And you can not deal with pressure...

According to the Washington Post, the pressure is going up in the cabins of Northwest Airlines as yet another airline is moving towards cutting jobs...an interesting non-strike idea is proposed there...one that, while may be considered less than a strike, and may never materialize, is an interesting one in today's economy, especially in the airlines: click here

Next from MarketWatch, a study from Careerbuilder.com that says that while most managers expect people to negotiate on salary, most candidates rarely do: click here

And one person's definition of what a "Cohert Human Resources Strategy" sounds like...is it anything like yours? click here

Wages, Wages, and More Wages

First an article form the New York Times that say that real wages are failing to meet a rise in productivity. With higher living costs and energy costs, this could become a huge problem in the US: click here

Next from the Washington Post an article about how women in top positions are pulling up the wages for all other women...an interesting half-dilemma: to have more women making less or for a few women to become pinacles of the industry...no reason there can't be the elimination of both many say: click here

And, as reported on MSNBC, a Forbes article about the 25 most generous companies: click here

Enjoy!

Two for Tuesday

Two HR articles from the New York Times to get you going this morning...

First advice you can give young workers about how to recover after screwing up a big presentation in front of the boss...good advice for all: click here

And a look at the unemployed who can't turn to their familes for help are now turning to each other: click here

Enjoy!

We're back...

...And better than ever. After a brief hiatus, the Astron Solutions blog is back.

Here are some great human resource articles to get you going on your Monday morning:

Can your employees interact very well with their computers but have no clue what to do when they have to interact with real people? Amy Joyce talks about a class that may help that out in the Washington Post: click here

Also from the Washington Post, some career tips that you may want to follow to get ahead in today's tough job market: click here

The best advice I ever received is mentioned in this article. When I asked my boss why he would wear a suit even though he didn't have to he said: "You dress for the job you want, not the one you have." Great advice.

Lastly, an interesting article from the United States about Africa and why they don't train more nurses with such a nurse shortage: click here

All Good Things Must Come to an End

As the summer winds down, we have a cornucopia of articles for the HR Professional

First comes from the New York Times and talks about resignation letters. They suggest not doing a Jerry Maguire, "Who's coming with me?"-type exit and talks about what should be in the resignation letter: click here

Next, from the Washington Post, an article which says that more time off can justify taking a lower salary for some workers: click here

From Reuters, a study by Mercer showed that Director pay growth slowed last year...but larger companies still pay more: click here

And lastly, from Monster.com, an article that techie's have a new job qualification in today's world...working well with others. No longer will Jimmy Fallon's SNL character Nick Burns survive in today's job market: click here

This will be my last blog of the summer...hope you enjoyed all the HR news...look for more exciting things to come on the Astron Solutions blog and subsequent issues of Astronology. This is Andrew Katz signing off. Good night, and good luck.

From Wall Street to India

Welcome to another week of Astron Solutions' blog...

First up, from the New York Times, an interesting article about Wall Street Women who face a fork in the road. On one side is a highly demanding career which has been dominated by men and on the other side is raising a family...a tough choice for many women. Also tough is business school and an interesting graphic below provides more details on that: click here


From the Washington Post, an article on the same lines that say that women are greatly underrepresented in top corporate leadership positions. The number of 16.4% of corporate leadership positions is a little scary for women who strive for the top positions in their organizations: click here

Also from the New York Times, an article about a potential pension overhaul that Congress never got passed due to too many escape clauses and problems with the bill: click here

And from SiliconIndia, an interesting article on the strategic role of Human Resources Management: click here

TGIF

It's another Summer Friday and whle the temperatures are supposed to be cooling down across the country, we're just heating up...

From the New York Times (click here) and the Washington Post (click here) news of the Wage/Estate Tax bill being blocked in the Senate. This is going to be a hot-button issue for the upcoming midterm elections and you should prepare, as a Human Resource professional for the possibility an increase may come soon after.

Next an article from Yahoo! Finance on how commuting is a drag on the economy. If you take public transportation, you probably noticed a recent spike in the number of people using it with you. With energy prices conitnually rising, this is a trend bound to continue for some time: click here

And lastly, advice from Monster.com to get more training. Is this something a potential applicant should do before applying or is this something that employers should provide for its employees? That's where the big divide lies: click here

Enjoy and stay cool this weekend :)

Hitting the Job Market

Want to position yourself for a great chance at getting a job? Well Astron Solutions has some advice for you on this Thursday...

From the Washington Post, we have Top Tips From the Hiring Squad, where career experts share proven approaches for applying to, interviewing for, landing and getting the most out of a new job: click here

One way you can position yourself is as a middle manager which the Dallas Morning News claims are being highly sought: click here

Next, 5 strategies from Monster.com of what to do when moving without a job: click here

Lastly, back to the Washington Post, we look at the labor gap that exists in the auto market between a few of the big car makers and the United Auto Workers union: click here

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

And so does Astron Solutions on this Wednesday for its blog articles...

The first is the issue which could be one of the biggest ones for Republican incumbents in the upcoming election: minimum wage. One of the issues being debated in this is the issue of tips as described in this Washington Post article: click here

Now I think that a lot of the real reason this issue has become a big issue is misunderstood. It's not merely the fact that minimum wage hasn't changed in about a decade, but it's more the fact--as the graph below from the Economic Policy Institute shows--that the real value of the minimum wage has dropped over a dollar since the last hike.



That's a big problem, especially with rising gas prices, rising consumer costs, and growing inflation.

One place this issue should be addressed is in the Labor Dept.: click here

Stephen Barr believes that the Office of Personnel Management should recruit more Hispanics: click here

And one issued tied closely to that and the minimum wage and immigration and every hot-button issue of 2006 in the job market are Household Employees and according to this article, they're fighting for their own Bill of Rights: click here

The Heat Is On

It's going to be 100 degrees here in the North East and the pennant races are heating up after the trade deadline, but we're just getting warmed up on Astronology day here at Astron Solutions.

Word from the Washington Post that FOX has agreed to settle their sexual harassment lawsuit in New York: click here

If you want to know more about the EEOC or the new EEO-1 guidelines (including what the heck those abbreviations mean), go to our website and check out the Astronology for the week.

From the Philadelphia Inquirer, an article about some who fear that employees who receive medical help at work will lose some of the privacy afforded to them: click here

The article includes this interesting graphic:













And lastly, from the Sydney Morning Herald, an interesting article from Australia about who Human Resources Professionals owe their allegience to: the company or the staff? The article says the company...let us know if you disagree: click here

Keep cool

It's Just Another Manic Monday...

Don't you wish it were Sunday?

Back to another full work week (and a probable heat wave in the Northeast)...but we have some articles to lighten the edge:

It's a New York Monday...and we just don't say that because of the new slugger in the Yankees rightfield...but because we have three articles for you from the New York Times:

It ends up that many men who are unemployed are valuing their free time more than going back into the workforce, something employers definitely have to consider when offering jobs to people who have been unemployed for a while: click here

Want to know what that degree you have is worth to your employer? Want to know, as an employer, how much you should value that degree, well NYT has the answer: click here

And, lastly, word that workers at Wal-Mart in China have formed their first trade union. The good news for Wal-Mart is that these unions typically side with management: click here

Everybody's Workin' For The Weekend

Happy Friday!

First on our agenda is a report from the Washington Post about the upcoming House vote on the increase in the minimum wage. This is a huge issue for an election year and it shows in how people are deciding to vote: click here

On that same note, from USA Today, an article saying that Asian nations should considering shortening the work week and raising overtime pay: click here

And also from USA Today, and a reference to our last Astronology, an article about the CEO of Sun Microsystems who seeks competitive advantage through blogging: click here

Love and Memories

Office Romances can be good and bad. When they’re good, they can make for a very pleasant office environment. But when they go sour, they can lead to lack of productivity, jealousy, uncomfortable situations and a poor work environment.

Here are some articles talking about the issue:

From the Chicago Tribune, an article about when cupid comes to the office says to be very careful of bad situations which can cause feelings of unfairness and jealousy or lead to firing due to 25% of companies having bans against office romances: click here

From the Journal Times in Wisconsin, an article asking “Do you dare?”. Using the Jim and Pam example from “The Office”, this article delves into the world of office romances. A telling stat is that 31% of workers surveyed think that office romances are OK, while 37% think that if they happen, they should be kept secret: click here

From China Daily, which says that in Bejing people are finding their marriage partners by looking in the workplace instead of going out to find the dating scene. The watercooler is the new meetmarket: click here

And lastly, from Reuters, an odd-but-true story from New Zealand about a cross-dressing lawyer who skirts (no pun intended) the dress code: click here

Unique Ways To Get Ahead

Humpday celebration...

From SHRM, a report that August will continue the expanding of the job market: click here

Some of those workers, such as the ones at RFK Stadium in Washington, DC, are trying to get ahead in the service industry with old-fashioned good manners, according to the Washington Post: click here

And, lasty, a New York Times article about Peggy Fowler, the President and Chief Executive of Portland General Electric, who says, among other things, that she was powered by math: click here

As I Walk Away...

Three articles for your Tuesday about people leaving the office:

First from the New York Times' Career Couch which questions, among other things, whether it's all right to call in sick even if you're not sick: click here

Next from the Washington Post which claims that more men are leaving the newsroom as their positions as anchors and reporters are being taken over by women: click here

And lastly, from the New York Times, an article from Chairman and Chief Executive of Citizen's Financial Group, Lawrence K. Fish, about learning by leaving and his experiences leaving the country: click here

Let's Talk About It

Hope everyone had a great weekend...now three articles about talking at work...

The first is from Randstad (via WorldAtWork) and talks about how loud talkers are among the worst pet peeves in the workplace, followed by cell phones ringing and use of speakerphones in public places...a lot of talking peeves at the office: click here

From SHRM, an article that says that water cooler talk helps co-workers bond...I guess talking about Jack Bauer's latest adventure or the Yankee's play during the weekend helps office unity: click here

And lastly, an article from Delware online which tells workers to hone their communication skills in order to not sound uncooth in the workplace: click here

Benefitting from Benefits

It's Friday!

Four articles for you about health benefits to get you into/through your weekend:

The first is from 1010 Wins in New York and has the Transit Union suing the MTA for unfair health benefits which give fully covered Viagra for men and no pay for contraceptives for women: click here

An article from the Orlando Sentinal about a technician who may be due past OT pay. If you look further down the article, you'll see an update on health benefits: click here

A column in the Washington Post talking about small companies who provide their employees big benefits. If you're a small company, wellness benefits as well as good health care options are still available even though you think these resources may not be available to you: click here

And lastly an article from Forbes about a Judge overturning the so called "Wal-Mart Health Care Law": click here

I'd Like to Buy the World a Coke

These famous words were from a Coca-Cola revolutionary television commercial (which also spawned a #1 single) which showed men and women from all different culutures singing in harmony and drinking Coke together.

One of the leading advocates of Affirmative Action, the legislation that helped create this as the norm in the workplace, was John G. Feild and he died this past weekend. A leading influence in the civil rights views of president John F. Kennedy, Feild served as the executive director of the President's Commission on Equal Employment Opportunity during the Kennedy administration. His enforcement of these ideals, especially within the government, helped the EEOC become what it is today: click here

In today's world, many ethnic youths looking for jobs in an increasingly tight job market are looking online, according to this Washington Post report: click here

And speaking of online searches (and following up on the Astronology of the week), the Attorney General of Kansas says in the Kansas City Star that his state needs to step up background checks and do better screenings for employees: click here

The Rich Get Richer...

Hope everyone got through the storms last night. The Yankees certainly did with Melky leading them to a walk-off homerun. We here at Astron are heading to the afternoon game to root on the Yankees sweep. But while you stay in your office, you can read these two Washington Post articles on the rich getting richer (and we're not talking about Major League Baseball's best-paid bench player ever, Alex Rodriguez)...

First an article about how the well-paid, especially in the D.C. area, benefit the most when the economy is good: click here

And second an article about how 2005 was a banner year for corporate executives who raked in huge compensation deals: click here

Enjoy the articles and let's go Yanks!

Hot In The City, Hot In The City Tonight

A little Billy Idol for your Tuesday as temperatures push the triple digits...

Preparing you for the Astronology release (blogging about blogging...quite unique)...

An audio link (podcast for those of you who are tech savvy)! Resume Lies and the Liars Who Write Them With the Radio Shack CEO in the news for lying on his resume, Susie and Barb think the time is right to address this baffling topic. Why don’t companies do background checks? The office grapevine has no problem discovering the indiscretions of a new hire, so what is wrong with Human Resources making a few phone calls? Many famous examples are discussed, with FEMA’s Michael Brown at the top of the list:

powered by ODEO

And from the Colorado Springs Business Journal (Colorado Springs, CO) from July 14, 2006, this article below from Joan Johnson:

Social technology, blogging, is a networking tool that can provide job seekers with a powerful option in their hunt for employment, but if misused, sites such as MySpace.com and Facebook can ruin a career. Employers can search blogs during background checks and human resources departments can use the information they find as they please -- identifying biases or any other reason not to hire a potential applicant. "I have MySpace, but it is all business," said Julie Kistler, owner of UrbanEmbers.com and Six Sigma Marketing. "I don't put anything personal on it.

" Used appropriately though, networking on the Net can be invaluable. Networking often yields better results during job searches than online job banks. According to a study by CareerXroads, 27 percent of external hires were found through employee referrals. Second on the list, at 24.7 percent, was the Internet, which in the survey referred to the use of online job boards and corporate Web sites. "Seventy to 80 percent of jobs are not posted," Kistler said. She said people are constantly being referred to her. One referral was in search of freelancing jobs. Kistler sent the woman's resume to about 40 people and within a day, she had received five responses. This only works, though, if you have competent contacts, Kistler said. According to Nielsen NetRatings, social networking grew 47 percent during the last year. Facebook, a site for college students and recent graduates, contains nearly 5 million profiles. Friendster has more than 27 million profiles, photos and blogs. MySpace.com has more than 78 million members, counting multiple profiles from one source, according to Nielsen Ratings. Each visitor spends, on average, more than two hours browsing the site. Kistler said she is working on a site that is similar to MySpace, but for local business owners. LinkedIn.com allows users to see other people's contacts but not their contact information, so you have to get a friend to introduce you if you find someone who has similar interests. Plaxo allows people to create a business card and it automatically updates a user's Outlook when someone makes a card. Ryze and LinkedIn are business networking sites that ask for résumé information such as current and past companies, education and areas of interest. This allows a person to find others with similar information, as well as job postings with similar information. In addition to using social networking sites as a way to find potential employees, companies often use the sites to market themselves. One example is Sheraton hotels, which is inviting travelers to share trip photos, tips, commentary and videos at Sheraton.com. The Greater Colorado Springs Chamber of Commerce has a large networking database. Members can choose to be listed in more than 500 categories. With a user name and password, businesses can get a referral report that shows how many people are visiting the Web site, calling the 800 number and stopping by the front desk at the chamber to get information about their businesses. Sara Muirheid, the chamber's vice president of marketing, said the site will be redesigned in September to make it easier to search and link to the directory. Another networking technique that the chamber uses, Muirheid said, is Business After Hours. The social events average about 300 attendees and provide a low-tech approach for businesses to connect with other businesses. Kistler said she still attends face-to-face networking groups, but always asks for an e-mail address instead of a phone number. "I can remember everyone I've met by name and title," she said, "not face. "