WorkLife Essentials

June in WorkLife Essentials

noreply@blogger.com (WLE Team) — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 07:48:00 +0000

Let's get right into this month's topic - which is again covering a topic related to your children, and again, it's a topic that is very much up for debate. What is the right amount of parental involvement in their children's education? Should it be limited to the home? Should it be limited to the early years? Even the role that Homework should play in a child's life can be contentious, and this is one of the most basic elements of education in today's world.

We are helping guide you through this topic this month with our extensive collection of resources, including a number of brand new articles that provide specific techniques to become more involved in your child's education at any level of schooling from preschool all the way through graduation. Just click on the Parental Involvement in School promotional topic after logging into WorkLife Essentials to explore. We will also be inviting you to share your thoughts on our Blog. Tell us how involved you are right now - would you like to be more involved? What are the obstacles you face? Lack of available time? Do you feel you're not up to the challenge? Or is it a cultural restriction that prevents you?

Involvement of parents in their children's education certainly varies across cultures. Some cultures favour it so highly that it is almost legislated, with parents being requested to sign an agreement outlining the school's expectations of them and what is a proper role for them to take when getting involved with their children's education. In other cultures, parental involvement has traditionally been minimized. This can be a result of longstanding policies put in place by the educational institutions themselves, or due to traditional cultural norms, or even just a belief that the teacher is the most qualified person to teach a child, and thus, their authority should be unquestioned.

However, newer perspectives are emerging as educational techniques are spreading and being shared on a more international level, and there are more opportunities than ever to get involved. Whether it's being active in the school decision making process, volunteering with school programs, or helping your child with their homework if the school is not yet supportive of you being involved outside the home, the benefits to your children are clear. They will gain a better understanding of the value of their education, and a better feeling of support and inclusion in the family if they can see that their education is something that is invited to be part of their home life, too.

The best way to do it is just to get started, and we help you figure out ways to do that this month with articles like "Four Ways to Help Your Child Succeed in School", or "How to Help a Child Who May Have a Learning Disability". Helping your child develop the right approach to studying as early as possible is important, so "Study Skills" is another critical article to read. The articles we've featured below follow this vain with suggestions on how to help your kids with homework. And when you're not able to be there, we help you find the best possible before or after school care for your children with our extensive interview checklist. If you have any questions or comments, please contact us - we love your feedback - either through email or by logging into WLE.com and using the Suggestion Box.

Useful Links:
US Dept. of Education - Helping Your Child ...
UK Dept. for Education - Pupil Support
UK Dept. for Education - Impact of Parental Involvement Report
NSW Public School Multilingual Helping Your Child
Project Appleseed - Involvement Checklist

	Helping Your Child with Homework Teachers at every grade level are now assigning more homework than they used to. In some communities, even children in kindergarten or first grade may be expected to do an hour or so of homework a night... Read more…^*
	Questions to Ask When Selecting Before or After School Care You can use this questionnaire to help screen before- or after-school programs as you look for care for your school-age child. To find the right place for your child, you really need to go beyond the usual questions... Read more…^*

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May in WorkLife Essentials

noreply@blogger.com (WLE Team) — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 16:02:00 +0000

This month we're talking about the adolescent years. Adolescence can be a trying time for both children and parents, and we cover numerous relevant topics this month inside WLE.com. But we want to start this topic by continuing our discussion from last month, when we talked about children and technology. Technology plays an increasing role in the lives of children and it's especially influential to your adolescent children. As we talked about last month, this can be very beneficial, but as adolescents change their types of usage and increase their usage, some problems can develop.

With their technology usage transitioning from media consumers to social interaction, children will have to adjust to being more guarding of their privacy and learning the extra responsibility and social skills required for interacting with people online. It can also be tempting to focus all their social interaction efforts online, which can lead to missing out on opportunities for meeting new people outside their current social circle or discovering new activities they might enjoy. If social interactions online don't work out, this results can be very stressful as the options for moving on from a conflict are limited. Managing these new skills and stresses is something that will be new for most adolescents, and our first excerpted article below will guide you through techniques you can teach your adolescent to manage stress in their lives.

Also, with the increased usage, children will have to learn to keep their online lives in balance with their offline lives. It can be tempting for them to stay home and online when they finish school for the day and the number of hours spent in front of a screen each week can skyrocket. The first week in May has been declared "Screen Free Week", an initiative supported by numerous health agencies, including the US National Head Start Association and Center on Media and Child Health, which is designed to increase awareness of the growing influence of screen time in our home lives. We're supporting this effort with the second article we've excerpted below, which will help you find activities for your adolescent children away from a screen. Follow the link to find out more about Screen Free Week.

In addition to our excerpted articles below, navigate to your WorkLife Essentials Promotional section this month to find more resources designed to help you better understand, better interact, and provide more assistance to your adolescent children with articles like "Being an Involved Father During the School Age Years", "Raising a Teenager as a Single Parent", and "Helping Your Child with Homework". Also, we'd love to hear your thoughts on this week's promotional topic. How do you help your child manage stress? What would you do for a week if you were going to avoid sitting in front of a screen? How would you like to see your adolescent spend their time? How would their social life change? How would you want their family interaction change? Please share your thoughts, questions or answers in the comments section below.

Useful Links:
HealthInsite.gov.au/Young_People
Health.gov.au/NutritionMonitoring
HHS.gov/Office of Adolescent Health
Dept. of Education/Adolescence
National Institute of Mental Health/Teen Brains

Stress and Your Young Adolescent Child

Stress affects everyone -- even children. Learning how to handle the demands of school, after-school activities, and friendships can be hard. When the pressures build up, children can feel overloaded and anxious. This is especially true in pre-teen years, when homework demands increase, schoolwork gets harder, and children take on more independent responsibilities...
Read more…^*

After-School Activities and Free Time: Finding a Balance

One of the many challenges parents of young adolescents face is what to do with their children after school. After-school time offers opportunities for children to learn, develop friendships, do homework, and play and relax. Too many idle hours after school, however, can lead to trouble. An overcrowded schedule can also be a problem. How can you find a safe and balanced mix of after-school activities during the middle school years?...
Read more…^*

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WLE Discusses Children and Technology

noreply@blogger.com (WLE Team) — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 04:01:00 +0000

Part 1 - Comparing New and Old Media

"Children and Computers: New Technology - Old Concerns" is a fascinating read about the correlation/parallels between new media and the other new medias of the 20th century: radio, movies and television. How are they similar and how are they different? The abstract follows, but you can read the whole study here.

"Computer technology has ushered in a new era of mass media, bringing with it great promise and great concerns about the effect on children’s development and wellbeing. Although we tend to see these issues as being new, similar promises and concerns have accompanied each new wave of media technology throughout the past century: films in the early 1900s, radio in the 1920s, and television in the 1940s. With the introduction of each of these technologies, proponents touted the educational benefits for children, while opponents voiced fears about exposure to inappropriate commercial, sexual, and violent content.

This article places current studies on children and computers in a historical context, noting the recurrent themes and patterns in media research during the twentieth century. Initial research concerning each innovation has tended to focus on issues of access and the amount of time children were spending with the new medium. As use of the technology became more prevalent, research shifted to issues related to content and its effects on children. Current research on children’s use of computers is again following this pattern. But the increased level of interactivity now possible with computer games and with the communication features of the Internet has heightened both the promise of greatly enriched learning and the concerns related to increased risk of harm."

What's interesting is that the study shows that new technology such as computers and the internet are seen by parents equally as promising as potentially harmful. So, you're not alone in your hopes and concerns... and reluctance. But how to decide what is right for your kids? Should you treat it similarly to the existing medias we're all accustomed to like television, music and movies?

The intricacies of the newest technology seem to set it apart, though. With it's interactiveness, it holds much greater promise for learning and social interaction. The study presents actual research to see if the promise meets reality. Some of the highlights are below:

Existing media is well understood to shape socialization and learning behaviors.
Studies in 1933 on movies, and again in the 60's on television showed that the influence media has on a child isn't just about the content of the media - their relationships in the real world play a factor, as does their inherent nature.
Past studies always began with focusing on the amount of time children are spending with a new media, then as use was more widespread, the focus turned to the type of content it allowed access to.
Children between the ages of 2 and 5 are already using computers an average of 27 minutes each day.
Computers in school settings, such as a shared computer room, often enhance the students' interaction with each other as they typically turn to their peers for advice even when a teacher is present.
The effects of computers in a home environment are a little harder to capture as the location of a computer within the home can matter a great deal, and more studies focusing on the home environment are needed before anything conclusive can be found.
Interactivity is the key to a beneficial effect when using any media type, and new medias such as computers have far greater potential for interactivity (defined by the study as responsiveness and engagement).
Many studies show that using software that focuses on this strong interactivity can create measurable educational benefits.
The risks are definitely out there for children to be exposed to harm, but as with earlier media, parents can be successful in keeping their children safe by following well understood practices.

The study concludes with a series of criteria for Media Creators to use in generating content for children, but we think that this is also a great list of criteria to use when deciding which content your child has access to.

So, how does this study compare with your experiences? Can a parallel be drawn between 21st century technology and 20th century technology, or are they too different? Is the reality of these new media living up to the promise of the interactivity and educational benefits? Where do you see it going in the future? Are the benefits worth the risk? We'd love to hear your thoughts and discussions on these and any other relevant topic.

April in WorkLife Essentials

noreply@blogger.com (WLE Team) — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 01:04:00 +0000

As usual this month, we are highlighting a topic that we feel is important to our clients. We have expertly written articles and useful resources inside WLE.com and we are featuring them in our Promotional section this month. But we feel that this topic is so new and diverse in its opinions and impact across families that the most helpful approach is to open the topic up for discussion.

The expert opinions are generally in agreeance - caution and moderation are the suggested approaches when talking about introducing children to technology. But what about the stories we all hear about? What about the pre-school that provides Tablet computers to all their students as educational aids? It seems that every child wants a social networking presence, but is it really a need? What about the cautionary tales of internet addiction and short attention spans, identity theft, cyberbullying, online reputation, offensive material and unwanted contact. Most studies in the journals are based on data collected outside the home, and with technology evolving so quickly, it's difficult for families to know the best approach in their own homes.

The benefits are seemingly limitless. Often cited in studies as a benefit is that the technologies will help the child engage in diverse topics and enhance their breadth of knowledge outside their physical exposure to the world. Some schools are starting to incorporate technology tools into early development programs as teaching aids, but also as aids for students. But this is still seen as possibly invasive to the "normal" childhood development. What are the facts? Conventional thought is that introducing technology earlier and earlier is detrimental to a child's "full" development. Will they always be focused on a tiny screen and not care about the world around them? Will they never learn how to stack real blocks on top of each other, or the patience to even try, when they can do it all virtually? Is this just the wave of the future and is getting the most exposure to it as early as possible the best approach to ready our children for the way their life will be?

Often it is thought of as inevitable. Technology has always been used to entertain children, and many of the same claims and concerns were raised regarding movies when they were first introduced, and similarly with radio and television. In all of these, the initial fears led to calls for research, which resulted in a better understanding of concerns and benefits, but ultimately parents were relied on to provide the determination of positive vs. negative impact. If you're a parent that is very comfortable with technology, it can seem easier to decide which technologies are beneficial to your child and what behaviours to encourage in your child in their use of them. But your first instinct could be wrong, and while those earlier technologies were focused on entertainment primarliy, more recent technologies have so much more potential for educational uses that it's becoming more likely that your children will be exposed to technology outside the home, and outside of your control. So, even the most tech savvy parents should not take it for granted that they'll be able to manage their child's interaction with technology with ease and should seek help and advice as early as possible.

If you are a parent who is not so comfortable with the newest technology, or even unaware what's out there, and you may even be intimidated by your child's expertise with a technology, you should not let that stop you from being in control of how they use it. The first step is to educate yourself on as much of the new technology that is out there so that you can be actively involved in your child's experience with it. Please use some of the useful links below to start this process. Then, try to become aware of all the different opportunities that your child has to interact with technology, be it at a friend's house, a library, or school, or on a device in your own home that you may not have been aware of. Discuss all of these actively with the child and talk about what types of interaction they're having in these settings. Many of the sites listed below provide guides to follow that makes this much easier.

As you can see, this topic brings up many questions and we think that the pros and cons should be weighed for every family. That's why we would like to take this opportunity to challenge you to discuss this topic with us. All month long in April, we will be highlighting recent studies and providing some analysis and discussion on our Blog. We will be posting updates on the promotional section of the WLE home page, too, so login and check back often to see which topics are up for discussion.

If you're not comfortable interacting on our blog, don't worry! We've featured articles that help with understanding the impact of technology (excerpted below), and also with topics that make it easier to engage your child in discussions about it, such as "Building a Good Relationship With Your Teenager", and "Discipline and Your Young Child". Or, if you have an issue with children of different ages handling different rules governing access to technology, perhaps "Sibling Rivalry" can help you address the issue. As always, you can communicate with us through our Suggestion Box inside WLE.com. If you have trouble viewing our Blog in your area, we also update our "What's New" page with the latest promotion and teaser info regularly.

Useful Links:
http://www.cybersmart.gov.au
http://www.thinkuknow.co.uk
http://onguardonline.gov/topics/protect-kids-online
http://www.kids.gov/educators/ed_computers.shtml
http://www.infosec.gov.hk/textonly/sc_chi/parents/set.html

	Keeping Children Safe on the Internet The Internet can open up a world of possibilities for your child or teenager. These online activities can have many benefits, but they can also involve risks... Read more…^*
	Your Young Adolescent's Social Life In today’s adolescent world technology and the internet are becoming more and more an inextricable piece of their social fabric. Between cell phones, social networking, email and the internet, it is fair to say that nearly all adolescents are using technology all the time, everywhere... Read more…^*

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Copyright^© 2011 WorkLife Essentials^®, All rights reserved.
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March in WorkLife Essentials - Motherhood

noreply@blogger.com (WLE Team) — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 13:03:00 +0000

This month in WorkLife Essentials, we've collected a series of valuable resources related to Motherhood and career. Thinking about becoming a mother? Is Motherhood new to you? Or are you always looking for ways to make balancing motherhood and career easier? Well, that's what March is all about at WLE.com.

Our first featured article below is about helping work through the common questions women have when deciding to start a family. Also, inside WorkLife Essentials, we are featuring more articles in line with starting or growing your family, such as "The Biological Clock", or with particular focus on being a single parent in "Choosing to Become a Single Parent". Or, in dealing with obstacles such as infertility in "Dealing With the Stress of Infertility While Working". As always, we also feature a number of related resources which can help guide you or your employees in their search for information related to starting a family as a career woman. Please look for the Motherhood promotion link on your homepage once you have logged in, where you can find all of the highlighted articles

Our second featured article is focused on helping a mother with the home side of the Motherhood-Career balancing act, with help for many family types. Are you a single parent? Are your kids grown up and about to leave the family home on their own for the first time? Do you have a blended family? Read our collection of articles focussed on any of these situations starting with "Ideas to Help Single Parents", or "When the Children Leave Home", or "Adjusting to Stepfamily Life".

The third featured article gets into the details of exactly what it means to be a mother and a career woman. We have all heard about the "Motherhood Penalty" a career woman faces and we go into the choices a mother might face in "Motherhood and Career". And round out the series with "Motherhood and Career and the Importance of Mentors". These articles were created to really focus in on many of the challenges that exist and the solutions that make it rewarding for millions of women. We even get specific with "Returning to Work After Your Parental Leave", and "Time Management Tips for Working Parents" to give you or your employees real, practical, help that can be useful today.

We encourage you to follow along with the latest in WorkLife Essentials news and announcements as well as the latest happenings in the Work-Life Balance field at our Blog. We also highly encourage feedback and comments and interaction and that's the best place for it. As always, you can communicate with us through our Suggestion Box inside WLE.com. If you have trouble viewing our Blog in your area, we also update our "What's New" page with the latest promotion and teaser info regularly.

Choosing the "Right" Time to Start a Family
If you are thinking about starting a family, you are probably thinking a lot about the timing issue. How will parenthood fit in with your career plans and goals? How will you know when it is the “right” time in your life to start a family?...

Read more…^*

Helping Your Young Baby Grow Through Play
During your baby’s first six months of life, they are likely to astonish you. They will learn to nurse or take from a bottle almost immediately. They will gaze into your eyes. Soon they will raise their head, kick off their covers, and let you know that they are a special person unlike anyone else you’ve ever known...

February in WorkLife Essentials

noreply@blogger.com (WLE Team) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 02:28:00 +0000

Well, the new year is well and truly here, and as most of us settle back into our usual routines, you might find that it's been a while since you took some time to really care for yourself. This month in WorkLife Essentials, we're helping you with that in our promotion on Personal Wellbeing.

This can come in many forms - but the general concept we are promoting is that, no matter what challenges you take on during the day, it's always important to make sure that you're looking after yourself.

An area that is particularly fraught with difficulty in preserving your own needs is when you're working from home, and we've highlighted 3 articles below that can really help. But it's also important to focus on Personal Wellbeing as a caregiver, which you can read about in "Caregiver Stress and Finding Support", as you undergo life changes, discussed in "The Biological Clock", or just when you're under a lot of stress at work or at home, "Managing Stress". We even have recommended on-line resources and a self help guide "Online Self-Help" to direct you to help for any of many other issues you may be facing right now.

So, please remember to take care of yourself this month, and if you find that it's become increasingly hard to do that, Search through our resources and try a few new things you may find. And, we always love feedback, so please use the Satisfaction Survey or Suggestion Box inside WorkLifeEssentials.com to let us know how we're doing. Another great way to give us feedback, as well as stay up to date with the latest news and promotions is at our Blog.

You and your employees can read our promotional articles this month, including those highlighted below by logging in to your WorkLife Essentials homepage and clicking the "Personal Wellbeing" link in the promotion box. As always, if you are having trouble viewing our Blog, you can still access the latest What's New features and Teasers at our "What's New" page.

Setting Work-Life Boundaries When You Work from Home
One of the things that makes telework so attractive and convenient for many people is the fact that you are not tied to an office. You can work anywhere and at any time...

Read more…^*

Your Telework Day
In some ways, telework is no different from working in a central office. You have work expectations to meet and you coordinate with co-workers and customers to meet them...

January in WorkLife Essentials

noreply@blogger.com (WLE Team) — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 03:49:00 +0000

We're preparing for a new year here at WorkLife Essentials and we'd like to start it off by thanking you for your business during the past year. 2011 was full of activities, accomplishments and expansion including launching our Blog and our new branding, exhibiting at conferences, charitable giving and development of our website with ever more countries on offer in the Global Village and advanced reporting features.

And, in 2012, we have even more planned! Stay tuned right here for all the updates every month, and visit our Blog for the very latest information and discussions on up to the minute topics. If you have any questions about any new features or our activities from last year and any suggestions for 2012, please contact our Support Team or use the Suggestion Box feature inside WLE.com. We wish you all the best for the start of the new year and look forward to meeting your expectations for 2012.

As our first promotional topic for next year, we are talking about relationships, in all their forms. The workplace is an important place to foster healthy respectful relationships, which you can read about in "Age Differences, Work Differences: Understanding Older and Younger Co-Workers". The same thing applies to our home relationships. We cover all of this, from the simple every day challenges like household responsibilities, with "Sharing Household Responsibilities", to building relationships with your children as they age and eventually leave the house, with "When the Children leave home", to relationships with friends and members of your community, discussed in "Friends, Relationships, and Building a Community".

These relationships form the bedrock of your life and are support when you need it and a source of fun and companionship when you need those. You and your employees can read our promotional articles this month, including those highlighted below, to help build the relationships that will make work-life more rewarding. You can read more details, as well as find a downloadable version of this email teaser, at our Blog, or by logging in to your WorkLife Essentials homepage and clicking the "Relationships" link in the promotion box. As always, if you are having trouble viewing our Blog, you can still access the latest What's New features and Teasers at our "What's New" page.

Your Young Adolescent's Social Life
Adolescents develop socially on their own timetable. Healthy adolescents are committed to becoming their own person, independent from their parents. In their social lives, they are trying on new behaviors that help develop this independence. Everything from dating, to communication via Facebook, requires them to make decisions and choices on their own...

Read more…^*

Building a Good Relationship With Your Teenager
Adolescence is essentially a voyage of discovery. On this journey a teenager must deal with a body that’s developing in new ways, strong (and sometimes scary) feelings about sex, and an innate sense of rebellion against authority -- yours included. At the end of this odyssey, they will have become someone who knows and lives by their own values...

Multiculturalism from an indiginous point of view.

noreply@blogger.com (WLE Team) — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 06:26:00 +0000

Recognizing strengths and weaknesses in a community can provide insights into how cultures mix and adapt. Many indiginous cultures exhibit remarkable strengths which contribute to the community such as:

sharing physical resources (land, water, food, etc.)
a sense a shared community responsibility
generational knowledge
retaining traditional and cultural practices
an ability to live and function in two worlds, modern and indigenous
a pride in their community
well embedded support systems
a strong historical connection to the past
resilience in dealing with challenges.

An appreciation and identification of these and similar strengths can increase cultural competence in planning benefits and programs for a multicultural workforce.

December in WorkLife Essentials

noreply@blogger.com (WLE Team) — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 12:10:00 +0000

This December, Celebrating is on the minds of everyone, and celebrations come in all different sizes. In the workplace, it's a time to reflect on the accomplishments of the past year and looking towards the beginning of another. There is also the celebration of individual families' cultural traditions at home. However, thinking and preparing for celebrations can often be overwhelming and your employees will often be looking for a way to balance all of these priorities while still being productive at work.

To help with this, we've prepared a collection of resources related to celebrations both at home and in the workplace. In particular, a collection of brand new articles such as "Confetti in Cubicles - Workplace Celebrations"; "Creating Family Traditions Around Celebrations"; and "Making Celebrations a Joyous Occasion for Children" are intended to help better plan and manage all the pressures and priorities of the season, while still being able to enjoy the actual celebrating! You can read more details, as well as find a downloadable version of this email teaser, at our Blog, or by logging in to your WorkLife Essentials homepage and clicking the "Celebrations" link in the promotion box.

Please note that this month's promotion for our South American region is "Disability", which can also be explored by logging in to your WorkLife Essentials homepage and clicking the "Disability" link in the promotion box.

Also, we are continuously updating content and features, and the best way to stay up to date with these, and especially with many more additions coming soon, is to visit our Blog regularly. As always, if you are having trouble viewing our Blog, you can still access the latest What's New features and Teasers at our "What's New" page. And, if you have any questions about any WorkLife Essentials feature, please contact our Support Team.

Celebrations - Food and Fun Festivals
Two key ingredients of many celebrations around the world are food and fun. The following gives a glimpse of the role played by food and follows with some fun examples of unusual festivals held in many different parts of the world...
Read more…^*

Traditions to Share With Your Family During Celebrations
Traditions are customs or practices passed on from one generation to another that create a sense of belonging for any group. Traditions can be as simple as sharing a special dish with the family on a particular day of the week, or...
Read more…^*

Involving Your Older Family Members in Holiday Events
Family get-togethers in the holidays can often revolve around children’s needs or your own personal interests, but keep in mind there are others who would delight in your or your children’s presence at this time – and they are your parents or grandparents...
Read more…^*

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Latin America - Top 10 Important Topics Survey

noreply@blogger.com (WLE Team) — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 01:03:00 +0000

In a current survey from WorkLife Essentials covering Latin America a poll of topics was recorded. Topics are selected either when the employee selects an element in the web page or the smart needs assessor brings a topic onto the agenda. There can be one or many topics selected during each session. The following chart shows the breakdown by topic, note survey results are raw numbers.

In November in WorkLife Essentials

noreply@blogger.com (WLE Team) — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 18:54:00 +0000

This November, we're promoting our resources relating to Generational Issues in the Workforce. According to a new multi-year study released this year, the issues of a generational workforce are becoming ever more prominent for the majority of workplaces. From differing levels of engagement, to how to generate engagement, to expectations of workplace flexibility and the impact to job security perceived during an economic downturn, each unique generation that make up your workforce have different needs.

To help you learn more about these issues, and to help your employees themselves better understand them in their interactions with their co-workers, we have highlighted numerous resources in WLE this month. In addition to the articles excerpted below, you can also read about fostering engagement though fun with "Workplace Fun: Bridging the Generation Gaps", or through continual education with "Continuous Learning Across the Generations". And, for your employees, reading "Age Differences, Work Differences: Understanding Older and Younger Co-Workers" may help understanding the differences amongst the co-workers around them and see strengths instead of discord. You can read more details, as well as find a downloadable version of this email teaser, at our Blog, or by logging in to your WorkLife Essentials homepage and clicking the "Generational Workplace" link in the promotion box.

The Role of Work in Your Life After 50

When asked whether they got more satisfaction from work or leisure, most people choose work (recent University study). Whichever you would choose, it is critical to understand the rewards and pleasures that work brings you as you plan for the second half of life...
Read more…^*

Workplace Etiquette Across the Generations

Work etiquette may have been simpler in the days when the workplace was stratified by age, fewer generations worked together, and the rules were formal and clear cut. Today four distinct generations are working together in a workplace that is more fluid and dynamic than it has ever been...
Read more…^*

When Your Manager Is Younger Than You

Today the workforce is made up of four distinct generations of employees, with people ranging in age from their late teens into their seventies and beyond. As a result, a growing number of employees work for managers younger than they are. For many, this feels like a natural fit...
Read more…^*

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Copyright^© 2011 WorkLife Essentials^®, All rights reserved.

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Who are your work life experts?

noreply@blogger.com (WLE Team) — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 02:51:00 +0000

Do they know about us? The video below describes just some of the milestones that have led to the success of WLE...

I know it seems like we've achieved a lot and maybe it's perceived as overnight, but WorkLife Essentials is the product of a long series of adventures and collaborations based on innovation and spirit, both from us and our customers.

WLE is the result of work by passionate professionals in many many countries. On the personal side I've worked in more than 50 countries, Robin more than 60, and our daughter who often shared the work life journey is 17 now and has been to 43 countries and 16 US states.

If you're ready to share in the adventure, tell us how you want to help... we've only just begun the most ambitious work life enterprise ever!

Hope to hear from you soon,

Bob

Top 10 Ways For Busy Families To Stay Organized

noreply@blogger.com (WLE Team) — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 04:08:00 +0000

With everything that life throws at us on a daily basis, it's really difficult for the modern family to stay organized. These following 10 ways for busy families to stay organized are smart, relatively-small changes you can implement around the house to help everyone in your familial unit to stay more organized around each other and while they carry on their daily lives.

10. Planners.
Having everyone carry a planner is a cheap and easy way to help your family stay organized. Having an appointment written down on a pad of paper is much easier to adhere to as opposed to simply committing it to memory. One can even put a little extra money towards getting each planner personalized, so that every member of your busy family will know exactly which planner belongs to who. Having everyone gather once a day to compare schedules is also a great way to have everyone on the same page of what's going on in the family.

9. Have A Set Time For Dinner.
Many people have talked about the advantages of having a sit-down family dinner, and those ideas don't hold truer in any situation other than the busy family. Having a set time every night where everybody sits down to eat gives a designated marker for people to work their schedules around. If your family includes kids who have cars and you all want to eat out, have them meet you at the restaurant at a certain time so that they can retain their independence while remaining a part of the family.

8. Have A House Calendar.
This is one of the easiest ways to help your busy family stay organized. Set it in a prominent place where everybody passes through on a daily basis, like the kitchen. Then, have each member update their schedule in a different color ink as they update their individual planners. This will keep everyone in your family abreast of all updates going on in your family and have everything stay as transparent as possible.

7. Have A House E-Mail List.
This works great for families that are constantly connected to the Internet. With jobs that require mom and dad to be online at all times, and the rising prevalence of smart phones, everyone has a nearly-limitless access to their email account. Having a circulating message about updates to one's personal schedule is one of the best and most efficient ways to keep an entire family on the same page of what's going on in each other's lives.

6. Reduce Clutter Around The House.
Many people say that messiness tends to lead to disorganization, and this cannot ring truer than what goes on with a busy family. A cluttered house is one where bills, report cards, school papers, and important pieces of mail get lost and a familial unit falls apart at the seams. Investing in a few boxes and shelves is a great way to greatly reduce the amount of clutter at the homestead and keep your family more organized.

5. Have Your Immediate Family Set To Speed Dial.
This is a small measure to ensure that you are only a few key strokes away from your family members. By setting your parents and children to your speed dial on your mobile device, you're ensuring that they're the first ones you call when something develops in your schedule. That way, you can keep them in the loop of what's going on in your life so that they may plan accordingly.

4. Delegate Responsibilities Amongst Your Family Members.
Next to the house calendar, have a list of chores that need to be done throughout the week. Have everyone assigned a responsibility and have a due date of when it needs to be done. Assign responsibilities based on age group, such as having younger members of your family doing housework while the older ones take care of family pets and run certain errands around your city or neighborhood. From that point, follow up on everyone to make sure they have it done. If it's not done by the due date, make them pick up the slack by doing double chores the next week. To ensure fairness, make certain that the chores rotate at the end of each week, and that the parents are not excluded from any of these rules.

3. Have Scheduled Family Quality Time.
This can be as simple as declaring Thursday night Board Game Night or Wednesday night Movie Night. By having regularly scheduled events that everyone can enjoy and participate in, you're adding a bit of regularity into the lives of your family members and helping them stay organized. Much like having dinner at the same time every night, this ensure that your family members are working towards showing up at one event at the same time every week, making them more organized by doing so.

2. Have A Group Digital Calendar.
Online services like Google offer calendars which can be linked to one or more email accounts. This empowers busy families to update their events while checking their email, creating a digital copy of their schedules to share with whoever they wish. This will encourage your family members to learn more about the technology that they're using while ensuring that everyone knows exactly where everyone is going to be and thus can plan accordingly.

1. Make Lists.
This is one of the easiest ways to keep your family organized. By having to-do lists around the house at prime locations, like the family computer or fridge, you're taking the initiative to let people know exactly what needs to be done and by when. Much like the chores list, this will make certain that clear goals are set and that your family can plan around them, making sure that everything that needs to get done is accomplished in a timely manner.

In October in WorkLife Essentials

noreply@blogger.com (WLE Team) — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 17:11:00 +0000

October is Work Life and Family month all around the world as well as here at WorkLife Essentials. It's the reason that we're here - to help you create the most mutually beneficial balance between your work life and your outside-work life.

We do this every month, but this month we pay particular attention to the effect that your work life has on your family. Whether it's how to handle the added stress and lost sleep that longer work hours can sometimes cause, to better managing your free time after work, resources like: "Managing Stress"; "Getting a Good Night's Sleep"; and "After-School Activities and Free Time: Finding a Balance" can really help. We have also highlighted articles related to starting a family and the effect it may have on your work life: "Dealing with the Stress of Infertility While Working"; "Returning to Work After Your Parental Leave"; "Choosing to Become a Single Parent". And many more, including the three articles we've excerpted below, which focus on the specific impacts on starting a family, and the particular issues that affect both Mothers and Fathers at home and at work. You can read more details, as well as find a downloadable version of this email teaser, at our Blog, or by logging in to your WorkLife Essentials homepage and clicking the "Stress Management for Working Parents" link in the promotion box.

Choosing the "Right" Time to Start a Family

If you are thinking about starting a family, you are probably thinking a lot about the timing issue. How will parenthood fit in with your career plans and goals? How will you know when it is the “right” time in your life to start a family?
Read more…

Motherhood, Career, and the Importance of Mentors

An important factor in everyone’s career success is the presence of a mentor -- an established or experienced person who serves as advisor and role model to offer advice and support and help you advance in your career.
Read more…

Work-Life Balance for Fathers

Fathers have always had a two-sided relationship with their work. Work sustains us and allows us to pay the rent or mortgage and put food on the table. Our success at work is also a source of pride and an important part of our identity. But work also makes it hard for us to spend as much time with our families as we would like.
Read more…

Download the latest Teaser here.

How do I do a global launch?

noreply@blogger.com (WLE Team) — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 05:09:00 +0000

It's a wide wide world and I know it seems pretty daunting to consider doing for your employees and their families in each country what you already do here in the USA. I think for many, because of the size of populations, diversity, large number of providers and complexity of legislative framework, it a big deal to have accomplished what you have.

Having grown a global Employee Assistance company for 27 year that offered services in more than 100 countries, and now our work life business in more than 100 countries I can honestly say we've learned a few things. Even so it seems I keep having the same discussion over and over with people who want to deploy new HR / Diversity / EEO initiatives world-wide.

The simplest way to think about launching global programs is by answering a few simple questions about where you are now and following a set of commandments.

The Simple Questions - you can print this out, write down your answers and email me. I'd be happy to discuss them with you.

1. What is the starting point for the perception of ‘work-life balance initiatives’ country by country?
• Not sure what is meant by ‘work-life balance initiatives’ [ ]
• They’re nice things to give employees but have no real business gain [ ]
• We’ve consulted with employees and think they could be beneficial [ ]
• We know the benefits and have begun developing work-life initiatives [ ]
• We have a fully integrated and successful work-life program [ ]

2. What are your desired outcomes of your people strategies?
• Recognition as an Employer of Choice [ ]
• Improved employee health & wellbeing [ ]
• Attraction & retention of valuable employees [ ]
• Reduce absenteeism & turnover [ ]
• Alignment of business strategy & work-life policy [ ]
• Occupational Health & Safety [ ]
• Other (please specify)……………………………..........................

3. Which of these work-life initiatives are you considering or do you currently have in place?
• Flexible working arrangements [ ]
• Employee Assistance Program [ ]
• Referral service for childcare and elder care [ ]
• Information and educational tools on managing work-life balance [ ]
• Work-life programs [ ]
• Other (please specify)……………………………..........................

The technologies that we use to make our online solution turn-key, adapted culturally, and idiomatically translated have taken years to develop. WLE has had brilliant contributions from clients who are thought leaders in providing work life to their employees (like the IBM Global Work Life Fund) and from the thought leaders who first created the field of work life in the USA. So brilliant that we now have clients who are enjoying more than 25% utilization (by registered employee headcount) globally, including countries with small numbers of employees. So you might rightly ask us, "How did you do it?'

The 5 Commandments

Be realistic. Not all countries have the understanding, expertise or desire to take on new initiatives, especially when they may lose face, money or promotions if it is not a success.
Set metrics appropriately - success in each country does not have to be measured the same way. There has to be a win-win.
Don't devolve financial responsibility too early - if ever - for the core services. Remember, this is your agenda, not theirs.
Start with the low hanging fruit. Use easy and relatively inexpensive initiatives to build a bow wave and help educate each country so they can then participate in an informed dialog about their more specific needs. Remember that in some countries programs you have fought for are part of that country's health, workplace and educational systems for free.
Localize. Many of you already know that with your own core business. You need to understand and adapt to the culture in each country while retaining your core values and building your work life culture as an organisation.

The truth is, many large vendors don't have to do the hard yards, visit each country, speak the languages or understand the local culture, educational systems, health and childcare infrastructure or legislative frameworks to make money. Imagine them doing all of that for your 12 people in Kenya or 117 in Viet Nam and then imagine why your project becomes hard or too lengthy. It's easy to be told this is too hard or only for big companies. Wrong!

We've been down this road as an independent and flexible company for many years. We understand the impact of your answers to the simple questions and we know how to stay true to the commandments. Therefore we are the experts to ask to mitigate the risks and give you the global success you want. Much of this risk management is built into the design of WLE.

So, ask yourself, "Would immediate access to a suite of practical innovative resources, including a world first in work-life innovations make a difference? [Y/N]".

If you'd like to talk, contact me, follow us. I'm happy to talk even if you're not a client! If you've got other burning questions leave a comment!

Bob Smith - CEO

WLE at the 2011 WorkLife Congress in October

noreply@blogger.com (WLE Team) — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 08:24:00 +0000

Look for WorkLife Essentials at the 2011 WorkLife Congress hosted by Working Mother.

October 18-20, 2011, Sheraton New York Hotel + Towers, New York, NY.

CEO RL Smith and WLE’s conference team will be attending and Exhibiting, contributing to the discussion on global work life strategies. Come experience the new WLE Mobile and expanded WLE "Global Village" to help manage the essential parts of your day at Booth #2.

To arrange a time to discuss your global needs while we're in New York, email us on info@worklifeessentials.com or register your interest by clicking on this link http://www.worklifeessentials.com/register.html. We'll see you there!,

The WLE Team

Coming Up In September In WorkLife Essentials

noreply@blogger.com (WLE Team) — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 23:31:00 +0000

This month's topic is "Those Teen Years"

OK, so this is a big topic! And there are so many different aspects to approaching it…

Adolescence is another term for those teen years. It is a very important transitional stage of physical and mental development experienced during puberty. Throughout history puberty has been heavily associated with teenagers and the onset of adolescent development. The end of adolescence and the beginning of adulthood varies in many cases by societal function such as voting, driving, legal sexual relationships, voting or joining the military, drinking alcohol or being responsible for legal contracts.

Adolescence is also accompanied by an increased independence allowed by the parents or legal guardians and less supervision. For a lot of parents this time can be a confused blend of poor decisions, childish behaviour and amazing maturity. For teenagers, their desire for and NEED for freedom is the BIG THING, but too much too soon can leave teens adrift and unable to cope. They still need the stability and support parents can offer. Our resource on “Letting Go But Staying Involved During the Young Adolescent Years” may be of interest in this area.

What all these factors mean when mixed with each of our different families is an important contributor our daily work life ‘load’ and in this month’s promotional topic called “Those Teen Years” we begin to explore different aspects.

An important first step is understanding the issues around good communication. For good communication to happen, a parent needs to be involved and foster a good relationship with their teens. The home environment and parents are important contributor to the choices and behavior of teens. If you have a good relationship with your teen they will be less likely to act out with risky behaviors. Our resources “Being an Involved Father During the Teenage Years”, and “Building a Good Relationship With Your Teenager” are a good place to start. If you are a single parent the article “Raising a Teenager as a Single Parent” can offer that additional perspective on how to cope when you can’t share the load.

Understanding that because of popular culture, communications at school with peers, and increasing demands from society to behave to higher standards, your teens can feel stress and pressure to do things they are not ready for. We explore some of these issues in the resources “Sexuality and Early Adolescence”, “Stress and Your Young Adolescent Child”, “Your Young Adolescent's Social Life”, and “Sibling Competition”.

Sometimes dealing with normal recurring events like taking time off brings it own sets of challenges. One time of year we all face as families is taking time off of work. You may want to catch up on some of the issues in “Your Teenager and the Holidays”…

These are just a few entry points into a fascinating and important topic, which is additionally supported with suggested readings, links and related article within WLE this month. Enjoy! Also, you can stay up to date with the latest news and content at our blog.

Download HTML version here.

FAQ For Navigating The Global Village

noreply@blogger.com (WLE Team) — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 05:36:00 +0000

FAQ: Navigating your way around the global village...

One of the great features of WorkLife Essentials is the ability to have ready access to common resources around the globe. While it is likely you will want to access these resources in your home country, you may have relatives or employees needing information in the context of where they work or live.

To facilitate cultural acceptance, 40 countries have now been acculturated, or in other words adapted for the broader cultural norms in those countries. Clearly, all countries have a great deal of cultural diversity within, so we gladly accept all suggestions for improving this ongoing process via the WLE suggestion box.

In addition, many global village sites have much of the content idiomatically translated. In those cases the area on the left of the WLE page immediately above the images bar will indicate the additional language for that village. You can move easily between languages by clicking on the word for the language. All villages, whether translated or not, have the support of Google Translate which is a menu selection just below the search box.

Choosing from more than 100 countries, some of which are acculturated and some of which are translated idiomatically is the topic of this small instruction.

The first entries from the top of the menu bar are for acculturated villages in alphabetical order. If a village is translated, the menu entry is in the translated language. If you do not see a country you are looking for in the acculturated list, the next section of the menu is for those villages which have not been acculturated. Simply scroll down and select your village of interest and then click "Go". If you want to have this be your new Home village, select the Remember box.

Coming Up In August In WorkLife Essentials®

noreply@blogger.com (WLE Team) — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 03:55:00 +0000

Coming Up In August In WorkLife Essentials

Whether in the summer or the winter, maintaining health is vitally important to a happy, well-balanced life. That's why WorkLife Essentials has put together a collection of resources to help refresh your knowledge regarding the basics of health and nutrition. Also, we have resources that may help those undergoing mid-life life changes learn something new about what they mean, and how to manage them best. And, as all families age into the years where they may need more support, we have numerous resources for both them and those who support them.

Types of Care for Older Adults

If you are contemplating care services for an older adult, you’re not alone. About 10 percent of older adults receive help in their home setting with at least one activity of daily living (e.g., dressing, bathing, eating, going to the lavatory, walking, or getting up from a chair) or other routine functions such as shopping, cooking, housekeeping, and managing money. Most people prefer to remain in their own homes for as long as possible....
Read more…

Getting a Good Night's Sleep

If you have trouble sleeping, you’re not alone. Many adult English people say they have frequent sleep problems, and a majority don’t get the recommended eight hours of sleep that are necessary for good health, safety, and effective work performance.

During times of extra stress, even people who usually sleep soundly may have trouble getting to sleep or staying asleep...
Read more…

Managing Stress

When asked what the biggest problem is in their lives, most people name stress. It affects virtually all of us, and left unmanaged it can take a serious toll on our health, our families, and our success in life.
Stress can be a good thing, energising us as we try out new activities or deal with such positive changes as a new baby, a new relationship, or a new job. But stress can also be a destructive force in our lives...
Read more…

Download HTML version here.

Coming Up In July In WorkLife Essentials®

noreply@blogger.com (WLE Team) — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 15:40:00 +0000

Coming up in July in WorkLife Essentials

Once again, more exciting changes are happening here at WorkLife Essentials. At our new Blog, that can either be accessed from our Home page, or can be directly accessed at Blog.WorkLifeEssentials.com, you can access an extensive archive of our What's New content - going back over 2 years! Everything is searchable, and you can find short articles, news items and promotional content with direct links to relevant internal resources, all available in multiple languages, on such issues as:

Parenting;

Relationships;

Family;

Time Management; and

even more!

This way, you will always be able to find shortcuts to your favorite WLE content. As always, if you are having trouble viewing our Blog, you can still access the latest What's New features and Teasers at our "What's New" page.

This Month’s Promotion is about Adoption. We have highlighted numerous resources and a range of relevant articles, all highlighting the many issues people deal with when considering adoption, or adjusting to adoption in their life. Please read excerpts of some of our highlighted articles below. Follow the link to continue reading. You can also read more details at our Blog, or by logging in to your WorkLife Essentials homepage and clicking the "Adoption" link in the promotion box.

Health Matters and Adopted Children

Children who have been adopted locally or internationally may have health and developmental issues that are not commonly seen in children who were not adopted. It is important to be aware of possible health problems that could arise due to your child’s country of origin, a long stay in an orphanage, your child’s birth history or background...
Read more…

Exploring Adoption

The decision to adopt is always heartfelt. Sometimes it comes only after couples have tried for years, unsuccessfully, to have a child. Sometimes it comes after they have discovered the joy of raising children and have decided to enrich their family with a “waiting” child. Today, marriage is no longer a prerequisite for parenthood...
Read more…

Different Learning Styles in Your Adoptive Family

All parents hope their children will do well in school and move smoothly along a path possibly toward university and a good job. Given these expectations, you may be confused or surprised when your child does not follow the same path you did...
Read more…

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Coming up in June in WorkLife Essentials®

noreply@blogger.com (WLE Team) — Mon, 30 May 2011 23:40:00 +0000

There are several exciting new changes here at WorkLife Essentials. First, the blog you are reading is now the best way to stay up to date with what's happening in WorkLife Essentials. Like WLE, our BLOG can be viewed in many languages and contains:

Timely materials on a range of topics;
News;
Information about WLE;
Monthly Teasers (including this one!); and
What’s New;

all designed to help you stay up to date and communicate with your family and co-workers.
This Month’s Promotion is about Surviving the Holidays. All countries don’t have the same cycles for their holidays or celebrations, but much of the Northern hemisphere are now getting geared up for summer holidays, and everywhere else we still have extended term breaks from school and seasonal celebrations.

	What makes this topic even more relevant is because of global economic conditions that have changed how we approach this time. For example, because of the poor economy, schools in many places are often not offering summer school, which means managing 3 months off for the children. Our resources on "Single Parenting During the Holidays", "Finding Holiday Childcare", "Finding Holiday Activities for Children", and "How to Balance Worklife When Looking for Elder or Childcare" are a good place to start.
	Also many parents around the world do not feel they can afford to take time off or, even worse, do not feel confident that taking time off will not affect their career prospects. For those parents, our resources "Top 10 Tips for Travelling on Business with the Family", "Travelling Well with the Family on Business", and "Traveling With Children".
	Finally, we need to remember that even our teenagers and older family members are an important part of the puzzle. You’ll find our resources on "Involving Your Older Family Members in Holiday Events" and "Your Teenager and the Holidays" very useful.
	Remember, there are a range of additional resources available That can be found using "holiday" or "celebration" in the Search box in WLE. We hope following our "Tips for Successful Holidays" armed with the wealth of information in this month’s promotional tour of WLE sees you ready to embrace the challenges and joys of your holiday season!

Download HTML version here.

WorkLife Essentials at Total Rewards 2011

noreply@blogger.com (WLE Team) — Thu, 26 May 2011 16:51:00 +0000

WorkLife Essentials participated in a great exchange of ideas over the past few days at the World at Work Total Rewards 2011 conference. Our North America and Australia based team exhibited and attended sessions and couldn't have more positive feedback for the conference - great job by all!

For one lucky attendee, there was an extra perk to coming by the WLE booth - an iPod touch, ready to go out of the box with our iOS app, WLE Mobile.

For any inquiries regarding our booth or interactions at the conference, please comment below, or use the contact link at www.worklifeessentials.com.

Joining WorkLife Essentials

noreply@blogger.com (WLE Team) — Fri, 13 May 2011 21:35:00 +0000

WorkLife Essentials offers a global solution that helps organisations, employees and their families better manage their working lives. WLE Mobile is an ad supported product positioned to help individuals find resources to help them manage their work life balance.

40 countries have been adapted to local cultural norms and many idiomatically translated, a further 77 countries are also part of the "Global Village". All 117 countries are supported by Google Translate®. Child-care, school-age care, and elder care locators are available in many countries in cities with an aggregate population of 200 million.

To find out more about how to be part of our team, contact us at hr@worklifeessentials.com. We have current needs for programmers, content management, and contributors.

Win an iPod Touch at the World at Work Conference

noreply@blogger.com (WLE Team) — Fri, 13 May 2011 17:18:00 +0000

Come join the WorkLife Essentials team in San Diego to see how we can help you achieve a win for your employees in 117 countries and maybe you'll walk away with the new Apple iPod Touch (8 Gbyte). We're in Booth #931 demonstrating that a simple powerful low-cost turnkey solution exists, which is multicultural and multi-lingual, to help companies address the low hanging fruit in the work life area.

WLE Mobile extends work life benefits beyond the workplace. We'll also be showing everyone how Use the link code to the left to go straight to the App store and download WLE Mobile. WLE Mobile is compatible with iPhone 3, iPhone 4, iPod Touch, iPad and iPad 2. There are several free readers available for reading the code.

Donation in Beijing to Helen Center for Children with hearing disability 海伦聋儿康复园

noreply@blogger.com (WLE Team) — Thu, 12 May 2011 14:43:00 +0000

WorkLife Essentials has donated computers and printers in Beijing to the Helen Center for Children with hearing disability 海伦聋儿康复园. If you have an inclination to donate to charities in China you can either contact the One Foundation (http://www.onefoundation.cn/en_index.php), or contact Yiyun Huang, WLE content manager, through support@worklifeessentials.com!