Are Women Getting a Fair Shake in the Workplace?

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A co-worker and his wife recently brought three new lives into the world – triplets – two boys and a girl.

After all the congratulatory remarks were passed along, I stopped for a minute to wonder how the trio would be treated a couple of decades now when they go out into the working world. Trust me; their parents are likely asking can we at least enjoy them as little ones for a bit longer?

Will this young girl and millions like her find a working environment that is warm and receptive down the road or will it be cold and intimidating?

Challenges for Women at Work

While many young females are not stepping into 9 to 5 situations just yet, that day will come for millions of them and lead to an age old question, do they get treated differently than their male counterparts in the workplace?

As many successful women have worked their way up the corporate ladder, many others find themselves being left behind, whether it is salaries compared to men, opportunities for advancement or just plain respectability from their male counterparts.

As a woman in the workplace, have you found yourself the victim of?

A lesser salary than a male counterpart doing the same work;
Getting passed over for advancement opportunities;
Verbal or physical harassment.

While there are rules in place that are supposed to protect women against harassment on the job, the salary and advancement issues are two items that women have little power to fight. As even some males discover along the way, office politics can play a big role on who gets raises and the opportunities to move up the corporate ladder.

According to a recent study from CareerBuilder, 38 percent of female workers indicated they believe they are paid less than their male counterparts sporting the same skill set and experience. The study goes on to note that 39 percent of women employees think men have additional advancement opportunities within their companies, a jump of 13 percent from 2008.

Other interesting tidbits from the survey include:

45 percent of males note they make $50,000 or more, with 24 percent of females claiming the same;
10 percent of males make $100,000 or more compared to only 3 percent of females;
30 percent of males note they are in a management role compared to 21 percent of females;
36 percent of females claim that males receive more kudos for their achievements within the organization than they do.

One interesting fact from the survey was the responses males and females gave to what bothers them most with in the workplace.

Men noted that women oftentimes gossip or are too emotional or sensitive, while women claim men can be arrogant, make inappropriate comments or don’t take women at work serious.

Interestingly enough, not a lot of men claimed that women use their beauty to advance their careers along. Oftentimes, an attractive woman in the workplace must overcome misconceptions that she used her looks, flirting skills or charm to work her way up the corporate ladder.

For those men who assume that some women in their office rose up the corporate ranks with anything other than their intelligence, keep in mind that many of these same women are holding down two full-time jobs – employee and mother.

Harassment on the Job

One of the biggest challenges women face in the workplace is harassment, oftentimes in a sexual manner.

A recent AOL Jobs Survey pointed out that one in six employees has dealt with harassment on the job. Nearly 50 percent of women are more apt to report it, compared to 21 percent of men.

For those women harassed on the job, which are oftentimes females working in blue collar type jobs, the issues can include: Unwanted jokes or offensive language, inappropriate touching or other contact with a male co-worker, being asked out on dates, and being subjected to suggestive pictures or objects.

According to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), in 2010, more than 11,700 charges were brought by workers against co-workers or bosses (83.6 percent from women).

While lower pay, fewer opportunities for advancement and sexual harassment issues do persist, many women have overcome these and other obstacles to work their way up the corporate ladder.

To their credit, they overcame the naysayers who for years thought that women could be nothing more than secretaries and/or administrative assistants.

And for those males who think the secretary is a worthless position, who do you think gives the outside world its first impression of your company, handles myriad of duties and oftentimes holds the business together?

Women continue to make positive strides in the workplace, a workplace whose scenery has changed for the better in the eyes of many women and men.

Photo credit: kristisiegel.com

Dave Thomas is an expert writer on items like online marketing and is based in San Diego, California. He writes extensively for an online resource that provides expert advice on purchasing and outsourcing decisions for small business owners and entrepreneurs at Resource Nation.

Terez’s Draft Post … A Good-Bye

Filed Under Business Life, Successful Blog, Trends, Writing | 1 Comment

Passion, Reason and Success – An Impenetrable Triad

“If passion drives you, let reason hold the reins.” – Benjamin Franklin

In the blogging business, do you think that passion should make your business decisions? Probably not. But should it be the motivating force behind your work? No harm there.

I have a confession to make. I have a passion. That passion has been alive for 5 years. During that time, I’ve read, researched and learned a plethora of information. I’ve hungered for more information and found myself starved. I desired to give people what I had been craving. More information.

I spent a few months writing more than 35,000 words on the topic of black natural
hair. I spent April designing a website and compiling all of this information into an organized manner to give other naturals a whisper of the information we yearn for. This whisper will transform into a shout because my passion still burns and will grow.

What does this mean for me?

I’m not going to go into great detail about why I decided to write about natural hair. I’m not going to tell you my personal story with natural hair because I doubt that you care. What I want you to know is that this passion of mine has taken hold of my time and energy. Since I’ve always been one to keep my writing business hours at a part time level, that means letting some things go.

My guest blogging here is one of those things. Jael Strong too will cease guest blogging and focus on pursuing creative writing, her passion.

What does this mean for you?

Maybe nothing.

But, it might make think about evaluating your circumstances, including your work schedule and productivity. Are you working your passion? If you are, are you spending enough time to develop it? Are you spending too much time on it? Are you being reasonable?

Benjamin Franklin put it so well. “If passion drives you, let reason hold the reins.”

Please
be honest with yourself. There’s no sense in lying to yourself.

As for me, if you’re interested in the natural hair scene, you will see me around.

If not, know that I’m very grateful to have been here. Thank you, Liz, for the opportunity to know you and learn from your great wisdom. Thank you, readers, for checking in, commenting, tweeting and driving me to success.

And yes, I do think I’m successful, even though I’ve just recently started this endeavor.

I believe in what Pablo Picasso once said. “Action is the foundational key to all success.”

—-
Terez Howard operates TheWriteBloggers, a professional blogging service which builds clients’ authority status and net visibility. She has written informative pieces for newspapers, online magazines and blogs, both big and small. She regularly blogs at Freelance Writing Mamas . You’ll find her on Twitter @thewriteblogger

Thanks, Terez, for sharing yourself and your insights on my blog!

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!

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Home Sick? 7 Productivity Tips So You Don’t Get Sick of Working at Home

Filed Under Business Life, Productivity, Successful Blog, Trends | 3 Comments

A Guest Post By Ripley Daniels

So, you’ve been given the opportunity of working from home and the excitement of skipping your daily commute, navigating office politics and being chained to your cubicle have all but completely overtaken you. You are free to work from home and be productive without the confines of an office environment. For the first few months, all is well as you love falling out of bed in your favorite pajamas only to stumble a few feet into your home office. The freedom and autonomy is absolutely priceless. A few months later, the isolation begins to set in. You miss the office chatter and the scheduled breaks with your co-workers. There’s something unnatural about spending several hours a day in front of a computer screen with no one to interact with.

If you find yourself running into the issue of restlessness, isolation and depression while working from home; there is no need to worry. Like with anything new, you must learn to adapt to your new work environment. Follow these seven simple steps and you will be whizzing through your work day in no time.

Set up or maintain a regular work schedule. Nothing causes anxiety more than not having an organized daily routine which is what the traditional office environment automatically creates. In order to get into a happy, healthy work rhythm, you must create a work schedule that is realistic and doable and then stick to it. If you are used to starting work at 9AM and shutting down for the day at 5PM, this should be the work routine that you commit to while working from home.
Allow yourself an hour break for lunch and a few small breaks throughout the day. Just as it is legally mandated that employees take lunch breaks and small breaks, you must follow the same guidelines or run the risk of burning yourself out. It is nearly impossible to work eight hours or more without stepping away from your desk so don’t feel pressured to slave away in front of your computer because you’re no longer officially on the clock. Set your lunch time and breaks at the same time every day so you can keep a regular schedule.
Get outside and get active. Living a sedentary lifestyle is harmful to your health, sanity and confidence. When you are required to sit in front of a computer while working from home, it can be easy to forget the importance of fresh air and exercise and sunshine. When you do take your lunch break or small periodic breaks, try and get outside for a walk or to make a leisure call to friends/family. Take advantage of your new work environment and fit in some exercise via an exercise DVD or take a mid-day work out class at the gym on your lunch break.
Set up Skype or Google Chat so you can maintain contact with your fellow co-workers while working from home. Telecommuting can be an isolating experience but with the help of social media and various programs, you can stay in touch with your co-workers as if you were right back in your cubicle or office. This is also a good way to keep your socialization skills sharp as telecommuting can easily dull your sensibilities from the lack of human interaction.
Set goals for yourself both professionally and personally. Unlike a traditional job, a telecommuter has the opportunity of enhancing both their work life and personal life at the same time. You have the ability of using your breaks to complete various projects around the house which also serves as a mental break from your daily work load.
Attend industry events and conferences so that you can stay current on the latest technology, products, services and inventions within your field. There is nothing worse than falling behind in your position because you’re working from home and no longer have access to the same information regarding classes or programs. Just because you are a telecommuter doesn’t mean that you can mentally check out and not deliver outstanding work performance.
Step away from your desk at the end of each business day and don’t look back. If your schedule is 9AM-5PM, you should resist working past your scheduled hours as you will soon find that your energy levels, confidence and productivity will all drastically be affected. Turn your computer off and shut down your home office during the evenings and weekends so that you can maintain some semblance of a normal work/life balance.

Do you have other tricks you use to keep your business well and working?
_____________
Ripley Daniels is an editor at Without The Stress, a passport, travel visa and immigration advisory firm located in Los Angeles.

Thanks, Ripley, for your insight into the problems that are unique to working at home!

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!

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Cool Tool Review: Proxlet – Your Rescue for Twitterchats

Filed Under Business Life, Content, Guest Writer, Successful Blog, Tools, Trends | 1 Comment

A Guest Post by Leo Widrich

Last Sunday was my first time to participate in #blogchat a weekly held Twitterchat and boy was it an amazing experience conversing with @lizstrauss and @mackcollier. It boasts great personalities each week helping you to answer any Social Media and blogging related questions.

For long I was quite reluctant to join in Twitterchats as I felt I would overwhelm my followers for the time the chat was going on with my tweets.

Fortunately I finally found a solution I can offer, since staying away from this massive amount of great insights at #blogchat is definitely not an option.

It is a nifty Twitter App called Proxlet.

What does Proxlet do?

Facebook has a very useful “Hide this post” option integrated. Proxlet gives you this exact same thing, only for Twitter.

Using proxlet, you can temporarily hide certain things on Twitter which clutter your timeline or aren’t currently the core thing of your interest.

How to best use it?

Proxlet fortunately takes the “hide this” feature a step further and allows you to explain in a very detailed manner which area of tweets you want to block.

You can block Apps you don’t want to show up in your Timeline. For example am using it for both foursquare and paper.li since I feel they don’t add enough value.
You can also stop certain individual users temporarily, for example because they are at a conference and you are not really interested in their tweets at that point.
Another way to make use of Proxlet is to block certain hashtags from showing up in your timeline.

What is the best part of Proxlet?

The best part of proxlet is that it works not only at twitter.com, but can also be used for your favourite Twitter clients such as Twitter for Iphone, Tweetdeck and others.

Someone approached me that he couldn’t take the load of my #blogchat tweets and Proxlet turned out to be a superb solution for both of us. He could continue following me, yet was freed of those unwanted tweets in a short space of time.

What are your thoughts on Proxlet (http://proxlet.com) ? Have you had a similar problem yourself before too? Please let me know below.

Leo Widrich writes Tips for Twitter on his blog. You can visit his website, Bufferapp, or find him on Twitter as @leowid.

_________

Thanks, Leo, for checking out proxlet for us!

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!

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Liz Strauss – Titan of Web 2.0! Thank You, Davos, for the Honor!

Filed Under Business Life, Marketing, Successful Blog, Trends | 36 Comments

It Started with an Invitation to Speak in Davos

Davos, Switzerland, 21 February 2011 – II World Forum “Communication on Top” took place in Swiss Davos at the end of last week. Trend-makers and key figures from communications industry participated in the Forum. Among them are top-managers of world-known companies like GALLUP, ENEL, EDELMAN, SPN Ogilvy, DELL, leaders of large-scale political and social projects in various countries, and world-famous “stars” in the area of consultancy and communications.

Last year, I received an invitation from the project manager of the annual World Forum “Communication on Top”, held in Davos, Switzerland. The content is in the field of Communications, PR, Marketing, Social Media, and Corporate relations: http://www.forumdavos.com

The invitation offered me a keynote session and asked if I would be willing to participate as a nominee for the C4F awards ceremony in the category “Titan of Web 2.0.”

Being asked to speak in Davos is quite a heady experience. Switzerland is famous for great minds meeting at important events.

Such as this interview in which:
Garrett Johnston discusses

aritificial intelligence and the singularlity
understanding the reasons people consume what they consume
creative and uncreative consumers.
companies who do well in the crisis

“It’s a question of making the choice easier and more accurate for the consumer. It works for everybody and reduces friction.” he says.

Who Wouldn’t Want to Be at an Event Like that?

Unfortunately Switzerland is also an exclusive ticket to an entrepreneur in the launch phase of a new business. Though I’m usually quick flexible and creative at solving problems in ways that everyone wins, I also had a prior commitment to speak on the other side of the world in Las Vegas during the Davos event.

And my word is my word.

So we agreed that the keynote might wait until next year. Then we’d have proper time to plan for the event. Participation in the nomination moved forward, I met with Helen Brandt of the Davos Top of Communication World Forum Team — It was an early morning interview — 7 time zones apart — on Skype about what being a Titan of the Web might mean.

Here’s a bit of that … Liz Unplugged.

a titan – brings images of building things with elaboration and fluency
It’s not a titanic labor to raise a blog; it’s a titanic responsibility. You write a blog to connect with people. It’s conversation.
I love to show companies how an invitation is more exciting than a pitch. I love to teach the fun of negotiating from the same side of the table.
I love showing people how their values attract people who have the same values as they do.

“I love bringing people back to the common sense. There’s so much we can do to bring the world back to the community,” I said.

I had done all I might do to be ready for the Titan of Web 2.0 nomination. Now what was left was to be online during the presentation.

Enter the Titanic in the Titan

When I got to Las Vegas, I was set and ready. I tuned in before my event to watch an learn from the speakers. All was well. Then came the time for the presentations — 7pm in Switzerland / 10am in LasVegas and the livestream in my hotel crashed.

The rest is history. I wasn’t a part of the awards — the skype connection we prepared disappointed us with no service. It was time to go speak on my panel before the wifi came back up.

The panel at the conference in Las Vegas went well. The people were outstanding both on the panel, including that Leadership guy Terry Starbucker, and in the audience. We talked about how social media can change the face of a business and bring customers closer — close enough to build a brand up.

An hour later, when the panel was over, I discovered via Twitter this lovely tweet …

And my partner, Terry, who was the first to say “congratulations,” now calls me Liss.
And every life event is worth the worry if you get a great story out of it.

Will I be at Davos next year? You can bet on it. I will be there not only to give that keynote, but to say a proper thank you, share my gratitude for this presitigious recognition

And I’ll try to learn some titan speak.

Blushing just a little, and saying thank you to the Davos Forum, to my friends, partners, and readers, — all of you who make everything I do worth every minute I spend doing it.

You’re the titans that keep this titan on the web.

Related links for more information about World Forum, “Communication on Top,” Davos, Switzerland:
http://forumdavos.com/
http://twitter.com/#!/comm_on_top (hashtag #topcom)
http://www.facebook.com/ForumDavos
http://www.youtube.com/user/forumdavoscom

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!

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