Blog - WorkLifePsych

Jun 16

Why don’t Dads take paternity leave?

As it's Father's Day (at least here in the UK), it's timely to consider why the uptake of paternity leave - where available - isn't as high as we might expect. According to the Wall Street Journal: Fifteen percent of U.S. firms provide some paid leave for new fathers, according... read more →

Jun 06

Swamped by email?

I find myself spending more and more time discussing email with clients - and it's rarely a positive conversation. Many clients report a lot of stress and frustration associated with workplace email, describing themselves as feeling "swamped" or "unable to keep up". In my experience, feeling the need to keep... read more →

Feb 28

Tips for homeworkers

Yahoo's recent announcement effectively ending home-working arrangements has brought this flexible working style back into the spotlight. The Guardian featured a nice summary of some good principles for those of use who regularly (or even always) work from home. I can definitely identify with the need for human contact and... read more →

Feb 27

And what about the singles?

By Dr. Richard A. MacKinnon News that will come to no surprise to many single people out there: they seek work-life balance too! In fact, according to recent research from Michigan State University, single employees without caring responsibilities in the home face pressures at home very similar to their married/coupled/parent... read more →

Feb 25

HR versus the line?

I was recently interviewed for a piece in HR Magazine on the relationship between HR and line managers. You can read the whole thing here if you're so inclined. The main thrust of the article is a need for HR to better support their internal clients and I references some... read more →

Feb 24

Yahoo says “No” to home working

Marissa Mayer continues to make her mark on Yahoo. After her high-profile move from Google and speedy return to work after giving birth, then launching a new Yahoo homepage, the high-profile CEO has made some changes to how employees work at the organisation. Multiple press sources took great pleasure in reporting... read more →

Feb 12

Moving to a 4-day week?

There's been some interesting media coverage of one country's move to a 4-day working week. The government's aims are admirable: to give employees more time to spend with their families etc. But it will be interesting to see how this impacts their economy, provision of services from the government to... read more →

Feb 03

The “Dark Side” at work

A really nice summary of Prof. Adrian Furnham's keynote at DOP 2013 over at the Occupational Digest. I had great intentions of writing up Adrian's presentation as soon as I got back from the conference last month, but various other commitments got in the way. (We'll discuss the implications of procrastination... read more →

Jan 04

Predicting Internet Abuse at Work

An almost inevitable consequence of more employees having access to the internet at work as been the potential for abuse of that access. Employees frequently use the internet at work for non-work related purposes (e.g. social networking, online shopping, personal emails). Misuse varies considerably, however, and researchers from Taiwan and... read more →

Dec 31

Want some garlic butter with that?

A lovely piece from the great Gina Trapani. The founder of Lifehacker.com discusses procrastination at work and one tactic for addressing it: eating a frog! Do your worst task first. By “worst” I mean “most important,” and by “most important” I mean the task you’re most likely to procrastinate on. The deadline... read more →