The news that Copenhagen Carlsberg workers walked out this year after their right to drinking beers on the job was limited to their lunch hour has certainly raised a few eyebrows or at least a few glasses of beer, if not while on the job.

These little extras are what make or break a job. I can recite my entire work history while fondly reminiscing about the array of perks offered -- free passes to concerts, flex time, yearly Christmas bonuses. Every job comes with a salary attached but do they all come with a good working environment, consideration for the employee, flexibility and other incentives that make a particular job special?

I have to admit that I have been rather passive about the perks I get at work. I have always considered that they are either there or not and that nothing can change that. I never thought that I could send my employer to the perk store to get me my favourite bonus. I was therefore surprised to stumble on the article How to Get The Perks at Work in 5 easy steps. I can't really see myself using my efficiency and good work habits to squeeze some perks out of my employer. However, I do think that employers have to treat their employees well, beyond providing for a good salary, if they want their staff to be committed and devoted.

Right about now, I'd settle for a slick espresso machine and an onsite expert barista that produces free lattes on command. That's what I call a perk me up.

Josée

For More Information:

• Strategies for Retaining Employees and Minimizing Turnover
• Best call centre practices for retaining employees
• Perks: What do you get from your workplace?

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We've all had moments at work where we wished we could tell our bosses or co-workers to stick it where the sun don't shine. Most of us, adhering to Emily Post etiquette, restrain ourselves (and perhaps mutter something foul under our breath when no one is listening). But with Senator Nancy Ruth recently telling international development advocates who had gathered on Parliament Hill to ""shut the f--- up," I've started to wonder ... how sinful is it to swear on the job?

According to Daniel Lublin, an employment lawyer who writes a column in Metro newspaper, you can't actually get fired for swearing, or at least not unless you've been reprimanded first or if the company has a policy against it. With a 2007 British study revealing that swearing at the workplace can reduce stress and boost morale, what's stopping us all from turning on the potty mouth at work?

There's no doubt that times have changed. Back in 1971, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau was blasted for mouthing a "four letter obscenity" to Conservative MP John Lundrigan. Trudeau later coined the term "fuddle duddle" when speaking with the media about the incident. The Globe and Mail reports that swearing is no longer as taboo as it used to be, as we’ve become more relaxed and have started injecting cuss words into our speech, even while in public or at work.

When it comes to the workplace, however, you need to consider where you work and who's within earshot. There's also a key difference between swearing at someone (and consequently being rude and inappropriate) and swearing at no one in particular (which can be less offensive). Cursing a project you're working on, for example, is probably more acceptable than calling your colleague a "so-and-so" right to her face. The latter can be construed as harassment and is an aggressive act that shouldn’t be tolerated in any workplace.

While I'm quite capable of swearing like a sailor, I choose to spare my co-workers from having to listen to my colourful expressions. I feel that my workplace is not the right setting to let loose. But, heck, if Joe Biden can swear at work, maybe it's bloody well time I started, too.

Veronica

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I remember as a child going to church with my parents on Sundays and frequently sitting behind a lady who wore what I thought was the vilest perfume on earth. I would spend the entire mass trying not to breathe. If I were given the fate of having to work next to that lady for eight hours a day, five days a week, I'd probably end up turning blue.

Over the past several months, there's been a lot of "smell talk" in our office as the Joint Health and Safety Committee has been surveying employees and discussing the effects of scented products on our work environment. Rather than turning the office into a scent-free zone, the committee has decided to raise awareness around scents in the workplace. The members hope this will encourage staff to refrain from wearing strongly perfumed products at work.

While you may think that a co-worker who raises a stink about perfumes and lotions is merely expressing a preference, the issue here is not about what smells a person likes or dislikes. The honeysuckle body lotion you slather on in the morning is actually a health concern for someone who is allergic to the chemicals in scented products. A Toronto Star article reports that a recent study of fragrance products found that there were many secret chemicals not listed on the product labels. Perhaps something to take into consideration the next time you spritz on your eau de toilette.

Whether a workplace decides to go scent-free or pursue a Scent-sitivity campaign like the one we have in our office, having a discussion about perfumes at work is a good idea. The Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety's Scent-Free Policy for the Workplace page is a useful starting point when thinking about how to deal with a potentially stinky situation.

Veronica

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We've already established that daily commuting to and from work can be a real drag. The good news is that many companies are increasing the capacity for workers to telecommute -- be it one day a week or full time. With telecommuting consulting organizations and the Canadian Telework Association available to help companies institute work from home programs, your days spent sitting at a pre-fab office cubicle may be numbered.

Although working from home may sound like the ultimate dream, there are many perils you should be wary of. Loneliness, lack of structure and potential distractions can turn telecommuting into an unpleasant and unproductive experience. As someone who has done a fair amount of work from home, I've come up with six ultimate tips for making telecommuting all that you dreamed it would be.

1. Get dressed
Seriously. Despite what the title of this blog might suggest, working in your PJs is not a good idea. Start your day the same way you would on a regular office day. Have breakfast, take a shower, and get dressed in something that you would wear in the public realm. You may, however, still don your bunny slippers on the job 'cause they're so darn cute.

2. Have a proper work space
A home office (a separate room from the rest of your living space) is ideal. Or, if that's not possible, have a desk dedicated to work. Trying to get things done at the kitchen table, on the sofa, or (worst yet) in bed will wreak havoc on your life. You don't want to transform your entire home into a work space where reminders of stress and deadlines lurk around every corner.

3. Set work hours
While flexible work hours may be one of the perks of working from home, too much flexing may leave you in bad shape. First, you need to ensure that you're putting in a full day's work. Second, to avoid feeling pressured to deal with work matters at any hour of the day, tell your employer or clients the hours you normally work. Then they'll have a sense of when they can expect to reach you and when you’re not available.

4. Go outside
If, like me, you're likely to become a hermit once you start working from home, you must plan regular outings. Be it going to the gym, running a few errands or taking a 20-minute walk through the neighbourhood, make sure to schedule in a daily dose of sunshine.

5. Occasionally work away from home base
To switch things up a little, you may want to work in a café or the public library every now and again. If you do this, choose a place where you will actually be productive. Cafés that play loud music or where everybody knows your name might not be the best choice. Remember that you're there to work, not to socialize.

6. Don't get sidetracked by domestic responsibilities
Working from home does not mean spending a day catching up on laundry, cleaning out the fridge, or scheduling personal appointments. If you wouldn't do it at the office, don't do it while working at home.

Veronica

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As I have grown older, I no longer scoff at posture proponents as I once did. Bad posture can come back to haunt you. A lithe 20-something body can turn into a Hunchback of Notre Dame horror show of aches and pains by the time it hits 45.

To maintain good posture you have to be vigilant, a sometimes daunting task when you're absorbed in your job or have a pressing deadline to meet. Although I'm convinced I'm closer to an S, than a C, I'm nobody's perfect posture girl. As attentive as I am, I often sense my shoulders slumping slightly, my head creeping towards the computer screen, and my pec muscles tightening up like a fist.

Over time, bad posture can throw your body out of alignment. The forward head posture, common to computer users, not only strains your neck but can throw your whole body out of shape, according to Bernard Brown of the How to Improve Bad Posture blog. Brown points out that poor posture also results in restricted, shallow breathing which affects your energy level and, ultimately, your productivity.

After experiencing pain in almost every part of my body (of which I will be kind enough to spare you the details), I have become a good posture pusher. As May is Correct Posture Month, here's my chance to sell my stuff. You may never perfect your posture, but here are some worthwhile steps you can take.

• Get informed about the best postures for everyday activities like sitting, driving, lifting and sleeping.
• Invest in ergonomic equipment.
• Use a timer so you can take frequent breaks and microbreaks. (Don't forget to do ergonomic exercises when you're taking a breather.)
• Strengthen your core stabilizing muscles -- an activity like Pilates can help.
• Use visualization exercises.

If all else fails, check out the I Have Bad Posture group where you can
exchange posture experiences and meet friends with similar bad posture.

kathyo

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Sometimes looking for postings on job sites can be like chasing rabbits. The good jobs that pop up on the screen are few, far between, and fleeting. It can be especially frustrating and confusing to discover that the herd of cottontails you've been pursuing is really one bunny cloned a dozen times. And sometimes those tasty long-eared critters are but visions, ghosts of rabbits past.

All this to say that the happy (virtual) hunting ground you've landed on may not be as flush with jobs as it appears. Instead, you may rapidly realize that many of the "perfect-for-you" postings are duplicate jobs or -- worse yet -- have already been snagged by another job hunter.

If you've experienced the above scenario, chances are you've wandered onto a job board aggregator site. The Diggings blog explains that job aggregators, like Indeed or Simply Hired, collect listings from thousands of job boards around the web. If you apply for a job found on an aggregator site you must sign up to the job board that originally posted the position. According to Diggings, aggregator sites contain many positions that have already been filled and some that are fraudulent.

And then there is the problem of duplicate listings, which occurs because many employers advertise their openings on multiple job boards. Jason of The Talent Buzz blog did a search on indeed.com for Microsoft jobs. Of the 4,043 jobs he found listed, there were only 616 openings!

Don't make the mistake of confusing aggregator sites with job search engines. Although both scour the web for listings, job search engines pull postings directly from company websites not job boards.

The Canadian job search engine I know about is Eluta, which in March overtook Monster as one of Canada's most-visited online job search destinations. I did a small search of random occupations on Eluta, finding that most of the postings (except for writing ones, for some reason) were current and linked directly to the companies' websites.

Eluta also allows you to search jobs collected from Canada's top employers, the best employers for new Canadians, and green companies. In addition, the site can focus on the best employers of new graduates -- just plug in your degree and your area of study and voilà! Jobs appear, just like a rabbit pulled from an old top hat.

kathyo

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As people are cooling off bottled water, with news that tap water is just as good and that plastic bottles, small and large, emit toxins, office conversations have moved from the water cooler to the hand sanitizing station. But are hand sanitizers worth gathering around? Although serious infections like SARS, H1N1 and even the seasonal flu are not to be sneezed at, I cannot help giving the cold shoulder to the hand sanitizing beasts that have taken over our offices.

I was glad to read in a CBC News article that soap and water are still the best protection against nasty viruses. As Green Living Online explains, hand sanitizers don't work on dirty hands. In fact, "[t]hey work best on a relatively clean surface, like on the hands of doctors and nurses who wash frequently." This theory was later confirmed by a CBC Marketplace experiment. So, why have they moved into our offices when it's so easy to simply get up, go to the washroom and wash our hands?

Having hand sanitizers on offer is a way for employers to face up to their duty of providing a safe environment to their employees. The Preparing for a Pandemic (PDF) article sees it as a way to maintain operations and "avoid legal liability if a pandemic strikes" -- a concrete course of action that proves that they haven't washed their hands of their responsibilities. The sanitized employee now has no reason to fall sick. But people do get sick. That's how we build our immunity so that we can happily live with bacteria and viruses.

Hand sanitizing stations create a false sense of security. They cannot beat good hygiene, proper eating habits and regular exercise when it comes to shielding us from diseases. I have to admit that I've grown to accept them as part of the office landscape and can honestly say that I'm now totally immune to them.

Josée

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If you walk through the employee parking lot of a General Motors manufacturing plant, do you expect it to be filled only with GM vehicles? Would you be surprised if a Starbucks employee told you she preferred to get her lattes from Manic Coffee? Are you cheating on your employer if you buy the competitor's product? A recent Globe and Mail article has got me wondering.

When presented with the term "company loyalty," I imagine days gone by -- the company man who heartily pledged allegiance to an employer who vowed to take care of him. But nowadays, as job security dwindles and 40-year tenures at a single company are being replaced with a series of shorter-term stints with a variety of employers, conceptions of loyalty have changed. For many people, a job is just a job and not a love affair with a particular brand.

Loyalty requires a certain degree of belief and pride in a company's culture, values and product. As Cheryl Stein of Montreal's Stein Consulting and Coaching points out in the Globe article, if employees aren't using their company's products, executives and management should consider this as blatant feedback: "It should be a wakeup call. If you have people whose paycheques are reliant on this company doing well and you can't get them to use your product, you should be saying to yourself, 'We've got to look into this.' "

Employers should also be concerned about employee brand loyalty since it can be linked to work performance. For instance, as Diane Durkin points out in an interview with Business Pundit, the work ethic of customer service employees may be affected by the type of relationship they have with the company as a whole: "When employees feel they are appreciated, learning and growing, they have a sense of dedication and commitment to servicing the customer in a positive and helpful manner. They basically treat the customer the way they are being treated."

While we've all heard of customer loyalty programs that are aimed at retaining consumers, should businesses put equal focus on "employee loyalty programs" -- incentives to keep workers faithful? With all the stiff competition out there, it just might be time for employers to take steps towards wooing their workers back into a company romance.

Veronica

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