Thursday, February 10, 2005

"You're Sued!" Did "The Apprentice" Violate the Americans with Disabilities Act?

Even The Donald has HR concerns. From the AP Newswire...

"A quadriplegic attorney from St. Louis wants the chance to either be hired or told "you're fired." James Schottel is suing producers of Donald Trump's NBC hit reality show "The Apprentice," claiming auditions discriminate by requiring
"excellent physical" health of would-be contestants. Schottel's suit, filed last week, seeks a preliminary injunction that would force producers of the show to drop requirements that would exclude people in a similar physical condition as him. Schottel isn't seeking any monetary damages, only enforcement of the Americans with Disabilities Act."

Cupid Strikes the Cubicle

Love is in the workplace air (or if not love, at least some serious crushes!) High-end online job search service, TheLadders.com, shared their latest survey results just in time for Valentines Day...

Cupid Strikes the Cubicle:
68% of Executives Say They’ve Harbored Secret Crushes on Co-Workers According to TheLadders.com Survey.

New York, NY (PRWEB) February 9, 2005 -- It looks like someone may have spiked the company water cooler with a little love potion this Valentine’s Day. According to a survey conducted by online executive job search service TheLadders.com, over two-thirds of executives said they’ve harbored secret crushes on a co-worker.

The survey of 734 executives in the $100k+ job market found that a combination of long hours, close quarters and the slow hum of the photocopy machine may be the perfect recipe for romance. When asked: Have you ever harbored a secret crush on a co-worker; a full 68 percent of the executives surveyed said, “yes.” Only 32 percent said, “no.”

As for those workers who’ve taken the crush one step further, 42 percent of those responding to a related survey of 1,044 executives said that they have been involved in a full-fledged office romance.

How many of these PowerPoint and Excel spreadsheet-fueled romances involved infidelity? When asked in a third survey of 1,349 executives: Have you ever had an extramarital affair with a co-worker; 17 percent of respondents said, “yes.” Thinking better of the repercussions of this type of romance, the 83 percent majority said they had not been adulterous with a co-worker.

“At its best, a healthy work environment is an intense, inspiring, challenging and gratifying place,” explained TheLadders.com founder and president, Marc Cenedella. “While this combination can sometimes create a hothouse for emotional ties to the people we spend so much time with, office romances are not generally good for your career track. Executives who are serious about their careers need to think about business first; courting Alice in accounting isn’t the best way to maintain that killer instinct.”


Wednesday, February 09, 2005

TV Viewers Urged to Take Back Their Vacations

I Want My Vacation!

By now, you've most likely seen the commercial featuring a tyranical CEO thanking his employees for not taking vacation. The commercial urges over-worked employees to stand up and say, "I want my vacation!" and further directs them to the "Vacation Advocacy" website. Once there, however, the cat is immediately out of the bag as visitors realize that the site is actually part of a thinly disguised viral marketing campaign for Universal Orlando.

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