Most Americans Face Hostile Work Environments, According to Survey

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A recently released survey from the RAND Corporation, Harvard Medical School, and UCLA revealed some pretty disturbing findings about the current American workplace: many employees are under constant stress, workplaces are often hazardous, and social environments are frequently hostile, especially for women.

The survey was given to about 3,000 workers, and while not all of the information gleaned was negative, much of it does give reason for pause:

• More than one in four American workers say they have too little time to complete their work. This complaint was most frequent among white-collar workers.
• More than half do some sort of work outside of their workplace, impacting their ability to spend quality time with their friends and family.
• More than half of those surveyed reported that they are exposed to unpleasant and even hazardous working conditions, including hostility and threats.
• About 62 percent of American workers reported their work tasks are typically monotonous and unenjoyable.
• Only 38 percent reported opportunities to advance within their employment.

It’s not all bad news, though. The survey revealed some positive traits of the modern workplace, too:

• Four out of five Americans said their jobs met at least one definition of “meaningful” most of the time.
• Eight out of ten American workers said their job is steady and predictable.
• The majority of those surveyed said they saw “solving unforeseen problems” and “applying [their] own ideas” as important parts of their work.
• Many reported a certain degree of autonomy and confidence about their skillset.
• More than half of the surveyed workers (58 percent) said their boss is supportive, and 56 percent said they have good friends at work.

“There’s a message for employers here,” said the study lead author, Nicole Maestas. “Working conditions really do matter.”

This was the first survey of its kind, focusing on American workers ages 25-71. The RAND Corporation and its partners intend to collect data again next year to compare American and European working conditions.

New Ways to Show Employees Some Love

There are many ways to show employees you appreciate them. Photo via Pixabay

Whether it’s providing employees with a stake in the company, creating an intranet system of recognition, or rearranging a profit-sharing plan so that it takes into account age (and thereby rewards employees who have been with the company longer), the business world continues to create new ways to show its appreciation for hardworking individuals.

Gardner Denver

In May of this year, Gardner Denver, an industrial company based out of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, made a bold move toward showing appreciation for its employees…to the tune of $100 million in stock.

“It makes our companies stronger and more effective,” explained Pete Stavros, the KKR executive who represents KKR’s investment in Gardner and is also chairman of the Gardner board. He added that this sort of incentive helps motivate employees and encourage engagement.

More than 6,000 Gardner employees will be receiving stock as part of Gardner’s recent IPO. The shares will be worth up to 40% of their annual salaries.

“We have big aspirations for Gardner Denver,” said Stavros. “We hope a significant portion of the [employees] will see what we see—that there’s a lot of room to run.”

Jostle and Bonusly

This month Jostle and Bonusly teamed up to offer their employees a new sort of benefit: an easier way to receive recognition from their coworkers. The new intranet is set up to encourage employee engagement via a point system. When employees leave notes about the good things they’ve seen or experienced each other doing, the person on the receiving end gets points that can be redeemed for small rewards.

Called the People Engagement platform, this intranet has already had a positive effect n the various companies like Bonusly and Jostle who use it.

“What we have created is a framework for post hoc recognition,” explains Raphael Crawford-Marks, co-founder and CEO of Bonusly. “People want to be able to give praise and recognition in the workforce, but they often don’t have a venue to do it. That is what we provide.”

Cross-Tested Plans

For small professional firms looking to reward long-time employees, a cross-tested plan allows managers to divide workers into groups when it comes to determining contributions to their retirement plans. That means older employees can get bonus contributions as an extra thank you for all their years of service. Small physicians’ offices, law firms, and engineering companies often take advantage of this setup.

“This [program] takes age into account, enabling the contributions allocated to older employees to be larger than those made to younger employees” because older employees have a shorter time to go until retirement, says Rob Massa, Director of Retirement at Ascende Wealth Advisors in Houston, Texas. This year, the maximum that can be contributed is $54,000.

A cross-tested plan can help with employee retention—not to mention giving a big thank you to the dedicated workers who have helped build a company over the years.

All three of these options are great ways to show employees that their work is valued—and that it will be rewarded, both in the long term and the short term.

An Inside Look at the Equestrian Business

Jürgen Gabler (photo: A. Moser).

A business that one doesn’t hear much about (unless you are in the equestrian world) is horse training.

It’s actually somewhat of a lucrative market, considering that wherever there are horses and people riding them, there are horse trainers. I spoke with Jürgen Gabler, a horse trainer in Hannover, Germany, to find out more about the business.

Gabler explained that the primary purpose of a horse trainer is to teach the horse to perform specific behaviors. Most often, these behaviors are related to riding, racing, or therapy. It’s important to understand that a horse’s first instinct is to run, especially when someone is on its back. A good trainer will help a horse relax and be attentive to the rider’s needs.

Gabler started out as a horse farmer (Pferdewirt in German). He began training horses at the young age of 16. He went on to study breeding and stock (the handling of horses and their young) and then became a veterinarian’s assistant. After his Abitur (end of high school degree), he pursued a degree in veterinary medicine but dropped out due to financial reasons.

He then started riding full-time on a professional basis. He noticed that there were many problematic horses. But he also noticed that he had a knack for training them and smoothing out the issues, bringing the rider and the horse back to a harmonious relationship. This led to full-time horse training becoming his main form of income.

However, on a long-term basis, he feared that if he suffered a serious injury (a very real and common occurrence in horse training) he needed an additional activity to ensure that he would have a steady stream of income. So he obtained the necessary licenses to transport horses: driving a trailer and livestock transportation. This is also an activity he can pursue when he is too old to continue training horses.

His customers include horse owners from all over the world, and he often crosses European borders. He also holds a teaching license that allows him instruct riding courses.

Gabler also participates in the equestrian sport of dressage and frequently enters championships. In dressage, the horse and rider perform a series of predetermined movements from memory, which include specific gait sequences. Gabler reached the “M**” level, which is just two levels below the “last championship” stage.

Just recently, yet another happy horse rider said of him: “Without Jürgen, I would not be riding any longer, or [even] have my lovely horse. I was so frightened of riding him, and he was so confused. He [Jürgen] got us back together, built our trust in each other, and we are a great team again.”

This is Jürgen’s goal: to help riders and their horses work as a team.

Study Shows That People With ADHD Add Value to Business

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There are numerous traits associated with entrepreneurial success, including risk taking, passion, persistence, and time commitment. But these traits are also associated with something else: ADHD. Most of us are used to hearing ADHD discussed as a problem, making it hard for students or workers to focus. But that’s only because we’re used to discussing ADHD in the context of structured environments that expect the same thing from everyone.

New evidence gathered from an international study found that, “some of the symptoms of ADHD resemble behaviors commonly associated with entrepreneurship—in a positive sense.” Some of the symptoms even had “a decisive impact on the subjects’ decision to go into business and on their entrepreneurial approach.”

These symptoms include impulsiveness, which allowed the study participants to make decisions without getting bogged down by details and concerns. Additionally, their boredom with their jobs often led them to start their own businesses. Hyper-focus allowed them to hone in on a task and really go after it, which contributed as well to their high activity level. But all of these pros could just as easily become cons, such as when impulsiveness makes it difficult to focus on routine tasks like bookkeeping.

It’s worth nothing that not all ADHD participants were successful, and sometimes their businesses failed, but so do a lot of business, regardless of who starts them. What this study does is gives us a new light in which to look at both entrepreneurship and ADHD, which should help us develop better understandings of both.

The markers by which we measure the success of a business might not be telling us everything about what makes a successful business, or who should start one. And by finding these connections to their symptoms, we can take a more positive look at ADHD as something other than a problem. It’s not something that needs to be treated or cured, but something that people need to learn how to make work to their advantage.

Broke? You Can Still Start a Business

Starting your own business without capital can be done.
Image: World Bank Photo Collection/Flickr CC

Starting a business can be difficult and, above all, expensive. For people who want to be entrepreneurs but lack startup capital, getting a business going can be daunting. But there are a lot of tricks that allow you to get a business underway without needing a significant next egg. Starting a business, whether you have capital or not, begins at the same place: finding something you can offer.

The easiest place to start is to think of a problem that you can help address. Whether that’s a serious issue like testing water for contaminants or a “first world problem” like finding somebody to walk your dog at the last minute, there are a myriad of issues out there that people need help with–and they’re willing to pay other people for that help. Once you know what problem you’re trying to address or what product you want to create, take a step back and think about ways that you can approach that problem using the skills and resources you have at hand.

Maybe you can start by walking dogs, using a website and flyers to generate business before you try to develop a mobile phone app. Maybe you’re a great editor who can freelance while you figure out how to turn that into a business. The key here is to use the tools you already have in order to get your business ideas rolling. As you work in whatever field you’ve chosen, you’ll be able to find out what niches there are within that field that you can try to fill with a subsequent business model or product.

It also gives you more experience in the field in question, which will be more impressive to potential investors. Whether you seek out crowdfunding or more traditional investments, people are going to want to know that you have a good idea of what you’re doing before they give you their money.