It seems that every place that I've ever worked at has been equipped with an overzealous air conditioning system. My guess is that these "cool guys", having been out of commission all winter, can't wait to rev into action. As soon as it gets slightly warmer outside, the conditioning starts. They blow cold air through the vents with increasing speed and efficiency as the outdoor temperature rises. Meanwhile, "not so cool" employees who have waited all year for a little warmth are left shivering.

As the article Is Your Office Too Cold Today? points out, freezing at work during warm summer days is a typical office complaint. The problem as explained in Why You're Always Cold (or Hot) at Work is that it's extremely hard to regulate the temperature in office buildings so that everybody is comfortable. While one employee is freezing, another one in a different wing or section is sweating bullets. That may be so, but it's summer time -- aren't we supposed to be hot? What's wrong with that?

The problem, of course, is that we work in airtight offices where opening a window to get the air flowing is not an option. In fact, lots of people spend their summer "cold air hopping." They go from one air-conditioned place to another. In fact, they become air conditioning addicts and cannot live without it. Their idea of a comfortable temperature has nothing to do with reality.

I say, let's get back to earth. Enjoy the warm weather while it lasts and give air conditioning systems a break once in a while.

Josée

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It's no secret that the entertainment business can be very volatile. It seems that some clubs and restaurants are part of a magic act -- they disappear as fast as they appear.

A few months ago, I congratulated a friend who had landed a job in a soon-to-open hip restaurant/club. Her present nightclub job is pretty erratic -- her hours vary according to the season, the economic climate and the day-to-day ebb and flow of patrons.

The opening date has now been postponed so many times that I've stopped asking her, "How's the new job going?" Fortunately, my friend knows the ropes. She didn't immediately quit her old job at the offer of a brand new and more exciting one. She knows that restaurants and clubs can't easily guarantee a steady 35-hour week. So, her plan is to manage both jobs for a while until she's assured that this new place picks up speed.

College and university students are already hitting the pavement in search of a summer job. Working in a nightclub presents an attractive proposition. It allows them to enjoy the great summer days while making pretty lucrative earnings in the evenings. Like all good things, there's a hitch. These jobs can also be unreliable. So, before accepting a night job, do your research and as Cheryl Gorski warns in her article How to Work at a Nightclub, "[b]e wary of a nightclub with high staff turnover and one that frequently changes ownership". That way, you'll be sure that your four-month summer assignment doesn't turn out to be a two-week test.

Josée

For More Information:

• Working in a Night Club

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It happens like clockwork every day: around 2 or 3 p.m., shortly after lunch, I start to feel myself wilting at my desk. While trying to stifle a series of yawns, I find myself thinking, "If only I could take a little nap ... just for a few minutes ..." I've always attributed this afternoon sleepiness to a corporal slowdown induced by my rather substantial lunches. However, sleep researchers like Dr. Sara Mednick, author of Take a Nap! Change Your Life, would argue that lunch has nothing to do with it: my body is craving a recharging rest.

Studies have shown that taking a daily nap at work is actually good for you. A recent NPR article reveals that an afternoon nap can improve your ability to learn. Additionally, the article Why You Need to Nap at Work cites a NASA study's findings that "a nap of just 26 minutes can boost performance by as much as 34 percent."

If getting a little midday shut-eye is so good for us, why aren't we all doing it? The fact remains that napping on the job is still considered an illicit activity, as is evidenced by this list of tips on how to nap at your desk without anyone noticing. Granted, sleeping at your desk is probably not the best idea. But what if every workplace were equipped with MetroNaps EnergyPods, cozy sleep capsules that allow drowsy workers to take a guilt-free siesta while on break?

Although Canadians aren't accustomed to afternoon naps in the way many European countries may be, the UK seems to be following in the footsteps of its Continental counterparts by promoting National Nap at Work Week. Is this the beginning of a new trend? Will Canadians soon be taking regular catnaps on the job? I'd like to think so. But, then again, maybe I'm just dreaming.

Veronica

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A recent Toronto Star article reveals that, amongst 19 major worldwide cities studied, Toronto has the worst commuter times. While the article mainly focuses on Toronto's systemic transportation problems, it leaves me with a compelling question: how much time are we willing to spend commuting to work and at what cost?

According to a 2005 Statistics Canada study, the average Canadian spends the equivalent of 12 full days a year commuting. Further analysis of the study shows that people who spend more than two hours a day travelling between home and work are more likely to loathe their commutes.

An article in Business Week notes that commuting is associated with many negative health and social effects, including raised blood pressure, musculoskeletal disorders, increased hostility, lateness, absenteeism, and adverse effects on cognitive performance. Despite these findings, extreme commuting—spending more than 1.5 hours getting to work and back—is becoming increasingly common in North America.

When you live in a big city like Toronto, commuting is a complex issue, especially since rent and real estate prices often dictate where you live. Family members who go to work or school in opposite ends of the city are especially plagued by commuter frustrations.

Over the years, I've gone back and forth on the commuter debate. I've certainly made longer-than-ideal commutes for the sake of having a job that I thought would advance my career. And last year, after I had been unemployed for several months and was feeling increasingly desperate, I even made a daily three-hour round trip for a job. But when I think about the hours I wasted on streetcars, subways and buses, I start to wonder whether long commutes are ever really worth it. What do we get in return for our daily treks? Perhaps a nicer house that we barely spend time in? Slightly larger salaries that end up being used to buy items and services to compensate for lack of time?

We all have compromises that we make in life. I guess when it comes to commuting, you need to decide whether you’re actually getting somewhere or merely spinning your wheels.

Veronica

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Food and poverty have been on my mind, no doubt because both these issues have been in the news recently. I heard news that food banks are so far behind on donations that they've had to extend their annual spring drives to April 17. Sadly, this is happening at a time when food bank use has increased(PDF).

I fear that the need for food banks may soon grow even more when the Province chops the Special Diet Allowance (SDA). This allowance provides Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) and Ontario Works (OW) recipients with up to $250 a month extra to buy special food for medical conditions such as diabetes or celiac disease. (The government plans to replace the SDA with a nutritional supplement -- but only for those with severe medical needs.)

Last November, a report to the City's Board of Health showed that the 2009 Nutritious Food Basket for a family of four in Toronto cost $633.78 per month. The total maximum OW for a family of four is $1,112. Do the math and see just how difficult it would be to eat healthy foods on a welfare budget. (I took the math challenge: If I was on ODSP, I'd have no money left for food once I paid my rent, hydro, transportation, etc. -- in fact, I'd be in the hole by $394. If I subsisted on OW, I'd be short a shocking $842.)

The Province hopes that cutting the SDA will save money. This line of thinking may be penny wise but pound foolish. With the exception of lentils, dried beans and the like, cheap food can be nutrient-poor (think Wonder bread, pop, tomato soup ...). An increased intake of poor quality food in a population can lead to increased health problems and, lord knows, the cost of health care is anything but cheap.

kathyo

For More Information:

• Frugal Food Guide
• Daily Bread Food Bank
• Ontario Coalition Against Poverty

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Getting swamped with rejection letters can be discouraging if you're unemployed, but with the right attitude and a little creativity, your life doesn't have to spiral downward. Take the case of communications grad Jason Paul, 22, who unsuccessfully applied to 180 American newspapers before he decided to try a new approach: quitting the conventional lifestyle and living off Craigslist for nine months, spending three months in three different cities.

Craigslist proved to have everything Jason needed. He found work as a street canvasser in Oakland and, while in Denver, worked at Denny's restaurant and at Lovesacs, "fluffing, stocking and chilling in gigantic furniture 'sacs.'" On St. Paddy's Day he pranced around as a leprechaun, handing out promotion cards for a bar.

Paul finds housing, jobs and rideshares through Craigslist. He also uses it for less mundane things, like finding people to go pheasant hunting with or to play underwater hockey or trampoline dodgeball.

"He's scored a free Thanksgiving dinner with strangers, found a friend he meets weekly for crochet lessons, and experienced the highs and lows of searching for roommates online," according to an interview in The Globe and Mail.

Paul may not have yet racked up a communications job, but through contacting strangers on Craigslist he's sharpening his networking skills. Because he has blogged about his Craigslist experiences Paul now has a website he can show to potential employers. He has gotten some media attention (in addition to The Globe, he's been interviewed by the CBC, Mediabistro, and others). I suspect that more than a few employers, impressed with the initiative that Paul has shown, will offer him a job in his field.

In addition to all of that, it seems that Paul has made great connections and collected a series of life experiences he'll be able to tell his future grandkids about.

kathyo

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Wondering whether the pin-up girl tattooed on your forearm is going to prevent you from getting or keeping a job? Well, you're not the only one with this concern.

While tattoos are becoming increasingly popular and more accepted in the workplace, The Huffington Post reports that tattoo removal is currently becoming "a bigger business than tattooing.” So what gives? Have workplace values receded during the recession?

Some argue that tattoo removals have risen because job seekers don't want to restrict their employment potential or their chances of landing a job. But it seems tattoos can also affect a worker's current employment status. As is mentioned in Too Tattooed to Work?, employees with visible tattoos may be kept behind the scenes and prevented from performing certain duties: "A grocery store employee with a tattoo on their hand might be asked to perform tasks less likely to bring them into contact with the public, like stocking shelves instead of working a register." As career advice columnist April Masini notes in her column, many workplaces are conservative, thus forcing employees who want to move up the ladder to "look successful in a conservative way."

One of my good friends, a community college teacher, has a large tattoo that nearly covers her entire back and another that adorns her upper left arm. These are artistic pieces, genuine markers of self-expression, and yet she chooses to cover them up while working. She fears the tattoos will send the wrong impression -- that she is immature, irresponsible and not serious about her work. Since she doesn't hold a permanent position, she remains cautious about exposing this aspect of herself.

I can't help but feel that North American squeamishness around tattoos at work is based on antiquated notions that tattoos are for lower class people, jailbirds and gang members. If getting tattooed has evolved to the point where everyone and their mother are getting inked, why are we still latched on to such old school values? Sounds like it might be time for us to be more tolerant of self-expression in the workplace. That way, all the tattoo aficionados out there won't be steered towards finding jobs as sailors.

Veronica

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Reading my Facebook friend's recent status update "Monday mornings are for masochists," I started dreaming about having a four-day work week (again). It seems to me that this work reform was promised to us a long time ago, yet I'm still waiting for all the talk about working less and enjoying more to materialize.

I know what you're thinking -- nothing prevents me from requesting a four-day shift. In my continual quest for a more balanced and less stressful life, I did just that at a previous job. Apart from the obvious drawbacks such as loss of pay, permanent status and benefits, there were many other disadvantages to working four days when everybody else was working five. I was continuously in catch-up mode -- not a good stress-reducing recipe. It was like regularly missing episodes of a favourite television series. I had to spend a lot of energy filling in the blanks. I also felt a lot of resentment from the five-day weekers who were unwilling to fill me in on what I had missed during my one day of debauchery. On the whole, I ended up working harder to get all of my work done in four days instead of five (my workload wasn't reduced) and found the experience as stressful as conforming to the regular five-day work week.

Talk about the four-day week is back. The recession and high unemployment rate is forcing us to question our work practices. A recent study by the New Economics Foundation in England reports that reducing our work week to 21 hours would "help boost the economy and improve quality of life." The web-based firm 37-signals took the plunge in the summer of 2008 and reduced their regular work week to four days. The experiment found the employees coming back to work "extra refreshed" after their three-day week-end with the added benefit that "people actually work harder and more efficiently during the four-day work week".

Could the four-day week be the answer to a lot of our problems? Could it be the easy solution to the work-life balance that we are striving for? Are we ready to change our society's ideal of success and go for less stuff and more time instead?

A successful four-day work week doesn't mean trying to accomplish the same in a compressed work week and paying a high price for it (loss of pay, benefits, etc.) nor does it suggests working longer days to earn the day off, like Babcock & Wilcox Canada Ltd. did as mentioned in this CBC article. (Singapore's attempt to cram their regular five and a half work days into a five-day week also led to poor results.) It requires a systemic change. We have to stop thinking that we can relieve stress by working more so that we can buy ourselves a subscription to the gym, a new car or a new life. Your life is probably just fine if you give it a little time.

Josée

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