Workspace by Diane Stafford

Starting pay dips lower for college grads

The labor market, particularly in terms of starting pay offers, appears weaker for college graduates now than for those who entered the workforce in 2001, which was the beginning of the previous economic slump.

That's the analysis from the Economic Policy Institute, which says inflation-adjusted average hourly wages in 2007 were 60 cents lower for young, female college grads and $1.60 lower for young, male college grads than they were six years ago.

As if stagnant or lower base pay weren't enough, EPI said that a college degree also "has become less of a guarantee of receiving health and retirement benefits on the job."

The research organization, which advocates for better wages for workers, noted: "The incidence of health insurance coverage is over 5 percentage points lower than in 2001, and less than half of young college grads now receive any form of pension coverage on the job."

Employers are moving away from defined benefit pensions in favor of defined contribution plans, such as 401(k) retirement plans in which the employer generally provides a percentage of employees' contributions.

And, while some smaller employers are discontinuing subsidized health insurance plans because of the expense, most large employers are maintaining health insurance plans but requiring employees to shoulder a larger share of the costs.

EPI economists Lawrence Mishel and Elise Gould call these troubling signs for college grads, given that the nation needs workers with higher education and skills.

But, with the stratospheric costs of a four-year college degree -- and post-graduate school -- the cost/benefit analysis (to decide if it's worth it to pursue advanced education) may deter many young people from attending college.

What a shame. 

Fight workplace weight gain

A CareerBuilder.com survey tells us that 45 percent of workers have gained weight at their current jobs.

Blame the brownies. The donuts. The welcome cakes. The goodbye cakes. The vending machines. The eating out. The sitting.

The survey of 7,688 workers found 26 percent saying they'd gained more than 10 pounds and 12 percent saying they'd gained more than 20 pounds in their current positions.

Women were more likely than men to admit they had a workplace spread.

And the fattest sectors? Financial services and government workers admitted to the highest weight gains.

Fewer than 1 in 10 of the workers surveyed said they hit the gym over their lunch hours. Lack of time and the expense were big inhibitors to what's an obvious weight gain cure.

We all know it, but here's what we're supposed to do to fight the battle of the bulge:

Exercise.

Eat less.

Eat right. Don't snack. Eat nutritious, not junk, foods.

Stay hydrated.

Pay attention. Don't snack mindlessly to relieve stress...or boredom.

What's good about losing jobs overseas?

In my workplace column today in The Kansas City Star, I write about Jared Bernstein, a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute, author of a new book, Crunch: Why Do I Feel So Squeezed?

In that forum, I took him down a political path, given that it's an election year, and made him talk about the economic influence of the president.

I particularly like another topic, which he touched on in response to this question: Is there anything good about having jobs go out of the country?

His answer, in part:

"...over the course of the business cycle that began in March 2001, we've lost about three million factory jobs. At the same time, we've gained about seven million jobs in the service sector. So we're net gainers on the jobs front.

"But to get to the core of your question, we have to ask about the relative quality of the jobs both lost and gained.

"Factory workers who go over to the services usually lose a lot. We're often talking here about moving someone from a high-productivity unionized job with high-tier wages and fringes to a sector that's less productive, has much less collective bargaining, and has a much wider dispersion of compensation.

"Recent research into the consequences of layoffs reveals that just under three-quarters of re-employed factory workers suffer a real pay cut, and for 40 percent, it's a cut of at least 20 percent."

Bernstein notes that jobs that could be done more cheaply overseas resulted, because of global trade, in lower prices for American consumers. And, although U.S. manufacturing jobs fell, there still were good white-collar jobs for Americans.

But then came offshoring of white-collar jobs as well. He notes:

"If your work can be digitized or routinized, no matter how well educated you are, there may well be an equally smart person happy to look at that X-ray or write that computer code for about a tenth of what you make."

And that's caused a weakening of "high end" white-collar wage growth. It's not a given any more that education or higher skills will insulate U.S. workers from global trade pressures.

Clearly, we can't stop global trade. But he suggests what we need to do:

"We could and we should do a lot more to keep jobs from leaving the country...including leveraging other countries' desire to access our markets by insisting that our trading partners play fair, ending tax incentives to offshore, and investing in our manufacturing sector to go to work on any green alternatives we can think of."

There's a lot more, but it's too much for this space. Guess you'll have to get the book.

Do workers need paid time off to get voter I.D.s?

In the state legislative rush to require picture I.D.s  for voting, there's a workplace issue that needs to be addressed:

Some workers may need time off from their jobs to get the document if they don't already have one.

Lots of people can't understand why this might be problem. They already have their driver's licenses or their college I.D.s or their credit or debit cards with a picture taken at their banks. They forget that some people don't drive, don't go to college, or don't have plastic.

So much of the attention on the voter I.D. debate has centered on keeping illegals from the polls. Fine. But there's a big problem when citizens are deprived the right to vote.

Legislators in most states long ago addressed the need for employers to allow workers time off to vote. Missing so far in the picture I.D. discussions is a similar need to allow workers to get what could amount to a permission slip to vote.

If laws are passed that require government-issued photo I.D.s, that could present an even bigger access problem for some workers. Unless there are plans to set up picture I.D. kiosks in the shopping malls, or run 24/7 I.D. offices somewhere (fat chance), there are going to be citizen workers who will have trouble getting the required document unless a little flexibility is included in the process.

Help for freelancers

Self-employed people often lack the marketing power of a larger business. But a group of more than 125 Kansas City area freelancers has some good ways to get noticed.

The group, which calls itself The Freelance Exchange, is a five-year-old nonprofit that provides a forum for self-employed advertising, marketing and public relations professionals to share ideas and boost their brand identies. Check it out at www.kcfreelanceexchange.com, where you can get a free PDF or hard copy of its membership list.

On Wednesday, they're using the lure of free beer at the Boulevard Brewery to help attract potential clients to their annual Portfolio Showcase. The event, set for 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., is designed to let potential clients stop by after work and see the work of more than 60 Freelance Exchange members.

That includes graphic designers, copywriters, illustrators, photographers, meeting planners, public relations practitioners, Web designers, art directors, and media planners.

This year, the group is taking brand awareness one step further: It's linked up with a local NASCAR truck driver, Jennifer Jo Cobb, www.cobbracingteam.com. Some club members are offering her free creative and marketing services over the next few months, and in exchange, the Freelance Exchange decal is affixed to the left rear panel of her truck.

The Freelance Exchange has been able to grow (since it started in 2003 with an idea from freelance copywriter Julie Cortes) because of strong volunteer participation among its members. They've been able to create vendor partnerships and marketing muscle beyond what one self-employed worker could do alone.

If other cities don't have something like this in the works, it's certainly something that could be duplicated by a few creative, energetic people. As corporate downsizing bolsters the ranks of self-employed and as brave entrepreneurs continue to make their own way in business, this concept may be a difference maker.

Job relocation woes

More workers are turning down jobs because they don't want to relocate. And more companies are struggling to pay relocation expenses in a budget-cutting environment.

In short, it's getting harder to convince people to move from city to city in pursuit of work.

The Employee Relocation Council says about 720,000 Americans relocate each year for career reasons. The costs of moving and setting up a new home average $16,177 for new hires who plan to rent, according to CORT, a rental relocation service and rental furniture provider.

Costs go much higher for relocating families that have a lot of possessions to move.

You've probably heard semi-horror stories about corporate relocations to jobs that disappeared after a year. That's a lot of upheaval, especially for workers who have working spouses and children in schools.

To fight employees' disinclination to move, some companies are beefing up their relocation budgets, according to Atlas Van Lines 2008 Corporate Relocation Survey. Some spruced-up relo packages include job-finding support for workers' spouses. Others add more company-paid services, such as packing and car moving as well as covering basic moving expenses.

The Atlast report said the No. 1 reason workers decline relocation is family, but concerns about mortgages "are closing the gap."

Summer jobs for teens

Eighty-six percent of this year's high school graduates expect to work in a paying job -- at least part-time -- this summer.

Whether they'll get the intended job is a tougher thing to figure. Employers are holding tight on payrolls, and many are preferring to hire older, more established workers who won't be leaving in August to go off to college.

A Monster.com poll found that graduating seniors want to earn money (no kidding!). Even though half say they'll be spending some summer hours doing unpaid volunteer work, a larger percentage wants a paycheck.

According to the survey respondents (there were nearly 3,400 college-bound in all), here are the kinds of jobs they expect to hold this summer:

Retail, 38 percent; Food service, 30 percent; Grocery store or pharmacy work, 15 percent: Administrative or clerical work, 15 percent; Recreational work such as amusement park attendant or lifeguard, 14 percent; and childcare, 13 percent (mostly female responses).

Some jobs had to be sewn up about the time of winter break in order to be assured of a position. But, even in a stuttering economy, there always are help-wanted signs out for entry-level workers.

The key to nabbing available retail, restaurant and recreation work is to be flexible about work schedules. Willingness to works nights and weekends helps employers fill shifts that their more tenured employees don't want.

About breasts and thighs

This isn't about chicken.

It's about skin in the workplace.

Call it a rite of spring. As warm weather dictates less clothing, my inbox fills with advice, questions and complaints about cleavage and short skirts.

Anyone who's seen what's being sold in young women's wear knows that low-cut tops are the norm. And the return to '70s fashion has sparked re-emergence of short skirts. It's all great stuff for fun wear, but not advisable in many offices.

It's such a touchy subject. Male managers, especially, tell me they're at their wits' end. They're afraid to say anything to a scantily clad employee for fear of being charged with sexual harassment. They don't know how to tell a woman that her plunging neckline is not appropriate at work.

Standards do change over time. Definitions of modesty vary. And what looks great on some bodies doesn't looking appealing on others.

But no matter what the body type, no matter what the style, there's workplace consensus that bared cleavage and skirts that end way above the knee are simply not appropriate office garb.

It should be noted that some human resource managers, fashion consultants and office managers also object to the fairly recent bare-leg trend. For many young women, pantyhose are a historic relic rather than a must-wear part of professional attire.

There's not a universal hue and cry about that trend, though. What do you think?

5 things that really tick off your co-workers

Taking someone else's food from the office refrigerator makes your co-workers mad. Real mad.

In fact, an informal online survey on TheLadders.com found that 97.8 percent of respondents on its site rated fridge raiders as the absolute worst breachers of office etiquette.

I know that riles people in my workplace -- almost as much as dealing with the forgotten, reeking food left to spoil. (Somebody in our newsroom recently took up a collection to pay someone to clean out the foul fridge. That's how bad it was.)

Speaking of foul odors: Co-workers with bad personal hygiene were mentioned almost as often on the online list of shame. More than 95 percent of the survey respondents were bothered most by illkempt, and presumably smelly, co-workers. Based on calls I get from readers, that could mean too much perfume as well as too little deodorant.

No. 3 on the offensive list: A rather unspecific "bad habits." I know a co-worker who was driven crazy by a colleague's incessant foot-tapping throughout the day. Another co-worker was driven to distraction by people who let their cell phone ring tones play in the office. My own hall of shame is people who put on their head phones, lean back in the chairs and broadcast their conversations loudly throughout the room.

No. 4: Drinking on the job. Hmmm. Must be lots of different workplaces out there, given that 85.7 percent of the survey respondents chose that to mention. Where I work, bringing alcohol on site is grounds for dismissal, so we don't get much opportunity to study drunk co-workers (at least at work!). Kind of a scary thought, though to realize the dangers and damages possible when workers drink on the job. I'd call that a safety issue more than an etiquette concern.

No. 5: Wastefulness with paper. Hey, we're developing a green conscience! 82 percent mentioned it on the online survey. It's food for recycling thought...and an indicator that the paperless society still is a ways off.

Some other pet peeves that emerged in the survey included cooking smelly food in the office microwave (Smelly might be in the nose of the sniffer; is popcorn smelly?) and messing with a Blackberry, etc., during a meeting (How about any cell phone texting?).

Here's a big complaint in our office: Co-workers who drain the coffee pot and fail to start another.

What's on your list of offensive co-worker behavior?

So how was your morning commute?

If you work at home, you can stop grinning.

For those who fought traffic or groused about filling up the gas tank, you'll empathize with a Salary.com report that telecommuting "has been one of the hottest compensation trends over the last few years."

Get this: At IBM, more than 40 percent of its workforce doesn't come into the office every day. It's a good bet there's a savings involved for workers, not to mention what probably is a certain amount of flextime which makes the business of living easier.

But separating workers from the office has a cost. It requires a different way of thinking about workplace relationships. Although there's an electronic tether, bosses aren't right there to look over the shoulders of telecommuting employees. And, unless there's sophisticated conferencing technology, many time-consuming meetings are a thing of the past.

Some people can handle the change. Others can't. A professor at Northeastern University's College of Business Administration is studying the effect of moving from the traditional command-and-control model of onsite job attendance to the different relationships created with telecommuters.

His conclusion: "Mutual trust is key to this work situation," says professor Jay Mulki.

He's also seeing a benefit to the transition time between work and office created by a commute. When you work at home, he's seeing a tendency to have trouble separating work life from home life. There's also the possible downside of missing co-worker camaraderie.

Telecommuting is a good option, but maybe it needs to be a flexible option. Home? Or office? The ideal may be the ability to switch between the two as expedient.