Employers know that their employees need a break once in a while. That's why companies offer paid time off (PTO) in the form of vacation days, holidays, personal leave, and sick leave. Some employers' plans offer a specific amount of days for each form of PTO, while others, particularly in the healthcare and financial industries, provide one set amount of paid days off that can be used for various reasons at the employee's discretion. The definition of paid time off is any time not worked by an employee for which the regular rate, a fixed or a prorated amount of pay, is accrued and paid to th... view article details

Welcome Back for Another Round of Wasting Time at Work Do you waste time at work? Are you reading this in the office right now while you’re supposed to be working? Don’t worry, you’re not alone.Our annual “Wasting Time at Work” survey is back and better (or worse if you’re an employer) than ever. We asked people about their work habits, whether or not they take breaks during the day, what they do in that time, and much more. More than 750 of you answered us to provide some great insight into the habits of American workers.So, before you start filling out March Madness brackets, take s... view article details

An interview is the only time during the hiring process when you and your interviewer can form a mutual relationship based on observation and communication. You're both on the same level: the interviewer wants to do his or her best to get to know you, answer your questions, and find out if you would be a good fit for the job and the company.Despite its etiquette and formality, your interview can yield a wealth of information. The key to a successful interview is to bring some knowledge with you yet keep your eyes open for the intangibles, such as office culture and the staff's personalities. Y... view article details

Reason No. 1: Your Leadership Doesn’t Care Whenever people attend a cocktail party, invariably someone in the room will have an occupation that others will solicit for some (free) advice. Medical doctors are asked “Does this mole look cancerous to you?” Car mechanics are queried whether the “chunka-chunka” sound the engine makes means a new transmission is needed. And as an industrial/organizational psychologist, I get interrogated about “Why is my company such a lousy place to work? Why do I hate working there?” There can be any number of specific reasons why one’s work experience is l... view article details

Before You Relocate, Pick the Strategy That Makes Sense for You On a cold January day many years ago, Eric was visiting his parents and sat down for a nice Sunday night dinner. He had an announcement. After living his entire life on the east coast, he declared that he wanted to find a new job in a different part of the country. By the end of the summer, he wanted to live in one of his target cities: Seattle, San Francisco, or Austin. His parents, who had always been supportive, listened intently. His mom chimed in, “That sounds exciting. When you get a job offer, make sure you negotiate for... view article details

Let’s get a few things straight from the start:My kids (ages 18, 16, 7) are the most important thing, along with my wife, in my life. I love them so much it hurtsI work damn hard to make a lot of moneyI really don't care what anyone else thinksIt has taken me decades to understand the importance of #3As 21st century fathers we are in a double bind. We are suppose to be providers, making tons of money, and yet at the same time be hands-on dads. If feminism was born out of the desire of women to leave home and be treated equally in the workplace, giving rise to the Super Woman phenomenon in whic... view article details

A company's pay structure is the method of administering its pay philosophy. The two leading types of pay structures are the internal equity method, which uses a tightly constructed grid to ensure that each job is compensated according to the jobs above and below it in a hierarchy, and market pricing, where each job in an organization is tied to the prevailing market rate.A company needs job descriptions for all its positions so that people know where they fall within the organization. A pay structure helps answer questions about who's who, what each person's role is, and why people are compen... view article details

It's the First & Most Important Question of the Interview This is the first of a two-part series on successful interviewing techniques.When you sit down for a job interview at a new company, the first question from the hiring manager is rarely going to be, “Why don’t you start out by telling me a little bit about your salary.”In fact, anyone that’s been on a number of interviews knows that the opening question they’ll most likely be asked is, “Tell me a little bit about yourself.”However, just because the topic of salary might not come up until the very end of the first interview -- i... view article details

Q. I work for a company that pays me $72,000 a year with no bonus. However, they match 50 cents to the dollar on my 401(k) plan. The company I'm interviewing with has no matching contributions, but they have averaged bonuses of 11 percent over the past five years and 20 percent over the past three years. How should I calculate a base salary with bonus vs. my current base with no bonus?A. Companies have a certain amount of money to spend on variable pay and/or benefits. The senior management of a company may value long-term investment higher than short-term incentives. And companies are more li... view article details

It Starts with the CEO Chief executive officers (CEOs) get paid lots of money for being the top employees in the company. Why do they get paid so much? Like athletes and actors, CEOs provide a level of talent that is required to produce the desired product - in this case, a strongly performing company. The skills and responsibilities that come with the job of CEO are extreme and the number of people who can fill these roles is limited. That is why the market has determined that people with these skills are worth a lot of money to their companies. Only about 20 percent of a CEO's pay is base... view article details