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Adult education: lifelong learning can broaden your horizons

 Adult Education, Education, Training  No Responses »
Aug 192009
 
Lifelong Learning

Image by Stephen Downes via Flickr

"Lifelong learning" has become something of a buzzword in recent years.

According to the politicians it’s one of the "key drivers" for "upskilling the workforce" so they can participate in the new "knowledge economy". Buzz, buzz, and more buzz.…

But behind the rhetoric and weasel words of modern political dialogue there’s a serious message trying to break through. It’s simply this: you’re never too old to learn, and learning can and will enhance your life in all sorts of ways… perhaps not just in the areas you expect.

For some adults the decision to return to learning isn’t an easy one to make. Having been compelled to learn through the formal education system, they decide that learning perhaps isn’t for them. Children have a natural curiosity to explore and absorb the world around them — a catalyst for learning that seems absent in many adults, or if not absent then subconsciously subdued. Returning to education years, perhaps decades after leaving the formal education system can feel awkward, unnatural… perhaps even a little frightening. But legions of adult learners attest to the fact that it’s well worth stepping briefly outside your comfort zone to experience the benefits learning can bring.

The really crucial distinction between learning as an adult and learning in school is that as an adult nobody’s forcing you to sit down and listen to something you have little interest in. You’re there because you want to learn, not because somebody else dictates that you have to — and believe it or not that makes all the difference in the world.

AONTAS, the National Adult Learning Organisation, believes there are plenty of reasons why Adult Education is vital to the country, the community, families and individuals. They maintain that people who have an opportunity to continually learn and develop their skills and capacities:

  • Make our economy grow and develop
  • Ensure that their children develop a love of learning and take full advantage of education
  • Actively participate in their own communities and civil society
  • Support and respect people with different cultural beliefs and abilities
  • Respect and protect the environment for future generations
  • Nurture creativity and imagination
  • Live healthy and fulfilled lives

There’s another reason that they don’t list, but that’s crucially important: learning new things is fun, whatever your age.

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 Posted by Calvin at 5:01 pm  Tagged with: , , ,

Politeness at work pays dividends

 books, career advice, Employer  1 Response »
Aug 192009
 

Buy "The Cost of Bad Behavior" from AmazonAccording to the co authors of a new book from the US, bad behaviour and rudeness in the workplace could be costing companies billions in lost productivity.

Professor Christine Porath of the USC Marshall School of Business and her co-author Christine Pearson, a professor of management at Thunderbird School of Global Management, discovered just how much poor manners at work can impact a company’s bottom line while researching "The Cost of Bad Behavior: How Incivility is Damaging Your Business and What to Do About It”.

Behaviour like texting in meetings, spreading malicious rumours, taking credit for other people’s work, ignoring emails and even refusing to say a simple "please" and "thank you" are much more than just annoyances, say the authors, who claim that stress caused by bad behaviour could be costing businesses a staggering $300 billion by affecting the performance of those on the receiving end.

The Authors’ research suggests that eight out of 10 employees who are victims of insults or bullying in the workplace lose work time worrying about it, while a similar proportion feel that their commitment to work declines as a direct result. Civility costs nothing, but implementing a culture of civility in the workplace could have real payback in terms of productivity and bottom line profits. "It starts with the top," Porath insists. "There should be a thread of civility through everything a company does." When these threads start to break down, she warns, companies are in danger of losing their best employees, to the long-term detriment of the business. Even with currently high levels of unemployment she points out that there’s still "huge concern with Human Resource executives that there’s a shortage of talent. Businesses are fighting for talent."

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 Posted by Calvin at 4:29 pm  Tagged with: , , , ,

High flyers: tall people earn more?

 Surveys/Reports  No Responses »
Aug 112009
 
Tallest and Shortest man in the World*

Image by Nathan T. Baker via Flickr

Apparently tall men earn significantly more than their shorter colleagues.

That’s according to the latest research from Australia, which found that each extra 2 inches of height can equate to a boost of nearly €800 a year in annual salary – or the equivalent of an extra year of experience. So, a man who’s 6ft tall can expect to earn about 1.5% more, on average, than his 5ft 10ins colleague. The phenomenon isn’t as pronounced in women, however, who need to tower at least 4 inches over their colleagues to see a similar earnings hike.

The study of nearly 7,000 Australian workers by the Australian National University echoes results from earlier studies in Britain and the US, which also showed compelling evidence that taller workers command higher salaries.

Professor Andrew Leigh, who led the Australian study, suggests that the most likely explanation is that taller people tend to commanded more respect in the workplace, and that subconsciously there may be positive discrimination in their favour.

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 Posted by Calvin at 7:46 am  Tagged with: , , ,

Managing stress at work

 career advice, workplace  2 Responses »
Aug 062009
 
Stressed Eric

Image via Wikipedia

Read about how to recognise workplace stress here

At home and at work there are countless things in our lives that cause us to become anxious and ultimately lead to stress. Things like our relationships with our family and our work colleagues, lack of sleep, a feeling of having too much to do and not enough time, not making the time to relax and unwind… the list is practically endless.

In the workplace stress inducing situations are rife. Common ones include strained working relationships, heavy workloads, long hours, unrealistic expectations, poor communications, insufficient or improper training or concerns about job security. Stress typically builds up when a variety of potentially stressful experiences combine to overwhelm us: when we perceive that we’re out of our depth and believe that we have little or no control.

One of the problems with trying to define exactly what causes stress is that its a subjective thing. We all have different stress thresholds and find different things stressful. Some people, for example, find the thought of changing jobs terrifying, while others relish the challenge such a change brings. What we find stressful  is a very personal thing.

The important thing is to recognise your own stress thresholds, and when your stress alarm bells start to ring, take steps to manage that stress before it starts to have a detrimental affect on your work, and more importantly your health. If you start to feel the pressure, here are a few things you could try to keep your stress levels under control.

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 Posted by Calvin at 7:22 am  Tagged with: , ,

Going Solo – leaving the rat race behind

 Career change, home working  No Responses »
Aug 062009
 
Baltimore west cork

Image via Wikipedia

Like it or not, we live in a world where work dominates our lives. In Ireland today many of us suffer long working hours and tortuous daily commutes that lock us into a seemingly endless cycle. We get up early, we go to work, we come home late, we go to bed. Then we repeat the saga, day in, day out. The irony is that in a desperate attempt to maintain our standard of living, a growing number of us are willing to sacrifice our quality of life.

Surely there has to be a better way.

All over Europe a small but growing number of people are realising that, for them at least, there is. Slowly but surely these enterprising souls are turning their backs on the frantic corporate culture of our cities and instead choosing a new life – a life where they can dictate the pace.

Rural Ireland, and the South West region in particular – with its rugged natural beauty,  scenic coastline and eclectic social mix – is proving an attractive proposition for many of these enterprising exiles.

“The region has always had an open attitude, very much welcoming of visitors and outside influences,” explains Michael Hanley, Chief Executive of the West Cork Enterprise board. “Historically important harbours like Baltimore and Schull meant that there was always an outside influence from the continent,” he said, “and I think people, particularly along the coast, were always welcoming of new influences and different ways of doing business.”

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 Posted by Calvin at 6:32 am  Tagged with: , ,

DIY closures cost 150 jobs

 News  1 Response »
Aug 052009
 
Do-It-Yourself

Image by iamPatrick via Flickr

Around 150 jobs have been lost with the closure of seven 4-Home DIY and homeware stores around the country. The retail chain closed their outlets in Killarney and Ballincollig last week, on the back of earlier closure in Portlaoise, Carlow, Monaghan, Ashbourne and Macroom.

There are also fears for the future of outlets in Fermoy and Mitchelstown as Reox Holdings, a Dairygold Co-op spin-off company, implements a major restructuring plan. Talks between Reox and Dairygold about the possible acquisition of some of the nine remaining 4-Home stores in Munster by the Co-op are ongoing.

Earlier this year Reox announced that it was reviewing the performance of each of its stores as a result of a significant downturn in the sector. According to a company spokesman the recession had caused consumer confidence to plummet and they were spending less on home improvement products. Central Statistics Office figures bear out that statement, showing a huge drop in home-related sales over the past year.

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 Posted by Calvin at 11:14 am  Tagged with: , ,

Record number of businesses fold in July

 Employer, News, workplace  No Responses »
Aug 052009
 
Closed for business

Image by maistora via Flickr

The latest figures show that more Irish firms closed their doors in July than in any month so far this year. 151 firms became insolvent in July, a 33% increase on the figure for June and a surge of 132% on the same month last year. The construction sector, once again, was the worst hit by the insolvency spike — with reports suggesting a correlation with the traditional "builders holiday", and struggling firms choosing to avail of this traditionally quiet period to wind up their operations "under the radar".

The motor trade was also badly hit — with a 200% increase in insolvencies compared to June, and according to the insolvency news aggregator InsolvencyJournal.ie the numbers of Irish firms going out of business shows no sign of abating.

Retail insolvencies in July were up almost 50% in July, increasing sharply from a figure of 21 in June and almost triple the 11 insolvencies recorded in the sector during May. 131 retail companies have already gone out of business so far this year. In the hospitality sector insolvencies remained relatively consistent at 14, compared to 13 in June and 15 in May.

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 Posted by Calvin at 11:06 am  Tagged with: , , ,

Graduates faring better than most in jobs market

 Education, News, Surveys/Reports  No Responses »
Aug 052009
 
Academic procession at the :en:University of C...

Image via Wikipedia

In general third level graduates are doing better than average in a very tough jobs market, says a study by the University of Ireland, Galway (NUIG), but the survey also shows significant variation between degree disciplines. With national unemployment rates approaching 12%, the University revealed that only 8% of the 2,300 or so graduates from the NUIG’s class of 2008 were still looking for work.

The University carried out the research from six to nine months after graduation, and had a healthy response rate of 62%. Over half of those respondents (c. 51%) had elected to pursue a postgraduate qualification, up from 49% last year and continuing a steadily rising trend. Of those available for work, one in every six NUIG science graduates (c. 16.5%)  was still trying to find a job, while for arts graduates the figure was one in 10 (10%), and a quarter of all law graduates were still looking for a position, although the vast majority of law graduates reported they had opted to further their studies.

Graduates most likely to be working were those with degrees in medicine and other health related disciplines, with 95% of respondents reporting they had secured employment.

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 Posted by Calvin at 10:57 am  Tagged with: , ,

Swine Flu at Work – are you ready?

 Employer, workplace  No Responses »
Aug 052009
 
Swine Flu

Image by The Artifex via Flickr

Ireland seems to have avoided the brunt of the Influenza A(H1N1) swine flu pandemic to date. As of the 28th of July there were a total of 276 laboratory confirmed cases of the disease in the state, 38 of which were classed "in country" transmissions (passed from person to person within the country, as opposed to being picked up outside Ireland and brought in). That’s a fairly small number, but one of the characteristics of a pandemic is the tendency for small numbers to turn into big numbers very quickly.

Last week an estimated 1,500 suspected cases of swine flu were reported to Irish GPs, and a glance across the water to our nearest neighbour, Britain, which is top of the European league table for Swine Flu infections by quite some margin, reveals a worrying trend. There were an estimated 100,000 new cases of swine flu in the UK during the week ending the 19th of July. That’s almost double the figure for the week before, with the numbers typically doubling week-on-week. Meanwhile infections here continue to rise sharply, and public health officials warn that it’s only a matter of time before Ireland’s first swine flu related death occurs.

In Britain, the pandemic is already having an impact on the workplace. Figures released last week by absence management firm FirstCare revealed that 130,000 people stayed off work with cold and flu symptoms on the 14th of July, up from 45,000 a week earlier. Here the HSE is advising Irish businesses to gear up for increased absenteeism in the workplace as the pandemic takes hold.

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 Posted by Calvin at 10:34 am  Tagged with: , , ,
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