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You joined a company, got two promotions within three years time. You were handling three major portfolios. You were doing well.

The manager who appreciated you left. The new manager came in. Based on the previous manager’s good recommendation and your own ability, the new manager also recognised your good work. However, he has his own style. He expanded the department by bringing more staff in. Instead of handling few portfolio, you are handling one now. You are not workaholic, but you like productivity. You like to learn new things, you like challenges and get satisfaction from there. Now, with more staff sharing the same volume of work, you feel less productive, you feel lack of enthusiasm, you feel that you are handling the repetitive processes without positive results. These manifestations, when combined, leave you in a state of confusion. Confusion over your future. Confusion over which step to take next. These are the symptoms of stagnant career syndrome.

So, how do you respond to stagnant career syndrome? First of all, do not concentrate on failures only. Identify the things that are working. They may not be producing results at the level you desire but they are contributing positively to your career goals. However, you should also identify the things that are not working. Try to change the ways of handling these not-working things according to the new working style of your new manager.

Secondly, perhaps you may take this opportunity to obtain additional education or skillsets to add your own market values for your future career path. Do not allow the syndrome set back your career goal.

However, it could be the processes you are doing are appropriate yet the environment does not support your success. If the environment is not appropriate for the desired results, nothing will ever develop. After all, this analysis the only change required may be a change in your environment. Recognise the situation for what it is and apply your skillsets in a new environment. You may have no idea how great the success will be. Take advantage of opportunities and resources available may be all that is need to cure Stagnant Career Syndrome!

Your adrenaline flows, your heart rate increases, your blood pressure escalates, your face turns red, and your voice raises. Yes, you are in anger! Whatever the case, anger is not the problem. The problem with anger is that many of us do not learn to manage anger effectively.

Usually people will act on their anger by either suppressing it or expressing it. Suppressing your anger may lead you to believe you have it under control. However, suppressing anger does not solve your problem and is a dangerous type of anger management. Suppressed anger stays with you over time and can lead to mental health problem such as depression, and physical problem such as high blood pressure.

Anger needs to be expressed. Yet, aggressive displays of anger can result in violent eruptions that further hurt you socially, mentally and physically. The goal of anger management is to help you to find the right ways to express your anger and get your anger under control. There are many ways but these are few good with immediate effects ones:

1. Breath deep. Taking a few deep breaths calms you, makes you feel stronger both mentally and physically.

2. Count to ten. Counting to ten helps you to step back from the situation, buys time for you to examine the problem and decide on an effective, rational way to express your anger.

3. Give yourself a break. It’s easier to think when you are calm. Leave the room, take a walk, then come back to the problem, examine it, and solve it.

4. Use humours to release tensions, such as imagining yourself or other person in silly situations. Do not use sarcasm - it is just another form of unhealthy expression.

: )

Now and then a good one comes around…

Husband: When I get mad at you, you never fight back. How do you control your anger?

Wife: I clean the toilet.

Husband: How does that help?

Wife: I use your toothbrush.

Stress may trigger anger. Stress is often the trigger that takes us from feeling peaceful to experiencing uncomfortable angry feelings. Stress is most easily defined as a series of bodily responses to demands made upon us, called stressors. Stressors can be negative (such as coping with a driver who cuts in front of you), external (such as work pressure) or internal (such as feeling guilty about something that you did).

Understanding how does stress come about, scientists have discovered that the major systems of the body work together to provide one of the human organism’s mist powerful defenses, that help us to cope with stressors, before our stress response turns into anger or aggression.

Among the strategies are, read your personal warning lights. Becoming aware of your stress response, which means listening to your body, being aware of your negative emotions, and observing your own behavior when under stress.

Secondly, try to gain a new perspective on the stressing situation. By doing this, our stress response can indeed be a response (controllable) instead of reaction (automatic).

Next, stress-guard your life, by making necessary life-style changes to reduce or minimize feeling stressed-out. For instance, manage your time / money better,  or consider changing your job or occupation.

Stress will easily turn into anger if they are not handled properly, therefore, it is important to recognise these stress responses and develop techniques to lessen the impact.

Passive-aggressive behavior refers to passive, sometimes obstructionist resistance to following authoritative instructions in interpersonal or occupational situations. It can manifest itself as stubbornness, procrastination, or repeated failure to accomplish requested tasks for which one is assumed, often explicitly, to be responsible. It is a defense mechanism and, more often than not, only partly conscious. (Source: Wikipedia)

People who tend to be passive-aggressive are not typically open to receive suggestions for how to do things. When a passive-aggressive person is given a suggestion or an alternative way to do something, they will generally avoid doing the task in that way out of spite for the person who gives the suggestion. Oftentimes, passive-aggressive people will resent people who offer advice and suggestions. Even if somebody offers another way, they will resist it despite the fact that it might be a better option.

Passive-aggressive people also have a unique way of interacting with others. They may seem excessively paranoid or overly sensitive about what people are saying. They might also feel that everybody "has it in for them" and nobody wants them to be happy. If they can find a way to blame others, they can shirk off the responsibility for creating their own emotions through their actions. They might be easily offended because they will take the things that people say to them and misconstrue them into a personal attack. This behavior has trained others around them to avoid communication. The passive-aggressive person will blame the lack of communication on others rather than themselves.

Dealing with a passive-aggressive person can cause you to be irritated and even angry because of their inherent stubbornness and lack of concern. The first rule for dealing with a passive-aggressive personality is to refrain from getting into a power struggle. The have had a lifetime of practice in doing this and you probably will not win this struggle. In the end, you will likely end up being frustrated and the other person will feel like they have won a battle against you.

Next, do not let the passive-aggressive person get to you. They usually know how to irritate you until you become frustrated. Once you have become irritated and frustrated, you lose any edge that you may have with them.

Then, describe their passive-aggressive behavior in a calm and rational manner. They will likely deny that and say that it is merely your perception, but putting them on the defensive will often makes them back down. Trying to see the argument from their point of view will help you debate with them with more success.

Finally, ask the passive-aggressive person how they would solve or improve the situation, instead of having somebody else makes the major decisions, and the passive-aggressive person to place the blame if something goes wrong.

It’s a big challenge for recruiters to get right candidates for organisations. Making an incorrect hiring decision will cost a lot to the company, directly, it would be in terms of money and time; and indirectly, the productivity of the company.

According to research conducted by Gevity (the company serves as the full-service HR department for small and medium-sized organisations), the following are the five major reasons that lead to hiring mistake:

1. Relying Strictly on Traditional Recruiting Sources

- There is a wide range of options beyond putting advertisement on paper, which is the most traditional recruitment method. The options include online recruitment, university job fairs, recruiters and employment agencies, the own organisation’s website. More and more organisations report that many of their hires come from internet-based sources. It is convenience to the job seekers, and therefore, the pool is there. Some companies also use their staff as recruiters, which usually called staff referral program, either with or without fees paid to the staff. This is an efficient method as the staff know the people they refer, and they don’t want to be the one responsible for bringing a bad apple into the company.

2. Offering Candidates Uncompetitive Compensation

In a very competitive labour market, organisations need to focus on the total package, including cash, health insurance, retirement plans, opportunities for growth and advancement, a positive work environment, and flexibility.

3. Failing to Market Your Company

- Recruitment is not solely recruitment, and recruiters need to act as a sales person. Treat potential candidates with respect, as they are customers, and add a strong "sell" segment to the interview. Showcase the organisation’s strengths, opportunities, and positive culture. Tailor one’s "sell" to what the applicant has revealed about what he or she is looking for in a new job.

4. Wait until someone leaves, to fill up critical positions

- Talent management and succession planning are two important elements in 21st century HR management. Good HR people must be able to "foresee" turnover, and when a position opens, HR can fill it quickly with top talent.

5. Hiring Solely on Job Fit, Not Organisation Fit

- Most managers tend to focus on "job fit", but research shows that organisation fit is often more important. Skills can be taught, but not attitude.

Fatigue, fatigue, fatigue! People are getting exhausted by having to handle too much things within 24 hours. Working people are looking for work-life balance while trying to comply with the organisation’s expectation for a high performance workforce. According to Schwartz and McCarthy, longer days at the office don’t work because time is a limited resource, but personal energy is renewable. By fostering simple rituals that help employees regularly replenish their energy, which include, taking brief breaks at specific intervals, expressing appreciation to others, reducing interruptions, and spending more time on activities people do best and enjoy most, will assist to build workers’ physical, emotional and mental resilience.

Schwartz and McCarthy further recommend the following practices for renewing four dimensions of personal energy:

1. Physical Energy

- Enhance your sleep by setting an earlier bedtime and reducing alcohol ise.

- Reduce stress by engaging in cardiovascular activity at least three times a week and strength training at least once.

- Eat small meals and light snacks every three hours.

- Learn to notice signs of imminent energy flagging, including restlessness, yawning, hunger, and difficulty concentrating.

- Take brief but regular breaks, away from your desk, at 90- to 120-minute intervals throughout the days.

2. Emotional Energy

- Defuse negative emotions — irritability, impatience, anxiety, insecurity; through deep abdominal breathing.

- Fuel positive emotions in yourself and others by regularly expressing appreciation to others in detailed, specific terms through noties, emails, calls, or conversations.

- Looking at upsetting situations through new lenses — reverse lens, "What would other person in this conflict say, and how might he be right?"; long lens, "How will I likely view this situation in six months?"; and wide lens, "How can I grow and learn from this situation?".

3. Mental Energy

- Reduce interruptions by performing high-concentration tasks away from phones and e-mail.

- Respond to voice mails and e-mails at designated times during the day.

- Every night, identify the mist important challenge for the next day. Then make it your first priority when you arrive at work in the morning.

4. Spiritual Energy

- Identify your "sweet spot" activities — those that give you feelings of effectiveness, effortless absorption, and fulfillment. Find ways to do more of these.

- Allocate time and energy to what you consider most important. For example, spend the last 20 minutes of your evening commute relaxing, so you can connect with your family once you’re home.

It’s year end performance appraisal time. The Human Resource Department would view this as an opportunity for appraisers and the appraisees to review the whole year both individual’s and company’s performance, to determine any reward or punishment, and to set next year’s objectives and key performance indicators (KPIs). Most importantly, it is a communication session for both appraisers and appraisees. However, most appraisers will not take this opportunity to do so. They take the attitude that the good / outstanding performance is "what the appraisees are supposed to do" or "what we pay the appraisees for"; or the appraisers always want to be Mr. Nice Guy, for not punishing the non-performance appraisees.

Therefore, it is very important to create awareness that, the right performance appraisal process will benefit both the company as much as the employee. For the company, it is a mechanism for improving performance and rewarding achievement on a predictable, scheduled basis. It also offers on-going feedback from employees on how the organisation’s parts are operating. Employees, meanwhile, get both rewards for past efforts and directoins for the future, as well as a chance to be heard on how to improve things in the workplace. Appraisers need to be reminded that the whole performance appraisal idea is improvement, not fault-finding or blame-placing.

Secondly, the performance appraisal must be done in an objective way, which means by using a uniform rating scale (often numerical) and keeping non-business, personal opinions aside. Appraisers should be seemed to present a balanced portrait of the staff that includes both positive and negative observations.  

Thereafter, appraisers and appraisees should come to an agreement to set goals that are measurable and achievable. If past goals have not been met, appraisers should provide guidance to assist the appraisees to achieve them in the future.

The above provide a guideline for a right conduct of performance appraisal, which will sure improve the performance of the employees, superiors and company!

In an organisation, company car is usually provided, either as a fringe benefit, or based on job requirement of an employee. When a company car is provided, the maintenance fees, annual insurance and road tax, as well as petrol expenses will be borne by the organisation.

Nowadays, in order to reduce the administration work of maintaining company cars, most organisations provide car allowance, in place of company cars. When car allowance is considered to be given, it is usually the Human Resource’s responsibility to come out with the amount. How can HR determine a fair amount for car allowance? Here are some tips:

When an organisation provides a company car, the expenses will include the purchased price of the car, the total interest incurred from car loan (if it is hire-purchased), the annual insurance and road tax of the car, as well as the maintainance fees, petrol expenses, etc.

To come out with a fair car allowance, the Human Resource Department can convert the estimated expenses incurred on company car during a certain period of time, into monthly car allowance. In order to do this, the following expenses shall take into consideration:

1. Car Purchased Price

If there are employees with different job grades, different car budget shall be allocated to different grades. Therefore, there will be different amount of allowance for different job grades.

2. Car Annual Insurance

3. Car Annual Road Tax

4. Total Interest Incurred from Car Loan

5. Maintenance Cost

The above expenses (2-5) shall be based on a certain number of years, for example, 6 years. 

For interest, it shall also be based on the estimated loan amount, for example, 90% from the car purchased price.

Maintenance cost could be based on historical record, or information obtained from any car service centre. Different cc of car will have different maintenance cost.

6. Car Re-sale value, provided company car is sold after certain years.

The total expenses incurred for company car shall be the total of item (1) to (5), minus item (6). The monthly allowance shall derive from the total expenses divided by total number of months, which the total number of month shall be the period that used to estimate the total expenses.

Besides the above, depending on the tax structure of a country, the company might take part of the additional tax imposed on the employees, as a result of the car allowance given, into expenses. In this case, the company will bear part of the tax via car allowance given.

Group insurance is one of the basic staff benefits provided by most organisations in Malaysia. Group Insurance may include Hospitalisation & Surgical, Personal Accident and Term Life.

While considering Group Hospitalisation & Surgical Insurance, besides premium and annual coverage, the following criterias shall also be taken into consideration:

1. Pre-existing Illnesses

Pre-existing illnesses mean any illnesses that existed before the effective date of the insurance policy. Some insurance companies waive the pre-existing illnesses clause, which if an employee is hospitalised for any illnesses existed before the effective date of the insurance policy, shall be covered and claimable. However, some companies impose a minimum of period of time for pre-existing illnesses coverage.  

2. Specific Illnesses

There are specific illnesses that are not covered for a period of time (e.g. 6 months, 12 months, etc.) from the effective date of the insurance policy. When the insurance companies waive this clause, all illnesses are covered as long as the insurance policy takes effect.

3. Waiting Period

Waiting period shall mean a period of time between the beginning of the insured person’s disability and the commencement date of the insurance policy. This clause will usually applicable to new employees only.

4. Co-payment

Co-payment means if the insured person is hospitalised at a room & board rate which is higher than his / her eligible benefit, the insured person shall bear a certain percentage of the other eligible benefits described in the Schedule of Benefits. Co-payment will be able to control the hospitalisation expenses and prevent the hike of insurance premium in the coming year.

5. Underwriting Exclusion

Underwriting exclusion clause disallows the insured person to claim for the same illnesses, which are occurred in the previous year, upon renewal.

6. Long-term Illnesses Coverage

Long-term illnesses include outpatient cancer treatment, outpatient kidney dialysis, organ transplant, and outpatient physiotherapy treatment. The annual limits imposed on these long-term illnesses coverage shall be compared when considering Group Hospitalisation & Surgical Insurance.

7. Administration

Whether the insurance companies provide free administration (issuing guarantee letters, etc.), or with charge (medical card, usually on per head basis).

A good insurance company shall be able to provide the basic coverage to the employees, meanwhile take care of the interest of the company.

Panel Clinics Appointed by the Company

Pros:

1. Medical Certificate and medical expenses could be controlled.

Cons:

1. Administration Works

If a company appoints panel clinics for its outpatient medical plan, administration works start from identifying and appointing panel clinics. The company (usually Human Resource Department) will need to make sure panel clinics are available, at least within a certain radius of distance, for all employees. This would be problems for big organisation (>500 employees).

If the company appoints many panel clinics, there will be a lot of paper work of administering invoices from panel clinics.

2. Controls

Panel clinics might take advantage from the company, by charging high charges, due to the personnel in-charge of the company might lack of knowledge in medical matters. Also, staff might take advantage as well by incurring some medical costs which they are not supposed to claim (differ according to companies’ policy).

Outsource of Outpatient Medical Plan

Outsource of Outpatient Medical Plan means to appoint a company (in Malaysia, usually an insurance company) to handle all outpatient medical related matters.

Pros:

1. Lack administration work for the company, in appointing panel clinics and handling billings.

2. Number of medical certificates issued by every clinics is monitored by the outsource company, and investigation will be carried out if necessary.

3. The outsource company will check every claims made by the panel clinics. This will be done by the panel medical practitioners who have medical knowledge.

Cons:

1. The panel clinics might be “instructed” / tend to give lower quality medicine, as cost control imposed by the outsource company.  

2. The premium paid might be high, as compared to the actual expenses incurred, as the premium of the current year will usually based on the previous year’s actual medical expenses incurred, plus the percentage of inflation rate of the current year.   Technorati Profile