciated are also key to job satisfaction, says Caroline Ceniza-Levine, career expert with SixFigureStart. Case-in-point: It’s tough to do your best work when you feel undervalued. Even negative feedback can be a good thing; it helps you recognize the areas in which you may need improvement and opens up channels of communication so you can ask for tips on how to address your weaknesses.

To feel like a VIP and boost your performance, use this approach to solicit constructive feedback from your boss:

Ask often
Whether you like it or not, people at work are constantly judging, observing, and evaluating you–particularly your boss. So don’t wait until your job is on the line to find out his or her thoughts. Instead, request feedback regularly. A simple “What did you think?” after a big project or presentation should do the trick. Your boss’s response can arm you with valuable insight that will help you step up your performance next time. Bonus: You won’t be blindsided when you sit down for a more formal review.

Request regular face time
The more contact you have with your boss, the better: Face time—whether one-on-one or in a board room among others—fosters open dialog, which can help you understand your boss’s expectations better than a memo ever could, says Joel Garfinkle, career coach, founder of Dream Job Consulting, and author of seven books including Getting Ahead. If you seldom see or hear from your boss, set up 15-minute one-on-one meetings, ideally once a week. The best approach: Try saying, “I want to improve my performance, and I really value your input. Can we schedule regular time to focus on critiquing my performance so I can continue to improve?” If he or she is pressed for time, bimonthly or quarterly meetings are better than nothing.

Still not getting the face time you crave? Look for opportunities to glean more information from the interactions you do have. For instance, did your boss approve the proposal you wrote without making any edits? Sometime silence is actually a vote of confidence.

Be specific
When you ask for general feedback, it forces your boss to do the work, Ceniza-Levine says. So bring a bulleted list of the projects you’re working on and the results you’ve achieved. Then, identify a specific area–like your communication skills or a completed task–and ask “What am I doing well?” or “What could I have done better?”

Don’t get defensive
Negative feedback can be a huge blow to your ego—especially if you already feel undervalued. “The key is to recognize that the feedback can help you improve,” Garfinkle says. “And the more you improve, the more your boss will appreciate you.” So when your boss criticizes your performance, follow this routine to keep your emotions at bay and extract the information you need to take action: First, ask for an example of the negative behavior. Then paraphrase the complaint and repeat it back to your boss to check you’ve understood it fully. Finally, thank him or her for her candor—and mentally remind yourself that your supervisor really is doing you a favor.

Take action
Feedback itself won’t help you get ahead if you don’t do anything with it. When your boss critiques your work, ask her how she would have handled the situation. Don’t agree with her approach? Ask for some time to brainstorm solutions. Feel free to consult a coworker or a colleague outside your department who has handled a similar situation; they may have a helpful perspective. Then piece together a plan of action, make a timeline for implementing it, and report your progress the next time you meet one-on-one with your boss.

File positive feedback
When you receive a compliment from a coworker or a thank you note from a client, make sure it gets to the people who matter–like your boss, Garfinkle says. Ask your customer to relay her kind words to your manager, or print out the email and mention it the next time you meet with your boss.

photo: Creatas Images/Thinkstock

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Work From Home—Without Pissing Off Your Boss

Posted on March 6, 2013 by admin

It was the memo heard (or, OK, read) ‘round the world. Last month, Yahoo! employees received an email from Human Resources explaining that, starting in June, they’ll no longer be allowed to telecommute. “To become the absolute best place to work,” read the memo, “communication and collaboration will be important, so we need to be working side-by-side. That is why it is critical that we are all present in our offices.”

The arguments for and against Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer’s telecommuting ban began immediately. Some studies show that working from home improves productivity, job satisfaction, and work-life balance; detractors contend that it decreases innovation, and gives people an opportunity to slack off. Regardless, here’s the deal: Some people—whether because their companies ask them to or because of personal reasons—just have to work from home either regularly or semi-regularly. If you’re one of them, read on for how to keep up communication, collaboration, and creativity from the desk at your house:

Establish a game plan
Propose a communication strategy to your boss, one that covers when and how often you’ll be sending updates and checking in, suggests Kelly Sakai-O’Neill, Senior Manager of Applied Research for the Families and Work Institute. And try to take your boss’s perspective when you craft it; anticipate any of the fears she might have about getting the information she needs. One possible approach to take: Schedule office hours (throwback to college!). Remember when once or twice a week any student could stop by a professor’s office for a quick review? Do the same thing with your boss, suggests Kimberly Elsbach, PhD, a professor at the University of California, Davis’s Graduate School of Management, whose own research shows that telecommuting makes it harder to get a strong manager evaluation. That way you don’t have to email or call every time you have a question—you can discuss a laundry list on the phone all at once, much like you would if you just physically popped into her office.

Be ultra-available
When you’re telecommuting, you have to deliver strong every single time, and you have to be hyper-organized in your team communication. “Show them that it’s easy to work with you even though you’re remote,” Elsbach says. One way to do that: Make sure that you’re as accessible as you would be if you were in the next cube over. “Replying to emails immediately, doing regular updates on what you’re working on, answering the phone on first ring—those seem like silly things, but they actually send a signal that says, ‘I’m here, I’m available, I’m just as accessible as if I were sitting in my office,’” Elsbach says. For that reason, it’s best if you can work the same hours as the people onsite, if not more. If you have to break it up a bit, just make sure your manager and coworkers know your schedule, Sakai-O’Neill says. Another way to up your availability even more: It’s old school, but ask your company to pay for the price of a landline in your home office. That way you never have to worry about dropped calls or bad reception. Set it up with a Google voice number that rings through to your cell phone after three unanswered rings for the moments when you’re out walking the dog.

Embrace technology
“People have what we call face time bias—they unconsciously attribute more positive traits to people whom they see a lot at work,” says Elsbach. But thanks to technology, you don’t need to be in the same room to speak face-to-face. Sakai-O’Neill is a big fan of Google+ Hangouts—video conferencing with up to nine people, which allow you to read people’s facial expressions and feel a bit more like you’re communicating normally. There’s also Skype, and even Gchat and instant messaging. “A lot of these things are free or low cost and make it possible to bring people together in different locations in a way that maybe wasn’t possible 10 years ago,” Sakai-O’Neill says. These tech tools aren’t quite the same as in-person meetings—it’s not as easy to read body language from a screen, Elsbach points out—but you and your team can test them out and decide if they’re worth using.

Use creative creativity boosters
Can’t brainstorm with a group on the regular? A bummer, yes, but telecommuters can actually refuel their inspiration levels in a way most office workers can’t. See: break time. If you’re working from home, it doesn’t have to be lunch hour for you to head outside. “One thing we find is that people think most creatively when they’re in a natural environment,” Elsbach says. You can also stop and fold the laundry, take a shower, or spend 10 minutes running on the treadmill. “Doing something that keeps the mind active but isn’t taxing—those are the situations in which people have those a-ha moments,” Elsbach explains. If you need to channel energy from other humans, spend some time at a coffee shop with free wi-fi. Another fun way to get the ideas coming: Surround yourself with the color blue; it also promotes creativity, according to research out of the University of British Columbia. (Hello, excuse to hit up West Elm!)

photo: Lucky Business/Shutterstock

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Is Your Boss Giving You Diabetes?

Posted on September 17, 2012 by admin

Do you work for a micromanaging blowhole? She’s doubling your chances of developing diabetes.

A recent Canadian study published in Occupational Medicine, found that women who lack control at work are twice as likely to develop diabetes than those who have workplace autonomy. The nine-year study followed 7,443 employees, surveying both their workplace environments and prevalence of diabetes. While none of the participants had diabetes at the start of the study, 6.9% of the women had diabetes by its end.

You don’t have to be the boss to sidestep risk. The researchers define job control as an employees’ ability to fully use your skills and make workplace decisions. Those with high job control tend to be given workplace freedom and responsibilities, while those with low job control are often micromanaged and stifled on the job. While previous research has shown that low job control can increase risk of heart disease in both men and women, this study shows that low job control only increases risk of diabetes in women, not men.

Why Women Are at Risk
While the study didn’t directly investigate why low job control leads to diabetes in women and not men (follow-up studies, anyone?), researchers believe it could have to do with the way men and women respond to stress: Women’s hormonal makeup makes us more likely to turn to unhealthy habits like eating high-fat, high-sugar “comfort foods”. What’s more, women have a tougher time lowering their cortisol stress hormone levels. When levels remain high, this can affect how the body handles sugars and fat which can lead to obesity, a precursor to diabetes, says Kathleen Hall, Ph.D., founder of the Stress Institute.

Another reason could be career choice. Women are less likely to get exercise through their jobs, which can actually reduce stress through the release of endorphins.

What’s a Micromanaged Girl to Do?
“Realize that stress comes from the inside out. You can’t eliminate all of your stressors, but you can change how you respond to them,” says Hall, who notes that the job market has many emotionally-battered employees in a bind. So while you ask—and then wait—for that promotion, focus on managing your stress at work, she says. When your stress hormone levels lower, your body can use its energy for more productive things, like earning that promotion. Just remember: S-E-L-F:

S is for Serenity. “Take your brain somewhere else outside of work,” says Hall. How do you get to your happy place? Go there twice during each workday: Listen to music, practice deep breathing, or look at puppies on Pinterest for 3-5 minutes, says Hall. “The brain absolutely changes immediately,” Hall says. The result? More energy and less stress.

E is for Exercise… and endorphins. Walk the halls, take the stairs, or yoga it up in your cubicle. Walking around every few hours is associated with a 40% reduction in chronic diseases, and can slash stress big time, says Hall. Check out these seated yoga stretches that you can do at work—without too many weird looks from your colleagues.

L is for Love. Call someone during the day for some words of encouragement, says Hall. Studies show that even a 2- to 3-minute phone conversation between meetings can raise feel-good oxytocin and dopamine levels in the brain big time. Both have been linked to better moods and more energy.

F is for Food. “Our five senses get starved at work,” says Hall, who recommends accessorizing your office with everything from pictures and throws to headphones and scented candles (just don’t light them to avoid the wrath of HR). And lucky for those who prefer the sense of taste, food does a lot for a zapped brain. Stock your desk drawer with foods that are high in vitamin B6, such as bananas, seeds, and nuts: they help the body produce mood-boosting, attention-focusing serotonin. Check out more foods that fight stress.

photo: Hemera Technologies/AbleStock.com/Thinkstock

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Tag Archives: Boss

4 Ways to Earn Points With Your Boss

5 Money Lies Your Boss Is Telling You

How to Ask Your Boss for Feedback

Work From Home—Without Pissing Off Your Boss

Is Your Boss Giving You Diabetes?