What’s Not Good About Hiring Younger Workers?

Considering that the retirement age for the reliable baby boomers is fast approaching, it is inevitable for younger leaders get their spot in the corporate world. In comparison to the boomers, many of the younger workers join the workforce after they graduate from college, and most of them haven’t even tried living separately with their parents. While it is true that they are more energetic and enthusiastic about working, they have very unique work habits, which many people consider as disadvantages for employers.

Addiction to Modern Technology
A great majority of younger workers haven’t had any experience using a desk phone. They are more familiar with computers, mobile phones, and the internet. As a matter of fact, they do almost all their daily tasks using the apps in their smart phones. It is also common for young people to rely so much on instant messaging and using social networking sites to communicate with other people. For them, the devices around them are a necessity rather that a distraction from work. The risk here is that they may spend so much time using such technologies that they may already lack the time to focus on their work.

No Pressure to Get Ahead
In the eyes of the younger generation, everyone could be a winner and a hero. Competition for them isn’t something positive, but rather a source of pressure and stress. In fact, what matters for them is the effort they put in to their work. They think that exerting effort alone is enough to be considered valuable. This isn’t a bad thing, of course, but this could mean being less motivated to excel and get better.

Inability to Accept Feedback
With the mindset of being winners and the lack of drive to push harder, young workers typically find it very hard to accept negative feedback. As we all know, a person’s ability to recognize their mistakes and accept negative comments from others is crucial to the development of their skills. Every member of a team also has to be open-minded so that there is always room for improvement individually and as a group.

Lack of Leadership Skills
One of the challenges being faced by organizations these days is the fact that they need to hire young managers and supervisors who will then lead more veteran staff members. The problem with their youth is that they don’t have enough management experience to suitably become a leader. Many young people are also said to lack interpersonal communications skills, which, as we all know, are crucial to building a good relationship among team members. Thus, companies need to find ways to quickly help these younger people develop the necessary skills to become good leaders. Fortunately, there are career coaching centres around that offer counseling services to help mold good and effective leaders.

How You Could Stop Being a Workaholic

Being a workaholic seems to be a trend among us these days, perhaps because of the increasing cost of living these days and the competitiveness of the current job market. This isn’t something to celebrate about, however, because there actually are more cons than pros in working way too much. In fact, according to studies, the level of productivity of a person declines considerably even before they call it a day at work. In short, those who work for too many hours in a day are likely to be less productive than those who work just the right number of hours. 

If you want to remain productive, follow these tips on how you could save your life from getting overwhelmed with work.

1. Have a time limit for work. It would be of great help if you could set a specific limit on the number of hours you are working. For instance, you could aim to be home by 6pm every day, or you could also allot a particular number of hours doing a specific task. By having a set schedule, it will be easier for you to focus and be efficient.

2. Find a worthwhile hobby. Think of an activity that you truly enjoy doing, and that is in no way connected with whatever you do at work. Workaholic people always think they are short of time to have any hobby, but having a hobby that you love can make you even more motivated to work. Plus, having a pastime activity is an effective way of keeping the balance between your life and your work.

3. Spend some quality time with the people you love. One of the primary reasons you are working hard is actually your family and to give them a better life. Thus, it makes no sense at all to keep taking them for granted just because you are so preoccupied with your job. Especially if you’ve got kids, you should treasure the time that they are still young and always at home. For sure, it won’t be long enough before you see them leave the house one by one.

4. Aim to keep yourself healthy. We all know that overworking isn’t good for your health. Of course, you will be stressed from work most of the time, you won’t have much time to sleep, and perhaps you will not be having nutritious meals because you are always in a hurry to go to work. If you want to stay competitive for a long time, then you should realize that your greatest weapon is your health. Besides, there is no way you could enjoy career advancement if you are in the hospital bed already.

What You Can Do to Stay Focused at Work

You will surely agree when I say that one of the most difficult things to do at work is to concentrate. There are so many distractions around that can keep us from finishing the tasks we are supposed to complete. Nevertheless, employees need to do a better job of staying well disciplined to make sure they will have a productive day at work. If you are finding it hard to keep your concentration when you work, here are some tips that may help you.

1. Divide your work into smaller pieces. Trying to do too many things in one day can be very overwhelming. Thus, what you’d want is to make a list of all the tasks you need to accomplish according to which ones are important. This way, your mind will be able to pay attention to a more manageable amount of information. As you finish one task, leave your desk for a while to have a short breather, and then go on to finish another task on your list.

2. Don’t forget to reward yourself for your accomplished work. There is actually nothing wrong with using your Facebook or Twitter every once in a while. You just mustn’t let them eat up your time for work. What you can do instead is use them as your reward for finishing up some work on time. Every time you complete a task on your list, you can allow yourself to visit any social media site to keep yourself updated. This way, you will have something to look forward to doing after your work is done.

3. Let the right music motivate you. Music has this unbelievable ability to keep us motivated. If you haven’t tried listening to music while working, well you may be surprised with what it can do to your mood. Choose a song that is not to noisy or distracting, but don’t go for those songs that could make you fall asleep. Pick a happy song that will just lift your spirit and keep you energized as you work.

4. Hide yourself. If you want to avoid all the unnecessary messages or emails from your coworkers or friends while you are at work, you may as well hide yourself. You can do this by turning off the chat options in your computer, or change your status to “Do Not Disturb.” If you don’t want to have even short chats with your coworkers in the office, you should always try to appear busy with your work. You may even wear your headphones to discourage those who want to have a conversation with you.

5. Keep your passion burning. Perhaps the most important factor that may affect your level of productivity at work is your passion for what you are doing. By doing what you love, there is no doubt that you will be successful in your job and your career pathways in general.