Work From Home, Save The Environment

IN THIS ISSUE:

1. Work From Home, Save The Environment
2. Achievement Trumps Tenure
3. Managing Your World
4. Canadian Companies Open Labs to Schoolchildren


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1. Work From Home, Save The Environment

Sun Microsystems has presented evidence that telecommuting is not just a convenience for workers who wish to dispense with the morning routine of struggling to find something to wear, then fighting traffic or braving the gauntlet of public transportation. Sun just released the results of its Open Work Energy Measurement Project, a survey of its employees aimed at finding out just how beneficial its flexible scheduling policies are by calculating the difference in the environmental impact of commuting to an office versus working from home. It found that 98 percent of each employee's carbon footprint for work came from his or her commute. By staying home for half of a five-day workweek, the average employee reduced his or her job-related energy use by 5400 kilowatt-hours per year. Commuting half as much also saved each worker $1700 per year in fuel and other auto-related costs, and allowed them to regain more than two weeks that would otherwise be lost to traffic snarls or waits at train stations.


2. Achievement Trumps Tenure

Employers no longer take it for granted that X years on the job equate to a certain level of skill or accomplishment. They want to know what you did to improve a process, eliminate a bottleneck, or otherwise exercise leadership. According to a Business Week article, "Once you crack the code to making positive change in your workplace, you won't have to use the trite phrase "value added" in your résumé. You'll have plenty of specific accomplishments to crow about." The article suggests making a list of the things you've learned and significant achievements during your tenure at your job. These will be the things you emphasize on your resume and in an interview--or work to build upon if the list is too short.

3. Managing Your World

"I've got a thousand things to do today," you say to yourself as you arrive at your desk. Where to start is often the hardest decision to make. A California Job Journal article offers some tips for staying on top of your to-do list. These include counterintuitive moves such as avoiding multitasking, which is a productivity killer, and daring to be slow--at least when it comes to responding to e-mail while working on a higher-priority task. When you do get around to checking e-mail, do so on a set schedule, and take the action necessary (like adding an item to your calendar) to ensure that you need to read each message only once.



4. Canadian Companies Open Labs to Schoolchildren

A coalition of Canadian companies, including Bell Canada, Rogers Communications, Nortel Networks and IBM Canada, plans to create a lab sharing program wherein they will make their research facilities and resources available to IT students in high school and college on weeknights and weekends. The firms are concerned about skill shortages they say will result in a shortfall of nearly 90 000 workers in science, technology, engineering, and math within three to five years. They hope the move and plans to promote IT careers through media relations campaigns, television and radio broadcasts, the Internet, and efforts to educate elementary and high school counselors about the breadth of opportunities in IT will result in heightened interest among young students.

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