Friday, December 27, 2019

How much more CEOs make than workers

How much more CEOs make than workersHow much more CEOs make than workersIt pays to climb to the top of the corporate ladder. A lot.Follow Ladders on FlipboardFollow Ladders magazines on Flipboard covering Happiness, Productivity, Job Satisfaction, Neuroscience, and moreThere are two ways that companies compensate their CEOs cash (including salaries, bonuses, restricted stock grants and other incentives) and stock options. Which method results in the highest total payout depends on a number of factors, including how the companys stock price is doing at the time and if the boss cashes in the stock right away or decides to wait. We created a new timeline to understand how these last two factors have changed over the years.Think of our new visualization as a spiraling timeline. We gathered CEO-to-worker compensation ratios from theEconomic Policy Institute (EPI), a non-profit think tank focused on promoting the needs of low- and medium-income workers for public policy decisions. The EPI analyzed compensation figures for CEOs at 350 of the largest US companies based on sales from 1965 to 2017. They take into account the ratio as two numbers as stock options realized (the dark red) and as options granted (the light pink).Our visualization lets you easily and quickly see how both numbers have changed over the years as well as the overall pattern of exploding CEO compensation. No matter how you look at it, CEOs have massively increased their compensation levels since 1965. Originally a mere 20x the pay of normal people, chief executives have enjoyed well over 200x almost every year since the 1990s. Somehow they are able to extract more money out of companies, whether measured as realized or gained stock options, while average workers are left with relativelylittle wage gainsin comparison.Despite the relentless upward trajectory of both numbers, there are a few interesting caveats. Look at the compensation numbers for 2009, the height of the Great Recession. CEO pay hit the lowest mark since 1996. Other years with economic recessions witnessed similar retreats, like after the dot com bubble burst in 2000-01. We arent exactly shedding a tear for poor CEOs, however. They still took home well over 100 times more than the Average Joe.Perhaps the most interesting insight on our visualization is that CEO pay actually reached its highest level ever when compared to average workers in 2000. In other words, inequality used to be even worse that it is today. But consider this- the pay figures for the year 2000 seem quite anomalous and far out of line with previous years. By comparison, the numbers for 2017 seem relatively stable albeit higher than in years past. In other words, we suspect CEOs will continue to enjoy hefty incomes even if theres a new recession around the corner.This article first appeared on How Much.

Monday, December 23, 2019

What to Know About a Career in Management

What to Know About a Career in ManagementWhat to Know About a Career in ManagementThe lure of management as a career path is strong. After all, its good to be the boss. Or, is it? In typical organizations, managerial positions range from front-line supervisory positions to the top manager in the firm, the CEO. In-between, there are managers of managers, general managers, product and project managers (focused on initiatives and offerings) and a variety of other roles that regardless of the title are totenstill management positions. Front-line supervisory roles are entry-level management positions. The supervisor is typically responsible for guiding a team of people responsible for a particular part of the firms operations. This role is predominantly focused on ensuring the work is completed in alignment with company standards and targets. The supervisor provides day-to-day guidance to her team and is involved in training, coaching, disciplining and hiring/firing activities. The superv isor reports to someone in a managerial role overseeing one or more supervisors and functions. A functional manager is responsible for a broader range of people, process and geschftlicher umgang activities. He might have a number of supervisors or first-level managers reporting to him, and in plus-rechnen to overseeing the work of those individuals and their teams, the functional manager is accountable to his boss for achieving goals and targets around productivity, quality, cost and sometimes revenue. This individual splits his time between operations and people-related issues and business reporting and planning activities. Senior managers and directors are typically responsible for a number of groups and departments, and they invest a great deal of their time supporting the development and translation of strategies and goals into programs and actions. They are directly accountable to senior executives, often reporting to a person with a vice-president title.Vice presidents are oft en the highest ranking individual in a particular function. From sales to marketing, to I.T. to finance and engineering, most firms identify the functional leader as a vice-president reporting to someone with a C-level title. These individuals are functional experts charged with working with other senior executives to form and implement strategy and then to ensure that their functional resources are aligned around the right initiatives and activities. A general manager is accountable for all resources and results for a line of business in the company. The general manager is a mini-CEO, responsible for strategy, structure, talent, key decisions and operating results including revenues and costs. The general manager is accountable to a corporate group, often the CEO, and her time is spent predominantly on overseeing large strategic initiatives, facilitating key decisions and coaching and developingdirect functional managerial reports.Product managers are focused on one or more offerin gs (products or services) and are charged with working across the organization to bring new products to life and manage the marketing decisions around features, pricing, packaging, and aufsteigen for their offerings. There are managers of product managers, however, this role is primarily offering and not people focused. Product managers work with all areas of the organization and must be outstanding communicators. Project managers are responsible for all of the work we do once in the form of projects in our organizations. In this difficult role, the individual is responsible for bringing together a team of individuals to create something new. Once the initiative is completed, the project manager focuses on a new initiative and a new team. Typically, project managers do not have direct managerial oversight of people although they spend their days working with, coaching, helping and developing people. The Work of the Manager The focus of the individual manager varies depending upo n his or her relative level in the organization as described above. A broad range of activities for all managers includes Hiring and developing qualified employees for their teams.Guiding the work of the team in pursuit of key goals and objectives.Participating in the creation of strategies and goals.Managing costs and budgets,and for sales management roles, driving profitable revenues.Developing and coaching direct reports.Fostering a positive working environment for all participants.Developing reports, monitoring KPIs and sharing outcomes and actions.Working across functions in pursuit of new initiatives or problem-solving activities. Communicating and sharing new targets, programs, ideas, and results.Supporting team members as they navigate challenging issues.Resolving disagreements and resource-related issues.Interacting with customers or customer-facing team members to better understand how to meet customer needs. The Positives of a Career in Management There are most defin itely great reasons to pursue a career in management. As one great engineer turned engineering manager once expressed to me As an engineer, I can help the company with my contributions. As a manager of engineers, I can help the company in a much larger way by supporting and developing a whole team of great engineers. The ability to impact your firm in a larger way as our engineering friend suggests is one great driver to pursue a career in management. Others include You have the ability to amplify your own ideas on strategy, direction and problem-solving through others.You gain the reward that comes from developing great professionals over time.You become involved in defining how the business improves and changes over time.You develop your own skills for leading and coaching.You have some autonomy over your own priorities, although less than you might imagine.Adding managerial responsibilities to your job function will result in increased compensation. However, many firms also offer compensation growth options for their valued individual contributors, so moving to management is not the only way to grow your income. You are immersed in working with people of all levels, backgrounds and experience sets this can be exhilarating.Many managers, particularly those closer to the customer or front-line employees are involved in constant problem-solving and troubleshooting, which can be rewarding and certainly make the days fly by.As you grow as a manager, more of your work shifts to guiding others instead of doing the actual tasks. You grow your skills and diversify your experience by moving into management. Yes, there are certainly many good reasons to consider a career in management. However, there are some downsides as well. Ten Challenges of aManager While the positive aspects of moving into a management role are clear, the challenges are typically visible only after you have spent some time in the role. In the spirit of full disclosure, here are some of the m ore vexingchallenges you will faceas a manager Your time is not your own. Most work days will be an endless barrage of issues and encounters, most of them focusing on problems.You will do less work and spend most of your time talking. If you love your daily work, be prepared to give much of it up in favor of working with and guiding others. The higher you rise through the ranks, the less your technical skills matter and the more the soft skills of leading, coaching, andcritical thinkingapply.You will have less autonomy indecisionsthan you might imagine. Every manager reports to someone and dependingonthe style of your own boss, you will invest a good deal of time seeking approval to make changes you know are essential to improving results. You will be caught between the needs of upper management for numbers and results and the realities your team faces including resource shortages, equipment needs and lack of broader organizational support. This can be an uncomfortable position.You may find yourself without the time in your schedule to focus on coaching and developing employees.Problems become larger and more difficult to solve the higher you rise through the ranks. Most decision-choices at lower levels are based on policy and relatively easy yes/no issues. As you move up the ranks, the decision issues are more ambiguous and the risks larger from getting them wrong. Your peers in other functions are your potential competitors for future promotions.Managing others being responsible for the work of others is hard work. As one wise manager once said, this would be easy if it werent for the employees.Your ability to grow in your career is dependent upon others choosing you to be successful. As an individual contributor, your technical or functional skills/knowledge correlated to your success. As a manager, the choices are more political in nature and the competition fierce. While it is nice to believe someone will look out for your professional development, more o ften than not, its up to you to make certain you keep your skills fresh. Explore the Role Before Jumping In Career advisors suggest you take the time to learn about and even practice the role a bit before taking it on formally. Ideas to help you explore the realities of managing include Volunteerto lead initiatives or project teams to gain experience being responsible for the work of others.Workwith your manager to identify a set of increasingly difficult management-type tasks.Seek out input and guidance from experienced managers in your firm.As a mentor about the challenges and rewards that accrue from a role as manager.Read widely on the topic. Armed with either experience or additional context, you are better able to make an informed decision on this important career step. The Bottom Line The burnout rate for first-time managers is extraordinarily high.Instead of ending up on the wrong side of this statistic, take the time to learn more about the role and then make a care ful choice. If you opt to go the management route, seek training early in your tenure and hold yourself accountable for developing the soft skills that great managers draw upon in their work. Updated byArt Petty.

Wednesday, December 18, 2019

Work at Home Call Center Jobs in West Virginia

Work at Home Call Center Jobs in West VirginiaWork at Home Call Center Jobs in West VirginiaWhile it seems like a work at home call center job could be done from anywhere in the U.S., unfortunately, that is not necessarily the case. Very few work at home call center companies hire in all 50 states. This list is by no means definitive, but these call center companies hire for work at home jobs in West Virginia Accolade Support Call Center Services This business process outsourcing company (BPO) contracts with home-based technical support agentsand customer tafelgeschirr reps.The company hires independent contractors on a temporary basis. Amazon.comOnline retailers have home-based customer service employment positions based out of West Virginia. Mostly it hires on a seasonal basis in the fall for the holiday season. Search work from home in Amazons job database. Jobs pay $10-12/hour. Apple At-Home AdvisorsApple at Home is a work at home call center program that hires both college stude nts and non-students. Like Amazon, its hiring time is for the holidays. Use the keyword home in the companys job database. AROEmployees of this company work in a range of call center jobs including sales and customer service. Additionally ARO employs insurance auditors and LPNs and RNs to work from home. AsurionExtended warranty company (formerly known as NEW Corp)pays home-based customer care reps $9-10 per hour to take inbound calls. It hires both work-at-home and office-based call center agents to troubleshoot and provide customer service for its clients. Hires agents bilingual in Spanish/English also. Convergys Virtual call center employees receive incoming calls and provide services that may include customer service, sales or technical support. Convergys offers paid training and benefits.Schedules with 16 to 40 hours per week available LiveOpsThe company hires as independent contractors home-based phone agents (including licensed insurance agents) for a variety of call center j obs for its clients including outbound sales, bilingual customer service (Spanish and French) and financial services. Agents are paid at a rate that is based on minutes of talk time plus sales incentives in some cases. Agents must become certified to work for individual clients. This certification is not paid. And applicants must pay $50 for a background check. Support.comThe company provides tech support services for its clients, using work-from-home chat and call center agents. Its remote services technicians answer inbound calls. TeleTechHomeGlobal business process outsourcing (BPO) company hires part-time employeesIn some U.S. states, including West Virginia, to work from home as call agents and other fields. Bilingual call center agents needed. Benefits include paid training, 401k. Pay is $9-10/hour. U-HaulWork-at-home call center employeestake incoming calls and answer general questions, take reservation and/or provide roadside assistance. Ver-A-FastWork at home independent c ontractors uses a predictive dialer system to make verification calls for the companys clients, which are primarily from the newspaper industry.

Friday, December 13, 2019

Addressing Mail Correctly for Deployed Service Members

Addressing Mail Correctly for Deployed Service MembersAddressing Mail Correctly for Deployed Service MembersSomething as simple as adding the name of the destination country to an address can delay the delivery of mail to service members overseas. In fact, it can triple shipping fees if addressing the package is not done correctly for APO, FPO, and DPO mailing addresses. It is a problem that the military / government postal system encounters daily. To alleviate this situation, the following site has been developed. help is needed from the family and friends of deployed service members. Senders stateside are actually slowing the delivery of the mail by not properly addressing letters and packages. The radiosender needs to know the name of the country and the name of the base camp where a service member is stationed are incompatible with regulated military addresses. Guide Note In simple terms, what this means is one should not put the country or base in the address when sending mail t o deployed service members or service members assigned overseas. Correct Method GEN John DoePSC 4321, Box 54321APO AE 09345-4321 Incorrect Method GEN John Doe317 Provisional SquadronBoondocks Air BaseKuwaitAPO AE 09345-4321 This willcause the letter to be misrouted through civilian grenzberschreitend mail channels, causing a huge delay in delivery. Also, if you are purchasing something online, most shipping software for the website will default as a foreign order and charge you for overseas foreign rates, versus domestic fare. The U.S. Postal Service system has automated sorting machines that read the address and determine whether a letter or package goes through military postal channels, regular USPS or international postal channels. By writing Kuwait or Iraq on a letter or package it is routed through civilian mail channels rather than military mail. This is attributable to the sorting machines inability to discern whether or not the letter is intended to reach an Army or Fleet Post schreibstube address. A recent case of this common mistake occurred when Soldiers mail was found in the post arbeitszimmer in downtown Baghdad rather than being sent to where the Soldiers were deployed. There have been a number of reported cases of internationally channeled military mail being opened, searched through and/or tampered with a matter that could potentially be identified as a danger to both individual and unit security. It is important for loved ones who write or send gifts to deployed military members understand the step-by-step procedures and current updates made to the military postal service. Knowing the latest rules can help decrease the time needed to process the mail particularly in a war zone. Prior to a letter or package even reaching such far outposts and its final destination, it must undergo a series of transfers from the local town post office, the states mail facility, and international gateways. The facilities of the United States Post Office not only handle international mail but also all of the international mail of the armed services. A small military contingent operates with USPS at these gateways to assist USPS in routing mail to overseas points. These Joint Military Postal Activities work to assure that USPS arranges, assembles and consolidates the letters and parcels to the correct locations, then dispatches correctly on commercial airlines. Both military personnel and USPS civilian employees work together to get the mail to its proper destinations. At this point, the mail is loaded onto the aircraft for delivery to to a variety of regions around the world notated by the suffices after American Post Officer (APO) or Foreign Post Office (FPO). These are the suffices and their meanings AE Armed Forces EuropeAA Armed Forces AmericasAP Armed Forces Pacific Mail sent to an APO/FPO address will go to California, New York, or Florida depending upon the suffix. Once it arrives at these locations, the US Post Office has delivered their package. It is now the Military Post Office job and their contracted airlinesto get the package to an overseas member. That is why postage for overseas military members only costs domestic rates. Once the shipments arrive at the main transportation hubs in country, contracted drivers are standing by to drive the mail to the receiving camps main post office. The departures depend on local ground dangers, highway problems and the force protection that must accompany the convoys. The day the mail is delivered to the main post office is not necessarily the same day that all units arrive to retrieve their mail. There are literally hundreds of units situated long distances from the main bases or camps that are unable to get a hold of their maileveryday, for (vital) reasons such as operational security. The know-how of preparing, organizing and delivering mail to service members deployed to theMiddle Eastis a method that the U.S military postal service evaluates and takes steps to enhance on a day-to-day basis.

Sunday, December 8, 2019

Characteristics of Professional Resume Review

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Tuesday, December 3, 2019

Solutions to Overcoming These 4 Startup Hiring Challenges - Spark Hire

Solutions to Overcoming These 4 Startup Hiring Challenges - Spark HireHiring for a startup company can be a lot of fun and extremely rewarding. There is an excitement that comes along with trying to get a brand new geschftliches miteinander off and running. However, there are many challenges that come with hiring the best team for a startup.1.Hiring for passionSmartRecruiters makes note of Founder and President of Double the Donation, Adam Weingers prozentanteil regarding hiring people with passion. He states that hiring people with passion should be one of the top goals for a startup.When I was hiring recruiters for a startup company in the past, passion was something I strongly desired in my team members but it was also something that was somewhat challenging to interview for. I made some mistakes and hired the wrong people, but among those mistakes, I also made some excellent hires that had great passion for ur business.The fruchtwein successful recruiters on my team were the most passionate. The recruiters who never gave up, no matter how difficult the candidate search and who did what it took to get the job done while maintaining a positive attitude were the ones who had the best numbers and most longevity with the company.When you are looking for dedicated employees who care about their jobs, you want employees with passion.2.Hiring for skill with a low budgetTypically, most startups do not have unlimited funds. Cost is something each manager is advised to watch closely. This is also the case when it comes to hiring.Christine Bird, founder and CEO of Cream.HR, was quoted on SmartRecruiters, stating that hiring qualified individuals at lower wages is something that is always a challenge for startups.In a startup, its important that you hire the right people in the right positions. This means that you need to hire skilled workers. However, keep in mind that they do not have to be the best of the best. A lot of times, you will find skilled candidates who may not have five to10 years of expertise in the position you are hiring for, but they have excellent skills and the ability to learn and adjust to the changes and challenges within a startup.Consider candidates with two to three years of experience, and even consider greener candidates when possible. The salary requirements will not be as high and you may find that you will obtain the fresh, open-minded thinking that your startup needs from lesser experienced candidates.When I hired recruiters in the past, I was able to hire entry-level candidates who had the passion and desire needed to learn the trade. Since I had the recruiting skills needed to be successful at our company, I was able to train newbie recruiters as I was trained, so they could be just as successful. I always found it easier to train rookie recruiters rather than retrain an experienced recruiter.3. Hiring for cultureOne of the most important things to consider when hiring for a startup is cultural fit. SmartRecruiter s quoted Founder and CMO of InternMatch, Nathan Parcells when he mentioned that many times startups must turn down skilled candidates due to lack of cultural fit.Hiring someone who does not fit into your startups culture is like throwing a wrench into your business plan. You will see more damage done to your business regardless of the amount of expertise the candidate brings to the table.Several times, while interviewing recruiters, I made the mistake of looking through rose colored glasses and hiring experienced, veteran recruiters. My thought was that they would require little training and had the experience to be successful quickly. Each time, those rose colored glasses were quickly snatched off my face, revealing that it really took much more time to train the more experienced recruiters and that many times, their thoughts and beliefs on how business should be conducted were not in line with our companys vision.4. Taking the time to hireCofounder of Founders Space, Steve Hoffman makes a very good point in his quote on SmartRecruiters. He brings to light the importance of not rushing the hiring process. When a startup is hiring, it is key to make sure the right people are being hired rather than warm bodies being added to the organization quickly.The hiring process at a startup can be a lengthy and time consuming process. Not only do you have to continue completing your already large workload, but you also have to add in additional hours to search for and interview the right talent. This means that you will have longer work days and weeks during the hiring and training process, until you have hired and trained your new employees.When I was hiring for my startup companys new recruiting team, I found myself working 14+ hour days, 7 days a week during that period. It was tiring and trying, but very rewarding once I had developed an excellent recruiting team to help with the work load I had been balancing alone. In order to hire this excellent team, I had to ta ke the time to ensure that I was making the right decisions during my selection process. I made several wrong decisions, which were very painful, sending me quickly back to square one. These decisions were made much too carelessly and quickly, due to my impatience with the process and desperate need for help. However, spending the time to hire the right people got me back on track and was much more rewarding in the end.What are some of the challenges you have faced when hiring for your startup? Please share your experiences and tips below.Image monkeybusinessimages/BigStock.com

Thursday, November 28, 2019

How to Strategically Manage Frustration at Work

How to Strategically Manage Frustration at WorkHow to Strategically Manage Frustration at Work Frustration is a tempter, an emotional trickster. It goads us with the false promise that ur feelings are worthy of the mounting fireworks display This is the last straw. Im fed up. Can you believe this guy? Frustration, with its loud, emotional appeal why not take its bait, and surrender? But what does it earn us when we do? What was the outcome when, fueled by frustration, we said something curt to our boss, rolled our eyes in a meeting, snapped at a co-worker, accidentally hung up on a customer? Indulging frustration may feel satisfying, even necessary, for a moment. Then reality sets in, and with it the immediate need to clean up after our faux solution. If our indulgence had truly solved the problem, we wouldnt need to run damage control.It usually takes less energy to refrain from indulging frustration than to enact clean-up. Spraying frustration around the office ma kes our jobs harder, it doesnt solve our problems and it makes us look bad. Frustration is part of life. Rather than allowing it to pull your strings, learn to understand and manage it. This way, you can recognize the trickster and handle it in ways that benefit you. Its hard to control what we dont understand. So observe your own frustration. Dr. Laurie Nadel , psychotherapist, business coach and author of The Five Gifts Discovering Hope, Healing and Strength When Disaster Strikes explains Frustration is not so much an emotion as it is a distorted cognitive response to a presupposition that we are entitled to get what we want in that particular moment. Therefore, I see frustration as a state that gives us an opportunity for critical thinking which is defined as thinking about how we think. I do not see it as destructiveI see it as a possibility for growth.Just because frustration can feel overbearing and outlet-seeking, doesnt mean you have to react in kind. Your self-composur e and control matter more, especially in the workplace. Reacting poorly to frustration doesnt just lead to a messy solution, it also doesnt solve the problem. Move past the urge enact regretful or rude responses-recognize those as urgings from the trickster. When you feel that urge to do something destructive, it means you need a break . You need a minute to get emotionally on top of things. Dr. Nadel explains Recognize that when you are frustrated, you are being reactive rather than proactive. If you recognize frustration as a signal that there is a situation that needs to be explored from a different angle, then you can welcome it for the opportunity it offers for creative thinking.You probably have a real problem on your hands-youve got a boss who doesnt support you or a co-worker who drives you crazy. You need real solutions. You need to think that through and to talk to your support network. But in that moment, while youre on the phone with an angry customer who wants to bla me you for everything, you need to get out of the interaction in a tidy way that benefits you. Then you can work through the bigger problem of the difficult boss or co-worker.As you feel frustration mounting, instead of indulging it, examine it. I feel stressed. This person is blaming me, and its not my fault. I worry that if I go to my boss about it, she wont have my back. So Im going to get off this call, causing as little disruption as possible. Then Im going to think about my relationship with my boss, because if she cant support me during stressful times Im not sure that this role can be a fit for me. Dont magnify problems for yourself by allowing frustration to take the wheel. Take a moment. Analyze the issues. Free yourself from the immediate, pressing situation. Consider how to solve the underlying problem. Dr. Nadel advises Frustration is frequently a reaction to our perceived helplessness in a particular situation. But we are not helpless. When we express frustration by bl aming someone else, we are missing out on an opportunity to reposition our response to that sense of helplessness. Exhibiting composure during a stressful moment, and handling challenges gracefully are impressive qualities. Dr. Nadel points out theres much to learn If we see frustration as a message that we need to explore our thinking about the frustrating issue, then we stop tolerating frustration and utilize it to our benefit.unterstellung are components of emotional intelligence that show that you understand your feelings and that you know how to manage them. Compare that with the alternative. Decide to behave in the way that benefits you, taking the opportunity it offers to hone your self-control. Teach yourself how to do so by recognizing the rewards it gives you versus the extra work it leaves you with to behave in an emotionally chaotic way. Dr. Nadel explains Every state contains information. Uncomfortable states contain a lot of powerful information about how we look at th ings. I see frustration as an opportunity to think critically and to change models of belief and behavior that are not working for us. Its a good thing if we work with it.Take the opportunity. Youre in control, not the trickster.

Sunday, November 24, 2019

Why Responding to Your Boss Immediately Can Hurt You

Why Responding to Your babo Immediately Can Hurt YouWhy Responding to Your Boss Immediately Can Hurt YouThe other day, I welches struggling through some data analysis, a task Im admittedly not very good at and need to seriously focus on in order to get done, when my boss emailed asking for an update on a different project. It wasnt a time-sensitive request, but without thinking, I stopped everything so I could respond. This is a pretty common practice for me. When I see my boss name pop up in my inbox or chat window, I tend to scramble to answer her as quickly as possible. The reflex tends to be a hallmark trait of people who want to excel in their jobs. I know that my direct reports reply to my requests with speed they dont often have for others. And I myself have always replied to my bosses or anyone above them with the urgency of a 911 call. But is that a good thing?You may think a lightning-fast response to all your boss needs is helping your career, but its time to re-think that strategy. Here are three reasons you actually dont need to (and shouldnt always) respond as fast as possible. Not Everything Your Boss Sends You is UrgentThis may sound like a duh comment, but we tend to believe that everything our superiors are working on is extremely important. But in the same way that everything you do isnt urgent, neither is your managers work. And while he or she may love getting an answer from you quickly, it might not make much of a difference whether you respond today, tomorrow, or Tuesday. A great strategy to implement is something we call managing up, or letting your boss know what you need to get your job done (and done well). An example of that is to simply ask your boss if the matter is urgent or if there is a deadline. You could say something like, I saw your request for the email campaign numbers for April. Can you let me know when youd like those by so I can prioritize my work? You may learn that he or she doesnt need an update until the end of the week, in which case you can tackle it at a later time. Its Better to Show Your Boss You Can Prioritize Than Answer ImmediatelyAs a manager, its great knowing that my employees can prioritize their work and dont have to rely on me to tell them what to do and when to do it. I send my current direct report a lot of requests each day and value that she tells me shell get to some of them later because she is working on something thats more time-sensitive. It shows me that she understands our business and knows how to optimize her day to get the most important things done. Youre Hurting Your Own WorkIn the example I used above, I ended up losing my place in the data analysis and had to go back and re-start a portion of it. I ended up wasting a lot of time to answer my boss on something she ended up not needing right away. If I had waited and finished my analysis, I would have ended up saving a lot of time, while still getting her what she needed long before she was expecting a response. At the end of the day, unless your job is to be at your boss beck and call, theres no reward for replying within seconds every time youre asked for something. Thats not to say you shouldnt be hyper-aware of your boss requests or ignore them. A quick reply saying that youre on it and giving a estimated timeline of when it will be done will reassure your manager that he or she can trust you to get things done- and prioritize well. Photo of phone courtesy of Shutterstock.

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Modern Applications of Tribology

Modern Applications of Tribology Modern Applications of Tribology While Leonardo da Vinci commented on the effects of friction in the 1400s, it wasnt until the mid-1960s that tribology was coined by Dr. H. Peter Jost and accepted as the term for the study and application of the principles of friction, lubrication, and wear.In the early 1960s, there was a dramatic increase in the reported failures of plant and machinery due to wear and associated causes, some causing heavy financial losses. Continuous processes made machinery breakdowns more costly and serious than ever.This trend was recognized by specialists involved in the subjects of friction, wear, and lubrication, and several research studies reported on the impact of wear, corrosion, and friction on machinery, manufacturing productivity, and costs. As a result, tribology became a mainstream field of science, and many universities offer it as part of their mechanical engineering department curriculum.The early focus of tribology was on improving operation and extending the lifecycle of industrial machinery. Today, those principles and design benefits are making a major impact in a variety of modern applications, such as biomedical, nanotechnology, alternative energies, and green methodologies. Here are some examples.Biomedical (Biotribology)The application of tribology in biological systems is a rapidly growing field and extends well beyond the conventional boundaries. Biomedical tribological systems involve an extensive sortiment of synthetic materials and natural tissues, including cartilage, blood vessels, heart, tendons, ligaments, and skin.These materials operate in complex interactive biological environments. Biotribologists incorporate concepts of friction, wear, and lubrication of these biological surfaces in various applications, such as the design of joints and prosthetic devices, the wear of screws and plates in bone fracture repair, wear of denture and restorative materials, wear of replacement heart valves, and even the tribology of contact lenses.NanotribologyThe commercialization of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS)/nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS), such as disk drives and other magnetic storage systems in the early 1990s, along with the development of new materials with nanoscale thicknesses, have presented new tribological challenges.The emergence of sophisticated scanning probe technologies and computational techniques has given rise to the field of nanotribology for investigations of processes at the atomic,molecular, andmicroscopic scale. Nanotribological studies are helping to develop fundamental understanding of surface interfaces in micro/nanostructures used in a variety of modern applications.Some of these applications include chemical and biodetectors, advanced drug delivery systems, information recording layers, molecular sieves, systems on a chip, nanoparticle reinforced materials, and a new generation of lasers.Wind TurbinesWind turbines continue t o hold promise as a viable alternative energy source. While they have made gains in reliability in the past decade, they are subject to tribological problems that are difficult and costly to repair and can drastically reduce their expected lifecycles. Two key areas of concern are reliability of gearboxes and turbine lubrication.To address these problems, there have been extensive studies of lubricants, which are used in wind-turbine gearboxes, hydraulic systems such as the blade pitch control, drive train brake subsystems, and bearings, to improve turbine reliability in extreme environments.Green TribologyThe concept of green tribology was also introduced by Jost, who defined it as, The science and technology of the tribological aspects of ecological balance and of environmental and biological impacts.There are a number of problems that can be addressed by green tribology. The specific field of green or environment-friendly tribology emphasizes the aspects of interacting surfaces in relative motion, which are of importance for energy or environmental sustainability or which have impact upon todays environment.Nosonovsky and Bhushan suggested the 12 principles of green tribology as the minimization of (1) friction and (2) wear, (3) the reduction or complete elimination of lubrication, including self-lubrication, (4) natural and (5) biodegradable lubrication, (6) using sustainable chemistry and engineering principles, (7) biomimetic approaches, (8) surface texturing, (9) environmental implications of coatings, (10) real-time monitoring, (11) design for degradation, and (12) sustainable energy applications.They further emphasized three areas of green tribology (1) biomimetics for tribological applications, (2) environment-friendly lubrication, and (3) the tribology of renewable-energy application.Tom Ricci is the owner of Ricci Communications.In the early 1960s, there was a dramatic increase in the reported failures of plant and machinery due to wear and associat ed causes, some causing heavy financial losses.