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'Tis the season for work distractions. In a new i4cp survey, 62% of respondents said that productivity drops in their organizations during the holiday season. And about 30% said there's a general atmosphere that "work isn't serious" this time of year. But not every employee idly staring...

The numbers have become staggering. In November alone, the U.S. lost over half a million jobs, according to the Labor Department. The number of people on the unemployment benefit rolls rose to its highest level since 1982, at 4.4 million. And the times may get tougher yet. But amid this crisis there...

This is where things get sticky, with many companies stranded in the mire of a down economy that has just this week finally been declared a recession. As the saying goes, a good economy is like a rising tide that lifts all boats. That rising tide helps float a lot of companies, sometimes even those...

As this month's historic election confirmed, a significant portion of our population has concluded that the same way we've always done business just isn't cutting it these days. Organizational leaders are seeking new solutions, too. They are asking how to keep America's companies functional and...

First piece of advice: Stay calm. Nobody is really sure what a Democratic Congress and an Obama Administration will mean for workforce issues. Second piece of advice: Calm doesn't mean complacent. Do some contingency planning. There could be a number of important legislative and regulatory changes...

The recent meltdown on Wall Street has brought CEO pay back to the forefront of business news, and the election of Barack Obama might help to keep it there for a while. Things had quieted down a bit in recent years since Sarbanes Oxley was enacted and the SEC implemented its new disclosure rules,...

Work ethic: Rarely has an issue been so important to workplace productivity yet so difficult to influence. Some believe that work ethic is something one is born with. Others say it is nurtured through culture, family or community, and some feel it can be learned. But regardless of how it is...

These are troubling times for knowledge-intensive businesses. Back before the economy was based on information and knowledge, it was easier for organizations to lose significant portions of their workforce and still remain productive. Employees weren't as likely to need deep stores of knowledge to...

It's a precarious time for many leaders - as well as their organizations. Consider the example of Robert Willumstad, who until recently was CEO of struggling insurance giant AIG. His ouster was part of the deal in which AIG received an $85 billion government rescue package. On September 18, 2008,...

Beware, knowledge workers: Your halcyon days are numbered. You're in the process of being shaped into bits and bytes, numbers and equations, and your work lives will never be the same. Your organizations' productivity, however, may well spike up even as you're digitized.At least, that's one of the...