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The Increase in Gas Prices Will Not Slow Job Growth

While employers are currently hiring, it looks as though that won’t change—Chris Rupkey, chief financial economist at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd predicted that the US economy is strong enough to endure the recent increase in gasoline prices.

True the unemployment rate in January 2012 was the lowest it has been in three years; however that doesn’t mean we’re out of the woods yet—tensions with Iran pose the greatest risk to the recovery of not only the US but the global economy. With 20% of the world’s oil passing through the Strait of Hormuz and Iran’s threat to close it, the cost of oil is on the rise.

In fact, the cost of gasoline is currently at their highest levels for this time of year and is predicted to reach $5 per gallon in some places by Memorial Day.  This cost will hit consumers hard—but at least it is easier to stomach the price hike when you have a job that you might not have had when this happened last year (How The Situation in The Middle East May Affect Pay Checks).

While it is predicted that job growth won’t slow, that doesn’t mean that consumer spending won’t slump, but on the brightside because gas prices have hit $4.00 per gallon before—we’re used to it.  But if it goes much higher than $4.50 that could be troublesome for the economic recovery and thus job growth.

So let’s all keep our fingers crossed that job growth continues and the price of fuel doesn’t jump passed $4.50—if it does that’s a whole other story.

Our Favorite TV Office Romances In Honor of Valentine’s Day

As flower deliveries are made and those cute, yet terrible tasting candy hearts are consumed—everyone in the HR space seems to be talking about office romances, so I thought that I’d chime in and share some funny office romances from some of my favorite (and not so favorite, but relevant) TV shows.

As always these are in no particular order. (There are spoilers so, consider yourself alerted)

1. The Office—when it comes to the crew at Dunder
   Mifflin, office romances are in full force—in fact I’m not even sure I can name them all, but I can tell you that my favorite couple is Pam and Jim (cliché I know).
   
   
2. Wings—Thanks to reruns on the USA Network, Wings has become part of my late night TV repertoire and so has the relationship between the cute lunch counter owner, Helen Chapel, and Joe Hackett, the owner of Sandpiper Air—a one plane operation—hilarity ensues.
   
   
3. 30 Rock—Liz Lemon has had at least two office romances (that I can think of)—Danny (the new cast member) and the more devastating—Floyd, played by the hilarious Jason Sudeikis.  Their relationship started in typical fashion when Floyd attempted to send flowers to his girlfriend Liz Lemler on Valentine’s Day, but they instead ended up in Lemon’s office.  
   
   
4. New Girl—While this show is new, everyone seems to be smitten and so was Jess (Zoey Deschanel) when she started dating her colleague, Paul (Jason Long).  Their quirky relationship couldn’t have been cuter. 
   
   
5. Glee—I don’t watch this show anymore, but the on-again-off-again relationship between the cute Glee Club sponsor, Mr. Schuster and the OCD guidance counselor, Emma Pillsbury seems to involve the kids at school a little too much if you ask me. 
   
   
6. Mad Men—As for the office romances among coworkers at this fictional 1960s ad firm, there are TOO many to list (and I don’t think I can name one that isn’t scandalous) but all I can say is when it comes to boundaries the employees at Sterling Cooper have none.
   
   
7. Roseanne—George Clooney was on Roseanne—shocking, I know!  But it’s true, Aunt Jackie, dated the dreamy Booker Brookes (portrayed by Clooney), her boss at Wellman Plastics in season one.
   
   
8. Friends—When Rachel worked at Ralph Lauren, she hired an assistant named Tag. His only qualification was that he was cute.
   
   
   
   
9. The West Wing—I guess that working for the President of the United States leaves you very little time for a social life, so it’s not surprising that many of President Bartlet’s staff eventually ended up together or with people they met while working at The White House. My favorite couple award would go to Josh and Donna—I waited seven seasons for them to get together, so I had a lot invested in that relationship.
   
   
10. Ugly Betty—Everyone at Mode Magazine seemed to be having an office romance, whether it was  scandalous or legit, my favorite would have to go to Betty and Henry—America’s cutest nerds.

So if you’re thinking of engaging in an office romance, you probably shouldn’t take your cues from TV shows—but in general they’re probably not the best choice. Oh and Happy Valentine's Day!

Five Ways to Discourage Your Staff from Calling in Sick After the Super Bowl

Monday mornings are hard enough, but factor in a night of indulging, watching commercials (I mean football) and you have a recipe for disaster.

With Super Bowl Sunday rapidly approaching employers around the country should be bracing themselves for a bombardment of calls from employees calling in sick Monday morning because according to a survey conducted on Glassdoor.com, 12% of employees plan to call in sick or schedule a vacation day for the Monday after the big game. 

What’s great about the Super Bowl is that people host parties specifically for this game—even if their team isn’t playing and even if they don’t care about football—it’s amazing! But as a result many overindulge and neglect their responsibilities the next day, i.e. work.

So as an employer how should you handle the day after the big game?

There have been several suggestions:

1. Make it a flex day. Allow employees to flex their time and come into the office later in the day and stay later in the evening to make up the time.
   
   
2. Distribute a post Super Bowl kit. Create these easy “gifts” for your staff.  In them provide some antacids, Alka-Seltzers, breakfast bars, and anything else that’s fun that you can think of that would send the message that we want you to come to work.  These kits are meant to bring relieve to those who went overboard during the game.
   
   
3. Allow employees to come in late. By allowing staff to come into work later in the day, you’ll still get some work out of them—how the employees physically feel is another story.
    
   
4. Throw a post Super Bowl party in the office. Encourage staff to bring in any leftovers from the parties they hosted or attended for a potluck lunch. Allow staff to enjoy lunch together in the office to chat about the game and of course their favorite commercials.  By encouraging employees to take a leisurely lunch together at the office, you might encourage more workers to come into work as the day will seem less official.
   
   
5. Let employees work from home. Permitting employees to work from home is a nice compromise. This way employees that might not feel so great can work from the comfort of their own home. We just hope that they’re actually working.

We hope that everyone has a great time watching the game—even if your team isn’t playing—mine isn’t but I’m going to watch anyway as an excuse to eat guacamole.