6 Workplace Perks for New Parents

It’s not easy for new parents to juggle work and family. That’s why some companies offer perks to help employees transition into parenthood while continuing to succeed at the office.
From on-site daycare to flexible work hours to reimbursement for infertility treatments, family-friendly benefits improve employees’ quality of life, which can strengthen loyalty to their employer, says Gina Robison-Billups, founder and CEO of The National Association for Moms in Business. “It doesn’t have to be big [perks],” she says. “Small steps can be equally appreciated because you [as the employee] just know that the company cares equally about keeping you as you care about keeping your job.”

[See Top 50 Companies to Work For.]
Here are eight perks for new parents that companies across the country offer to employees:
1. On-site daycare. Would you feel more comfortable going back to work if you knew you could bring your child with you? On-site daycare allows parents to visit their children, even breastfeed, during the workday. And it makes it easy to drop the kids off at daycare before work and pick them up at the end of the day.
A company that offers this perk: Cisco Systems, maker of computer networking equipment, has two child-care centers at its headquarters in San Jose, Calif., with space for about 800 children between the ages of six weeks and 12 years. Using a digital monitoring system, parents can view their children at the centers from their work laptops.
2. More than six weeks maternity leave: How much paid leave does your employer offer for new mothers? Likely around six weeks—and Robinson-Billups says that’s not enough to satisfy many working moms.
A company that offers this perk: Bank of America offers paid maternity, paternity, and adoption leave for up to 12 weeks. The company also provides up to 14 additional weeks of unpaid leave, for a combined total of 26 weeks.
[Take our poll: Which workplace perk would you most appreciate as a parent?]
3. Paternity leave. Most fathers don’t get any time off after a birth or adoption. But when it’s offered, male employees often appreciate the benefit, particularly when the time off is paid.
A company that offers this perk: Law firm Covington & Burling offers six weeks of paid leave for new fathers, for both births and adoptions.
4. Meal and cleaning vouchers. With a baby in the house, it can be difficult to find time to cook and clean, especially once parents have gone back to work. Wouldn’t it be nice if your employer covered bills for domestic upkeep?
A company that offers this perk: Google offers new parents $500 in what they call Baby Bonding Bucks, a reimbursement that can be used for take-out food or delivery meals, as well as cleaning and diaper services.
5. Infertility treatment reimbursement. Infertility treatments can be expensive, especially when it takes a few tries to be successful. And the stress of that financial burden could affect an employee’s productivity.
A company that offers this perk: Toy company Mattel offers reimbursement of up to $10,000 for infertility treatments, a benefit that’s available to both full-time employees and part-timers who work at least 30 hours each week.
[See 10 Jobs That Offer a Big Bang for Your Buck.]
6. Flexible hours or telecommuting. Having the option to mold your work schedule around responsibilities at home can ease stress for new parents. Maybe it works better with your spouse’s schedule if you shift your workday two hours earlier, starting your day before your colleagues. Or maybe you’d simply like the option of working from home once in a while.
A company that offers this perk: Of all the perks on our list, this one is most widely offered, which is why we didn’t pick just one company. Many employers allow employees to work from home or follow a work schedule that deviates from the standard nine-to-five. If your company doesn’t have an official policy, try asking your boss whether there’s any room for flexibility.

love your job and it will love you

If you are working more and enjoying it less and at the same time dreading every work day and going to your work place, then maybe it is high time for you to consider other career choices that life has to offer. A person certainly spends a substantial portion of life at the workplace and it is vital to keep this time as personally and professionally rewarding as possible. Every single day, people are making radical turns in their careers. Opportunities to exist but will these changes really make us contented and happy as soon as we get there? Here are tips for you to start loving your job.
Always keep in mind that your work should not define you, but how you do the job does. There is definitely a lot to be spoken for a person's attitude. Any task can be done well- done with care and compassion. A person's attitude at the workplace and the way he treats people (even one's mood) can oftentimes go unnoticed. These factors may have that profound influence on the individuals you are working with. There may be times when you can't do anything with the situation but we can always choose how we live it.
Stop focusing yourself on how money and how much financial gain you can get from your work. Money is something that will never be enough so quit utilizing it as an excuse. Whatever you are taking with you during paydays, there are things that you could do if you had more. Track all your expenses in a week. Knowing where your money goes will help you refocus your spending habit on the things that you really need. Getting paid is only a small fraction of what you do, your job should be looked at as something more than a paycheck to make it more fulfilling.
Find the significance in the things that you do. This may ask you to think big but is definitely something doable. Take some time to ponder on the things that you do at work. Is it an essential service that you are providing to clients? Perspective plays a major role in attaining personal fulfillment and that sense of well being.
Ask yourself what your job is worth. If you're job changes you into a person whom you don't know anymore, then consider probable reasons. Do you like the person that is becoming when you are performing your work? Sometimes, it's not a new job that you need but a new direction.

ask for Salary Raise While at Job

lts us know how to ask for salary raise
Tips for asking a salary hike are mentioned below:
•Before asking for increase in the salary, it is necessary to check out whether the company opts for such salary hikes or follow certain time span to provide salary hikes to its employees. You should also check out the procedure of pay rise in your company by referring to the company policy. Research about the market rates, salary scale or the average salary received by an individual at the position you are currently working in.
•Once you are informed about all the information related to position, then ask for a meeting where you can discuss the salary increase. Prepare a report which clearly specifies about your special initiatives undertaken, deadlines met, and products or services improved by you. It should include the information about your contribution towards the company in terms of revenue earned and saving money, satisfaction of the customers and much more in the report.
•In the meeting clearly justify your claim for salary hike. Avoid threatening the boss by saying that you are leaving the job or demanding a salary hike. It is necessary to keep options for negotiations open. In case, if your request for salary raise is rejected then you opt for negotiating for other benefits.
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Key to Career Success

do you look for anew career but you can see that its very hard case lets know how to success in our job

Employers are looking for potential employees that have transferable skills, that enable them to be a valuable contributor to the company. Knowing your transferable skills and being able to share them is crucial for job seekers. First, decide what skills the employer is looking. Next evaluate your abilities and see if they match the job requirements. Finally, you need to effectively communicate your ability to perform the job duties the employer listed. Your resume and the interview allow you the opportunity to communicate that you have the skills.
Transferable skills are essential because you continue to use these skills throughout your career. This is the knowledge that allows us to move easily between various jobs and industries. Transferable skills are a combination of adaptive and technical knowledge. Adaptive ability allow us to display our attitude. Adaptive skills are important for every job regardless of industry. This ability demonstrates, how we work or approach life. Adaptive skills deal with our attitude. They show how we react to situations and how we approach problems. For example, people skills is adaptive, How employees get along with others is just as important for a person who works as a cashier as president.
Work specific skills or technical knowledge are the skills that are significant to a specific industry. These are the skills we have learned that allow us to complete industry related duties for our job.
Once you have determined your adaptive and technical abilities that make up your transferable skills, develop them into statements that can used as your answer to interview questions. Your skills show the employer, that you are the best person for the job.
the congratulation for you new job

How to Make a Career Choice When You Have No Idea

There are hundreds of career options out there. How do you make a career choice when you don't really know what you want to do? Does it seem like an insurmountable task? It's not. Yes, you will have to put some time and energy into making your decision, but your effort will be well worth it in the end. Follow these steps to making a good career choice.

Assess Yourself

Before you can make a career choice you have to learn about yourself. Your values, interests, and skills, in combination with certain personality traits, will make some careers especially suitable for you and some particulary inapproprate. You can use self assessment tools, often called career tests, to gather this information and, subsequently, to generate a list of occupations that are deemed appropriate. Some people choose to have career counselors or other career development professionals administer these tests but many opt to use free career tests that are available on the Web.

Interview Tips: your ideal job- GOOD answer

How to Get a Job : Applying for a Job

Discover your passion

What are you passionate about? We didn’t ask if you are passionate. But what are you passionate about? What stirs your emotions? What is it you can’t stop talking about whenever someone asks: “What are you passionate about?” What’s the fire in your belly? What really turns you on? What do you love doing most?

What is it that you love doing so much that you forget time? You forget others. You are so focussed that you don’t hear anything. What is it that gets your creative juices going? What is it that you love more than anything else?

Graham is passionate about books. He loves them. He just loves books. They are all placed in their respective homes on the shelves. Each has a neighbour. He fondles them. Cares for them. Places book marks in them, never folds the corner of their page.

A bookshop is like a magnet to him. He will spend hours with his head tilted to one side as he scours the shelves for works that interest him. He loves books that have a different angle on coaching and developing people. He loves reading unusual biographies. He loves books where people have beaten the odds to survive. It doesn’t matter whether they are fiction or non fiction. They have to be about improving self.

At least that’s what it appears to the outsider. But, you see, books aren’t really his passion. It just looks like it. He loves books yes of course he does. But really the books are a vehicle. A method of giving him what he truly craves for…..

Career Management

Dangerous Liaisons

We've all met them. They're young, handsome, newly qualified and out to see the world. John is just one more young man using his English teaching certificate to help him travel before he settles down. He's done a stint in Mexico, in China and now he's in Eastern Europe. Of course all his female students adore him. But John is too professional to become entangled with a student. But he's just discovered that situations can get very nasty despite his good intentions.

In his new class, one student, let's call her Olga, quickly fell under his spell. She was always waiting after class to ask him to explain something. John's only human and he was flattered by her attention so when she asked him to join her and her friends at a restaurant one evening, he didn't see any harm in it. Only there were no other friends and Olga made it clear that it wasn't just food on the menu. John dealt with her firmly but politely saying that teachers were not allowed to have relationships with students. He left the restaurant.

The next morning the Principal called him to her office. Olga had complained that he had sexually assaulted her and was threatening to go to the police unless John was sacked. Although the Principal believed John's version of events, the circumstantial evidence against him was grim. Other students confirmed that he often stayed behind in the classroom with Olga. John was so upset that he decided to resign in order to save the school embarrassment.

How To Find A Job During A Recession

CREATING YOUR OWN LUCK

Losing my job in the last recession of the last century, I discovered first hand the power of creating your own luck. A week later, I decided to locate an interim position while I looked for a "real" one. Accepting a temporary position at minimum wage in an industry I knew little about, I decided the way to enjoy the position was to learn everything I could and contribution all that I could. I poured over manuals in my down time, developed processes to expedite the work, trained new employees, volunteered for additional assignments, and did anything that needed to be done. Four weeks into a ten week job, I was unexpectedly offered my first management position.

If I had listened to my friends cautioning me that taking a minimum wage position was career suicide, if I had been concerned about accepting a job "beneath" my education or experience level, or if I had only done what was expected, I would have missed an opportunity that led to five promotions in the next seven years.

It has been my experience over the years, while climbing the corporate ladder to Vice President of a multi-billion dollar company, that opportunity is everywhere and anywhere. Often, it’s in unexpected places for those who differentiate themselves in the workplace. People who do what is expected of them, do it very well, "and then some" have opportunities arise that others never do. And people who set their ego aside, contributing everything they can to the task at hand, often create their own luck. That’s because initiative is a powerful commodity in the workplace.

Choosing The Right Career

How to choose a career for yourself? It is important to go for a career that is your calling. There are numbers of options to choose from. You can make a career in medicine, law, architecture, finance, designing, media and many more fields. Your career will also decide what you do for the better part of your day/night and more importantly the course of your life. Therefore, it is advisable to choose a career that suits you and your expectations from life.

Choose a job that you love and you will never have to work. This maxim holds true even today. You can choose a career suiting your skill sets and personality type. If colors and designs have inspired you since long, a career in designing will suit you just fine. Give wings to your dream by becoming a pilot. If you can stand up against the wrong and are a vociferous speaker, then a degree in law is awaiting you. For the lovers of words there are careers in media. Different people have different motivations. Some people want to be famous and some want a career that gives creative satisfaction. Then there are others who want to serve humanity and work for noble purposes. Ponder over what are your motivations in life and accordingly choose a career.

There are a host of creative career options that you can choose from such as films, arts, music and theater. However be prepared to work hard in any career you choose. All these avenues might seem very glamorous, but the truth is that a lot of hard work and perseverance goes behind them. In case you choose acting as a career, do a reality check. Do not enter harboring dreams of instant fame and success, since all this may take time. For the time success does not court you, the going might get very tough. Most of the passionate actors in such cases work in the evening shifts to make their ends meet and they go for auditions in the daytime.

While choosing a career it is important not to get bogged down by parental or peer pressure. There are also times when there is a certain wave that takes the economy by sway. In such times it is important to hold ground and not get carried away. You should not be choosing your career on the basis of such factors. All these influences might result in you getting a career that might not be your call or it is not motivating enough.

Develop The Mental Strength To Bring the Change

Advising others to modify career sounds simple and a workable proposition. When it comes to us, it becomes one of the toughest decisions to implement. A career modify needs lot of mental preparation. In case you have a relatives, that may get disrupted by your career modify. The income may cease for some time. The decision itself may turn out to be a wrong one. It needs mental strength to modify career. Let us see what it requires.

A modify of career shifts us from a comfort zone to a zone filled with discomfort in the beginning. For a full time production engineer, a modify to a career as human resources consultant may need a total about turn, back to school and learning new skills for the new job. Some people modify careers so that it looks fabulous. Let us discuss changes that can be completed more smoothly. I am speaking about learning about a new career along with the elderly one and then shifting to the new career slowly. This method also requires mental strength, because it needs lot of additional work.
The first barrier that one encounters while thinking of career modify is- how did I get in to a wrong career? What if my new decision also turns out to be wrong? What if I continue with my present career? Why ought to I modify my career? A quantity of these questions need head to answer and some questions are for the heart such as asking why did I selected the wrong career to start with, may involve destroy to self esteem, and acceptance of failure.
Before thinking of changing career, one needs to do analysis of life goals, and deciding about how the present career does not satisfy those goals. Only after deciding that something extreme needs to be completed can one think about changing career. One has to create mental and emotional strength to undergo these changes and emerge a winner again.

Test Your Negotiation Skills

Negotiation is part of every professional’s life. To negotiate, means to arrive at an understanding with another person, so that both of you are satisfied with the results. Do you know what is your skill in negotiation? If not, why not check and find out because most of our interactions demand negotiation. You are negotiating together with your love partner about which place to go for dinner. You negotiate together with your co-workers about how to divide the work. You negotiate together with your clients about prices and you negotiate together with your boss about your paycheck. Let us speak about important check factors of a negotiation.
Understanding Require - In case you are a nice negotiator, you would start with understanding the necessity of the opposite party. Only after you get that understanding will you proceed further. The first requirement is to find out what the other person wishes. In case you are arguing together with your partner about which restaurant to go for dinner, find out his/her require. Do they require to have dinner outside or they are looking to get away somewhere for sometime? if later is the case, your choices increase plenty of times.
Specifying Your Needs - spell out your needs clearly to the opposite party. Let them know very clearly about what you are looking for. If your boss knows that your actual require is not rise in pay, but higher status, he/she can work out a solution quickly.

Are You Facing Burnout?

Chronic stress over a timeframe may make you feel helpless and unable to cope up with demands of life. This may cause burn out. When in a job, you feel that you are overburdened, and under appreciated, that the demands of the job are increasing and despite all of your efforts you are unable to manage the work and get blames for not performing, stress becomes chronic and one loses interest in work and plenty of other activities in life. This is burn out. Absolute helplessness is experienced in the coursework of burn out and one finds that one can basically not continue.
Burn out can not only cause mental issues such as depression but also affect you physically. Body slowly gives in under the stress and this creates a vicious circle. What can be done in case you are facing burn out? To start with, one must know that one is facing burn out. Constant irritation, depression, feelings of helplessness etc. can give a hint to what is happening. Along with that body may give signs such as headache, fatigue etc. Consult a medical professional about your body signs and speak about about burn out. two times you know that you are facing burn out, it become simpler to fight it.
The first need is to preserve yourself. If the job demand does not reduce, talk to your superiors about that. Reduce work load and redesign goals so that stress reduces. Start socializing more and relax as much as feasible. Start going in natural surroundings and talk with friends and colleagues about your situation. Their togetherness in this condition will be vital to fight burn out

A Self Help Guide

ould you hope to live without a career all life despite inheriting a legacy? Career is not living out of inherited money, nor is it limited to earning livelihood. Holistically speaking it is the progression of ones working or professional life. Career indeed means a lot these days. Nowadays, parents start grooming their children from the day one they starts her schooling, guide and help their children pick their career

Can you Work At Home With No Experience?

I see this query asked often, & today I'd like to offer some tips about how to start working at home when you have no experience.
- Think about the experience you do have, whether it is work or life related. Chances are you know the way to do SOMETHING, even in the event you haven't completed it in a job capacity. See in the event you can find jobs that would use the knowledge you have, or at least touch on them in some way.
- Aim for "easier" jobs to start with.

Are You Sabotaging Your Career?

Most leaders are sabotaging their careers because they are giving presentations and speeches than leadership talks. In terms of being a results-generator, the leadership talk far surpasses the presentation or speech. Here are two questions you must ask and answer before you can give a leadership talk. In the event you answer "no" to any one of the questions, you cannot give one.

Are You A Suitable MBA Candidate?

Sponsoring companies also find that supporting participation in the Global Executive MBA program also helps attract & retain gifted employees, & prepare them for future leadership roles within the company.
MBAs are often seeking a more general managerial role in their current industry. The MBA provides a portfolio of managerial tools & techniques as well as the 'softer' skills needed to succeed as a manager. Entrepreneurial spirit, dedication