OMG.  It’s Wednesday, and I am on time, on target, and on top of things…  Sorry, I ate an alliteration sandwich today for lunch.  It was bacon, beef, and broccoli on a buttered bagel…. MMMMM.

Anyways…

Boss spelled backwards is Double SOB

A recent study stated that more than four in ten employees would leave their job because of a dislike of a boss’s management style.  EQABNAC.  Remember that one?  Employees Quit A Boss, Not A Company.

When it comes right down to it, this isn’t at all surprising.  For a nation that spends more on employee training every year than they do on K-12 education, it’s astonishing how little we train employees to be managers and supervisors.  If we are hiring from the outside, we may do some pre-employment testing to assess management and supervisory competencies. 

However it’s the internal promoted that tend to get the short shrift when it comes to training and development.  They may be trained on the new management tools they will use, the processes procedures new to their job.  However as I have said time and time again, it’s the valley of ambiguity that causes the problems with supervisors.  This lack of training, knowledge, and experience can cause major problems with communication, flexibility, and trust.

So, if you do a 360 feedback on a manager, and the results come back negative, look at yourself first. Have you set up that manager to succeed or fail?

A Flight of Fancy

You probably have heard a lot about the proposed merger between Delta and Northwest, a move seen as critical to the ultimate success of both organizations.  Things at first looked pretty good.  They have different hubs, serve different markets, have different color schemes… the whole nine yards. 

It seems the biggest issue is resolving the issue of the pilots.  Who flies what planes?  Who gets fired first?  Which seniority system will be used, or how will the two be blended?  How much money will they all make?

These are certainly difficult questions and are vitally important to the employees and their families.  However, if things don’t get answered soon, they may not have to worry about seniority or job benefits for very much longer.

 A Little Bit of Help for the Sandwich Generation

The New Jersey Assembly recently approved a plan to give employees up to six weeks of paid leave to care for a sick relative or newborn. The leave would be at two-thirds of one’s salary, up to $524 a week.

What the Employer Giveth, the Employee Giveth Too

Another reason why employer sponsored health care will have to go away:  The Kaiser Family Foundation determined the average annual premium for family coverage in 2007 was $12,106, and the average employee share of that amount was $3,281.