• It’s About Being Intentional

    ByMike McBride Reading Time: 3 minutes

    As I said, it’s not that being a remote worker means we won’t have any friends. We just have to be more intentional about it. We have to find ways to interact socially with our current friends and be in spaces, physical and virtual, where we can meet new people.

    You’ll read plenty of hot takes about remote work. Whether it be how difficult it is to build any culture or connect with your team, you’ll get lonely, you won’t get promoted, or mentored, etc. It’s not that the authors of these posts are lying to you, but they are also unlikely to point out that none of these things have to be the way they are. They can all be overcome when someone decides to act with intention.

  • Police Auctioned Mobile Devices – Complete with Illegal Data!

    ByMike McBride Reading Time: 2 minutes

    Imagine, if you will an identity thief caught in the act by law enforcement. As part of the evidence collection, they find a mobile device with a whole bunch of stolen credit cards, driver’s licenses, and other data that was in the process of being used by said thief, to steal the identities of dozens of people.

    That evidence sits in the property room until such a time as the law says it’s safe for the law enforcement agency to get rid of it, at which time the device is put up for auction.

    You would think that before auctioning off these devices with illegally-gotten and dangerous information on them, the various agencies would have wiped them clean, no?

    According to the University of Maryland, you’d be completely wrong.

  • Do You Know Why Employees Leave? Do You Know Why They Stay?

    ByMike McBride Reading Time: 4 minutes

    My point isn’t to toot my own horn. It’s to give you a concrete example of what a difference sitting and talking to your employees can make in terms of understanding what works for them, or doesn’t work for them in the workplace. A survey has a purpose, especially when you realize that meeting one on one with all of your employees doesn’t scale very far. If you really want to know what’s going on, though, don’t wait for someone to leave so you conduct an exit interview. A stay interview might prevent them from leaving in the first place.

    And for god’s sake, conduct exit interviews too, and be willing to act on them. These people are telling you what went wrong, why wouldn’t you want to know that?

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    Employees and Employers Have Roles to Play in Career Development

    ByMike McBride Reading Time: 1 minute

    It is in your best interest to have employees who are growing and advancing in their careers. One is because they continue to become more valuable to the organization, which you need. Secondly, as they grow and become more valuable they are also more likely to stay. Turnover is costly. The organization can provide mentors and other resources that would be more difficult to do on their own. In return, they get employees who grow with the organization. Who wouldn’t want that?