Working with someone you hate can be distracting and draining. Pompous jerk, annoying nudge, or incessant complainer, an insufferable colleague can negatively affect your attitude and performance. Instead of focusing on the work you have to do together, you may end up wasting time and energy trying to keep your emotions in check and attempting to manage the person's behaviour. Fortunately, with the right tactics, you can still have a productive working relationship with someone you can't stand. What the Experts Say If you work with someone you don't like, you're not alone. The detested co-worker is a familiar archetype. Robert Sutton, a professor of management science and engineering at Stanford University and the author of Good Boss, Bad Boss, says this is part of the human condition. "There are always other people — be they relatives, fellow commuters, neighbours, or coworkers — who we are at risk of tangling with," he says. Avoiding people you don't like is generally a successful tactic but it's…
Read More
If you are an employer you can gather an impressive amount of data on your employees using tracking software. It is not unusual for employers to monitor employees’ computers or smartphones, but most of us don’t think about this during our working day, spending time in the office reading personal emails, updating Facebook or even checking out other employment opportunities. Programmes like ActivTrak let you know what websites your employees frequent at work, TeleNav Track, an organizational tracking system, lets you monitor and manage remote employees from afar and get a detailed understanding of behaviour and a clearer sense of strengths and problem areas within your business. However, these tools come with the potential risks of violating employee privacy, or creating a culture of paranoia. Ben Waber, CEO of data collection firm, Sociometric Solutions, says there are definite upsides to knowing what your employees are up to. Sociometrics uses RFID chips embedded in ID badges to track employee behaviour, collecting data on everything from employee…
Read More
Bradley Manning cleared of 'aiding the enemy' but guilty of other charges. Faces 130 years prison. Palace uses zero-hours contracts. Third army reserve soldier dies. Driver on phone in Spain train crash. EU migrants should be banned from claiming benefits for two years. Tory peer backs fracking in desolate north east. MORGAN STANLEY The company has appointed Qatari national Abdulla al-Ansari as its new head in the country, according to an internal memo seen by Reuters, a sign the U.S. bank is positioning itself for a share of rising deal activity from the gas-rich Gulf state. Al-Ansari previously worked at Qatar National Bank's brokerage division. CBRE GROUP INC The real estate services and investment firm said it has strengthened its residential agency team with the appointment of Julien Mills and Luke Mills as executive directors. The two previously worked at Savills PLC. BANK OF AMERICA MERRILL LYNCH Nomura's co-head of financial sponsors, Saba Nazar, is moving to the investment banking division of Bank of America…
Read More
Police investigate new twitter threats. Barclays reveals plans for £6bn cash call to plug capital gap. Taliban attack Pakistan prison. Serco eyes up NHS. Britain losing internet crime war. Berlusconi appeal verdict expected. Rubik's cube World Championship winner solves in 7.36 seconds. AVIVA INVESTORS The global asset management business of Aviva Plc, appointed Abigail Herron as head of engagement in the global responsible investment team. She reports to Chief Responsible Investment Officer Steve Waygood. Abigail joins Aviva Investors from Co-operative Asset Management, where she headed the corporate governance function. GAZPROMBANK OAO The Russian bank appointed Rustam Mursalimov as an equity portfolio manager at Gazprombank Asset Management. He holds the position of director and started on July 19th. Before joining Gazprombank, Mursalimov was an equity portfolio manager at DEKA Asset Management inGermany and responsible for the firm's investments in Russia, Turkey, and Eastern Europe as part of DEKA's Emerging Europe team. NIKKO ASSET MANAGEMENT CO LTD The asset manager appointed several strategic hires across the group as…
Read More
Dit was geen doorsnee sollicitatie. Ik kreeg last-minute instructies: ‘ga de kamer binnen, begroet het recruitment panel van 8 oudere mannen, hang je kleding aan de haak aan de deur en sta op de stip, met je gezicht naar het panel toe, poedelnaakt! Na het horen van de instructie ‘draai om’, zou ik mij om moeten draaien gevolgd door het commando ‘raak je tenen aan met je handen’. Indien gevraagd zou ik mij weer om moeten draaien richting het panel en elke vraag beantwoorden die bij hen naar boven zou komen. Als laatste zou ik worden bedankt, zou ik mijn kleding weer aan moeten trekken en via de andere deur de kamer moeten verlaten. In totaal duurde deze gebeurtenis niet meer dan 45 seconden. Natuurlijk voelde het toen aan als meerdere uren. Ik vraag me af of de Britse politie nog steeds nieuwe sollicitanten onderwerpt aan zulke nauwkeurige onderzoeken. Ik had gesolliciteerd toen ik 17 jaar oud was, in 1982, met het idee carrière op…
Read More
When people browse through this blog, many must wonder what the photo on the top with the grey building is about. It is a shot of a 9 hectare wide social housing site in Elephant & Castle in south London, called the Heygate Estate. This massive council estate was designed by the architect, Tim Tinker, and was constructed in 1974 to house more than 3,000 people. As you can see from the photo here below, the design consisted of four wings of tall buildings with shorter constructions in the middle which were all connected by concrete walkways. This was the solution the government had come up with in the 1970s when there was urgent demand to house thousands of workers. With time, the Heygate Estate started owning a bad reputation for being a ‘Muggers Paradise’ and the hub of other anti-social behaviour of crime and violence. This reputation worsened as the British government geared more and more towards regeneration programmes and further away from social…
Read More
Italy bus crash kills 37. Co-op threatens lad mags ban. Train driver admits he was reckless. Hague turns up heat over Gibraltar. Mo Farah challenges Usain Bolt to race. AVIVA The Asia arm of the financial services company appointed Trang Nguyen Ngoc as general director of VietinBank Aviva. Trang, will oversee Aviva's partnership with VietinBank. Trang was the chief financial officer of Manulife Vietnam. STATE STREET CORP The Boston-based bank named Roger Stein as chief analytics officer of State Street Global Exchange. Stein joins from credit ratings and research firm Moody's. ENGLAND & CO The merchant bank hired Corey Luskin as managing director in its Technology Investment Banking Group, to be based in New York.
Read More
This was no ordinary interview. I was given last minute instructions; “Enter the room, acknowledge the recruitment panel of 8 elderly men in uniform, hang up my robe on the hook provided, and stand, facing the panel, on the footprints marked on the floor, NAKED AS THE DAY WAS BORN! Upon hearing the instruction “Turn”, I should face the wall to the back of the room, followed by “Touch your toes”. When told to, I should then face the panel again, and answer any questions that may have occurred to them. Lastly, I’ll be thanked, and should put the robe back on and exit via the other door. In total, this whole episode took no more than 45 seconds. Of course it felt like a fortnight at the time. I wonder if the London Metropolitan Police still subject current applicants to such scrutiny? I had applied at the age of 17, in 1982, seeing a career in law enforcement in the Big Smoke as my…
Read More
Today’s markets: European stock index futures signals early gains Overnight markets: Nikkei sinks to near 3-week low on firmer yen Yesterday’s markets: FTSE stalls on weak results UK: ‘Feel-good’ Britons helping financial crisis UK: Economy grows but still smaller than peak in 2008 USA: Jobless claims rise more than forecast Eurozone: IMF urges ECB to cut rates to boost lending Cyprus: Record outflow of Cyprus bank accounts in question Spain: Lenders show recovery in line with healing economy Currencies: Dollar index set for third weekly drop Energy: WYI poised for weekly drop on rising supply UK Property: Help to Buy scheme “economically dodgy but politically astute” Focus On: Where have all the safe havens gone?
Read More
Warning of crisis in A&E over shortage of consultants. Meningitis B vaccine rejected by UK. Arctic thaw could cost world $60tn. Eurozone recession ‘may be over’. Bulgarian MPs trapped in parliament. Mexico violence leaves 22 dead. NATIONAL BANK OF ABU DHABI The largest bank in the UAE has appointed Rafi Ahmed as its head of global financial markets, Europe to expand the division's services in Europe. Ahmed will be based in the NBAD-London branch to lead the development of financial markets product and services for NBAD's MENA (Middle East and North Africa) clients and also expand NBAD's European clients' access to MENA markets. MAN GROUP PLC The alternative investment management business appointed Andrew Horton to the position of non-executive director. Andrew has over 25 years of broad financial services experience. In addition, Patrick O'Sullivan, who has served as a non-executive director for six years, will step down from the Board. Patrick has been previous chairman of the audit and risk committee and more recently…
Read More
