PRNewswire

As working moms schedule family time for Mother's Day weekend, many will be hoping to receive the one present you can’t buy at a store: More quality time with their families. CareerBuilder.com recently surveyed 880 working moms. The results: 43 percent of working moms said they would take a pay cut if it meant they could spend more time with their kids, and 34 percent stated they would be willing to give up 10 percent or more of their salaries.

Other results:

• For working moms with more than one source of income, just over half (51 percent) of working moms indicated they would leave their job if their spouse or significant other made enough money to support the entire family.

• 17 percent reported they had missed three or more significant events in their child’s life in the last year; 27 percent had missed two or more.

Even when working moms are at home, work can still get in the way of family time. Sixteen percent of working moms reported bringing work home at least three days a week, while one in five said work comes home with them every workday. Close to a quarter (24 percent) said work had negatively impacted the relationships they have with their children.

"More than 25 percent of working moms are dissatisfied with their work/life balance," said Mary Delaney, chief sales officer at CareerBuilder.com and mother of three. "As companies continue to experience a tighter labor market, the importance of retaining star employees is requiring them to implement benefits that actually encourage workers to improve the balance between their professional and family lives. From flexible work schedules to job sharing to telecommuting, company-wide work/life initiatives are becoming much more universal."

Delaney recommends the following tips for managing the working mom balancing act:

1. Sell your boss on a more flexible work schedule. Start by contacting your human resources department or consulting the employee manual to determine whether your company has a telecommuting program already in place. If one exists, you can build your proposal on actual policies.

2. Keep one calendar. Unfortunately it’s often easier to cancel on your child than on a potential client. Scheduling business and family obligations on the same calendar will lessen your chances of forgetting a personal commitment when you’re planning work activities. It will also help you avoid over-scheduling and alert you if your commitments are unbalanced.

3. Make time for family. Schedule activities for only your family on the weekends and when possible during the week. Also, try to schedule a few minutes each day to call your children to talk about their school day as well as plans for the evening.

4. Slow down. Stop and enjoy the activities and people around you, both inside and outside the office. Whenever possible, schedule time between meetings and leave your evenings free so you can refuel throughout and at the end of each day. Resist the urge to bring too many projects home over the weekends.

5. Share responsibilities. No matter how efficient you are, there is only so much you can accomplish in one day. If you’re a manager, make sure that you are delegating appropriately instead of trying to do everything yourself. Doing so will reduce your workload and help your staff build their skills.

Would you take a pay cut if it meant you'd have more time with your children? Who works more hours away from home: You or your significant other?

It’s Flexible Work Arrangement Week (May 4-10).

Flexible work arrangements are alternate arrangements or schedules from the traditional work day and work week. Maybe you work 40 hours in four days instead of five. Maybe you start two hours earlier so you can leave by 3 p.m. Maybe you work from home to save gas money, or job-share with another part-timer.

These alternate schedules are designed to help employees meet personal or family needs. But companies see the benefits, too: Companies that offer their employees flexible work arrangements may be better able to attract and keep good employees, as well as reduce absenteeism, improve employee morale, and have happier, more satisfied workers.

Do you have a flexible work arrangement? What was your motivation and how did you sell your boss on your new schedule? What are the benefits? What are the drawbacks?

According to Tamara Erickson, author of the upcoming book “Retire Retirement,” the days of golfing through one’s retirement years are gone. No longer do retirees want to spend their golden years gardening, learning a new hobby, or watching TV movies. Erickson’s book suggests many people are taking advantage of retirement as an opportunity for a second career.

“We’re living in a day and age where the last 30 or so years of your adult life are as important as the first 30,” Erickson said. “So much of what you read or hear about older workers is kind of gloomy and presents retirement years as scary and dismal. Meanwhile, it’s really an opportunity for people to look at their lives and say, ’If I could do it all over again,’ and actually do it all over again.” (Source: Asscoiated Press)

What about you? Will you use your retirement to "do it all over again" or do you want an old-fashioned retirement, filled with golf tees, a nice breeze, and little else? Do you see retirement as a chance to tackle a new profession?

Top 10 most outrageous reasons for showing up late

PRNewswire

If the minutes on the clock seem to fly by in the morning as you frantically run around collecting your keys, getting your kids out the door and grabbing your bills to make it to work on time, you’re not alone. According to a recent CareerBuilder.com survey, 15 percent of workers say they arrive late to work at least once a week, while nearly one in four of all workers (24 percent) admit to making up fake excuses to explain their tardiness.

The CareerBuilder.com survey, "Late to Work," was conducted Feb. 11-March 13 among 2,757 employers and 6,987 workers.

"Although flexible schedules are more common in the workplace these days, it is still important for employees to be mindful of their arrival times," said Rosemary Haefner, vice president of human resources for CareerBuilder.com. "Consistently showing up late can affect how others in the company view your work ethic and discipline, as well as affect your productivity."

While 43 percent of hiring managers say they don’t mind if their employees are late as long as their work is completed on time with good quality, others are much stricter and would consider terminating an employee if he or she arrives late several times a year.

When asked to identify the primary cause for coming in late, more than 32 percent of workers claimed traffic was the culprit. Falling back asleep was the reason cited by 17 percent, while 7 percent pointed to a long commute as the main cause. Other popular reasons included getting kids ready for school and day care, forgetting something at home, and feeling sick.

While the majority of hiring managers believe their employees’ reasons for being late to work, more than 27 percent say they are skeptical of the excuses.

Hiring managers provided the following top 10 examples of the most unusual excuses employees offered for arriving late to work:

1. "While rowing across the river to work, I got lost in the fog."

2. "Someone stole all my daffodils."

3. "I had to go audition for ‘American Idol.’"

4. "My ex-husband stole my car so I couldn’t drive to work."

5. "My route to work was shut down by a Presidential motorcade."

6. "I wasn’t thinking and accidentally went to my old job."

7. "I was indicted for securities fraud this morning."

8. "The line was too long at Starbucks."

9. "I was trying to get my gun back from the police."

10. "I didn’t have money for gas because all of the pawn shops were closed."

By Mary Ellen Slayter, The Washington Post

About a third of workers say they have either initiated or been the target of an April Fool’s Day prank, according to a survey by Harris Interactive for CareerBuilder.com. Covering someone’s cube with aluminum foil, faking a resignation or gluing office supplies to the desk were among the most common pranks reported in CareerBuilder.com’s survey. But, a few others were more memorable:

• Placing a pair of pants and shoes inside the only toilet stall in a men’s room to make it appear as though someone was using the stall. They sat there for hours until someone called security to check if the person had died.

• All the women in an office individually spoke to the president, confiding their pregnancies. By noon, he "knew" that all of his female workers were pregnant but could not tell anyone because each had asked for confidentiality.

• A vending soda machine filled with cans of beer.

• Placing a sign on the rest-room door that read, "The Company ran out of toilet tissue; please use your own resources."

If you’re planning a prank of your own, keep in mind the culture of your office as well as the attitude of your target. Even at the most-laid-back office, not everyone will share your idea of "fun." Avoid anything that could be construed as mean-spirited, such as fake love notes.

What pranks have you played/experienced at work?

By Jessica Guynn, Los Angeles Times

SAN FRANCISCO — As the birthplace of technology, Silicon Valley may have more gadgets per capita than any other place on the planet. Yet, even here, "always on" can be a real turn off.

Frustrated by distracted workers so plugged in that they tune out in the middle of business meetings, a growing number of companies are going "topless," as in no laptops allowed. Also banned from some conference rooms: BlackBerrys, iPhones and other personal devices on which so many have come to depend.

Meetings have never been popular in Silicon Valley. Engineers would rather write code than talk about it. Over the years, companies have come up with innovative ways to keep staff meetings from sucking up time. Some remove chairs to force everyone to talk fast on their feet. Others get everyone to drink a glass of water beforehand.

But as laptops have gotten lighter and smart phones even smarter, people have discovered a handy diversion, making more eye contact these days with their screens than each other. The practice became so pervasive that Todd Wilkens turned to his company blog to wage his "personal war against CrackBerry."

"In this age of wireless Internet and mobile e-mail devices, having an effective meeting or working session is becoming more and more difficult. Laptops, Blackberries, Sidekicks, iPhones, and the like keep people from being fully present," he wrote in November 2007. "Aside from just being rude, partial attention generally leads to partial results."

His San Francisco design firm, Adaptive Path, now strongly encourages everyone to leave their laptops at their desks. His colleague, Dan Saffer, coined the term "topless" as in "laptop-less." Also booted are mobile and smart phones, which must be stowed on a counter or in a box during meetings. It took some convincing, but soon people began connecting with each other rather than with their computers, Wilkens said.

"All of our meetings got a lot more productive," he said.