This week’s guru
It’s official! Men are dozier than women
Men are far more likely to doze off in the middle of the day than women a
study into workplace sleeping finds.
The survey of nearly 6,000 staff finds around 7 per cent of people regularly
fall asleep in the office. It reveals that managers and supervisors are more
likely to nap on the job than people in junior positions, while older workers,
smokers and women are less likely to fall asleep at their desk.
However, the study by Stockholm’s National Institute for Psychological
Factors and Health, finds no evidence that such siestas boost performance.
Guru, whose afternoon concentration would not be the same without his daily
power nap, is not surprised such a large proportion of staff nod off at work.
Despite the research findings Guru remains convinced of the benefits of his
post-lunch snooze and he is in good company – Winston Churchill, Albert
Einstein, Napoleon Bonaparte and errr…. Ronald Reagan were all regular
mid-afternoon sleepers.
Fragrant Mary at odds with PA over e-mails
Personnel Today has been grabbing the limelight after its survey with KLegal
revealed internet and e-mail misuse at work is the biggest single disciplinary
problem for firms.
Coincidentally, the next day the issue of improper use of personal e-mails
hit the head-lines again as details emerged from an employment tribunal
concerning Mary Archer and her former PA who was claiming unfair dismissal.
Mrs Archer told the tribunal Jane Williams had been sending rude and
indiscreet e-mails about her to friends.
Williams claimed that Archer was a difficult and mean boss.
Of course, if Archer, famously described by a judge as a ‘fragrant’, had
read our magazine, she would have had a specific policy on internet use by
staff and ensured that Williams was well aware of it. But then with a hubby
like Jeffrey, it’s probably difficult to concentrate on best practice.
Risk strategy management down the Tubes
Guru has always encouraged disciples to be on the leading edge of the risk
management debate. After all, HR can be a risky business with pitfalls inherent
in everything from recruitment to health and safety.
He thought he had risk covered, but research on the Tube has taken it in a
new direction.
First we’re told that a dusty journey on the underground is equivalent to
inhaling Granny’s woodbines. Now we find we are being transported in
temp-eratures that breach regulations for the movement of livestock.
Guru is exasperated with a nation that worries more about its donkey
sanctuaries than a transport system that supports and promotes the wellbeing of
working people.
Would further strikes on the Tube be a blessing in disguise?
Mag staves off natives’ hunger pangs
Guru is always eager to learn about the origins of terms used by the HR
profession, so he was grateful when training consultant Paul Lamb used his trip
to Borneo to shed light on the history behind ‘headhunting’.
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Apparently, the term originated from the Kelabit, Kayan and Iban people who
used to take enemies’ heads as trophies and eat their brains.
Paul, pictured at the start of the trail, was lucky not to become a snack
for the hungry locals himself – some of whom still practice cannibalism. He
managed to escape the cooking pot by exchanging his life for the latest issue
of Personnel Today in a deal with the local Kayan chief who needed an update on
work-life balance issues.
