Pet Peeves revealed by Linkedin Global Survey

Following on from yesterday's blog about a boss's reaction to poor office kitchen etiquette, it seems appropriate to take a look at a survey published earlier this week by Linkedin that looks at the most common Pet Peeves in the office.

Everyone's pet peeves will be slightly different, but the research has shown that the top 5 global office pet peeves are:

1. People not taking ownership of their actions
2. Constant complainers
3. Dirty common areas
4. Starting meetings late or going long
5. People who don't respond to emails

Start looking at the data on a country by country basis though, and there are key peeves that seem to grip entire nations.  For example, you might want to think twice before discussing last night's Eastenders in Brazil as 83% of workers there voted excessive gossiping as a pet peeve compared to just 62% globally.  Workers in India seem especially  annoyed about loud or irritating mobile phone ringtones, and the workforce of the US are concerned with people who take food from the refrigerator that isn't theirs.

Overall though the prize for the most peeved country goes to India, with the least peeved population being Italy.

Let us know what your pet peeves are!

Crying over spilt milk? At least there is some left!

A news story came out of the US this week that caught my eye.  I've heard all sorts of conflict stories from all sorts of different companies and as such I thought I'd heard it all.  But it turns out I was wrong.

The story involves the President of a PR firm sending a rather blunt email to his staff (full copy is available here), threatening them with being fired if they didn't sort themselves out.  So what was this behaviour that the President got so angry about?  In-fighting? Bullying?  No - it was about milk.  Skimmed milk to be exact.

At some point, we've all gone to make a tea or coffee in the morning, only to find that someone has used the last of the milk.  However, the President of this company must have been having a particularly bad day as it resulted in him sending out a mass email including the following:

"I am gravely serious when I write this - if I catch someone not replacing the milk.......then I am going to fire you. Im not joking. You will be fired for not replacing the milk, and have fun explaining that one to your next employer. This is not a empty threat so PLEASE don't test me."

Should caste discrimination be included in The Equality Act 2010?

After the landmark case of Mr and Mrs Begraj against the law firm that employed them both, there is now increasing pressure on the government to activate a provision included in the original Act to add caste to the current definition of race.

Whilst the case in question is re-scheduled for next year, the discussion of whether or not to add caste discrimination to the Act rumbles on, however the government seem to be reluctant to move forward with it.

The Anti Caste Discrimination Alliance (ACDA) said "we have brought our findings to the Government and they seem now to have kicked it into the long grass, it has baffled us and we wonder whether there may be outside influences at play. It's been over nine months now."

Let us know what you think...

EU Officials refuse to work a 40 hour week

With everyone having to tighten their belts this year, it's no surprise the the public sector austerity measures have made their way to Brussels.  But they have been met with an overwhelming 'Niet' by the EU's 55,000 officials.

Full details here...

New BBC Three show to help unemployed find work

Seven employers (Argos, Greggs, Hilton Worldwide, Scottish Power, Starbucks, Timpson and Virgin Media) have joined forces with BBC Three to offer paid placements to unemployed people, with a total of 23 paid placements.

The show titled 'Up for Hire' which launches on 20 October, aims to address the challenging issues of getting the unemployed work opportunities. All placements are for three months initially, apart from Virgin Media, which has a one-year apprenticeship on offer.

£1million + settlement for female Microsoft executive

The Telegraph reports that: 

Natalie Ayres worked at the computer software company for 15 years, rising through its ranks to become the general manager of its “Small-Medium Enterprises and Partners Group”.
The married mother was seen as an outstanding candidate and was widely tipped to succeed Alistair Baker as managing director of Microsoft UK when the position became vacant in the summer of 2006.
However, the role was handed to Gordon Frazer, a general manager at Microsoft South Africa, allegedly before Mrs Ayres had even completed the interview process. When she left at the end of that year, it was under a “compromise agreement”, which sources at the company said ran into seven figures.

Research shows Chinese staff most likely to pull a 'sickie'

Research from the Workforce Institute at Kronos conducted by Harris Interactive, has shown that China topped all other surveyed regions with 71% of employees admitting to calling in sick when they were not actually sick. France had the smallest number with only 16%.

Other results included India with 62%, Australia with 58%, Canada with 52%, the US with 52%, the UK with 43%, and Mexico with 38%.

When asked why they felt the need to have a day off, the most common response was that they felt stressed and needed a day off.