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Want To Know If Your Passion For Work Equates To Being A Workaholic?

April 2nd, 2019 | Posted by ATS in Absence Management | Benefit Accruals | Career | Employee Productivity | Employee Self Service | Time and Attendance Blog, Workforce Management Software - (Comments Off on Want To Know If Your Passion For Work Equates To Being A Workaholic?)

Some of us really love our jobs to the point of being passionate about it and that’s ok. However, it’s when our job becomes an obsession and everything else in our lives becomes secondary to it, that’s when you know, or at least should know, there is a problem. You can still love your job and make time for family and friends and request time-off.  

Here are some useful tips from an article titled, (5 Signs You’re Addicted To Work) by Priyansha Mistry that can help you determine if you are a workaholic.

1) “When you always spend much more time than allocated working.

It’s understandable that some days will require extra time to beat deadlines. This is a different case when you always spend time not allocated to working with a fear of failing. Doing so means you are allowing your work to cheaply override other important things in your life, that’s a sign of work addiction.

2) If you have neglected advise from others to cut down working hours.

A behavior noticed by more than two persons independently is not likely a false recognition. The individuals asking you to cut down working hours are seeing your attitude at work than you do.

3) You hate being prohibited at work

If you can’t have a moment without thinking about how to contribute at work, taking your work materials to vacations, feel you are missing out each time you have to spend a day or hours of work doing something else, you are probably addicted to work. It’s becoming a drug that makes you function.

4) You think of how you can free up more time to work

This means you are willing to de-prioritize your hobbies, cut down time you should spend with your family or anything else to give you extra time for work. Something is not normal; you may be dealing with work addiction.

5) You work too much that it has affected your health

This is a terrible situation difficult to realize and gradually take the victims down. It could be psychological or even physical health. If you’re the type that will sit for too long knowing it’s not good for your spine and still wish to sacrifice it to get so much done regularly, there’s a red flag. If you can observe a little change in your health as a result of extra contributions you’re making at work, there’s a big chance you’re a workaholic”.

Some of us spend more time at work than anywhere else, so it goes without saying, that it should be a factor in our happiness. That said, work should not be the only place where we derive all our happiness.

Do you identify with any of above-mentioned signs? If so, it might be time to book that vacation that you have been putting off for a couple of years.  

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The Work Is Important And The Compensation Should Reflect That As Well

September 6th, 2017 | Posted by ATS in Careers | HR | Time and Attendance Blog, Workforce Management Software - (Comments Off on The Work Is Important And The Compensation Should Reflect That As Well)

Just scan the Internet and you will find a plethora of sites giving advice on how potential employees should approach the conversation of compensation during an interview. Many of these published articles suggest using a tepid approach, while others go insofar to suggest that the topic should addressed by the candidate only after the employer brings it up. In other words, discuss everything else, but when it comes to subject of compensation, simply dance around it. No human being is going to work for free or for less than they worth, and if they do, it won’t be for very long, regardless the size of the company or its perceived stature.

The Work Is Important And The Compensation Should Reflect That As Well

Why then is it that some companies, are interested in discussing a  candidate’s qualifications for the job that they are trying to fill, yet remain reluctant to discuss the compensation at the onset or deemed it as being rude if the candidate brings it up? At ATS, one of the first things our recruiters address is the compensation. And why not, the candidate has obviously read the job description otherwise, they would not (at least we hope) have applied for the position. Our recruiters say this approach to dealing with compensation, puts the candidates at ease and they can go about discussing the other areas of the job as it relates to the candidate suitability.

A wonderful and recent post by titled; We Want Meaningful Work and a Meaningful Paycheck by Ted Sackett, for TLNT.com sums up employee compensation debate this way;

“I’m going to stop fighting. For years I’ve been fighting morons who claim that millennials would rather do “meaningful work” than making money. That is actually one big lie, I believe perpetuated by employers who don’t want to pay market wages! (Conspiracy Theory Alert!!!) Actually, it showed up on a bunch of studies that were poorly worded and confusing.

The reality is money matters until it doesn’t.

Millennials and almost any other human on the planet would love to do work that is “meaningful” and something they enjoy doing. That isn’t rocket science. But, if you’re not at least making a fair market wage, money is the most important thing for the majority of people.

The studies that said millennials would prefer meaningful work over money, didn’t make it clear about the money. It was put to them as if it was a decision about “more” money or “meaningful” work, what would they choose. The perception being that you are already making “good” money, so now what do you want? More money, or meaningful work, or something else. In that case, the majority of people choose other things because we don’t want to come across as greedy.”

The fair compensation debate has been boiling beneath the surface for quite some time and has morphed into proposed wage hikes across several jurisdictions. And, this has left the pro and those against wage hikes, tied up in knots.

Bottom line:

Everyone wants to be in a job that values their skills and where they also feel a sense of belonging. We are, after all, social creatures. However, it is just as important, that candidates feel they are being fairly compensated. Otherwise, all you will be left with is a revolving, high turnover door.

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Can You Keep Your Sanity In A Toxic Work Environment?

April 18th, 2017 | Posted by ATS in Benefit Accruals | Careers | Managers | Office | Workplace - (Comments Off on Can You Keep Your Sanity In A Toxic Work Environment?)

Who wants to be part of a work environment that has bad managers, unhappy workers, and is rife with gossip and innuendo on a daily basis? Hopefully, very few people if any at all. In his article, 6 toxic work habits that will kill your office culture  Marcel Schwantes describes some of the reasons that can make some work cultures unbearable. We selected three out of the six reasons, in this article, which are signals that you should start looking for another job when you notice these dysfunctional patterns in your workplace.

Can You Keep Your Sanity In A Toxic Work Environment?

“Negative cliques and gossipers
One clear sign of a toxic work environment is a group of disgruntled employees actively acting out their unhappiness. It’s easy to spot them–they’ll congregate in hush-hush circles around cubicles after meetings to put a negative spin on what just transpired.

They are quick to gossip, and even quicker to crucify leadership and company direction. They’re basically corporate teenagers whose time with the company is about to expire, and who now rely on each other for strength and safety. Keep a close eye out for their whereabouts; they may go out of their way to befriend new hires to vilify someone or something and spread their cancer.

Dictator Managers
The feeling of watching your back (for your manager’s whereabouts) is never a pleasant one. It means you either fear or loathe your manager, and facing him or her during the day probably means bad news because the exchange is never positive. This type of manager will create a toxic culture of distrust where it’s not safe to disclose information, offer input, or work in close collaboration. Job survival under a dictatorship is day-to-day, due to the unpredictability of the environment you’re in. Everybody is on his or her own. Trusting your peers is risky–they may really be your enemies. Trusting your manager is just corporate suicide. Consider updating your resume.

Sabotage
This example is quite astonishing if you find yourself sharing space with this toxic co-worker. They will go way out of their way to sabotage anything you’re trying to get done, putting obstacles in your way, and spreading rumors (see “Negative cliques and gossipers,” above). There’s usually a personal vendetta at work here. Perhaps you’re up for a promotion and your co-worker, who thinks he is more deserving, is not. Now he’s out to make your life miserable, and trying to spin a negative campaign against you. Now you’re left with covering your bases to protect yourself — writing more detailed emails than usual, CC’ing and BCC’ing more people than normal, documenting everything, and making backup copies of stuff in the event a false accusation comes your way.”

You can read the rest of the article on Inc.com. Basically, if you decide to continuing working for a company that has many of the toxic habits described above, you should take advantage the benefit plan-especially, if it includes therapy. The alternatives, are of course, to go about your work and ignore the dysfunction happening (might be difficult to do) around you, or to start actively looking for a new job to regain your sanity and well being.

ATS is Canada’s foremost time and attendance company and offers a broad of comprehensive business management software solutions that streamlines the collection, calculation, and reporting of employee hours for workforce management and eliminates the manual tasks of payroll preparation, increasing efficiency and reducing errors in corporate payroll departments.

To learn more, or to download a demonstration or attend a bi-weekly webinar go to our website.

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