Not in my jurisdiction!

Recently at work, as we get busier and busier, we are asking our team members to complete certain tasks. With a few employees, there has been some pushback, claiming that "that's not part of their job." Granted, they may not have always performed these certain tasks, but guess what - it's the fourth quarter and we are busy, so everyone needs to help out everywhere!

I think when working in a team setting, everyone needs to be willing to help out wherever and whenever needed, especially when its crunch time. I have certainly helped out my peers and taken on additional responsibilities that are not necessarily part of my everyday routines. I think being able to help out not only helps you build great relationships with your team, but also shows your supervisors that you are a team player. Unfortunatley, there are times when you are helping out others and then unable to finish your own job and check everything off the to-do list. I think as long as you are doing what is best for the total store, then you are making the right decision.

Salary Negotiation

After my last blog post, I decided to do some more research on salary negotiation. I joined Target right out of undergrad and accepted their salary offer point blank, with no negotiation. After watching several youtube videos I decided this video was most beneficial!

Here are some tips from the video:

1. Don't bring up salary too soon! Wait until they are completley interested in you and let the employer ask about salary first.

2. Don't reveal your bottom number

3. Do your homework - know what comparable region and national salaries are.

4. Do take time to think. After the employer makes an offer, repeat the number and go home to think about it.

5. Be able to explain why you are asking for more, and how you will be able to benefit their company.

Most importantly - DO negotiate! 80% of recruiters expect candidates to negotiate, but only 30% actually do, that number is even less for women. The least you can do is ask, otherwise you could be leaving money on the table.

Women and salary negotiating

After a discussion at work today, I was prompted to do a little research about negotiating salary and came across the article " Salary, Gender, and the Social Cost of Haggling" written for the Washington Post.

Overall, the article explained how women are less likely to negotiate a higher initial salary, as well as raises throughout their career. A Professor at CMU ran several experiments with volunteers and found that men were much more likely in all experiments to ask for money.

They also researched the percentage of graduate students accepting job offers and found that four times as many men as women attempted to negotiate for a higher starting salary. While the difference may only be a few thousand, over a career this small difference can result in several hundred thousand.

But why don't women just negotiate for more? Bowles, the professor at CMU, ran several experiments to find out. One of the most interesting findings is that men were less willing to work with women who attempted to negotiate salaries than with women who just accepted the offer.

As a manager, would you look at potential employees, male or female, differently if they attempted to negotiate their salary?

Abstract - Work Life Balance

For the first time in history there are four distinct generations of workers in the workplace. Each of these generations has different perceptions of work-life balance based on the era they grew up in. Work-life balance varies across generations and companies who want to attract young talented new members of Generation Y need to re-evaluate their stance on work-life balance in the workplace. Work-life balance programs can be used as a competitive advantage to attract and retain quality employees. With work-life balance programs affecting everything in the company from morale to absenteeism to recruitment and everything in between, it is important that companies take a closer look at their employees and make sure that they are offering programs beneficial to their workforce.

As companies compete for talent in the workforce, they cannot ignore the needs and wants of GenX and GenY. These generations have different attitudes and desires and reshaping the work environment. Additionally, workplace dynamics are changing as the number of women in the workforce has more than doubled since 1970. More women in the workplace has led to the need for more work-life benefits as less women are staying at home to take care of their children. Some popular work-life benefits include dependent care, maternity and paternity leave, and flexible work schedules such as telecommuting.

Looking for someone like YOU

So, tomorrow is the Target Information Session for Kutztown. After a fairly successful afternoon at the career fair last week, we are hoping for a decent turnout at the info session. At the info session, you can learn all about the exciting opportunities that Target has for Executive Team Leader and Intern positions.

Voted one of the top companies to start your career with, Target offers leadership opportunities that will greatly change your impressions of working in retail. While it is true that once in a while I ring register, or stock items on the shelves, the majority of my time is focusing on activities that improve my strengths and opportunities. I have grown so much in the last 18 months as leader and learned many invaluable lessons about myself and my leadership skills.

Use your business, leadership and people skills to inspire exceptional performance. Maximize sales and profits for your Target store. Ensure great guest service and team member satisfaction. Create a fast-paced, energetic environment that delivers a consistent Target brand experience for team members and guests.

Still reading? Sound like something you or someone you know is interested in?

Check us out at the Target Info Session on Wednesday Oct 27th at 5pm in 100 DeFrancesco Hall.

Tell your friends, hope to see you there!

Find more info on Target.Com/Careers

Problem Performers

Last week I met with a few member of upper management to discuss things that I am working on in the store and figure out what I can do better to help develop me into a store manager. After some great collaboration and a few "aha" moments, I realized one of my opportunities is dealing with problem performers.

As many managers do, the majority of my job is developing my team. But what happens when someone doesn't want to be developed? What happens when someone does not follow through when you ask them to complete a task or has poor attendance? Well, in the past I have distanced myself from that problem performer, held them accountable for their actions, and worked through the corrective action and termination process.

But through my discussions with other managers, I realized that I need to continue to treat problem performers, at least on the surface, the same that I treat everyone else. We should be able to go behind closed doors and have a serious conversation about their work performance and then maintain friendly professionalism in front of others.

Although I feel like this could be a challenge for me, as I lose respect for problem performers, it is something that I am working on. Check out this article about 8 rules for dealing with problem performers. As managers in the workplace, this is some great info for when you inevitably will have to terminate someone.

Telecommuting

Just read a pretty interesting article about flexible work arrangements and one quote really popped out to me.

Also driving companies to offer more flexibility is the fact that more women are managers. Companies with more women in top leadership are more likely to provide such options as traditional flextime, daily flextime, a gradual return to workafter childbirth and regular work-at-home options, Galinsky says. Her group found that fully 82 percent of companies with large numbers of female executives offer flexible work hours, compared with 56 percent in companies without many women in top positions. Moreover, the more female executives a company has, the more likely the firm is to provide on- or near-site child care, dependent-care assistance plans and elder-care resource and referral programs, the report found.

It seems like as more and more women are breaking through the "glass ceiling" they are changing the workplace environment as they do it. Does a woman's softer, more emotional side lead them to offering more flexible workplace opportuntites? Do women see the importance of a work-life balance more than their men counterparts? While this logic does seem to make sense, it sounds like a lot of stereotyping is going on here. All I can say is - watch out for the women of Generation Y -it's going to be a whole new playing field.