I just read where Cyber-Ark Software conducted a survey which revealed that one in three  IT employees admitted to peeking at the personal information of other employees including human resources information, wage data, and personal emails.

To make matters worse, they also indicated that lax network security meant they felt confident they would still be able to access the company’s network even if they left their current job. In fact, more than a quarter said they knew of other IT staffers who still had access to networks even though they’d left the company long ago.

I am not so naïve that I believe no one would ever snoop, but I guess I did think my employer would be responsible enough to protect me from abuse. Big mistake, because I just heard another news story where a substitute teacher in South Florida stole the identity of a fellow teacher to open a credit card account and charge up $400 in merchandise.

What it all comes down to is making sure that human resources and IT work closely to establish not just a written policy, but a system of checks and balances to ensure that departing employees don’t leave with more than what they came in with. In addition, as an individual it is your responsibility to protect your personal information from the snooping eyes of others.

In the case of the substitute teacher, it appeared to be that the victim’s information was taken right off her desk.

This whole idea of off-ramping or opting-out for at least some portion of a woman’s career seems to be more common than in the past. In fact according to a recent CBS News story, the number of college-educated moms working outside the home has dropped 7 percent in the last decade.

However, the entire off-ramping subject seems to have  sparked quite a debate, as others have weighed in saying that women are NOT opting out more there has just been a weak labor market. An October 2006 article in The Christian Science Monitor indicated that men’s labor rates have also dropped.

Another side of the coin seems to be that women are not opting out by mere choice but due to the inflexibility the workplace seems to offer. They feel they have no other option because of prejudice against working mothers. In fact the same CS Monitor article indicated that a recent survey showed that 86 percent of women felt obstacles such as an inflexible job were the main reason they left.

What this all says to me is that the struggle is not over. Choices have to be made even as women continue to push ahead to have careers while raising a family. Whether you’re off-ramping or on-ramping, it is still an uphill road.

Okay, maybe not laughing, but definitely chuckling when I read recently that Bersin & Associates, a talent management consultancy firm, conducted a survey of 750 business and 55 senior HR executives and found that “more than half admitted to a critical shortage of line managers as well as difficulty in identifying, hiring and developing mid-level managers.”

The reason I was chortling was because I remember a time in my friend’s career when he was literally squeezed out of a company – along with fellow mid-level managers – as the rank and file along with the executive team came together in a flattening of the organization.

Now these oh, so many years later, they want him. They really want him. But why now?

According to Josh Bersin, President of Bersin & Associates, “Business and economic growth, changing workforce demographics, and constrained corporate spending have collided to create daunting talent-related business challenges.”

And the impact is particularly apparent in healthcare, government, utilities, oil and gas and telecommunications.

So what should you do?

Take time to develop the talent already on staff. Unfortunately too many organizations run to the marketplace the minute they need to fill a management role instead of preparing in advance. Where better to find the skills and knowledge that your company needs then right in your own backyard?

Think about it. If it takes more than six months to recruit someone from outside your organization, that’s time lost. If you plan in advance for the possibility that managers will eventually leave (hopefully due to internal promotions), you can backfill with the talent you already have. Then your job will be to replace a lower level position, and you’re less likely to run into a shortage of management talent.

This whole idea of off-ramping or opting-out for at least some portion of a woman’s career seems to be more common than in the past. In fact according to a recent CBS News story, the number of college-educated moms working outside the home has dropped 7 percent in the last decade.

However, the entire off-ramping subject seems to have  sparked quite a debate, as others have weighed in saying that women are NOT opting out more there has just been a weak labor market. An October 2006 article in The Christian Science Monitor indicated that men’s labor rates have also dropped.

Another side of the coin seems to be that women are not opting out by mere choice but due to the inflexibility the workplace seems to offer. They feel they have no other option because of prejudice against working mothers. In fact the same CS Monitor article indicated that a recent survey showed that 86 percent of women felt obstacles such as an inflexible job were the main reason they left.

What this all says to me is that the struggle is not over. Choices have to be made even as women continue to push ahead to have careers while raising a family. Whether you’re off-ramping or on-ramping, it is still an uphill road.

Now while this is down from last year’s high of 27 percent, it still seems ridiculous to me that so many people feel it absolutely necessary to keep in touch even though they are on vacation.

This reminds me of a story that a friend told me about a vacation she once spent with several other couples at an annual Fourth of July baseball tournament. While men were busy playing their hearts out in order to lay claim to the winner’s trophy, one wife was too busy on her cell phone checking in with everyone at her office to notice some of the spectacular plays her husband made.  Later as everyone was busy recounting the action, this too-busy wife had nothing to say.

The point is that BREAK most company’s vacation policies talk about how important time away from work really is. And that’s why they offer employees vacation: to provide employees with paid time off for rest and renewal.   

So what is it about some people that they just can’t let go?

Are they so absolutely indispensable that their organizations cannot live without them? Or is it that their egos won’t let them believe otherwise?

While some seem to think it would reflect poorly on them showing that perhaps they weren’t needed if they didn’t check in, the truth is that the opposite may be true. If you effectively prepare in advance, it may just show you are organized and have management potential.

So next time you plan a vacation be sure to plan in advance how things will operate while you’re away and then trust your staff or coworkers to function fine without you. That way you can truly enjoy your vacation, not just sort of.

ROWE or Results-Only Work Environment is a performance-based, results-focused culture whereby the organization focuses on productivity, retention and the bottom line by allowing employees to work when and where they want as long as the job gets done.

Widely touted by retail giant Best Buy, Inc., ROWE has been implemented by about 60 percent of that organization.

According to Scott Jauman, Sr. Manager, Sourcing and Procurement for Best Buy, Inc. ROWE is about asking, “…what has been produced, did it meet a customer need, is there anything else these individuals are doing that they just don’t need to do, that doesn’t meet customer needs?”

But can ROWE really work?

First you have to learn to trust your team without the usual eight to five parameters. Unlike flexible work schedules that allow you some flexibility but still within certain established hours, ROWE allows complete freedom of choice as to when you will work, as well as where.

Then you have to establish goals. Managers determine outcomes for every position and work with employees to determine how performance will be measured.

To go along with the ROWE concept there are even commandments. Thirteen to be exact, including these: “No.1: People at all levels stop doing any activity that is a waste of their time, the customer’s time, or the company’s money. No.7: Nobody talks about how many hours they work. No.9: It’s O.K. to take a nap on a Tuesday afternoon, grocery shop on Wednesday morning, or catch a movie on Thursday afternoon.”

So if you are seeking a way to revolutionize your business and get away from the standard eight to five routine, maybe ROWE is for you. The entire ROWE idea is to judge performance on output instead of hours. After all, just because you’re at work from eight to five doesn’t mean you’re actually working eight to five.

According to participants in an on-line survey, the average manager said they received 57 emails per day yet feel only 25 are necessary to do their job. This means that employees  “write, send, read and delete over 240 million pointless emails per year.”

I think we can all agree that communication is important. However, the quality of the communication is equally important. Unfortunately, with email it’s too easy to over-communicate and lose your focus and your audience. Here are a few simple tips:

• Be succinct. Say what needs to be said, provide the information required, and that’s all. Don’t tell long tales.
• Respond only when appropriate. If you are cc’d on an email and you have no reason to respond, don’t.
• Consider whether the email you are sending even needs to be sent. Try using the phone instead.
• Remember the old concept of only touching a piece of paper once? Consider doing the same with your email. Read it and then respond, toss or create a task.

As a recruiter, one question I will often ask candidates is where they feel they waste the most time. Eight times out of 10 they will say, “in meetings.” It’s that continued desire to over-communicate.
In fact, participants in the same  on-line survey said they spend more than a third of their time in meetings – more than half of which they felt they didn’t need to attend — including one of the more popular — the weekly update meeting. And a survey by Microsoft in 2004 suggests that unnecessary meetings are the number one drain on the productivity of small businesses.

If you find your team has become bogged down in meetings, consider these tips:

• Have standup meetings. By making people stand instead of sit, the meeting is more likely to end quickly.
• Have an agenda and a time limit and stick to both.
• Forget the weekly update meeting for two reasons. First, if nothing has changed there is nothing to update, so you’re wasting your time. Second, why wait until a meeting to update people on what is going on? Better to send out a more timely succinct information-filled email or voice mail.

A friend recently told me of a way her department is working to combat over-communication. They have a project board that lists all the current projects and project leaders along with a brief description of the project, milestones with completion dates and the current project status.  Anyone requiring more information can just talk to the project leader. Now that’s a good way to cut down on over-communication.

So when a recent California reader asked about hiring minors for summer work, I thought it might be a good idea to remind everyone what you need to consider when beefing up your staff with the under-18 crowd.

As you probably already know, hiring minors is regulated under numerous authorities, such as the California Labor Code, the Education Code, the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), and others.

What you need to remember this summer is:

• “Minor” is defined as anyone under the age of 18 who is required to attend school or anyone under the age of six.
• Under federal regulation, high school graduates under 18 may not be employed in an occupation prohibited to minors under 18 unless they have completed a bona fide course of training in that occupation.
• Employment of minors under 14 is prohibited except in very limited circumstances.
• Minors may not work in certain hazardous occupations nor may they be hired to drive.
• With certain limited exceptions, you must acquire work permits before employing a minor. Permits are required year-round even when school is not in session.
• There are limitations on the number of hours as well as what hours a minor is allowed to work, depending on the employee’s age, the industry, and the season.

Remember before hiring anyone under 18 years of age, you should check with your local and state laws.

Apparently what it comes down to is that we all want the same basic things, but each generation defines those things differently. For instance one unifying commonality includes a desire to feel respected; however, how respect is defined differs. For older generations it means giving weight to their opinions, while for younger folks it means paying attention to what they say.

Other commonalities between  generations include the desire to trust supervisors and receive feedback as well as a dislike for change. A fifth area has to do with the number of hours someone puts in at work, which is based more on someone’s level within an organization than on actual age, though typically the expectation is that as we gain in experience we will naturally rise through the chain of command to take on a higher role within the organization.

So what does all this new information mean for organizations?

Well, hopefully, it means that what we find in common will bring us together to work better as a team and improve the ability of those who manage.  It means that all this talk about how difficult it is for people in different generations to work together has been just a bunch of hype that we too easily bought in to. And it means that by stereotyping a group of people – whether by age, color, gender, whatever – you do them and yourself a disservice.

No surprise. What is old is new again. Maybe this time we will learn not to jump on the bandwagon so quickly and maybe the concept of a multi-generational conflict can be laid to rest.

However, based on the report “Are they Really Ready to Work?”, the lack of talent is not just among high schoolers, who appear to require help in “everything from writing and work ethic to oral communication.” Unfortunately, college grads seem to have their own set of shortcomings which include critical thinking, teamwork, creativity and diversity. (Wow, are we talking about soft skills again?)

If this whole topic sounds all too familiar, I’m not surprised –  check out some of my previous blogs about The Impact of Immigration and Offshoring on the American Workforce or Take Our Children to Work Day. 

The good news is that some firms are taking action by offering programs to current students that provide them an inside look at business life and hopefully helps these future business leaders develop the skills needed to get the job done.

Accounting and consulting firm KPMG established an initiative that allows employees up to four hours a month of paid time off to volunteer for participation in Junior Achievement, teaching and other activities.

CVS/Pharmacy has Pathways to Pharmacy, a nationwide internship program that allows children from the inner city and rural areas to take a first step toward discovering a career in pharmacy.

Other forms of community involvement include job shadowing, internships and formal training programs, all designed to introduce students to employment opportunities.

Whatever efforts your organization takes towards readying the youth of today for the career of tomorrow, it’s important to remember they are the employees of our future and it is up to them to continue to lead our organizations. Therefore, it is up to us to prepare them to do it and do it well.