Tag: workplace

How Millennials Can Beat Stereotypes in the Workplace

Being a millennial is stressful enough when graduation day rolls away and the workforce looms ahead. It’s scary,  intimidating and the rest of the world has this preconception of you that can destroy you before you even send out the first job application.

Don’t feel bad. You’re not alone in this battle to prove yourself and your worth.

In fact, many millennials battle with the prospect of finding a great job after college and settling into ‘adulting’. This is mostly due to the stereotypes already in place at the workplace about millennials and their many shortcomings.

Let’s take a look at some of these stereotypes and little tips to beat them.

Entitled to Feel Entitled

Often times, millennials are viewed as the over-ambitious, ladder climbing generation, reluctant to put in the years of hard labor. To the older generations, that can cause conflict when the new guy (or gal) suddenly gets all the sweet promotions and company benefits. It causes a disconnect between staff members and the blame lands on the generational difference when it all boils down to some workers believing that millennials feed of entitlement. It’s harmful to a collaborative work environment and could hurt productivity.

The Fix  – Ask an employee who has been there longer than yourself to look over a project for you or include them in your research process. It shows that you value their opinion and they get to see you in a new light as the person who is able to ask for help.

Technology is life

This is the generation of Twitter fingers, selfies and snaps so it’s natural for people to assume most millennials are just scrolling through social media to double tap their approval on high definition photos. Yet the internet is a hub of constantly changing information and building lasting connections. There is so much happening and changing in the world that it’s important to keep updated with business trends and services to ensure withstanding the competition.

Fix- Explain to your employer the importance of staying up to date on Twitter. Pitch ideas that can help the company grow a strong social media presence. Talk about how helpful technology can be to the company’s marketing strategy.  The goal is to show that your use of technology is justified and useful to your organization.

Job-Hoppers

Post-graduation, the goal is to find a job that can make ends meet. It can seem like millennials walk away from more jobs or bounce in between but research shows that Baby Boomers bounced around jobs in their twenties just the same. In order to settle into a job, they would search around for higher salaries, career growth, and cultural fit. It’s almost unfair to millennials that they get penalized for finding their career path.

Fix –  Explain to your employer the benefits you’re looking for. Be vocal about what you value in a company and what you are willing to offer for that value. If career development is important to you, this is the time to communicate it. If you’re looking for support with work and life balance, here’s where you explain your preference for flexibility. Don’t feel bad about being vocal about your goals. It can save you some job hopping stories and land you right where you want to be.

Laziness

Not only applying to the workplace, millennials are considered lazy in almost every aspect of life – including parenting and financing.  Yet a study among American employees found that 59% of millennials said competition is their biggest motivator, compared to the 50% Baby Boomers. Perhaps laziness isn’t the issue but working smart and efficiently is.

Fix – Show your employees how thorough you are while you work. If you need to finish a project, get into the habit of doing so in a timely and professional manner. Exceed company sales trends and aim to go the extra measure to answer company problems. Regular displays of diligent work can help beat that one pesky preconception.

The most effective way to bet stereotypes is with consistency. Millennials are held back in the workplace, not because of their attitude but because of the company environment and the stereotypes within. Don’t shortchange yourself. Take a deep breath and go prove these guys wrong – you’ve got this.

Toner Connect proudly employees hardworking millennials. Everyone can use extra cash; sell us your unused toner at tonerconnect.net

 

How Human Resources Changed For Transgendered Employees

About three quarters of Fortune 500 companies have incorporated gender identity protection in their company policies. Gap, Wells Fargo and Apple are all participants with steps in place to support transgender employees.

 

In the past, it has been an uphill battle for transitioning employees to feel included and safe from company discriminated for their gender identity. Cases like Ramirez v Barnes and Noble, where the company denied to secure a transitioning worker the right to a discriminant free work environment, are the stepping stones for revised company policies and procedures.

 

 

 

Human Resources has been working hard to put together protection policies that encourage workplace support for transitioning and transgender employees and let’s take a look at some of these efforts and how HR is changing the workplace for these workers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Transition Plans – When an employee decides to transition, it will be a hard time where they will need ongoing workplace support. In the event that your employee confides in you about their plans to transition, it is best advised to have a plan.

 

“We try our best to accommodate our transitioning and transgender employees as it’s part of our diversity inclusive policy. At times we may have some stumbles but because of our plan in place, we continue to strive while sustaining an all-inclusive work community.” Human resources representative for a Brooklyn startup company told us.

 

 

Some things HR is being sure to cover in their transition plans could include:

 

 

Name Changing – Some companies allow employees to use nicknames on company business cards, emails, and mail (from Robert to Bob) yet there is sometimes reluctance to extend the courtesy to transitioning employees. Part of implementing a transition plan is facing the issue head-on and brainstorming ways to help respect the transitioning employee.

In turn, human resources sometimes have made noticeable efforts to speed up the name changing process. In one case, a transgendered employee expressed her anxiety with the name on her professional profile and the company went ahead to change it to her preferred name, allowing her to live in her true identity.

 

The worker then felt valued and included – great traits to encourage in the workplace.

 


 

Dress codes are not to gender stereotype or discriminate. All employees should wear appropriate workplace clothing consistent with their full gender identity.

Like their colleagues, they should refer to company policy for dress code and follow the guidelines corresponding to their new identity.  Outside of the workplace doesn’t apply to the inside of the office and therefore the dress code doesn’t apply.

 

So if in their spare time an employee may cross-dress, it’s not company’s business to inquire.

 


 

 

Restrooms are still a touchy topic in America with the transitioning and transgender community. Companies are required to provide their staff with reasonable access to restroom facilities and the U.S. Equal Opportunity Commission enforces Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that prohibits employment discrimination based on factors of race, religion and gender identity.

 

Therefore, denial of restroom facilities to transitioning and transgender employees is unlawful. If a transitioning employee chooses to use the bathroom corresponding to the gender they wish to identify by, company policy should allow it.

 

 

 

Some recommendations for employees uncomfortable with the idea include using a separate bathroom from the transitioning employee and talking to their officials about the possibility of having gender-neutral restrooms.

 

 

 

Workplace Community is a crucial asset to a company. People who communicate well, work better in group settings and on collaborative projects. Included in the transition plan, employers should be visual about sharing information to educate the workplace on what a person may experience while transitioning and how to show support.

 

 

 

“In an effort to help our small work community informed and supportive, we have sent out emails to offer our employees services for counseling. We know it could be a drastic change for some of our them and we want to offer a channel to have one-on-one consultations with our appointed HR rep,” the Brooklyn startup company rep explained. 

 

 

 

Regular re-visits to company policies are another way human resources is changing the workplace. Keeping up with state and federal laws have become vital for staying updated on diversity initiatives within the workforce.


 

 

Management Training –  In-person training and educational courses are useful for employees in leadership roles. The managers and supervisors are the moderators and facilitators of the workplace and their skills should be updated in order to handle possible questions or concerns about the changes happening in the workplace.

 

 

 

Managers are responsible for keeping a harassment-free workplace and therefore should be trained to do so.

 

 

 

There are a number of ways businesses can support their transitioning employees. To maintain a productive, collaborative and diversity inclusive work environment, special steps have to be taken and old policies revamped.

 

 

 

The time is now to pay attention to your human resource efforts and ask yourself the big question: Is my HR department making changes to support transgender employees in the workplace?

 

Will Artificial Intelligence Take Our Jobs

Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) is a branch of computer science where human behavior is simulated in computers and machines.  A.I. can also involve machine learning, where the computers are effectively teaching themselves how to better act or react in different situations.  

 

This all sounds very impressive, and it is, but the true spectrum of possibilities with these technologies has yet to be fully seen or even discovered.  

 

Currently, people are figuring out how to use A.I. to analyze huge amounts of data or help most effectively route delivery trucks or trains, but there is a growing fear that a robot revolution is going to rise up and take everyone’s jobs.

 

Is a robot going to take your job?  


That’s a funny thought, but it’s not completely realistic – yet anyway.  

 

A.I. and computers are getting smarter every day, and humans have figured out how to make them do some pretty amazing things.  Anything from assembling cars to answering telephones can now be done by a robot-assisted by A.I. technology. 

 

That’s all great, but what about your job?  Are you next to be replaced by a self-teaching, computer-assisted robot? 

 

Let’s look at some of the things that make jobs ripe for automation or better suited to be done by an old-school human.

 


Repetition

 

Probably the biggest reason to automate (computerize) a job is that it’s repetitive. 

 

That’s why we see so many smart machines doing things in manufacturing – putting pieces in place in the same order every time is something that a robot can do very well.  Much the same for tasks like answering phones. 

 

It’s pretty easy to teach a computer to do or say the same things in the same order every time.  Things get trickier for AI when there are complicated decisions to be made or when the incoming information is abstract and difficult to interpret. 

 

This is why we probably won’t see robot CEOs or analysts anytime soon: the human decision engine is needed to draw conclusions and communicate information with the additional ability to do it differently based on whatever the situation requires at that time. 

 

 


No Brains Required

 

Part of what makes A.I. so tempting for so many businesses today is the promise that it will end up saving money and increasing efficiencies in mundane tasks.  This is great for the things that don’t require any real thought but gets hairy when anything unpredictable is involved. 

 

Managing people is a great example of an area in which A.I. doesn’t belong (yet).  Another frequently cited example is sales and marketing.  These professions probably rely on A.I. to help do their jobs with data and decision-making tools, but it’s unlikely we’ll be reporting to a robot boss anytime soon.

 


 

The Human Touch

 

While A.I. can generate some great information and can make routine tasks more automatic, there are some things that would feel wrong or downright scary if a robot were to be in control. 

 

Medicine and more specifically surgery are an area where having a person at the helm is comforting.  We could probably (maybe) train a computer to perform complex medical procedures, but it’s unlikely many people would feel comfortable going under that knife. 

 

Some things have been done by people in a very personal way for so long that turning full control over to A.I. just feels wrong.  It’s also important to note that, for as much as we hate going to the doctor or dentist, most people take comfort knowing that there is a human being with compassion and at least some level of concern taking care of them.

It can be very easy to go into a tailspin worrying about the robot revolution, but it’s important to remember how far away from anything resembling that situation we really are.  Computers can do some pretty amazing things, but the best use of that technology right now is in assisting a good ol’ human being in doing his or her job.  

 

It’s true that jobs in fields like data entry and manufacturing are likely to be the first for replacement by an intelligent machine, but we’re probably years (at least) away from that reality because the technologies are just so new.  

 


 

If you’re in a field that you think may be on the chopping block, the best thing you can do would be to start looking at ways to build knowledge and experience beyond your current skillsets.  

 

Many employers will pay for training programs, advanced degrees, or job shadowing opportunities, in order to increase your worth within the company.

 

The bottom line is that, while technology is becoming a much larger part of everything we do, it will be a while before we start seeing large swaths of our workforce being overtaken by robots.  

 

We do see jobs where people are basically acting like robots, performing the same action repetitively without much variation, which means that these types of jobs are the low hanging fruit—ripe to be automated.  

 

If you’re worried that you may someday be replaced by a smart machine, you should start looking at education and training programs that may be available to you at work now to ensure that you’re in charge of your own career.