I found this interesting article from The Times of India, discussing Utah’s transition to a 4-day workweek from a 5-day workweek.  Researchers from the Romney Institute of Public Management found that 60% of employees who have transitionedto the 4-day workweek reported higher productivity.
They found that even though four day work week employees work the same number of hours per week as their traditional work-week counterparts, they reported being more satisfied with their jobs, compensation, and benefits, and were less likely to look for employment elsewhere in the next year. 
Source: The Times of India
It’s funny what a seemingly slight difference …read more

PimpYourWork

“Promises are meant to be broken.” – Ancient Hindu Proverb (well, not really)
We all make promises at work
We make promises to our supervisors, colleagues, or clients.
We don’t necessarily keep them, but we make them anyway.
When we break promises we look like jerks (or incompetent, or both).  When we keep them, people expect it and they just think you’re doing your job.
How do you keep promises and still get that wow factor?

Under-promise.
Over-deliver.
Quantify everything. 

To under-promise is to make a public commitment to do something, but this something is actually much less than what you have planned.

If you think you can finish a …read more

 PimpYourWork.com
Last week, I asked readers the following question: “Do you access social networking sites in the office?“  Below are their responses:
PYW reader Gautch says that he’s working with a team to set up an internal social network for their company.  “Our testing ground is our own social network. So i guess i have to say, yes I visit social networks at work.”  He adds, “On a side note, in our department, we are about to phase out email because the SN is working so well. But I highly doubt we could phase it out company wide.”
Miguel seems to have a …read more

PimpYourWork.com
Do you sometimes feel like a pet hamster running around the same exercise wheel day in and day out?  It may be exciting at first, but you’ll get bored eventually.  Don’t worry – boredom at work doesn’t necessarily mean that you need to switch jobs or get a promotion.  There are some simple things you can do to make monotony and uniformity go away.
Add variety to your work tasks.  If it’s always report-meeting-business call repeated ad infinitum, you’d definitely get bored. Try to find a way to get different types of work/projects for yourself, rather than settling for what you’re …read more

PimpYourWork.com
“There are two essential rules to management. One, the customer is always right; and two, they must be punished for their arrogance” – Dogbert, from Scott Adams’ “Dilbert” comics
You’ve probably heard the phrase “The customer is always right”, as in the retail world it is second only in popularity to “If you break it, it’s considered sold.” But is this statement repeated because it’s always true?
Your ‘customer’ doesn’t necessarily have to be a client of your company or business. He or she could even be a supervisor or a colleague. In a broader sense, a …read more

PimpYourWork.com
Previously, we featured this strange Han Solo in carbonite office desk.  Also, former Pimp Your Work blogger Tris Hussey told us not to worry about our messy desks.  But what does the rest of the blogosphere have to say about the office desk?
Organizing Your Workspace @ The David Allen Company, where David Allen even lists the things he has in his office
What your desk says about you @ AskMen
10 Tips for keeping your desk neat and tidy @ LifeClever
The Benefits of a Clean Desk and a Tidy Office @ How to be an Original
 12 Tips for an Organized Desk @ …read more

 PimpYourWork.com

I found this interesting online quiz about job burnout (click here for the quiz).  My own result was 24 points, which means ” Little sign of burnout here, unless some factors are particularly severe”.  Take the quiz and see if you have any signs of job burnout.  Share your results  with us in the comments.
What do you …read more

If you spend hours a day in your workspace, you’ll need to make it as efficient and comfortable as possible. Here are some great articles that can help you accomplish that:
10 Ways to Relaxify Your Workspace by Steve Pavlina
Tips for your office from Design Psychology
Do Cubicles make workers more productive? from WiseGeek
Improve Your Cubicle Life from Monster.com
On a related note, sites such as Office Snapshots and Office Design Gallery have photos of different offices (mostly for tech and Web 2.0 companies). I like the bright colors of the Gap office.  I also like the painted graffiti-type walls on Skinny Corp.  …read more

Stressed at work?  Release it all with this fun flash game called Cubicle Freakout.  It lets you tear apart your office, throw your computer off the window, and measures your stress levels based on your game play.  (I was told that I’m a bit tense and need some tea!)
Give it a try for your personal amusement.  It has some audio so either use headphones or turn your speakers off/down.  Make sure the boss doesn’t see you freaking out ;)

Word of a new internet service has been spreading the last week.  It’s about NotchUp, a company that pays job candidates hundreds of dollars for an interview.
That’s right – you don’t have the job yet, and you’re already getting paid.  More about it from the official website:
The FAQ also answers some important questions such as:

Why would a company ever pay to interview someone?
What prevents fraud or gaming the system?
What makes NotchUp better than traditional methods?

Among their features is an interview fee calculator that helps you compute your fee based on your industry, years of working experience, educational attainment, current position …read more