The Work Clinic

It's National Hug Your Boss Day today. Just the words 'hug your boss' make me want to cry, and I'm sure the effect on my boss is similar, if not worse.

Apparently, "Workers across the country are being asked to put their recession and job woes aside this month and take a moment to spread the love and improve their relationship with their employer on National Hug Your Boss Day."

Devised by online job board TipTopJob.com, National Hug Your Boss Day will ask employees across the UK to test the quality of their working relationship with their manager by asking them the all important "could you hug your boss" question.

Tiptop.com says that research shows that a company's progress is often hindered by poor relationships between managers and their staff, which coupled with an increase in recession redundancies, has seen a significant decline in staff morale and motivation.

I know I'm a bitter old cynic, but I find this sort of thing ridiculous. Surely a good working relationship between two adults doesn't require hugging. I can't decide whether to channel Victor Meldrew or Ebeneezer Scrooge. Bah humbug!

You'd think that being a Guardian journalist would be their dream job, but apparently not -  the paper's columnists have leapt at the chance to spend a day trying out their dream jobs. Read the article to see whether a taste of reality puts an end to their hankering.

I love making lists. So much so that - nerd that I am - I carry around a little notebook full of to-do lists. It's less about control, more about a poor memory - and the sad fact that I just like ticking things off when I've done them.

So I was delighted to spot this BBC article 'The art of list-making'. I particularly liked this statement: "Psychologists say that obsessive compulsive list makers are trying to create an illusion of control in otherwise chaotic lives."

I'm not sure I agree - it certainly won't stop me making lists - but read the article and decide for yourself.

With job cuts continuing to strike fear in all but the smuggest, a tiny ray of hope struggles through the gloom. According to recruitment firm The Synergy Group, Britain is experiencing a boom in the recruitment of 'traffic enforcement professionals' - that's traffic wardens to you and I. Phew, that's a relief!

The Synergy Group predicts a dramatic increase - this year - in the number of job opportunities in local authority parking enforcement and traffic management.

Even better, they conducted a national survey, in order to measure the public's attitude to this potential influx of traffic wardens. A bewildering 83% said that parking attendants are necessary to the smooth-running of city centres across the UK. But 53% want traffic wardens to be more understanding, and 34% want them to be more accurate in their work.

Strangest of all, 13% of respondents want more women patrolling the streets, as they're convinced the fairer sex is more lenient.

Kieran Ryan, managing director at The Synergy Group, said: "Traditionally it has been challenging to place candidates within traffic enforcement roles due to negative and unfounded stereotypes associated with the profession".

I'm not really sure what these findings tell us, but at the very least they present a new career option for all those unemployed graduates we're always hearing about.