Human Resources

But i want my "special" rights!

Thank you, Rebecca, for shedding light on how this lack of federal protection for "domestic partners" affects gay and lesbian couples in the U.S. As we are unable to have our marriages legally recognized by the federal government, we must rely on PRIVATE companies that extend benefits to domestic partners. But, as you point out, there are separate and distinct laws made and applied to two distinct and separate groups of U.S. citizens. This is the very definition of Apartheid, and it should be appalling to all U.S. citizens that we live in such a society. Read a powerful piece by David Mixner, former adviser to the Clinton White House, on this topic: http://www.davidmixner.com/2009/07/separate-but-unequal-means-gay-apartheid.html#more ...

Glad you didn't forget...

I'm glad you didn't forget number 5. You might add there that you need to make sure that your staff, as competent as they may be, may need a little coaxing to let this person come in and play a part in your business.
I once was brought in to help manage an office that had run smoothly, but there were a few men that took great offense to me being there. One actually walked out due to me being a woman and being younger than him.
It made for a tense situation until he was gone, but then everything settled down and we all got to work.

Great series ...

Susan, I'm really enjoying these posts. very helpful insights.

The "new economy' bully ...

A new type of bullying has recently become prevalent - the manager who chooses not to manage and address situations on an ongoing basis - but rather uses the increased occurences of layoffs to be his / her management tool to quietly address what once had been addressable performance situations. That bully in essence hides from the day to day, does not manage or interact with team members, but chooses to use the layoff tag to deal with situations they should have been managing through. How often recently has a laid off individual been a 'complete surprise' to both and individual as well as to his / her team? The behavior goes further still when dealing with older (bad term) or more highly paid individuals.......managers don't dare to address or manage those individuals for fear of claims and at the same time do not address performance on a day to day basis....rather, by surpise attack. Companies should be very proud of their managers that use their newly created management tool repeatedly - the layoff. We all know a few of these managers, don't we?

Thanks, Sara!

Appreciate the tip.