It’s Thursday afternoon and you’re snailing your way to the end of the work week. One peppy co-worker remarks “this is my Friday” because they’re taking the real Friday off. You groan and begin to scrutinize society’s five-day work week. How did the universe decide weekends should only be two days? Well, maybe it’s time for the cosmos to reorder itself. Perpetual Guardian, an Auckland-based trustee company, became New Zealand’s first major business to experiment with “four days’ work for five days’ pay” earlier this year. Over the course of the two-month trial, researchers found that employe... view article details

Seventy-two years ago, the house I grew up in was occupied by the DeLong family: a husband and wife, one son, two daughters. The husband worked as a salesman, his son as a clerk. None of the women held a job. The neighbors were laborers and waitresses and machinists. One industrious man worked 60-hour weeks at a poultry farm; another unfortunate resident had been unemployed for more than three years when census-takers knocked on his door in 1940. For many of us today, working means cubicles and computers and commutes. It means colleagues who have graduated high school, and many who have also f... view article details

So says this week's Salary Talk guest, Kevin Hogan, the author of the international best-selling 'The Science of Influence: How to Get Anyone to Say 'Yes' in 8 Minutes or Less.' Hogan has spent his life delving into the subtleties of persuasion and discovering how to influence people in every way possible. And today, he's sharing his secrets with all of you. For instance, did you know people are more than twice as likely to say yes to your request if you've spoken it into their right ear? And your chances of positively influencing someone increase exponentially in dim lighting. Conversely, peo... view article details

You have a proposal due at 2 p.m., a meeting at 3 p.m., and a conference call at 4 p.m. Then, after work, there are kids to be shuttled to dance lessons, groceries to be shopped for and laundry that just isn't going to wash itself. And weren't you thinking about going to the gym sometime today?Just about everyone with a job knows the feeling of trying to squeeze work, family and personal activities into a very finite amount of time. And the busier we get, the more the pressure builds. How can you focus on your monthly sales report when you are also mentally calibrating a car pool schedule?But ... view article details

Getting ahead at work and becoming a leader isn't just about hard work. You have to be able to relate to people, read them and their emotions and win them over. And that goes for people above you and those you eventually hope to have working under you. You truly need to have 360 degrees of influence.Harrison Monarth wrote the book '360 Degrees of Influence: Get Everyone to Follow Your Lead on Your Way to the Top,' and is this week's guest on the podcast. Monarth talks about influencing people at all levels, knowing your audience and why understanding and possessing emotional intelligence are v... view article details

Quick -- what's your most important business skill? Give up? It's your personality. And until you understand what personality type you are and how you can successfully mesh with others, you'll never truly reach your maximum potential.That's the message from Kate Ward, author of 'Personality Style at Work: The Secret to Working with (Almost) Anyone,' who uses a personality style model that categorizes people into distinct categories based on qualities such as assertiveness and expressiveness. As this week's guest on Salary Talk, Kate explains the different personality styles to Wendy and Aaron,... view article details

Telecommuting Can Increase Employee Satisfaction and Productivity Research conducted by Pennsylvania State University suggests myriad benefits of working from home. Telecommuting can reduce business expenses significantly and increase employee satisfaction. Here are five reasons companies should consider allowing employees to telecommute on a regular basis. 1. Less Wasted Time Employees working from home have more control over their work environments. Working from home can eliminate the headaches and hassles involved with traveling to work, and employees can invest more time in performing... view article details

Women are far less likely than men to negotiate at work, which typically costs women more than half a million dollars in earnings over the course of their respective careers, according to Linda Babcock and Sara Lashever, authors of the book Women Don’t Ask.The authors conducted multiple studies that found women miss out by failing to negotiate salary, promotions and other advancement opportunities that men commonly and aggressively pursue. The reluctance of female employees to advocate for themselves is often the difference between climbing the career ladder at a healthy pace and not climbing ... view article details

Q: Are verbal agreements legally binding? I was recruited by my current employer through a management recruiting firm for a lateral position. The recruitment came with a verbal agreement that I would move into my supervisor's position in two to three years, after he moved back to the division headquarters. Now that he's moving back, the new plant manager has decided not to honor that agreement and the HR manager tells me no one is guaranteed a promotion.A: I'm not a lawyer - and I don't play one on TV - but I never take verbal agreements seriously. If your supervisor planned to move you into a... view article details

It's all negotiable. Every new job - every performance review, in fact - is an opportunity to negotiate base salary, various kinds of bonuses, benefits, stock options, and other incentives that add to job satisfaction and provide financial security. Taking control of your job search before your job offer and conducting a smart search that takes into account more than just financial considerations can also lead to that elusive condition called happiness. Are ... view article details