Yahoo’s making workflex news again with its announcement today it’s beefing up paid maternity leave for men and women.

It’s heartening news from the tech company whose CEO Marissa Mayer came under fire recently for announcing a telecommuting ban.

As you can imagine, social media was all a twitter with Yahoo’s leave decision today with some employees seeing the move as further proof that working parents get special treatment when it comes to flexible work arrangements.

Here’s a tweet from @DickTracyOrlndo, who retweeted my tweet about Yahoo’s announcement:

Kidless people hosed again. MT @careerdiva: Yahoo expands maternity leave after banning telecommuting

The feeling of being hosed at work in this regard haunts not only employees but employers, who often wonder if these types of workflex programs can ever truly be seen as equitable. No good supervisors wants to be perceived as caring more about one group of employees than another. And no worker wants to think they’re not getting the same treatment as other works, especially if they work just as hard. (more…)

There’s been all this hoopla over companies such as Yahoo and Best Buy slashing telecommuting programs, but what about companies that embrace having their employees work from home?

Those employers are reaping the benefits. Here’s one great example from Pixar, and of course it’s animated:

What do you call the process by which an employer who offered flexible work arrangements to employees for years suddenly decides to retrograde flexibility?

Unflexing.

I decided to give it a name because it seems to be a small but growing trend in Corporate America. First Bank of America announced late last year it would be scaling back its flexible work arrangements; and just last week Yahoo threw its hat in the unflexing ring by sending out a memo to employees saying telecommuting is soon to be a perk of the past.

The memo was included in an All Things D article. Here’s an excerpt:

We need to be one Yahoo!, and that starts with physically being together.
Beginning in June, we’re asking all employees with work-from-home arrangements to work in Yahoo! offices.

It’s a disturbing trend that doesn’t seem to make a lot of business sense if (more…)

By Kelly Sakai

We’re all for the lastest gadgets to help employees get their work done faster, but this may be pushing the work-life envelope a bit too far.

I heard about a new product coming out that’s supposed to solve that pesky problem of juggling chopsticks, a soup spoon and your iPhone all at the same time that you’re trying eat a bowl of ramen noodles. The Anti-loneliness Ramen Bowl (the name already makes me feel a little sad) makes it possible for you to check your email, read your books, check in with social networks and presumably FaceTime with someone without actually taking a lunch break.

But if your employees feel compelled to check email while risking choking on noodles at lunch, (more…)

Government workers can’t get a break.

They’ve become the target of endless negative attacks. Many pundits keep beating the drum that government should operate more like Corporate America when it comes to the workforce. Businesses, not government bureaucrats, know how to save money and motivate employees, they stress.

Turns out, few really believe government managers should take a page from private business managers.

Last night CNN did a scathing piece on the General Services Administration saying they uncovered evidence of wasteful spending. The government agency reportedly provided cooking classes for employees as part of a team-building exercise.

The GSA has come under fire recently for a host of spending decisions on employees but this particular one got CNN’s Anderson Cooper up in arms last night. Cooper is still mad they went to Vegas on the tax-payers dime last year for a conference.

You would think the team-building cooking classes would be getting kudos from critics of how the government works. Team-building workshops are a key tool used by private corporations, including Turner Broadcasting, the owners of CNN. (more…)

I recently had a to-do list meltdown.

I keep a written list in a reporter’s note book of things I have to do, but I decided to add another list for up-coming stories and story ideas. My brain is always overflowing with ideas but I’ve found if I don’t write them down right away those ideas disappear back into that creative nook in my head and never come out again.

Well, somehow I got both lists mixed up and inadvertently started yet another to-do list in another book, and somehow I ended up using that one as a make-shift plate for my midday snack, and couldn’t find it under the rubble.

All to-do list hell broke loose. What had I finished? What was left to do? Were the words written in my chicken scratch — “worker, fired” — a reminder to email someone or a story idea?

I sat there frustrated, wondering why the heck I needed these lists anyway. I never used to rely on them? Was my brain aging?

Turns out, I’m not alone. According to a Linkedin study released this week, 63 percent of professionals often keep to-do lists. And guess who needs them the most? (more…)

Do you want to know what keeps your human resources department up at night? Turns out many still don’t know the ins and outs of one big key employee benefit, Family and Medical Leave.

Many employees mock HR departments and give them little credit for their work, but they’re the people many of you go to to find out about your benefits, your rights, and general information on how thinks work at your employer.

Where do HR folks go to ask questions? Turns out, some have access to a hotline, and you may be surprised at what they’re asking about most.

No, it’s not about whether they can snoop on your Facebook account, or how they should implement yet another training session. What’s got them asking the most questions is your requests for time off, especially as it relates to Family and Medical Leave Act, or FMLA, among other workplace basics. (more…)

In honor of International Women’s Day, we should bring back the power suits of the 1980s. I know, they were hideous, but it turns out they may have actually given gals magical powers.

A study by researchers at Kellogg University found that what we wear impacts how we feel about ourselves and how we perform in our jobs.

“Clothes can have profound and systematic psychological and behavioral consequences for their wearers,” according to a study on the effects of clothing on employees by professors at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, which was published in the recent issue of the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology.

The research found that work garb associated with “attentiveness and carefulness” actually makes workers more attentive and careful. (more…)

There is no other workplace ritual that inspires dread and disdain like the performance review. For years, I’ve been hearing from employees and managers who just hate the process.

According to a Workforce Management article, most of you don’t even agree with them.

More than half (51 percent) of 631 respondents believe reviews don’t provide accurate appraisals of their work, and nearly one-fourth dread them, according to the 2011 Globoforce Workforce Mood Tracker, a new semiannual online survey conducted by Globoforce, a business software developer with headquarters in Southborough, Massachusetts, and Dublin, Ireland.

I’ve written before about how some management gurus are waging war on the practice, but this morning I got an email from an expert who says employees should welcome reviews. (more…)

Reading business books, listening to leadership gurus, and even perusing the help wanted ads lately is like a hellish trip down jargon lane.

One of my least favorites is “critical thinker.” Everyone wants one of those it seems, even if you’re applying for a job in customer service, or as a registered nurse. And job postings including everyone from accounting clerks to Aflac Insurance sales people have to “think outside the box” these days.

There’s so much of this corporate lingo going around employees would like to annihilate them all. Which are most hated? (more…)