HR World: 3/15
Secrets overheard by US support workers, and other fascinating international HR storiesSecrets of an American support worker
Ever had a confidential conversation with a co-worker in the office and looked over your shoulder to make sure you’re alone? Well, next time you may want to look twice. See that person wielding the mop or that big, burly guy in the uniform? They can hear you too.
According to a CareerBuilder survey conducted by Harris Poll, 53 per cent of US support staff – cleaners, security guards, receptionists, caretakers, mailroom attendants, administrative assistants and maintenance workers – have overheard confidential conversations in the workplace, while 11 per cent have come across information that could lead to someone being fired.
Sensitive topics that support workers have heard being discussed included redundancies or dismissals (35 per cent); compensation (22 per cent); romantic relationships between co-workers (20 per cent); situations involving lying to the boss (18 per cent), and situations involving setting up another co-worker to fail (11 per cent).
It’s not just what they have heard that gives cause for concern either, but what they have found. Ten per cent have discovered something lying around the office or in the rubbish that could get someone into trouble. Other controversial discoveries include:
- A list of employee salaries
- A picture of a partially dressed employee
- A love letter from one co-worker to another
- A predetermination request for breast augmentation
- An unflattering short story about the boss and several other staff
- A pregnancy test
- An employee’s CV on the copier
- A letter from the boss’s mistress
Oh la la! Text carefully, French court tells workers
Employees using a work mobile in France will have to mind their text manners from now on, after the country’s Supreme Court awarded employers the right to read SMS messages sent from company-owned phones.
The judgement, which affects hundreds of thousands of workers, accepted the principle that text messages sent or received through work phones “are assumed to be of a professional nature,” according to English-language news website The Local France.
According to Supreme Court lawyer Jean-Philippe Duhamel, the ruling – which allows bosses to check messages on a work mobile in the presence of the employee – was made “for consistency and simplicity.”
But anyone with a burning urge to use their work phone for non-professional purposes need not worry. If you want to text someone to tell them you’re taking a sickie, complain about the boss or simply indulge in a bit of casual sexting, all you have to do is put ‘personal’ (or if you’re feeling particularly lethargic, ‘perso’) at the start of the message, and it can’t be used against you in disputes.
Badly designed workplaces hinder productivity in UAE
Almost a third of employees in the United Arab Emirates feel demotivated by their poor working environment, while 20 per cent say the design of their workplace makes it difficult to collaborate effectively, according to a YouGov study on behalf of workplace design company Herman Miller.
The study, reported by Zawya.com, found that 45 per cent of workers think they’d be more productive working from home, while a further 45 per cent say they’re unable to concentrate at their desk for more than an hour before needing a break – though 20 per cent of women say they can do three hours or more in one stretch.
Meanwhile, a shocking 88 per cent of workers reported they waste time most days searching for a vacant meeting room, with 10 per cent saying they spend more than 30 minutes daily doing this – amounting to a day a month.
The study also identified some key differences in how men and women communicate, with potential implications for office design. While 41 per cent of female workers prefer to talk with colleagues at each other’s desks, 32 per cent of male workers say their most successful exchanges take place during coffee breaks.
Herman Miller commissioned the study to coincide with the opening its new office space in Dubai Marina Plaza, where it will introduce its human-centred Living Office planning and design services to the region.
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