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They can make you smile.  Or cringe.  Or annoy the hell out of you if you're someone like me, who gets one in an email and doesn't have a clue what it stands for.   We're talking emojis . How can something invented barely 20 years ago in Japan (has it really been that long?).  And who came up with the word??? In any event, a new report investigates what effect they have on pretty much the last place you'd expect them.  The workplace.  Or, at least, the places I worked.  In fact,  sending and receiving emojis in the workplace could have an impact on productivity and innovation in the workplace, according to newswise.com. University of Delaware  management  professor  Kyle Emich  has explored the effects of emotions on teams and performance and is now taking on what effect, if any, they have on innovation and productivity. "In our lab, we normally induce emotional states by showing people happy or sad video clips or p...

When given a task, who hasn't set about it with great gusto and panache, hoping to get it done quickly? Well now a new study is saying that's not the way to do it. According to newswise.com, real productivity comes when we have an initial push, yes, but then lie back a little. Researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing (figures, right?)  developed a model to gain insight into how workers’ efforts are best distributed over a single workday. The ideal profiles of effort follow one of two patterns, depending on the nature of the work: A high-low-high effort pattern, they found, is the best way to manage fatigue when the  rate  at which the employee works can be modulated. The idea is to begin and end the day with maximum intensity, but take it easier in the middle. But in some jobs, effort cannot be modulated. Workers operating a machine, or attending to customers at a retail store or restaurant, or performing mental tasks that require constant conce...

I guess we can't totally blame Trump.  But incivility in the workplace is becoming an epidemic, according to a new study. As reported at newswise.com, condescending comments, put-downs, and sarcasm have become commonplace, and here, well, okay, I won't blame Trump. OK, so I'm making fun, but it turns out this is a serious concern because experiencing such rude behavior, well, makes us rude, too.  And then it just spreads. The study found that it reduces our own self-control and makes us respond in kind.  And now what kind of a workplace do you have? "People who are recipients of rudeness at work feel mentally fatigued, as a result, because uncivil behaviors are somewhat ambiguous and require employees to figure out whether there was any abusive intent," say the authors.   "This mental fatigue, in turn, leads people to act uncivil toward other workers.  In other words, they pay the incivility forward." While curt remarks and other forms of incivi...

When I worked in one office, I often went out to lunch with my colleagues.  They were all women and about the same age, and three of us out of 7 were pregnant at the same time! But in other offices I either worked through lunch or took lunch alone. Now a new study is saying that workers who do break bread together are more productive. Actually, what researchers looked into was if companies who invest in upscale cafeterias or catered meals (think: Google), getting a good return on their investment? According to a new Cornell University study, the answer is yes.  Cornell professors found that firefighter platoons who eat meals together have better group job performance compared with firefighter teams who dine solo. Now, I've interviewed firefighters and their meals are one of the high points of their day.  They love sharing the cooking and joking around while someone's at the stove. “Eating together is a more intimate act than looking over an Excel spreadsh...

Love it.  So this is what some employers're thinking should be your routine for the day.  Really. Check what? That's right.  A survey has found that "'homing from work' may be the key," according to smartplanet.com.  New research by digital media firm Captivate Network shows that "merging work and your personal life in office hours may be the best method to not only maintain a better work-life balance, but also increase productivity while you're at your desk." I remember trying to sneak onto msnbc.com (and yes, QVC, for the Today's Special Value, just might have that sheet set that I need), when I worked at a desk in an office.  Then employers switched to software that could track your every move so I had to stop.  (Strangely enough, working from home, I never check either!) smartplanet.com notes that the company compared answers given in a survey this year to one two years previously. As a result, "There was an 11 percent incre...

So what's the most productive workday?  Monday, when everyone's fresh from two days off?   Wednesday, hump day, when the week's half-over?  If you guessed Tuesday , you'd be right. That's because, Tyler Falk quotes  Max Messmer , Accountemps chairman,   "Many workers spend Monday catching up from the previous week and planning the one ahead . On Tuesday, employees may begin to have time to focus on individual tasks and become more productive." Falk notes that  Tuesday was thought to be the most productive day by 39 percent of HR managers, while Thursday and Friday tied as the least productive days with three percent each (Monday received 24 percent and Wednesday received 14 percent). Now I don't know about you but Tuesday's not my best day of the week.  I'm still in a slump from Monday, which I find depressing.  By hump day, I'm starting to recover.  Thursday is a happy day because it's only one day away from Friday -- and the ...

Not a big surprise.  A new survey has found that the care provided by female doctors is of a better quality than that that provided by males.  But male doctors are more productive.  I guess that's probably how it works together -- male doctors spend less time, get more done. The study team reached this answer by looking at over 800 Quebec practitioners (half of whom were women), relating to their procedures with elderly diabetic patients but I'm sure it would be the same in this country! "Women had significantly higher scores in terms of compliance with practice guidelines. They were more likely than men to prescribe recommended medications and to plan required examinations,” newswsie.com quotes lead study author Valérie Martel, with the Department of Health Administration. In Quebec all patients aged 65 and over with diabetes must undergo an eye exam by an ophthalmologist or optometrist every two years, according to the Web site. They must also receive three prescr...

Not surprisingly, our poor diet, lack of exercise and smoking are all contributing to our nation's downfall in the health arena. And new report claims that this very failure is also what's made our economy sputter.  According to a story by Derek Yach, "There is a direct link between the health of the U.S. workforce and the overall wellbeing of the U.S. economy." Yach notes that 50% of Americans are living with at least one chronic disease, and this costs the healthcare system dearly, while affecting productivity, because when you're sick, you take a sick day.  And if a lot of you are sick a lot, well, that could very well hurt your company's bottom line. Workplace health has a big effect on economic productivity and "critical to reducing the national debt." We're falling behind other countries in this way, Yach writes, adding that Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development Countries (OECD) competitors are leaving us in the du...

Well, maybe a little.  But a new study just out says workers 60 and older (I'll be there soon) are earning more than their younger counterparts.  Now, I hope that doesn't mean at Burger King! According to smartplanet.com, "Older workers are more educated, more productive, and make more money than ever before. And with the increasing numbers of Baby Boomers hitting age-60 mark, these trends are only going to accelerate." Wish I could say I'd seen it.  I've been out of work for about six months and though there are some bright spots on the horizon, I must confess that I'm pretty cagey about my past experience.  I've even, I hate to admit it, lied about my college graduation and first job dates. But recently I had an interview that went well (we'll see) and I was overjoyed to see that one of the people interviewing me was at least as old as me.  (Of course, the executive above her looked about 20!) I, too, used to think people in their 60s sh...

In the days I did it, it was looked down upon.  I'm talking about job-hopping.  I grew bored easily and within a year or two, was always ready to move on.  In my 25 years of working, I've had seven jobs -- though five of them were within my first seven years. Today job-hopping is common, if not expected.  And a new article by The New York Times' Steve Lohr tells why the ability to now crunch "big data" is allowing companies to not only get into their customers' minds, but their employees', as well, which is turning out to be almost as important. Joe McKendrick reports at smartplanet.com that, as a result of Lohr's exploration, "some conventional wisdom about worker productivity is already being shattered." The first?  Job-hoppers make great employees.  "A study of 20,000 hourly workers finds 'virtually no distinction in tenure between applicants that had held no jobs in the last five years and applicants that had held many jobs...