Stressed at Work?

Stress leave from work I used to think was a cop out for overpaid and under motivated workers from the early naughties, but then business’s grew and we all got extra resources.

I came accross this funny clip of just how far you can go with bad behaviour at work and put it down to stress!

Bullying in the Workplace

Carrying on my thoughts on The Apprentice, it struck me as I watched the episode on Monday there is a thin line between this reality TV show and abuse in the workplace.

I know the show rates for captivating TV viewing, but has anybody ever been spoken to in the workplace the way Bill Cullen addresses his prey after each task?

I was once, and I handed my notice in, after first seriously considered taking my then employer up for verbal abuse.

For those of you who didn’t see the episode or have been living under a rock for the past 6 weeks while the show has been on TV3 Monday nights, I’ll give a quick run down.

We are down to the last 5 remaining contestants. Divided into two teams. The girls are strong contenders, with only 2 male contestants left. The loosing team of this weeks task face Bill in the boardroom. We have just two on the loosing team, Orla a ballsy marketing executive who is perhaps not as good as she believes she is, and Shane, a clean cut strong overall winner contender.

The boardroom begins with Bill  interrogating each looser for their suggested failures while he makes up his mind to fire one of them. This is where the bullying and goading is delivered by Bill, which I think he is taking his role too seriously for reality TV land. The editing on Monday night’s shows the camera panning in to Orla’s face and she is starting to cry, very unusual for her and seems as if Bill has interrogated her too far. Then Shane, lets not forget a real overall winner contender, pipes up out of the blue that he thinks he should be fired. They try to convince him to stay but he is having none of it.

My guess is Shane witnessing the bullying tactics of Bill’s treatment of Orla decided he didn’t want to work for a man or company that intentionally reduces to tears a potential employee.

He got out as fast as he could.

Here Come The Girls

Ireland is starting to catch in world rankings on the gender gap in the workplace according to an article I read today in The Irish Times.

Ireland has just been ranked 8th place in the world rankings for gender gaps in the workplace. Up from 9th place last year.

To quote The Irish Times

An increase in the percentage of women among the nation’s legislators, senior officials and managers – up from 29 per cent in 2007 to 31 per cent in 2008 – was the main reason for the improved ranking, the forum said. President Mary McAleese’s continued term as head of state also boosted the political empowerment ranking.

However Irish women have yet to achieve wage equality for similar work, taking home just 71 per cent of male salaries.

The Republic still lags behind Britain when it comes to equality in labour force participation, length of paid maternity leave and the ratio of women to men in parliament.

Norway topped the league of countries in closing the gender gap, followed by Finland, Sweden, Iceland and New Zealand. However, New Zealand’s 2009 ranking may be dented by the ousting of prime minister Helen Clark from office last week.

The Philippines and Denmark were also ranked ahead of Ireland.

Here is the list of leaders in the world in closing the gender gap

1. Norway
2. Finland,
3. Sweden
4. Iceland
5. New Zealand
6. Philippines
7. Denmark
8. Ireland
9. Netherlands
10. Latvia

A great achievement you may think, but gender gap by no means represents equality in the workforce. 

I’d take a guess that our climb to the top of this list will increase over the next few years. More women are in the workforce as a direct result from the over-inflated housing economy in existence here for the past 10 years. The stay-at-home mum is a luxury, as young couples need a double income to sustain high mortgage payments.

The extra women in the workforce will progress to more management positions than previously achieved.

Now we just have to start working on narrowing the wage equality gap between male and female salaries!