Got a work-issued cell phone?
Many employees need to use cell phones over the course of their work, and their company might decide to provide a company-issued device to support them. We did an online search about using work-issued cell phones, and are excited to share a summary of what we found! Accordingly, here are some points and tips you might want to consider*:
• Your employer might have a policy or agreement about this, possibly explaining things like:
– Whether or not you can use it for private use.
– The phone is the property of the company.
– You need to return the phone upon termination of employment.
– Misuse might result in disciplinary action and possible termination.
-General guidelines about safe cell phone use such as not using the phone while driving or operating equipment, not using the phone during meetings, etc.
– What tracking software will be running behind the scenes.
– That access to open/public wifi networks is restricted to minimize hacking risk.
– A disclaimer specifying that if you are allowed to use it for personal use, your employer can review your phone activity and content such as saved files or texts.
• Your company might have restrictions about apps, and might track mobile data and usage.
• Review your employer’s specific policies, and ask questions if you are unsure, such as to ensure you know what will be tracked and if your photos and contacts can suddenly be deleted.
• Clarify with your company what’s included in your phone package, and “who will be liable for any costs incurred if you go over your data, texts, or minutes allowance.”
• Keep in mind that at the end of your employment, you have to give the device back to your employer, and if your employment is suddenly terminated, you might not have a chance to back up and remove personal data like your pictures, texts, and contacts. So consider backing up your information:
– But, there’s a risk that you might also accidentally back up private company data, “and if you leave the company and still have that data, your employer might decide to take legal action.”
• Also, be aware of the possibility of a data wipes without warning, such as in the event of a suspected hack your company might suddenly wipe all company devices. So again, maybe back up your device, but keeping in mind the above risk.
• There might be some degree of device monitoring, to detect sexual harassment, etc., and this might require a wide range of data being collected: This might or might not exclude personal emails or texts, but often includes call and web search history. Also, phone calls might be recorded and voicemails reviewed. And while not common, sometimes employers can view social media account activity.
We hope we’ve provided some things for you to think about.
*This article is not advice including it is not legal or business advice. If you need these services, please look for them such as in your region.
March 2020 seems like eons ago – suddenly workplaces became ghost towns
as doors were mandated shut. People lucky enough to keep their jobs began
the endless, daily virtual journey to work.
This new way of work and communication took some adjustment, in terms of family, child care, pet care, dress code, and the requirement for all of the tools of a home office.
Strangely, coincidentally, luckily, platforms such as Facetime, Zoom, Microsoft Team, Skype, and others suddenly allowed us to rely upon them to hold meetings, and talk face to face with coworkers, clients, customers, and vendors. Other technologies allowed us to create and share documents and information.
Gradually companies began to see that remote work, in many cases, could work,
and could be very successful.
But the time has come and doors are re-opening. Will a bell or Amber Alert go off and will everyone suddenly take to the highways or public transportation and appear in the office on a given day? We all know that this will not happen. Many companies are already re-thinking their work-from-home policies, and deciding on remote work continuing in some fashion, from 1 to 5 days a week.
How will this work for you? Well, every company will be different.
But there are some general guidelines for companies to follow:
1. Make sure the workplace is safe, as per COVID requirements, providing PPE, allowing for physical distancing following
cleaning guidelines, and implementing screening programs, if required.
2. Follow the COVID-19 Return to Work Guide for Canadian Organizations.
3. Ensure that you have a plan of communicating to employees – dealing with safety requirements, changing COVID numbers, privacy, confidentiality, human rights, and anti-discrimination.
4. Realize that this will be a slow transition and a test period, both for managers and employees.
5. Give people enough notice to re-set their lives and personal responsibilities.
6. Figure out company (or government policy) related to those who choose not to be vaccinated regarding legal and physical requirements.
7. Have the managers and trainers return first, to organize and make the plans.
8. Try to limit or negate the need for business travel.
9. Consider shift work, phasing people in, or rotating the number or employees working in person or remotely going forward and rethink your work from home policies.
10. Be mindful of union requirements or obligations.
All in all, we will all have to dress up once more and make our appearance in the real world – we are so lucky that this time has come.
Have you ever wondered how work started in the first place?
Work evolved slowly from the division of labour in primitive hunter-gatherer tribes to medieval farming systems through the industrial revolution, the movement into cities, and the real organization of people into jobs with time slots, formation of a hierarchy of supervisors and managers, the creation of different departments within companies, and the idea that what you do at work defines you as a person.
Although work is less physically onerous than it once was, it is still regarded, however, as something separate from pleasure, and a true division between work and play persists even in today’s highly industrialized, or “post-industrial” society
(brittanica).
All of which means that once upon a time, people did not used to work in 9 to 5 or other time slots (and now 24 hours per day, courtesy of our connected world), mostly under stressful and demanding conditions, with little time to devote to life, R & R, family, catching up, catching rays. People feel guilty if they take a day off, have to take a child to a doctor appointment, choose to attend a child’s graduation ceremony, visit a sick family member, go skiing, play golf, paint their houses when they could be working.
You really do need a break to connect with the real you – working constantly and being tired all the time can stop you from being creative, even stepping back to see the big picture of what you are working on. When you take a break, you have time to think random thoughts and get amazing, bright ideas. You have time to smile, laugh, engage in real, healthy physical activities, jump in the waves, be a kid.
Kids are the ones who run all the time, with their parents always trying to slow them down, until they stop running and being spontaneous altogether.
Studies also find health benefits from taking vacation time, like lower stress, better mental health and even less likelihood of a heart attack (European vacations). 9 of the 10 most productive countries in the OECD are in Europe, where people routinely take 4 or 5 weeks off. Of course, this can only happen in a culture promoting and applauding summer vacations and basking in the sun. Here in North America, people get more burned out, afraid to leave work lest they fall further behind.
But why will you be more productive after your vacation? You will be happier, rested, not having wolfed down food ‘al desko’, having enjoying doing nothing ‘deep’, and returning more focused and goal oriented, and more tolerant of co-workers, bosses, or your team.
Brain imaging studies show that doing nothing, being idle, daydreaming, and relaxing create alpha waves in the brain that are key to creative insights and innovative breakthroughs (psychology today). And a real vacation could also be great for family dynamics.
Too much tension and long work hours are detrimental to your total happiness.
So call your favorite travel agent and off you go!!! Bon voyage! Summer is Beach Time!
Your work will be there patiently waiting for your return – but it won’t look the same when you return – it might even look interesting.
Women should celebrate being women – buy a fun new outfit, go out and toast their age-old mystique and whatever powers and talents men have always known or feared that females possess. Or go see Wonder Woman!! They can still enjoy Dress for Success while they #PressforSuccess.
And Hooray for #IWD, started by the Suffragettes in 1911. But yet over 100 years later, the International Women’s Day website still holds that nowhere in the world can women claim to have all the same rights and opportunities as men (https://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/un/international-womens-day). Yet, diminishing women has meant not taking advantage of 50% of the world’s available brain power.
In the 1950s and 60s, many girls studied science/math in high school but went into teaching, nursing, physical and occupational therapy, and retail. Their expectations were set by the norms of the day.
Fewer pursued Ph.D.s, LLBs, MDs, DDSs, CPAs, actuarial careers, with a way thicker glass ceiling than now.
Things have changed, and yet, as you know, in 2020, many issues remain:
1. The gender wage gap – up to 30 or 40 %.
2. Fewer Women on corporate boards: 15-25% representation.
3. Gender inequality in politics.
4. STEM –Acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering, Math – still lacks women.
Signs of hope:
1. Present and future female business leaders: A fantastic new generation of young Canadian women, in fields such as banking, finance, airlines, insurance, not-for-profit, part of Canada’s top 100 most powerful women of 2019 (https://www.investmentexecutive.com/news/people/wxn-announces-canadas-most-powerful-women/), as well as the World’s most powerful women (https://www.forbes.com/power-women/#1cfd4f305e25). Articles well worth reading.
2. Female ‘political’ leaders: The UK, Germany, New Zealand, Taiwan, Norway, Bangladesh, Chile, Poland, Croatia, Estonia, Lithuania, etc. all have or have had female leaders. Here in Canada both ON and AB have ben led by women, and we did enjoy Kim Campbell as our first female Prime Minister.
3. University initiatives aimed at middle or high school girls: A number of U California (UC) schools e.g. UCSD (San Diego) have started Pre-College programs in a wide variety of STEM sciences for students in grades 5-12 to explore challenging areas (https://extension.ucsd.edu/courses-and-programs/pre-college). The Society for Women Engineers runs courses strictly for girls (https://bit.ly/2tzloUR)).
4. People like Malala.
Women are visible, talented, capable, but still fighting that invisible, tangible glass ceiling. But they are on the map, partway there, with GPSs pointing to where they want to go. Women are on the train and will not get off – aided by the #TimesUp and #MeToo movements. (Women Leaders Needed, Financial Post, March 8, 2018), and mass/social media. Tell your daughters they can achieve whatever they want to achieve, and they will.
“The winter solstice, also known as midwinter, is an astronomical phenomenon marking the day with the shortest period of daylight and the longest night of the year” (Wikipedia). “This is because the tilt of the Earth’s axis is least aligned with the sun, providing us with the least daylight of the year. After this, the nights will begin to get shorter as our planet rotates towards the sun” (The Sun UK, Dec.18). The solstice occurs this year on Dec. 21st at 4:28 GMT.
Many cultures have celebrated this dark period, or at least found ways to cope with the lack of light. “For people of nearly any religious background, the time of the winter solstice is a time when we gather with family and loved ones. For Pagans and Wiccans, it’s often celebrated as Yule, but there are literally dozens of ways you can enjoy the season (Info About Yule).
“Winter Solstice has been celebrated in cultures the world over for thousands of years. This start of the solar year is a celebration of Light and the rebirth of the Sun. In old Europe, it was known as Yule, from the Norse, Jul, meaning wheel” (Celebrating the Winter Solstice).
The closeness of religious holidays to the solstice, and to the many festivals of light, ancient and modern, and the relationship of these to another renewal, that of the New Year, have become intricately woven together and we have become attuned to celebrate at this time of year over the centuries, no matter what religion we do or do not follow.
So why should you close down your business or keep only an emergency skeleton staff over the holidays?
1. They are holidays – H O L I D A Y S. Simple.
2. To deny employees this holiday period flies in the face of eons of history. People are tired, have worked hard, are light deprived, often have children at home hence needing quality family time, and need to renew and refresh, parallel to the rebirth of the sun. We feel very far from nature now with computers, smart phones, cryptocurrencies, Teslas, modern medicine, but we are part of nature and of the rotating planet Earth and it is something we innately need to respond to.
3. You actually do realize that many of your competitors and customers are closed anyway and being a workaholic or feeling guilty and thus staying open is not often productive.
4. Your staff will come back rejuvenated, renewed, and ready to go in the new year, instead of being tired and dragging the day after New Years.
5. Your employees will really appreciate what you have done and will go the extra mile for you.
6. YOU will have a holiday, have time to reflect, and be enthused and excited about making a fresh start.
You wake up in the morning feeling sluggish. You drag yourself to the gym with that lethargic feeling, thinking that a good workout will get the neurons moving. But it’s still a struggle.
You get to work and you are better but not yet feeling that ‘out of my way folks, I have worlds to conquer.’ How do you get out of the doldrums and into that aura of feeling great? Here are a few ideas to help you do that:
1) Music – there is usually a tune or melody that you can hum or play that will arouse your mind to signal your body to “wake up.” Not just a radio station but something that’s unique to you. So have something ready to get you over the “sluggish blues.”
2) Goals – giving yourself a chance to visualize the results of your goals can give you that inspirational nudge gets you back into the fast lane. In fact, the night before, just a brief plan might get you bouncing out of bed in the morning.
3) Routine – just start on a routine task which by itself can get you doing something positive and just keep doing it and the next thing you know you are working up a nice head of steam.
4) Food – coffee can start your engine and caffeine spikes your adrenaline but keep it in moderation. Hopefully you are sticking to a “healthy” diet that keeps your electrolytes and fluid levels in balance, providing a necessary amount of protein, and avoiding the “bad” stuff. Just go easy on the fries and doughnuts.
5) Plus Thinking – even though the weather outside can be gloomy your state of mind needn’t match the weather. Hook your thoughts to a positive frame of mind and enjoy life. Avoid the negative self talk that can creep into your subconscious mind.
And if nothing works to get rid of that sluggish feeling, remember the constant in life is change – and it too will pass.
The term CRISPR – Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats – refers to the unique organization of short (partially palindromic) repeated DNA sequences found in the genomes of bacteria and other microorganisms. These sequences form a crucial component of their immune systems .
Scientists found that interspersed between the short DNA repeats of bacterial CRISPRs are similarly short variable sequences called spacers, derived from the DNA of viruses that have previously attacked the host bacterium. Whenever a virus invades, the bacteria takes a piece of it and adds it to the existing spacers, so effectively puts its sequence in a growing memory bank.
Double-stranded CRISPR repeats and spacers in the bacterial DNA undergo transcription, the process of copying DNA into single-stranded RNA molecules, which then circulate in the cell.
If a virus invades, and it has invaded before, these RNA memory strands (guideRNA or gRNA) will bind to the virus and direct the cell to destroy the virus by having the cell cut it up with a special enzyme called Cas9. Cas9 will be attracted to, guided to, the cutting site by the guide RNA. (see https://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/flash/2014/crispr-a-game-changing-genetic-engineering-technique/
for more detail and an excellent diagram).
CRISPR has applications in the food and dairy industries, preventing infection of crucial bacteria by viruses.
Scientists have adapted this technology to eukaryotic (plants and animal) cells, in order to carry out gene editing.
They use, therefore: Cas9 : an enzyme that cuts double stranded DNA at a specific place in the genome and gDNA: a predesigned 20 base long RNA strand (thus copying the spacer idea)
which binds to its complementary sequence in the genome, attracting Cas9, which then cuts the double-stranded DNA. As the cell prepares to repair the damaged DNA, scientists harness this DNA repair machinery to introduce changes in the gene. Essentially gene editing is a unique technology that enables geneticists and medical researchers to edit parts of the cellular DNA by removing, adding or altering sections of its sequence.
Going forward, the use of CRISPR technology and gene editing in medicine is only in its infancy.
Recently this technology has been the subject of a contentious law suit between the Broad Institute (Harvard) and UC Berkeley (details (https://www.statnews.com/2017/02/15/crispr-patent-ruling/).
So you finally have the great boss/job you were looking for.
But that guy/gal in the next cubicle or office or down the hall – it could be a loud voice, rude or off-colour remarks, warming up food with pungent odours, over-friendliness, being too close or “in your space, attention-seeking, a fake laugh, unctuousness, being unkempt or unwashed, the list could go on and on. What are you able to do about it? Please note here that we are not talking about someone trying to get your job, undermine you, gaslight you, and so on. That is a totally different ball game.
Although there is no perfect answer, just as there was no perfect answer during school days, at camp, within the extended family, amongst friends and acquaintances, there are some steps you can take before you seek psychotherapy:
1. Recognize that their behavior is not your fault and that you have the right to feel annoyed. Don’t feel guilty because you are human and reacting to something offensive to you.
2. Identify what is wrong, and try to speak with them, diplomatically bringing up the issue, as if it were very minor and something they never would have thought was a problem, and ask if they could alter this – – e.g. “You must think this is silly, but you have a very strong voice, which is lucky for you, as often people don’t hear what I myself say, and I have to repeat myself, but sometimes when I am on the phone, etc. I can’t hear the other person very well, as I hear you instead. I’m not sure why. Do you think you could help me out by speaking just a little more softly?”
3. Ask others if they feel the same way – maybe one of them can speak to this person. Perhaps they know them better/longer. Or if you have consensus, and it is troublesome, enlist HR to intervene. Sometimes an issue can be intolerable – and has to be addressed.
4. Try to avoid them, so if it is noise, or if they are always interrupting, think about a head-set, which will muffle the noise in the first case, or deter them from doing so in the second.
5. Certainly if it is a smelly food issue, this will annoy many others and can be addressed collectively by a spokesperson.
6. If what they are doing impedes work progress, think seriously about discussing the matter with your boss.
7. If they are rude or make off-colour comments, you should really confront them and explain politely that you don’t appreciate or tolerate what they are saying – that maybe they don’t realize how much it bothers you, that perhaps you are over-sensitive. You should strive to do this non-offensively as you don’t want to change roles with them!
8. Try to put it into context and only address what you can’t live with – it is called work, as going to work, and dealing with assignments and people is WORK – it is not recess at school (where even then, kids themselves were annoying). Your workplace is a small sample of the world in general.
9. Although you are the greatest and most mannerly person, think about what you are doing that may annoy your co-workers. No one is perfect.
10. Try to befriend the person if possible – maybe you have common ground and they are not as bad as you think.
11. The 10+ rule – do not lose your sense of humour – if you don’t have one, you’d better get one!
According to Statistics Canada, people born between 1993 and 2011 fall into this group, which represents 22% of the Canadian and 25% of the US population respectively. Other groups, e.g. in Australia, assign a similar but slightly narrower range – those born between 1995 and 2009.
Interestingly, many of these are children (5 to 23 years old), compared to the Millenials, most of whom are now in their 20s or 30s, depending on the whether you favour Statscan’s range (1972 to 1993) or that preferred by market research companies (1980 to the mid-90s).
So what is special about this postmillennial young cohort?
1. They are totally at home with the internet, mobile devices, media channels, and apps, as they have been exposed to an unprecedented amount of technology in their upbringing.
Receiving a phone at the age of 11, 12, or 13 seems almost to be a rite of passage.
They text as well or better than they speak, using acronyms, abbreviations, non-sentences, and emoticons.
2. They do, of course, want things immediately, surf on several channels at once, are excellent about finding free downloads, and know or learn how to do everything, courtesy of YouTube.
3. They actually derive a lot a real learning from clever, content-rich video games, so many of these kids are unbelievably informed on, say, world history, unrelated to anything they have learned at school.
4. They have mastered finding free on-line courses for language, programming, math, etc.
with knowledge literally at their fingertips, and take its’ accessibility for granted. Similarly, their formal schooling now is heavily technology-oriented. It is also quite commonplace for teachers of even young children to post their assignments, homework, etc. on line.
5. Coming along after 9/11 and the recessions of 2000 and 2008, they are very realistic, eyes open, and a bit wary of the future. There is also an understanding that success lies in a college education, but they do feel that job availability will be positive. They tend to be naturally entrepreneurial, and are very brand aware, due to advertisers’ excellent, focused marketing campaigns. Many of them plan to start their own companies.
6. They are also much more aware of privacy issues, ranging from information on sites such as Facebook and Instagram to the use of drones. Even very young children actually worry about drones invading their personal space.
7. The majority take issues such as same-sex marriage and multi-ethnicity for granted, as they did not live through all the years when this was not the case.
They will be interesting to watch, and are lots of fun and inspiring to be with.
Sources:
https://www.businessinsider.com/afp-generation-z-born-in-the-digital-age-2015-2
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_Z
Marketers catching up with Generation Z, Globe and Mail Dec 13, 2015
Who makes up the all-digital generation? Lately I was in a restaurant – at the next table, a mere child, no more than 2, was playing with a cell phone, thumbs flying, obviously entrenched in some age-appropriate game or other. Or who knows, maybe writing code.
On the one hand, there are the Millenials (Generation Y, also known as Millenials (born late seventies or early 1980s to early 2000s), with some overlap, depending on the source.
https://www.livescience.com/38061-millennials-generation-y.html) – with such amazing examples as Mark Zuckerberg, and others of that ilk. Many of us are just getting used to that moniker.
But there is an even newer generation now – Generation Z, the All-Digital Generation, following the Millenials, mostly still in high school, or barely out of it, others barely into it, or still in primary school. (Approx birthdate range 1995-2012)
(https://www.socialmarketing.org/newsletter/features/generation3.htm).
These ‘children’ have never lived in an age without cell phones, internet, amazing TVs, total connectivity, online games, video games, video game learning, and homework and class schedules on line.
Some younger Zers have never existed without iphones, phone cameras, selfies, flat screen TVs, targeted ads, You Tube,Vimeo, and the like. One of the 11 year olds I know just built herself a computer. When I was 11, mainframes existed in huge corporations,’ Normal’people never saw one, and bank tellers did entries by hand!!!! We communicated by land line or snail mail. “Generation Z is the first generation to be raised in the era of smartphones. Many do not remember a time before social media” (Alex Williams, NY Times, Sept. 26-27, 2015). “They will ultimately number close to 80 million, according to the U.S. Census. Mintel puts their spending power at close to $200 billion annually when you factor in their influence on parental or household purchases.”
(https://www.forbes.com/sites/lauraheller/2015/08/14/move-over-millennials-generation-z-is-in-charge/)
And yet here we are, bringing up, sometimes one generation removed, Generation Z. They differ slightly from the Millenials – and tend to display more caution with respect to what and where they post (e.g. Secret or Whisper or Snapchat, where images appear and disappear almost as fast) (Dan Gould, Sparks and Honey).
If you are part of Generation X (born 1965-1980, the generation born after the Western Post–World War II baby boom), raising Zers, don’t worry too much. According to a Sparks and Honey trend report, Generation Z is much more practical and safety conscious than the Millennials (Alex Williams, NY Times, Sept. 26-27, 2015).
Nevertheless, the older ones are wordly, smart, totally comfortable with the current communication technologies, and their omnipresent video games have taught them more about math, history, geography, strategy, winning and losing, finding friends, learning sports rules, reading, and technology than many of their predecessors learned by rote.
If you are a Baby Boomer, enjoying your Zer grandchildren, make sure you learn how to text them as soon as they are permitted a phone!!! They expect that form of communication – it’s just like walking or breathing.
If you are dealing with the close-to-coming-of-age Zers, these people are risk-averse, practical, and pragmatic, and determined to succeed, many in a more entrepreneurial fashion (https://www.fastcoexist.com/3045317/what-is-generation-z-and-what-does-it-want.)
For the younger Zers, they are still fun-loving kids, with the best toys the world has ever had to offer. They are great, they are the future, they are All Digital, but they are not The Matrix (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Matrix). They are real, and they still need you to love them and be there for them – a smart phone can’t do that.