Rewarding man’s best friend with fur-ternity leave
Posted On September 6, 2018
As the largest generation currently in the workforce, millennials are changing the way the modern office looks and operates. Cubicles and offices are giving way to open floor plans and standing desks. Employers are paying more attention to work-life balance and charitable opportunities for their employees. And at least one company in Minneapolis, they’re allowing employees who have just gotten new pets to work from home. According to Minnesota Public Radio, Minneapolis-based digital marketing firm Nina Hale instituted the “fur-ternity leave” policy earlier this year after a senior accounts manager got a new puppy and wanted to be there while… Read More
Categories: Generation Y / Millennials, Workplace
Dilly dilly: How millennials are changing (not killing) the beer industry
Posted On August 22, 2018
What do you see when you step into the beer aisle at the grocery store? Twenty years ago, you probably would have seen a lot of Budweiser, Miller and Coors products, mixed with a few imports like Corona and Foster’s. Walk down a beer aisle in practically any grocery store today and you’ll still see a lot of Bud, Miller and Coors. But you’ll also see scores of other obscure brands – craft and local brewers, many of whom weren’t in existence five years ago, much less 20. The loosening of regulations on the brewing industry has resulted in an… Read More
Categories: Podcast, Work, Workplace
Implicit bias: Confronting the monster you don’t even know is there
Posted On August 14, 2018
When we last spoke with Melanie Miller, she joined us for an enlightening discussion about sexual harassment and how to avoid fostering a hostile work environment. In this episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston,” Miller turns her sharp eye to the problem of implicit bias and its effects on hiring practices. The concept of implicit bias is the idea that we all have unconscious beliefs about people who are different than us, regardless of how open-minded we believe we are. “I believe to be human is to be biased,” Miller says. Even if we aren’t consciously aware of them,… Read More
Categories: Podcast, Workplace
Is feedback a gift or a punch in the mouth? Depends on how it’s done
Posted On August 2, 2018
Is feedback really a gift? We like to say that it is, but sometimes it feels like a punch in the mouth. That’s because feedback is often not given or received in a way that allows it to be appreciated or effective. To be effective, it has to be appreciated – or at least accepted. So says our guest in this episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston” – Michael Nash of Nash Consulting, whose 18 years of direct executive management experience and 20 years of work as a consultant, executive coach and trainer are a testament to the wisdom… Read More
Categories: Podcast, Workplace
Many Baby Boomers starting businesses instead of retiring to rockers
Posted On July 30, 2018
As millennials take over the workforce and Generation X moves into management, Baby Boomers are ready to slide off into retirement. But what if they don’t? Citing a 2018 small business trends surveyby Guidant Financial, Forbes noted in a recent piecethat instead of retiring, many Baby Boomers are doubling down. While Guidant’s parameters for the Baby Boom generation were a little wide, its survey found that more than half of the country’s small business owners are over 50. And these aren’t just Boomers who have been running their own show for a long time. A 2017 USA Today article notedthat… Read More
Categories: Baby Boomers, Blog, Workplace
Tips for the Gen X manager: Get out there and communicate
Posted On July 24, 2018
For years, meetings were the bane of a Generation X employee’s existence. What a time suck, they thought. What a colossal waste — time spent yapping and staring at each other that would be better spent working. When I’m running things, they told themselves, we aren’t doing this anymore. Well, now they are running things. And true to their word, many of them did away with meetings altogether. Our guest in this episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston” is Stephanie Constantine, an HR consultant in my hometown of Mobile who tells us why that plan isn’t working – and… Read More
Categories: Generation X, Podcast, Uncategorized, Work, Workplace
Lifeguarding isn’t just for the young anymore
Posted On July 13, 2018
They were the cool kids, the kids we aspired to be. They sat atop their chair, with their mirrored sunglasses and tan skin, twirling a whistle around their finger and reminding us, once again, to stop running and stop hanging on the rope by the diving well. One day, we told ourselves, we’ll be lifeguards too. But a funny thing happened on the way to the pool for today’s generation of would-be lifeguards. According to the Washington Post, you might be just as likely to see a Baby Boomer sitting atop the chair at your neighborhood pool this summer as… Read More
Categories: Baby Boomers, Blog, Parenting, Work, Workplace
Perks created to attract employees today could become standard tomorrow
Posted On July 11, 2018
Phil Smoker finds himself in a unique situation these days. The fifth generation to build Smoker Craft boats, Smoker has seen his company average about 20 percent growth since rebounding from the recession in 2010. He’s had to hire a lot of people to keep up with that growth. And now for the unique part: His company is located in Elkhart County, Indiana, where about half of all the RVs in the country are built. The unemployment level in Elkhart County is 2.4 percent – just under half the national rate. So Smoker, whose company builds several different brands of… Read More
Categories: Podcast, Recruiting, Workplace
Growing too fast or not growing at all: the questions CEOs should ask themselves
Posted On July 7, 2018
What does a CEO need to focus on if his or her company is stagnant and starting to lose business to competitors? What about the CEO of a company that is growing so fast it can’t hire fast enough? While these two situations are wildly different – even opposite – the questions they need to be asking themselves are largely the same. Our guest in this week’s episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston” is Gary Frey of Insight CXO, a Charlotte-based firm that provides coaching for CEOs of mid-market companies looking to manage their growth or maintain their foothold… Read More
Categories: Generation Y / Millennials, Podcast, Work, Workplace
With unemployment cratering, the challenge now is to fill open jobs
Posted On June 21, 2018
People shouldn’t have much trouble finding a job right now. Unemployment in the U.S. was 3.8 percent in May, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics– an 18-year low. That’s great, right? Of course, if you’re a worker. If you’re an employer looking to hire, it presents a problem: Filling out a workforce. And filling it out with the right people. Our guest in this episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston” is Ed Castile, Deputy Secretary of Commerce, Workforce Development Division, for the state of Alabama and Director of AIDT– Alabama Industrial Development Training. His job is to help… Read More
Categories: Podcast, Training Industry, Workplace