Company Culture

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Career Development

The Best Companies That Hire People with Disabilities

By Martina Mascali, Monster Contributor

The best companies that hire people with disabilities care about more than just ticking boxes for compliance. While discrimination in employment based on disability is illegal under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), you deserve employers who go beyond basic legal requirements. We are talking about companies employing disabled people that p...

Career Development

What Are Summer Fridays, and Which Companies Offer Them?

By Venus Gentile, Monster Contributor

As the days stretch longer and the warmth of summer beckons, who wouldn't jump at the chance to escape the office grind and enjoy some early leisure? Whether catching a matinee, enjoying a lazy park picnic, or simply beating the rush hour home, summer Fridays turn ordinary afternoons into mini vacations. So, what are summer Fridays and how can they...

Career Development

How to Interpret Why You’re Always Dreaming of Work

By Dawn Papandrea & Venus Gentile

After a long day in the office, a good night’s sleep is supposed to be restorative, right? But how, exactly, can you recharge when you’re always dreaming of work? If you’ve ever had dreams (or nightmares) about your job, you’re not alone. Dreaming about work is as common as the Sunday blues. We dream about the things that are on our minds, or si...

Career Development

Look for These 11 Signs of a Positive Work Environment in Your Next Job

By Venus Gentile, Monster Contributor

Think of a workplace where your ideas are heard and valued, challenges are seen as opportunities, and each day adds a meaningful chapter to your professional story. That's the magic a positive work environment can deliver. And finding one is the key to your success. It's not just about being content; it's about thriving, growing, and genuinely e...

Career Development

How to Be an Effective LGBTQ+ Ally at Work

By Venus Gentile, Monster Contributor

Learning how to be an LGBTQ+ ally is everyone's duty. In 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits sex discrimination, also applies to discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. This ruling paved the way to end workplace discrimination for LGBTQ+ workers. However, the challenging p...

Career Development

How to Have Fun at Work and Lead a Happier, More Productive Life

By Venus Gentile, Monster Contributor

Remember, just because you’re an adult, doesn’t mean you have to make life all about work. Play and laughter can add joy to your life, relieve stress, and help connect you to others and the world around you. And maintaining a sense of play can make a real difference in your workday by helping to engage the creative side of your brain, which leads t...

Career Development

How to be a Champion of Diversity in the Workplace

By Venus Gentile, Monster Contributor

Diversity in the workplace has become an increasingly important topic within the employment landscape. But it's not just about numbers, policies, and agendas. It’s about creating an inclusive environment where everyone feels valued, respected, and empowered to contribute their unique perspective and ideas. Diversity goes beyond stereotypes to give ...

Career Development

Your Complete Guide to What to Wear to Work

By Jennifer Verta, Monster Contributor

Are you wondering what to wear to work or find yourself confused when browsing the internet for outfit examples of business casual or other dress codes? We feel you. Top it all off with the fact that many workplaces don’t have a clearly written dress code citing specific dress requirements, making getting ready in the morning even more confusing. ...

Career Development

What is Business Casual? How to Nail the Most Mysterious Dress Code

By Dawn Papandrea, Monster contributor

The only constant is change, and that is particularly true when it comes to what you wear to the office. The days of the power suits and business heels are mostly long gone, save for a few industries. The umbrella term for their sartorial replacement is “business casual”, but hang on, what is a business casual dress code? Put simply, it means cl...

Career Development

What Happens When You Don’t Take a Break at Work?

By Kathleen Walder, Monster Contributor

What did you have for lunch yesterday? While you may not recall what was on your plate or in your lunchbox, if your answer is “nothing” because you never took a break, we need to talk. Of course, you need lunch to fuel your internal engine, but you also need to take a break at work to maintain your health and well-being. You too, remote workers. Ev...

Career Development

The Four-Day Workweek: How and Why We Should Work Less

By Venus Gentile, Monster Contributor

If you've been dreaming about upgrading your work-life balance with a shorter workweek, you'll be thrilled to know that it's become a global reality. The push toward a four-day workweek is gaining momentum and shows no signs of slowing down. Numerous companies and organizations in the U.S. and around the world have effectively implemented this flex...

Career Development

The Pros, Cons and Changing World of the Return to Office Workplaces

By Jennifer Verta, Monster Contributor

The exodus towards working from home (WFH) expanded beyond certain industries and professionals to almost every sector with the advent of the Covid-19 pandemic, thanks to fast advances in technology. Suddenly a new era of work was born. Employees who could perform their duties remotely were sent home with an unknown date to return to the office. ...

Career Development

Women in Tech: Where Are We?

By Jennifer Verta, Monster Contributor

According to Equileap’s gender equality analysis, women in tech only make up 8% of all Chair, CEO and CFO positions at S&P 500 companies. Among their other women in technology statistics, it also emerges that “almost 80% of the companies do not have any women at either the Chair of the Board, CEO or CFO level”. Looking at this data, it is undeniabl...

Career Development

What is Unlimited PTO and How Does Unlimited Vacation Work?

By Martina Mascali, Monster Contributor

Unlimited PTO (paid time off), also called unlimited vacation, is one of the top emerging benefits among start-ups and high-growth organizations in particular competing for talent. By now, most of us have seen it on job listings, heard about it from friends switching jobs or even experienced it first-hand. However, if you are among those still wond...

Career Development

A Definitive Guide to Hybrid Work In and Out of the Office

By Camilla Andersson, Monster Contributor

Are you having a hard time choosing between jobs that are in the office and jobs that are remote? Or maybe your current job is bringing you back to the office part time. You’re now entering the always interesting, and at times, challenging world of hybrid work. At a hybrid workplace you can get the benefits of both remote work and an in-office e...

Career Development

Are Tattoos in the Workplace Still Taboo?

By Jennifer Verta, Monster Contributor

For a long time, sporting tattoos in the workplace was considered a big no-no. Permanent ink on your skin was something to be kept well hidden from employers’ and clients’ eyes and on some occasions, it even cost people their job. Although visible tattoos still remain off-limits in some industries, in modern times things have changed quite a bit. T...

Career Development

Vacation Time Has Many Benefits. Here’s How to Use It

By Camilla Andersson, Monster Contributor

Are you daydreaming at your desk about sipping a drink on a tropical beach or exploring new cities? It might be time to take a vacation—in real life. There are many benefits of vacation time, mentally, physically, and professionally, yet many people are reluctant to take it or ask for it when they get a job offer. Why is vacation important? W...

Career Development

Is Your Job Making You Sick?

By Dawn Papandrea, Monster contributor

Most people have to cope with stress on the job from time to time. In fact, according to the American Psychological Association’s (APA) survey, Stress in America, work (64%) and money (61%) are the most commonly mentioned personal sources of stress. But can stress make you sick? For real? Put simply: Oh yes, stress can make you sick. The prob...

Career Development

50 Best Companies for Diversity and Inclusion

By Lily Martis, Monster contributor

The world is getting a much needed lesson in the importance of diversity. According to the Monster Future of Work survey, diversity, equality, and inclusion initiatives is a top priority for global employers. The leading DEI priorities include: building a diverse workforce (39%), gender pay equity (36%), and creating a system/process like mentorshi...

Career Development

Learn How to Beat Job Burnout

By Dawn Papandrea, Monster contributor

Job burnout is a genuine threat to workers everywhere and in every industry. A bad day at work leads to a bad week. You’re irritable. You dread walking into the office. You feel like nothing is going your way, or your work is going unappreciated. These feelings linger and begin manifesting into physical symptoms and unbearable stress. You're genuin...

Career Development

Benevolent Sexism in the Workplace

By Libby Rutkey, Monster contributor

For adults in the 21st century, identifying discrimination at work should be a no-brainer, right? Well, maybe not. Social psychologists have recognized a form of sexism that’s both insidious and common: benevolent sexism. Even if you don’t know the term, you’re probably familiar with its signs. Peter Glick, PhD, is a bias and discrimination expert ...

Career Development

How to Throw a Virtual Holiday Party: Ideas for Work Festivities

By Kathleen Walder, Monster Contributor

Have you been named CEO (Chief Elf Organizer) responsible for coming up with a list of virtual holiday party ideas for work this year? Planning a holiday event that everyone at the office will enjoy has always been a challenge. If your team is 100% remote, coming up with fun remote holiday party ideas can be even more complicated. Additionally, a M...

Career Development

Hustle Culture: How "Every Day I'm Hustlin'" Became a Mantra

By Martina Mascali, Monster Contributor

In 2006, rapper Rick Ross became famous thanks to “Hustlin’,” a hit song about his tenacious pursuit of money and power. For many people, especially Millennials and Gen Z, working relentlessly and continuously, including by taking on side hustles and freelance gigs, is a way of life. But controversies about hustle culture remain: Is it the best, qu...

Career Development

The Importance of Work-Life Balance: How to Set Boundaries

By Kathleen Walder, Monster Contributor

Have you experienced "the tug?" When you're working, you worry about not getting out of the office in time to watch your son's baseball game. When you're out to dinner with friends or playing with your kids, you worry about the report you haven't started. You more than understand the importance of work-life balance, but actually achieving it seems ...

Career Development

Benefits of Having Affinity Groups at Work

By Daniel Bortz, Monster contributor

Want to join a company with a diverse workplace? Focus your job search on employers that have affinity groups. In a nutshell, an affinity group—also called an employee resource group (ERG)—is a group of employees with similar backgrounds, interests, or demographic factors such as gender or ethnicity. Affinity groups can take many forms, such as wom...

Career Development

Will the COVID-19 Vaccine Be Mandatory at Your Workplace?

By Joanne Richard, Monster contributor

There's no doubt that the COVID-19 pandemic has turned lives and livelihoods upside down. While COVID-19 vaccines are considered key to safely returning workers to their jobs and kickstarting the economy, some employees are hesitant to get vaccinated. So, will the COVID-19 vaccine be mandatory at your workplace, or can you refuse to take the shot? ...

Career Development

Can I Sue My Employer If I Get COVID-19 at Work?

By Joanne Richard, Monster contributor

Whether you’re concerned about finances or just sick of Zoom meetings, you may be more than ready to return to work. If the only thing holding you back from returning to your workplace is fear of exposure to the novel coronavirus, you’re likely asking yourself, “Can I sue my employer if I get COVID-19 at work?” Can I Sue My Employer If I Contrac...

Career Development

How to give thanks in your company

By Jenny Dearborn, Monster contributor

Early in my career I made the mistake of saying "thanks” to my staff inconsistently, which led to the perception of bias and favoritism. When I said thanks to one person, good news spread fast and that nice gesture would backfire if others felt left out. I quickly learned that it’s important to make time to say thanks and to be clear about the empl...

Career Development

How to tell others that you're taking a sick day

By Daniel Bortz, Monster contributor

Health experts agree: If you feel sick, stay home. It’s a simple rule to follow, but it’s a vital one, especially as COVID-19 continues to spread throughout the country. If you need to stay home to recuperate, there are some protocols to follow, including crafting a sick day email, when informing your boss and co-workers that you need to take time ...

Career Development

Top takeaways from Monster's Pride and Work panel

By Monster Staff

When you're looking for a job, the importance of cultural fit can't be overstated, especially if you're a member of a marginalized group. For Pride month, Monster rounded up a handful of diversity and inclusion (D&I) experts at leading companies to talk about how to best navigate the job search if you're a new grad and you identify as LGBTQ+. (You ...

Career Development

What Is Flex Time and How Can It Work for You?

By Daniel Bortz, Monster contributor

Not a fan of waking up super-early, or commuting an hour to the office, or having to stay stuck to a desk all day? Can’t say we blame you. That's why a flexible schedule—or flex schedule—is very desired by today's workforce. In fact, one Monster survey found that a flexible work schedule is the third most-desired aspect of a job offer (34%), behind...

Career Development

Six ways people get employee rights wrong

By Dawn Papandrea, Monster contributor

Whether you’re new to the world of work or a seasoned professional, there are a few misconceptions about employee rights that many people believe. “There’s a lot of confusion on both sides of the spectrum, from employers and employees,” says Michael Elkins, founder of the law firm MLE Law. “There are a number of very common urban legends that ar...

Career Development

How to Survive a Toxic Workplace

By Elana Lyn Gross, Monster contributor

If going to work makes you feel stressed or depressed, and/or you experience loss of focus, decreased confidence, stomach pain, headaches, and/or an impaired immune system, then you’re likely working in a bad environment. Surviving toxic workplace anxiety is not easy, but it is absolutely possible. There is a scientific reason that you feel like...

Career Development

Paid Time Off Policy: Pros and Cons

By John Rossheim, Monster contributor

Weary of the costly games some workers play with elaborate systems of vacation, personal, and sick days, many large employers have shuffled the deck to a paid time off policy. So what is paid time off (PTO) policy, exactly, and are they any good? PTO plans allow employees to accrue days off in a single account and spend them more or less as they wi...

Career Development

Top reasons workplace culture matters to job satisfaction

By Daniel Bortz, Monster contributor

What’s the biggest predictor of job happiness? Hint: It’s not about how large your paycheck is (though a healthy salary never hurt anyone!). What job satisfaction really boils down to is whether or not you fit in with the workplace culture. What exactly is cultural fit? It more or less refers to whether or not your values and work style match up...

Career Development

7 business etiquette rules to know

By Daniel Bortz, Monster contributor

What's the difference between the rising star whose career is picking up speed and his counterpart who can't seem to get the engine to turn over? Often, the star has mastered the nuances of business etiquette—the subtle but critical behaviors that can make or break an important meeting, influence a first impression, or impress a potential client. T...

Career Development

How to survive a dysfunctional workplace

By Dawn Papandrea, Monster contributor

Workplace dysfunction may be funny when you’re swapping wacky stories with your friends at the bar, but it’s no joke when you’re in the midst of trying to cope with it day after day. The question is, are you just working with a quirky bunch, or is it the kind of dysfunctional workplace that is creating chaos, sucking the life out of you, and creati...

Career Development

Should You Go to Work When You're Sick?

By Lily Martis, Monster contributor

As it is right now, we're in the middle of flu season, which means many Americans with fevers, coughs, and runny noses are being forced to make a decision: Go to work sick, as miserable as that may be? Or stay home to get better, but face a huge backlog of work upon your return? Granted, not everybody has a choice. Depending on your situation, y...

Career Development

The high cost of being a workaholic

By Daniel Bortz, Monster contributor

Feel like you’re working yourself to the bone? Unfortunately, you’re in good company. Workaholics can be found in every industry, and on every rung of the ladder. Today’s workplace culture is a hotbed of overworking to the point where it seems normalized. A whopping 66% of Millennials—the largest population in the US workforce—identify as workah...

Career Development

Want to work from home? Understand the pros and cons before deciding

By Dawn Papandrea, Monster contributor

Imagine: Your office chair is your couch. Your commute is the length of your hallway. Your snack drawer is your entire pantry. Think it’s a dream? Not these days when we're all learning how to live with the reality of coronavirus. Work-from-home jobs are very much a reality. Jobs that let you work from home, an arrangement known as telecommuting,...

Career Development

Summer office wear

By Lily Martis, Monster staff

Summer office outfits can be tricky to put together. As the temperature rises, you might be sorely tempted to ditch the collared shirts and loafers for T-shirts and flip-flops. But experts say that no matter how hot it gets, summer is not the time to take a vacation on professionalism. “Your image is 12 months a year,” Diane Gottsman etiquette exp...

Career Development

How men and women can work together to achieve equality in the workplace

By Anne Fisher, Monster contributor

A few years ago, on a plane from New York City to Des Moines, Joanne Lipman struck up a friendly conversation with the businessman in the next seat, who asked her why she was going to Iowa. “I told him I was speaking at a women’s leadership conference, and he suddenly froze up and said, ‘Sorry I’m a man!’” Lipman recalls. Taken aback, she asked him...

Career Development

Is working overtime a smart career move?

By Laura Vogel, Monster contributor

Believe it or not, there are Americans alive today who were born before the U.S. set overtime pay into law. The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, which also included a 40-hour workweek and minimum wage, was spearheaded by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and approved by Congress 82 years ago, improving working conditions and pay for millions. ...

Career Development

Business etiquette is changing--and you need to follow suit

By Anne Fisher, Monster contributor

What comes to mind when you hear the word “etiquette”? If it’s a dusty old list of rules, like keeping your elbows off of the table and not talking with your mouth full, you may be forgetting a few other key professional courtesies that apply in the modern workplace—even if you’ve been in the business world for a while. “Millennials thrive on...

Career Development

5 things you need to be happy at work

By Daniel Bortz, Monster contributor

There are countless benefits to finding a job that makes you happy, not the least of which is not having to suffer from the Sunday night blues, the Monday morning misery, the Tuesday terrors or…well you get our point. Furthermore, being happy at work is critical to your success. A recent study by staffing firm Robert Half, which evaluated the ha...

Career Development

Could having more sex improve your career?

By Lily Martis, Monster staff

Let’s talk about sex. Don’t worry, it’s not going to be the sexual harassment speech you should have already gotten from HR. We want to talk about two, consensual people who would rather spend their lunch breaks ripping each other’s clothes off than tearing into a sandwich from some deli across the street. And this Swedish politician believes you s...

Career Development

How to Handle Crying at Work

By Susan Aaron, Monster contributor

You're at work when you feel the tears coming. You take yourself and your career seriously and want others to as well, so you hold back the tears and inwardly scold yourself for your "weakness." Crying at work is not allowed, so it must be wrong. Well, if that's the case, then there's a lot of "wrong" going on. In a study by Ginger, an on-demand...

Career Development

5 traits that awesome companies have in common

By Caroline Zaayer Kaufman, Monster contributor

Does your company throw an amazing holiday party, pick up the tab for lunch once a week and serve up unlimited cold-brew coffee? Fun job perks are great, sure, but they’re hardly enough to instill lasting devotion in an employee. What makes a company truly awesome is a winning set of practices and principles. Find out if your employer hits the mark...

Career Development

How to fight sexism in the workplace

By Nicole Yang, Monster staff

Stop us if you’ve heard this one before: A young woman in today’s workplace acts confident and assertive; her peers consider her aggressive and self-promoting. A man exhibits those same traits; he’s seen as a natural leader. Or what about this one: A young woman is in the middle of giving a presentation, when her male co-worker cuts her off in o...

Career Development

7 sure signs you're being overworked as a manager

By Dominique Rodgers, Monster contributor

It’s pretty much a given that as a manager, you’re going to have more high-level responsibilities than the employees you oversee. But feeling chronically overworked and stressed is not something you should just live with as a condition of your job. “Stress is a normal reaction that helps us cope with challenges and threats in the environment, bu...

Career Development

It pays to work for a company that pays you to volunteer

By Isabel Thottam

There’s only one thing better than doing a good deed, and that’s getting paid for it. Offering employees paid time off to volunteer is becoming an increasingly popular perk in the corporate world, and both businesses and employees are feeling the benefits. Not only does paid volunteering get you out of the office and into your community, but it ...

Career Development

How to return to work after parental leave--from someone who's been there

By Mary Ellen Slayter, Monster contributor

What pops into your head when you hear about workplace discrimination against pregnant women and new mothers? Scenes of women being shown the door as soon as they tell their bosses they are expecting? Recruiters visibly losing interest in a candidate as soon as she says she's looking forward to going back to work after baby arrives? Interviewers' f...

Career Development

Your company's bad CEO may be influencing your work more than you think

By Jeremy Harper

No one doubts that a company’s leadership can shape its fortunes over the long term, but researchers have recently found that CEO behavior can also alter the company’s culture and prospects in some surprising ways. A study just published in the Nankai Business Review International looked at CEO and top management team behaviors, and found that...

Career Development

Working on a Holiday? We Have the Information You Need on Holiday Pay Laws and More

By Camilla Andersson, Monster Contributor

If you’re working on a holiday, chances are you’re a bit disappointed. Holiday work can put a damper on anyone’s festive spirit, but there can be silver linings to working on holidays. Depending on your workplace, you may be eligible for extra compensation, and there are also other hidden benefits. How much is holiday pay? We have the details on...

Career Development

Why are so many health care workers going to work sick?

By Stephanie Stephens, Monster contributor

You feel lousy. But like the warrior you are, you march to work anyway. You’ve got plenty of company, as a 2015 study in JAMA Pediatrics proved. Researchers surveyed more than 900 clinicians and found that 94% believed working when sick puts patients at risk. Yet, they didn’t call in sick due to challenges finding coverage, the norm of working t...

Career Development

Here's how to score a 32-hour work week

By Vicki Salemi, Monster career expert

If you felt more productive last week leading up to the holiday on Friday, you’d probably like working at Treehouse, a Portland, Oregon-based company that only requires its employees to put in four days a week every week. The small company's 32-hour work week policy gained a lot of national press attention. And no wonder, with so many of us str...

Career Development

Survey finds employers and employees don't see eye to eye on work-life balance

By Catherine Conlan, Monster Contributing Writer

A recent survey from WorkplaceTrends found about two-thirds of HR professionals say their employees have good work-life balance, but almost half of employees says they don’t. According to the survey, technology may be part of the problem: Almost two-thirds of employees said their managers expect them to be reachable when they’re out of the office. ...

Career Development

What employers lose when they discourage employees from taking time off

By Catherine Conlan, Monster Contributing Writer

U.S. workers often don’t use all the time off they’ve earned. A study by GfK for the U.S. Travel Association found more than 40 percent of employees who have paid time off as one of their job benefits don’t use all of it. That’s a problem employers should be paying attention to because they can lose a lot when employees don’t take enough time off. ...

Career Development

14 Ideas to Participate in Christmas Volunteer Opportunities at Work

By Kathleen Walder, Monster Contributor

The time between Thanksgiving and New Year’s is known as the yearly giving season with family get-togethers, gift-giving between relatives and friends, and Secret Santa events in the workplace. Unfortunately, segments of every community get left behind or can struggle to join in on the holiday celebrations. If you work for a company that sponsor...

Career Development

The Global Workforce Crisis of 2030

We're running into a global workforce crisis come 2030 with an overall labor shortage and a huge skill mismatch and big cultural challenge, says human resources expert Rainer Strack in his TED Talk. Strack says that "high-skilled people, talents, will be the big thing in the next decade," however, they're a scarce resource and businesses have to...

Career Development

Check Your Ego and Pay Your Dues at an Entry-Level Job

By McLean Mills

Entry-level life is challenging for many reasons, the greatest of which is learning to pay your dues. Nobody enters their field at the pinnacle of their goals. I work for some very talented, demanding and successful people. As much as I’d love to jump right to the top of the ladder, I’ve learned to remind myself of these steps and to take it a s...

Career Development

Surprising Health Problems that Come from Working Too Hard

By Monster Contributor

Stress is the culprit for a wide variety of health issues. By Catherine Conlan Monster Contributing Writer Is your job making you sick? A study recently published in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine found that job strain — defined as having high job demands combined with low job control — can increase your risk of developing Type 2 diabe...

Career Development

Working from home can benefit employers as much as employees

By Sarah White, Monster contributor

There are two camps when it comes to working from home. One group usually thinks that people will get nothing done, and the other group believes workers will be happier and more productive. Chances are, your answer greatly depends on how you personally fare when working from home. While some people swear by 40 hours a week in the office, there is g...

Career Development

The summer slowdown at work: Myth or reality?

By Bret Silverberg, Monster Staff Writer

It’s officially the dog days of summer (in the Northern Hemisphere, that is). That seasonal malaise that seems to have set your productivity levels at a molasses-like state. What is it about the middle of summer that causes this? Are companies and organizations on whole actually less productive during this time? “Not exactly,” says workplace ...

Career Development

5 Items You Should Never Put in Your Cubicle

By Monster Contributor

By Taylor Dupuy Monster Contributing Writer Your cubicle is your little bit of turf in the office. It’s normal to want to organize it the way you like and bring in some decorations to personalize it a bit. Still, you can’t forget it really belongs to your employer and is out in the open for anyone who walks by to see. Keep things professional b...

Career Development

Gay employees weigh coming-out issues

By Robert DiGiacomo, for Yahoo! HotJobs

Every lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT) person must figure out the right time -- and most appropriate way -- to come out to family and friends. Transfer the coming-out situation to the workplace, and it becomes even more complex. Even as most Fortune 500 corporations tout LGBT-friendly policies as recruitment tools and the workforce b...

Career Development

More Men Report Sexual Harassment at Work

By Monster Contributor

By Robert DiGiacomo, for Yahoo! HotJobs Defying assumptions about sexual harassment in the workplace, a record percentage of men reported being harassed by male colleagues in 2010, according to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Sexual harassment cases filed by men made up 16.4 percent of the 11,717 sexual harassment charges in fisc...

Career Development

Seven Workplace Lessons from The Office

By Monster Contributor

By Larry Buhl, for Yahoo! HotJobs The TV series The Office is an example of how a company should not operate. It's a virtual laboratory of corporate dysfunction, complete with a narcissistic, childish boss; an ineffective, clueless human resources department; and petty, game-playing coworkers. Is it over-the-top? Sure. Is it completely unreal...

Career Development

Tear Down the Rumor Mill

By Margot Carmichael Lester, Monster Contributing Writer

There’s an element of gossip present in every social enterprise. And while light office gossip and a few comments here and there probably won’t hurt anyone, a pervasive culture of rumor-mongering and trash-talking is detrimental to everyone. “Gossip destroys morale, creates negative energy at work and stops coworkers from becoming a united team,...

Career Development

Seven Reasons to Volunteer as a Corporate Team

By John Rossheim, Monster Senior Contributing Writer

What does building a volunteer group to help families have to do with building a corporate team to succeed in the marketplace? Just ask Tom Ruff, president of recruiter Tom Ruff Co. “One year we took our volunteering cue from our operations manager, who has a niece with a skin disease that prevents her from going outside in daylight,” he says. R...

Career Development

For Air Commuters, It's All About the Connections

By John Rossheim, Monster Senior Contributing Writer

Whether you’ve already put in 1,000 air segments between home and work or are merely considering a job or assignment that will put you on that path, you know commuting by plane isn’t an easy way of life. Perhaps on a weekly basis, you have to make your way across a few states or the entire country in an age when air travel plans are brittle, bec...

Career Development

Finance Fashion Dos and Please Don'ts

By Dona DeZube, Monster Finance Careers Expert

Emboldened by the latest hip music video, you decide to start pruning conservative blacks and browns from your professional wardrobe in favor of riskier attire. Good idea? Probably not, says Mary Lou Andre, president and founding editor of Dressing Well On-Line, a Needham, Massachusetts-based wardrobe management and fashion-consulting firm that tea...

Career Development

Thrive in a Difficult Work Environment

By Michele Marrinan, Monster Contributing Writer

Julie Jaqua has found herself in a rare situation: She and her coworkers love going to work each day at GCI Group, a public relations agency in Los Angeles. "The environment is warm and friendly, yet professional," she says. "Even as an intern, everyone treated me with tremendous respect. This creates such a wonderful environment that even with ...

Career Development

Nurses with disabilities find on-the-job support

By Linda Childers, Monster Contributing Writer

While working as a nurse in today’s healthcare world can be stressful enough, nurses with disabilities can face additional on-the-job challenges, including colleagues who may not feel they are capable of doing the work and needing assistance in a job that often requires strength and stamina. However, by making some adjustments, nurses with disabili...

Career Development

Navigate Company Events

By Peter Vogt, Monster Senior Contributing Writer

Whether it's a formal office party your boss hosts or a casual barbecue at a coworker's house, a work-related social gathering isn't strictly social. The impression you make at the event will impact your job -- for better or, potentially, for worse. "These [people] aren't your friends; they're your colleagues," stresses Marjorie Brody, founder o...

Career Development

The Right Way to IM at Work

By Beverly West, Monster Contributing Writer

Instant messages, or IMs, allow coworkers to exchange information in real time. Yet IMs also present a way for employees to waste time on involved personal conversations. Also, IM technology tends to be insecure and therefore has the potential of leaving corporate networks vulnerable to viruses and hackers. So while most companies are reluctant to ...

Career Development

Seven Ways Admins Can Maintain Work-Life Balance

By John Rossheim, Monster Senior Contributing Writer

Many work-life coaches glibly assert that administrative professionals must be responsible for achieving their own balance in the face of ever-increasing demands -- from 9 to 5 and beyond. But given their spot in the org chart, admins often feel compelled to sacrifice too much for their jobs. “It’s a partnership, but management has the bigger respo...

Career Development

The corporate-culture conundrum

By Susan Bryant, Monster contributor

Jack Sullivan couldn't have been happier after landing his dream job. The position, salary, and perks were exactly what he was looking for. But after the euphoria wore off, he discovered the corporate culture left much to be desired. Going to work was becoming the same daily grind all over again. Initially, he couldn't put his finger on exactly wha...

Career Development

Beat Retail Burnout

By Valerie Lipow, Monster Contributing Writer

If you're committed to a successful retail career, you must be someone who thrives in a competitive, people-oriented environment. That kind of environment can be very stressful, and people can only stay in the pressure-cooker for so long before they start to burn out. If you're in retail, ask yourself: Do you have trouble getting out of be...

Career Development

Stress-management tips for health care workers

By Jennifer LeClaire, Monster contributor

Whether you're an ICU nurse dealing with life-or-death situations, a social worker counseling clients through traumatic events, a pharmacist faced with prescription quotas or another type of patient-care worker coping with your own pressures, learning how to handle stress at work in the health care industry is critical to managing your health care ...

Career Development

Work-Life Balance in Retail

By Valerie Lipow, Monster Contributing Writer

"Flexible hours required." When you see this in a retail job posting, there's a good chance it means: Long hours required as well as nights, weekends and holidays. Blah. Working long and hard is standard procedure for many retail professionals. This is especially true for those who run their own store or are making their way up the corporate lad...

Career Development

Fly Under the Radar to Absorb Delicate Workplace Politics

By Peter Vogt, Monster Senior Contributing Writer

If there's one thing that will truly shock you in your first job after graduation, it's office politics, stemming from the often unbelievable events that occur when people with widely varying backgrounds, agendas and personalities get together in an organization and try to get something done. I'll never forget the political lessons I learned in ...

Career Development

Balance Work and Life as an HR Professional

By Roberta Chinsky Matuson, Monster Contributing Writer

Can an HR professional really have a career and family without tipping the scales? HR professionals are facing the same issues as the employees they support. But can they take advantage of the programs they administer? We asked three HR pros to explain how they keep it all in check. Spousal Support Meet Debra Caplan, HR director of Harcourt General...