7/10/05

ON THE JOB
As retirement looms, it's about feeling good

Making lots of money was a big motivator for baby boomers back in the lucrative '80s, but now that they're close to retirement, boomers are looking for jobs that will make them feel good.

Of the 1,000 Americans over 50 that MetLife interviewed recently, nearly 60 percent of men and women between 50 and 59 pointed to nonprofit or public service jobs as their top choice upon retirement. Additionally, 58 percent of men and women in that age range said the job must give them a sense of purpose. When MetLife looked at gender, it found that 70 percent of the women felt that way, while 48 percent of men said it was important to have such work.

"Baby boomers will not only invent a new stage of life between the middle years and true old age, but a new stage of work," said Marc Freedman, president of Civic Ventures, a nonprofit think tank and incubator that focuses on the assets of aging Americans.

DEVELOPMENT
Simmons, Deloitte create leadership chair

Simmons School of Management in Boston and Deloitte & Touche, the professional services firm, have joined forces to form an endowed chair that will study and recommend strategies for helping women become top leaders.

Called the Deloitte Ellen Gabriel Chair for Women and Leadership, the chair is designed to "help shape the national discourse on women and leadership," according to Simmons.

Deborah Kolb, a professor at the management school who specializes in gender issues in negotiation as well as conflict management, has been named the first Deloitte chair. Kolb is the coauthor of "The Shadow Negotiation: How Women Can Master The Hidden Agendas That Determine Bargaining Success."

That book, coauthored by Judith Williams, a graduate of the Simmons management school, shows women how to empower themselves at the bargaining table. It advises women to be clear about what they want, and what assets they bring. In addition, it says women should be vocal about what they add to the company. And it suggests that women be ready to move quickly to protect their own interests and block any attempts to undermine their credibility.

Kolb also is the author of four other books, including "The Mediators and Making Talk Work: Profiles of Mediators." Kolb was executive director of Harvard Law School's program on negotiation from 1991 to 1994, and is now a senior fellow. She also is a principal at The Shadow Negotiation LLC, which helps women access advice on how to negotiate effectively online.

Kolb joined the Simmons faculty in 1977, and is cofounder of the Center for Gender in Organizations at the management school. Her status as a Deloitte chair will permit her to continue her research on women and leadership. She will also work as a spokeswoman and will help shape national debate on the roles women play in the private and nonprofit sectors and government and how best to advance them.

The endowment is named after Ellen Gabriel, the first national director of Deloitte & Touche's Initiative for the Retention and Advancement of Women. The initiative, which Kolb and Gabriel worked on together, has helped increase the number of women partners and directors at the professional services firm.

COMMUTING
Mass. workers top US average commute time

While the average Massachusetts worker spends about 27 minutes traveling to work, according to the Census Bureau, 18 percent of Bay State residents spend 90 minutes getting to their jobs. Nationwide, the average one-way commute time is 24.3 minutes, and only about 2 percent of Americans commute 90 minutes to work, the bureau reported.

Other places with long commutes include Queens, N.Y., where residents travel 41.7 minutes; the Bronx, N.Y., where workers spend 40.8 minutes getting to work; and Prince William County, Va., where residents are on the road about 35.5 minutes, the Census said.

WORKPLACE
Study says courtesy found to be lacking

Novations/J. Howard & Associates reports that courtesy remains lacking in the workplace.

According to Tom McKinnon, executive consultant at the Massachusetts firm, 623 people were interviewed by telephone. Of those, 35 percent of women and 28 percent of men reported they have been the brunt of sexually inappropriate remarks at work.

"We found no dramatic trends, but the cumulative data demonstrate a disturbing pattern of indifference to the feelings of other employees," McKinnon said.

Other results of the survey show that:

28 percent of workers reported they overheard ethnic slurs. In all, 28 percent made the same report in 2003.
30 percent of the workers overhead racial slurs in 2004, up from 27 percent in 2003.
20 percent reported age-related insults, down from 22 percent in 2003.
5 percent said insults because of disability were not uncommon, up from 3 percent in 2003.

McKinnon also reported that where the individual worked made a difference. For example, of those employed in the South, 32 percent have heard ethnic slurs. Of those who work in the Northeast, 24 percent said they have heard such insults. In addition, ridicule due to sexual orientation appeared to be more prevalent in the South, where 24 percent of the people interviewed reported hearing those kind of comments. In the West, it was 20 percent, 19 percent in the North Central region, and 14 percent in the Northeast.

Said McKinnon: "It seems that women were half as likely as men to hear an ethnic slur, and 30 percent of whites said they'd heard racial slurs, but only 20 percent of African-Americans. The message seems to be: 'We still have two standards: one for other white males or a safe audience and for those who might be offended.'?"

The national telephone survey was conducted by International Communications Research Media in Pennsylvania.

On a related topic, the Harvard Management Communication Letter reports that incivility at work can affect a company's bottom line. Rudeness, savage gossip, political sabotage, and intrigue can cause turnover costs to increase 1.5 to 2.5 times the overall salary of a particular job.

When a group of people were polled about such workplace rudeness and abuse, one of eight said they'd quit a job because of it. According to the newsletter, the status of the employee who feels as if he or she has been unfairly maligned also determines the type - and level - of retaliation inflicted on the guilty parties and, essentially, the company.

"Not surprisingly, lower-status employees are more likely to be targets of incivility," said the newsletter. "Higher status employees have more ways to be uncivil and get away with it. Lower-status targets tend to retaliate covertly by spreading rumors, withholding needed information, or delaying work. Powerful targets deliberately sabotage the institution."

Companies can put a stop to abusive behavior by adopting zero tolerance policies and encouraging employee feedback, said the newsletter.

Diane E. Lewis can be reached at .

E-Mail This Article