Newsletter, Jan 29 2007

If you're hankering after a promotion, be aware that it might end up being one of the most challenging life experiences you will ever go through.

Research published last week by HR consultancy DDI found that getting promoted is second only to dealing with a divorce in terms of stress and worry - and many companies do not do enough to help their people make it up the greasy pole. Meanwhile the more senior you are, the more the challenge intensifies.
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But if you're fed up with the daily trawl to and from work and keen to work from home now and again, be prepared to wave that promotion goodbye.

A study by recruitment firm Korn/Ferry International has found that American managers remain hugely sceptical about the benefits of remote working, believing workers who "telecommute" have all but stepped off the career ladder, are troublesome to manage and often difficult to communicate with.

In fact nearly two thirds of executives believe telecommuters are less likely to advance up the career ladder than their colleagues stuck back in the office.

Yet, at the same time it can only be a matter of time before attitudes start to change, as the survey also found that lure of being able to pad from bedroom to office rather than braving the freeway is growing ever stronger among even the most senior managers.
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Being overweight is something else that could also harm your career prospects - and there's very little you can do about it. Indeed in the UK at least, employers who discriminate against obese job candidates are quite within their rights to do so - as long as there is no medical reason for their weight problem.

According to law firm DWF, UK law offers no specific protection against 'fattism'. But being overweight is not sufficient grounds to sack an existing employee unless it is affecting their performance, the firm warned.
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From being the preserve of the fortunate few just a decade ago, coaching has hit the corporate mainstream as a new survey finds that fully half of managers in the U.S. have received some sort of coaching in the workplace in recent years.

Minneapolis-based consultants CO2 Partners surveyed almost 3,500 middle to senior-level executives via the Internet and found that half had been provided with coaching on more than one occasion. Fewer than four out of 10 said that they had never been offered coaching by their employer.
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So what are some of the issues that might be preying on the minds of these executives? According to a survey by Accenture of more than 900 C-suite executives in the North America, Europe, and Asia, worries about their organisation's ability to maintain a common corporate culture around the world now outweighing even geopolitical issues as the biggest source of concern.

Moreover, nearly a quarter of executives believe that difficulties building a common global culture and adapting to local ways of doing business mean that their organisations are poorly equipped to succeed as global enterprises.
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In many European organisations, meanwhile, finding the right staff is proving to be a major headache, with the situation being excaerbated by a major gulf between the expectations of employers and those of job seekers.

A survey of 1,000 job seekers and over 700 employers by recruitment company Angela Mortimer plc found that almost eight out of 10 companies struggled to attract the staff they wanted in 2006 with many experiencing a longer and more expensive recruitment process compared to 2005. And things are set to get even worse this year.
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