Tag Archives | Canada Employment

The Mental Plan To Stop Getting Fat At Work

By on August 7, 2014 in Others

I am not going to preach to an empty chapel. There’s nothing wrong with fat or sugar or carbs or protein, paleo or Atkins or Mediterranean or or or. There is something wrong however if you are no longer comfortable in not only your clothes but your own skin.Gaining weight changes you, not just your outside but your inside too. You not only become more sluggish but more irritable and less desirable for no one else but yourself.

So you have to change something. You don’t need a walking office treadmill, or a medicine ball to sit on, nor the the newest miracle pill. What you need is the internal motivation and drive to care about yourself more then you care about the food you are about to consume.

No one can watch you 24/7, even prisons have trouble with that, so what you need to do is watch yourself. Know what you are doing wrong to want to change it.

Don’t just go for the apple instead of the chips as you know you will want those chips later on, have a few from someone else and move on. My father used to tell me the greatest way to lose weight is to walk away from the table but we no longer only eat at tables. We eat in closets, at desks, outside, in restaurants..which is a table but no one removes a plate until it’s finished so that doesn’t help.

You need to think as you take a bite of something…do I want this? Am I worth the results I want to see in myself. You will think “I am not, there’s no point” But there is a point. You are the point because you want to feel good about you.

Your goals have to be realistic. If you work on the 31st floor, saying I will take the stairs is just not realistic but how about actually packing a healthy lunch, save money and truly not snacking at night time? That’s doable.

Recognize when you are stress eating. Often we eat not because we are hungry but because we are bored or stressed. Not only that but when we are stressed we don’t metabolize food as we should, so our body stores the fat…isn’t that wonderful..storing when we want it the least!I recently found myfitnesspal app a wonderful tool to track what I take in and don’t starve yourself. It is important to eat. You can slip up but that’s ok because you didn’t slip up, it’s lifestyle changes, as long as you realise it’s ok.

This isn’t I’m going to lose 5lbs it’s I’m going to make chicken and salad for lunch and “if I go out for lunch, I will plan ahead”. Look online what the menu is and think what is best for your body and mind. Feel free to leave over some of it…it’s okay. I love big portions but the reality is… they often are too big. As well, don’t eat at night, supper is supper and then you are done. Small goals each day make it easier and more realistic to make your bigger goals.

Remember as well, free is free for a reason, because it isn’t worth anything. When the free food is left in the office, or the muffins and donuts served in a meeting… Don’t touch it!! It’s free. If you are a germaphobe think “who the heck has been touching it??” If your not, become one. The same goes for networking events. You know you will never get full off of the horderves so don’t eat them. Plan your meal after or before but don’t eat during…unless it’s a sit down event, then just literally watch what you eat and ask the waiter in advance what is being server. Think before you put what’s in your mouth.

Believe in yourself and know you are worth it and you can do it, if you really want to. You don’t NEED to be at the gym to lose weight and feel great, you just need to change your frame of mind.

Comments { 0 }

Why Can’t I Offer More Money When They Want To Leave?

By on May 12, 2014 in Employer Guidelines

There are so many reasons why it’s not in your favour to offer someone who wants to leave your company more money.

Here are some of them:

The person wasn’t happy and it wasn’t just about the money.
Money is great, we all need it, most of us want more if it BUT when someone is making a move to another company, money was never the only issues and if twas the only issue why all of the sudden, now that they are about to go, you are able to throw more at them??

If you were able to throw the dollars at them now why didn’t you do it before??
This makes sense of course if you didn’t know it was an issue however if there are unhappy employees, it is your responsibility as a manager and/or an owner to know your people are unhappy. To say “You were too busy to notice” Or you have “too many people to know everything” is just an excuse that doesn’t work. Unhappy employees are less productive employees, they are the one missing work to go out, leaving early, on the phone more and taking lunch more often then before. You can’t know everything but you should be able to catch on and work accordingly.

If someone is about to take an offer now, in three to six months they will take another offer again as chances are it wasn’t about the money, they will still be unhappy but the idea of staying was much easier then the idea of leaving.

We see it all the time, managers/HR/CEO’s saying “we will give you more responsibilities, we will raise your salary” but the chances of this actually happening is truly nil to none…as again, why didn’t they just do it before??

Moving from job to job is never ideal however sometimes people need to leave a company and what that time comes it’s is best to just let them go. It’s hard, as breakups are never easy but once you are down, pick yourself up again and come back/hire stronger!

Protect Your Ass..ets

By on November 15, 2013 in Others

You have been with your arse more than you have been with any employer or any company so protect you ass…ets.

We just had a candidate tell us the most horrific story I think I have ever heard in the business, and I have heard a lot!

Recruiters change lives. People want to change jobs like they want to change houses, so working with a recruiter you trust is important. You don’t need to work with one agency but you need to know who you are working with.

So the story:

A candidate we met today indicated a recruiter in the Montreal area placed him at a company and did not tell him the salary he was going to be earning before he started. On the 2nd day of work, the candidate went in to sign papers as the candidate was signing he noticed it was 10k less than his original asking price and 15k then the recruiter presented him at. When the candidate called the said recruiter the recruiter apparently replied “Well….you were offered less because you did not have the technical skills required”.

Starting a career without a signed contract I understand, it happens, especially with smaller companies…btw this was with a large organization but how the candidate went to work without knowing his salary is inexcusable.

When accepting a career be sure if nothing else a recruiter or the company about to hire you sends you an email to confirm you salary and your start date this way you know what you are getting into. Protect yourself as at the end of the day, it’s your day that matters most.

 

Comments { 0 }

Contract VS Permanent Careers-HuffPost Article

By on November 12, 2013 in Others

Why Having a ‘Contract’ Job Instead of a

Permanent One is a Good Thing 

Michel Kelly-Gagnon President, Institut économique de Montréal

Posted: 11/11/2013 5:12 pm

There are still some people, including government officials, who look at any job which is not full-time and permanent as a non-standard or undesirable job. But these people should know that “non-standard jobs” are actually more numerous in Canada than the standard ones.

2013-11-11-Graphagencesdeplacement.jpg

This change has happened mostly because it is a desired phenomenon. Indeed, many people yearn for such jobs because they want to balance work with family obligations, with the pursuit of their studies or with gradual retirement. In fact, three quarters of people in such “non-standard” jobs are choosing this course.

When they answer people’s needs, there is no way that we can characterize these changes as “undesirable”. On the contrary, the flexibility now offered by the labour market is a good thing.

Rigid regulations cause unemployment

Adapting and evolving are central aspects of the concept of flexibility. More flexibility does have the effect of increasing uncertainty for both employers and employees. But rigid labour market rules and regulations are not a solution since they generate structural unemployment . In Europe, where the regulation of labour market is very heavy, we see that unemployment rates have been higher than in United States or Canada. The scale of unemployment among the youth and immigrants is alarming in several countries.

The reason for this can be grasped very easily from the point of view of an employer: if hiring someone ties your hands for the future, it creates a risk for your business, and the decision to hire won’t be easy of frequent. Hiring and laying off employees are two intimately connected decisions and both are necessary to adjust to an ever-evolving economy. So regulations should preserve flexibility.

Staffing services on the rise

Change in the labour market goes hand in hand with the continuous rise of staffing services. In Canada, this industry’s operating revenues have gone up considerably in the last dozen years, reaching $10.6 billion. So have salaries, wages and benefits paid by staffing services.

This raises a tough but legitimate question: are businesses using staffing services to subcontract jobs and pay lower wages? When asked about their motivations , American businesses cite these various reasons: to deal with unexpected business growth (52 per cent); to fill long-term absences (47 per cent); while waiting for permanent replacement (47 per cent); for special projects (36 per cent). Also, 21 per cent use staffing services in order to pre-select candidates for regular positions. No mention of lowering wages here.

A German study went a bit further by examining the behavior of companies making extensive use of staffing services, meaning that they find more than 20% of their labor force that way. The conclusion of the authors is that they do so only temporarily, making it unlikely to be part of a low labour cost strategy.

A springboard for the unemployed

One of the least-known facts about staffing services, that we see confirmed in various studies, is the “springboard effect” for the unemployed.

In the U.S., the overall impact of staffing services was quite impressive after the last recession. Even though they account for only 2 per cent of total employment, the industry was responsible for 12 per cent of net job creation over the past three years.

In Canada, 60 per cent of previously unemployed people who found a job were hired for “non-standard” work. Compared to staying unemployed, working for an agency increases the probability of finding a job, and also the prospective salary, as shown in a Dutch study. This positive causal effect was also raised in an Italian study.

In other words, some people chose to work part-time or temporary contracts. But even for those looking for a full-time and permanent job, staffing services offer a leg up.

It is especially true for immigrants, the reason being that when they graduated or were trained abroad, they have a harder time convincing future employers of their skills. Staffing services provide an opportunity to be evaluated on the job.

All in all, there are no real downsides about having a more flexible labour market. It gives everyone the opportunity to achieve what they want. And the possibilities abound.

Comments { 2 }