Workplace Buzz: Today's Headlines

Hold Up that Mirror

Michael Kinsman writes in California Job Journal that he is intrigued by the way co-workers have viewed themselves.

Frankly, I must have worked around some pretty optimistic people, because by and large they seemed to have an inflated sense of their talent, skills and value. Rarely have I come across people who were actually better than they thought.

As the years pass and I meet more people, I’ve come to the conclusion that people need to think of themselves as good at their jobs if they are going to be productive at all. A measured ego is important, if only to serve as motivation.
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Women Business Owners Give Credit Where It’s Due

Cynthia H. Cho for the dailypress.com reports on business women rising to new heights.

Over the past two decades in the U.S., according to the Center for Women's Business Research, companies in which a woman or women owned at least 51 percent or more of the firm have grown at around two times the rate of all firms.

As of 2006, there were 7.7 million such firms - up from 5.4 million in 1997 - that employed more than 7.1 million people and generated $1.1 trillion in sales. They accounted for 30.4 percent of all privately held firms in the country.

As more women run their own businesses, it's important for them to work together to build "strategic alliances," said Laura Cardone, who is president of the Southeastern Virginia chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners. Groups like hers, she said, allow women to build relationships with one another by providing support and sharing success stories.
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Job Protected Leave

Stephanie Armour reports on the concerns regarding the U.S. Study family leave.

Employers raised questions in a new report about the impact on productivity of a federal law granting workers unpaid time off to care for family medical needs.

The report from the Department of Labor is a summary of more than 15,000 comments received from employers and workers since December on the effectiveness of the Family and Medical Leave Act. The 1993 law provides job-protected leave for up to 12 weeks for the birth or adoption of a child, the care of a close family member with serious medical problems, or time off for employee health conditions.

The report shows several areas where the law is causing concerns:
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