Quick Thought – What Does It Say That You Need To Shutdown Your Business for People to get a Break?
If the issue is that people are getting burned out because they are either not taking time off, are continuing to work during their time off to avoid being overwhelmed with work that piled up, or are actually being contacted by their team members during their time off, how about we figure out how to create a culture that allows people to disconnect during their time off, instead of literally just closing up shop for a week? … Read More
Linked: The shortage of tech workers is about to become an even bigger problem for everyone
The shift in tech skills is one of the contributing factors, but it’s not that technology has been changing, because that ALWAYS happens. It’s the insistence that employers can find people with a skill that didn’t even exist 2-3 years ago instead of actually developing the people they already have, or hiring people who can continue to adjust and learn these skills.
How many jobs are going unfilled because you’re looking for someone with expertise in a technology that has only been around for the last 1-2 years? How do you expect there to be a bunch of experts on this technology? How do you expect recent graduates to be familiar with the technology that their college curriculum hasn’t even caught up to yet?
It’s not possible. So you might want to start adjusting your hiring, recruitment, and staff development processes, because that’s how you shrink the talent gap, by creating the talent yourself.… Read More
Linked: Forget ‘networking’ — just connect with people you find interesting
Justin also has some good advice for how to “be a good hang” online and make friends. I know more than a few people who could use that advice to be a little less awkward online. (i.e. Compliment people’s work, not their appearance, um yes!)
Check it out at the link below, but if I was going to give my own take on that idea, is that for my own social media I usually try and consider what I have to offer the people who choose to follow me. I have this blog, obviously. I can share some other, useful, information, and even a laugh or two mixed in.
For me, most of what I do online goes back to my background in training. I learn something, and I want to share that with others. So I do.
And I try not to be “cringey”. ;-)… Read More
Linked: Companies hope new benefits will solve your mental health issues. Don’t fall for it.
It’s cool if your company wants to provide an assistance program or pay for access to an app that will help with meditation, etc. Good for them. But, if the source of your mental health issues is the day-to-day stress of working in an understaffed, toxic, environment, for far less money than you’re worth, and they won’t address that? How much do they really care?
Fixing that is going to require a lot more, as the article below points out. How many organizations are willing to make those kinds of changes?… Read More
Just Doing What’s In Front of You
Let’s face it, we all have things that we haven’t had space for in the last couple of years. If you are holding off on using PTO because you can’t make the big travel adventure happen right now, why not use that time to create that space? Personally, we had a couple of weeks in October scheduled for an anniversary trip overseas that has since been canceled. I haven’t canceled the PTO for one simple reason, I still want to use those 2 weeks to create the space, mentally, to do some of the things I’ve been too busy to do, like figure out where I actually want my career to go instead of just doing the work that’s in front of me, or indulge in some of those hobbies that have fallen by the wayside, or maybe even try and catch up with some friends virtually.
We all need that space, and it keeps getting harder and harder to find it. There’s nothing wrong with doing the work that is in front of us, professionally and personally. Frankly, if you can keep going and getting those things done in this environment, you are to be commended. On the other hand, just doing that prevents us from making changes and doing things differently. It keeps us stuck, and I know far too many people who are stuck right now, waiting for the space to make changes.
Make that space, any way you can. Give yourself the PTO you deserve. … Read More
Ransomware Gangs Are Mostly Just Following the Easy Money
I saw a few references to this KELA study of ransomware based on doing some digging around the dark web to see what people were looking for. I wasn’t necessarily surprised by what they found, because it seems relatively obvious, but I was a little surprised to see that it’s pretty well-thought-out. I guess I had been working on an assumption that folks using ransomware were just throwing out a wide net and catching whatever they could, but it seems like maybe they are thinking a bit more about what they are doing. … Read More
Linked: How’d they do it without you?
Seth’s point here is one many workers would do well to remember:
“It’s easy to use our indispensability as fuel. Fuel to speak up and contribute. That’s important. But it’s also possible for that same instinct to backfire, and for us to believe that if we don’t do it, it won’t get done right.
That’s unlikely.”… Read More
