Not Ireland specific, but interesting. Paul Rellis of Microsoft it currently the President of IBEC.
Imagine you work at a company where every performance review, regardless of your personal performance, if you fall in the bottom 5% of employees you are either cut or do not receive a bonus. Now the bottom 5% doesn't seem so bad, right, you must be pretty terrible at your job to be in the bottom 5%. But in reality what happens is everyone becomes so concerned that they will end up in the bottom 5% they spend more time figuring out how to avoid doing so by playing office politics than by actually working to innovate. It doesn't seem particularly difficult to grasp why this might present some difficulties, especially in a company that is largely focused on innovation (with any level of innovation you are bound to have a couple of total flops before you figure out what works). If everyone is too scared to take risks for fear of being cut your going to create a culture that copies instead of innovates. What also happens is you create a culture where individuals are desperately looking for other jobs, instead of actually investing in the business.
http://www.vanityfair.com/business/2012/08/microsoft-lost-mojo-steve-ballmer
Above linked is an article highlighting the implications of this performance management system and ties this system to the decline of Microsoft as one of the major players in the technology sector. It takes a special kind of stupid to take a company that has a lions share of the market, with very few competitors (remember even 10 years ago if you owned a MAC you were considered a bit odd) to drive it to the point where everything it develops is just a sad attempt to copy something that Apple or Google or any number of other competitors has done better.
Monday, August 26, 2013
Monday, June 10, 2013
A Grand Day Out
Hiya all,
Hope you all are keeping well and enjoying the summer. Last week there was a major heatwave here with temperatures in the high 70s/ low 80s. It was amazing. Galway is a different place in the heat; everyone is outside and there is such a vibrancy to the place that it lacks when skies are grey. Sadly the warm weather only kicked off after the Bank Holiday Monday. But, mother nature was good and decided to keep it warm for Saturday.
Sam drove (!) out to Lahinch with his dad and me for the day. He has his learner's permit and is working towards his full license and this drive really tested his ability. Mom and Dad, you might remember the harrowing corkscrew hill in the Burren, literally a hill climb composed entirely of corkscrew turns. Sam remarked it looked like a road from Top Gear that they would use to show off a cars handling ability. Lahinch was GORGEOUS! I have no photos, so instead have substituted the Wikipedia page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lahinch . We went to a isolated little beach (if you could even call it that) made up of large flat slabs of rock, no sand. I've never seen anything like it before. It was beautiful, nothing but sun and crystal clear deep water. Had a blast.
Monday means the beginning of another work week. I am settling in to my new job. It isn't exactly the most mentally stimulating of jobs, but it gives me flexibility and the chance to really make the most of my free time. I've ordered the Rosetta Stone Irish Cds and they should be coming to me within the month. I am going to give learning Irish a go. Other than that I'm keeping busy with enjoying the sun, making softies and attempting to start a food blog, that now has all of one post...It isn't really going to get off the ground until I have the chance to get my camera together. I'm still in the middle of moving so I have my camera, but don't have the foggiest idea which of my many suitcases the charger ended up in. I'll post a link once it is actually up and running.
Hope everything is well with all of you!
Hope you all are keeping well and enjoying the summer. Last week there was a major heatwave here with temperatures in the high 70s/ low 80s. It was amazing. Galway is a different place in the heat; everyone is outside and there is such a vibrancy to the place that it lacks when skies are grey. Sadly the warm weather only kicked off after the Bank Holiday Monday. But, mother nature was good and decided to keep it warm for Saturday.
Sam drove (!) out to Lahinch with his dad and me for the day. He has his learner's permit and is working towards his full license and this drive really tested his ability. Mom and Dad, you might remember the harrowing corkscrew hill in the Burren, literally a hill climb composed entirely of corkscrew turns. Sam remarked it looked like a road from Top Gear that they would use to show off a cars handling ability. Lahinch was GORGEOUS! I have no photos, so instead have substituted the Wikipedia page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lahinch . We went to a isolated little beach (if you could even call it that) made up of large flat slabs of rock, no sand. I've never seen anything like it before. It was beautiful, nothing but sun and crystal clear deep water. Had a blast.
Monday means the beginning of another work week. I am settling in to my new job. It isn't exactly the most mentally stimulating of jobs, but it gives me flexibility and the chance to really make the most of my free time. I've ordered the Rosetta Stone Irish Cds and they should be coming to me within the month. I am going to give learning Irish a go. Other than that I'm keeping busy with enjoying the sun, making softies and attempting to start a food blog, that now has all of one post...It isn't really going to get off the ground until I have the chance to get my camera together. I'm still in the middle of moving so I have my camera, but don't have the foggiest idea which of my many suitcases the charger ended up in. I'll post a link once it is actually up and running.
Hope everything is well with all of you!
Sunday, April 28, 2013
Gainful Employment
Hello all!
So it's been ages since I've updated this...apologies. It has been a bit up and down the last couple of weeks so I was waiting till I had good news to report, and now I do. I have job in the HR department of the University in Galway. I just started at the end of last week, so not much to report on the ins and outs if the job. However, I can report that I have moved back to Galway and could not be more delighted. My stint at Irish BEC came to an end with a little bit of drama, but that seems to have sorted itself and the new job is lovely. I am working in recruitment, basically as an Admin. Assistant. It is incredibly easy and extremely low stress. I work 33 hours a week and earn more than I did at my old job. I cannot believe it all fell into place. This job will give me the exposure to the everyday admin side of HR that I didn't get in my old role, so will really help to strengthen my resume. I don't know how long the current contract is for, but it won't run over 11 months, which is fine by me. Means I am in there long enough to learn how things work, but not long enough to get to complacent with my greatly reduced work load.
Other than that I am searching for a place to live. I am over the moon to finally be able to have my own flat. I can start properly cooking again, and monopolize the TV while I work on craft projects. My old housemates were lovely, but 5 in a house is a bit too many for my liking long term. Also, moving to Galway means I will be here for the summer! Nothing beats a sunny day in Galway during the summer. It is absolutely stunning and I am so happy to not have to think about miserable Galway winters for a good few months. It's still cold here, but nothing compared to the snow and cold the midwest has been getting.
Hope all is well with everyone!
So it's been ages since I've updated this...apologies. It has been a bit up and down the last couple of weeks so I was waiting till I had good news to report, and now I do. I have job in the HR department of the University in Galway. I just started at the end of last week, so not much to report on the ins and outs if the job. However, I can report that I have moved back to Galway and could not be more delighted. My stint at Irish BEC came to an end with a little bit of drama, but that seems to have sorted itself and the new job is lovely. I am working in recruitment, basically as an Admin. Assistant. It is incredibly easy and extremely low stress. I work 33 hours a week and earn more than I did at my old job. I cannot believe it all fell into place. This job will give me the exposure to the everyday admin side of HR that I didn't get in my old role, so will really help to strengthen my resume. I don't know how long the current contract is for, but it won't run over 11 months, which is fine by me. Means I am in there long enough to learn how things work, but not long enough to get to complacent with my greatly reduced work load.
Other than that I am searching for a place to live. I am over the moon to finally be able to have my own flat. I can start properly cooking again, and monopolize the TV while I work on craft projects. My old housemates were lovely, but 5 in a house is a bit too many for my liking long term. Also, moving to Galway means I will be here for the summer! Nothing beats a sunny day in Galway during the summer. It is absolutely stunning and I am so happy to not have to think about miserable Galway winters for a good few months. It's still cold here, but nothing compared to the snow and cold the midwest has been getting.
Hope all is well with everyone!
Saturday, January 5, 2013
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year
Hiya all! I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas (or Happy Christmas as they say in Ireland) and that everyone's New Year has gotten off to a great start. I had a wonderful holiday, my parents came over to visit for Christmas and we did a bit of a tour around. We went to Galway, Cork and Dublin. The weather in true Irish fashion was completely crap, so the holiday centered primarily around eating. I can't complain since it is my favourite hobby :)
I hope Christmas cards arrived, I mailed them a bit later than I should of, and given the Irish postal service they may not have arrived at all, but they were sent out, I promise.
Work is going well. Not too excited to start back, could definitely use another couple of days break, but the trainees got extra time off, so I am grateful for that. The next section of the program has us split with two of us working in the main Dublin branch, one of us in a regional branch and one of us placed with a member company. So it will be a bit lonelier around the office and whoever is in placed in the Industrial Relations/ Human Resources rotation is going to be completely swamped with work...eeps. But, all that aside it is a wonderful experience and far and away the best job I've had. There are moments as with an job which are a bit trying, but the organisation is very invested in the program.
The week before break I carried out my first adjournment. Employment law does not run through the normal court system here, but instead through a set of quasi-judicial bodies: the Labour Court, the Employment Appeals Tribunal, the Rights Commissioner Service, and the Equality Tribunal. For the Labour Court, adjournments must be filed and carried out similar, though less formally than they would be in a normal court of law. So I had to request and adjournment, which is normally a pretty straight forward process. Not this time...twenty minutes of integration and being given out to by the Chairman, just my luck. It was kinda of a buzz, though and even though it was something small, it's the first time I've formally presented in front of any of the Employment Rights bodies.
I'm sure some of you heard about my house excitement. We were burgled by someone who had a key to the house a couple of weeks before Christmas. My housemates and I had our laptops stolen and it was a pretty upsetting. Definitely a wake up call in terms of trusting the people you live with, since one of the people in the house seems to have had some involvement in the whole thing. The individual who was the problem is gone, the locks are changed, the alarm is fixed and the rules of the house have been changed, thanks to fighting with my landlord for ages. It is all sorted and no one got hurt. A few of the people I work with were also burgled before Christmas, so upsetting and there isn't really anything the police can do about it. I find it ironic that of all the traveling and moving I've done, Ireland is the only place I've ever had a problem.
Onward and upward though.
A quick thank you for the Christmas wishes and presents that made there way over here. It is so sweet and much appreciated. Shout out to Aunt Pam, the Beadazzler will be put to excellent use! Thank you notes are on there way soon, but again, with the post system there's about a 75% chance of arrival.
Wishing you all the happiest of New Years, I know a lot happened in the last couple of months and here's hoping we are on to better things!
I hope Christmas cards arrived, I mailed them a bit later than I should of, and given the Irish postal service they may not have arrived at all, but they were sent out, I promise.
Work is going well. Not too excited to start back, could definitely use another couple of days break, but the trainees got extra time off, so I am grateful for that. The next section of the program has us split with two of us working in the main Dublin branch, one of us in a regional branch and one of us placed with a member company. So it will be a bit lonelier around the office and whoever is in placed in the Industrial Relations/ Human Resources rotation is going to be completely swamped with work...eeps. But, all that aside it is a wonderful experience and far and away the best job I've had. There are moments as with an job which are a bit trying, but the organisation is very invested in the program.
The week before break I carried out my first adjournment. Employment law does not run through the normal court system here, but instead through a set of quasi-judicial bodies: the Labour Court, the Employment Appeals Tribunal, the Rights Commissioner Service, and the Equality Tribunal. For the Labour Court, adjournments must be filed and carried out similar, though less formally than they would be in a normal court of law. So I had to request and adjournment, which is normally a pretty straight forward process. Not this time...twenty minutes of integration and being given out to by the Chairman, just my luck. It was kinda of a buzz, though and even though it was something small, it's the first time I've formally presented in front of any of the Employment Rights bodies.
I'm sure some of you heard about my house excitement. We were burgled by someone who had a key to the house a couple of weeks before Christmas. My housemates and I had our laptops stolen and it was a pretty upsetting. Definitely a wake up call in terms of trusting the people you live with, since one of the people in the house seems to have had some involvement in the whole thing. The individual who was the problem is gone, the locks are changed, the alarm is fixed and the rules of the house have been changed, thanks to fighting with my landlord for ages. It is all sorted and no one got hurt. A few of the people I work with were also burgled before Christmas, so upsetting and there isn't really anything the police can do about it. I find it ironic that of all the traveling and moving I've done, Ireland is the only place I've ever had a problem.
Onward and upward though.
A quick thank you for the Christmas wishes and presents that made there way over here. It is so sweet and much appreciated. Shout out to Aunt Pam, the Beadazzler will be put to excellent use! Thank you notes are on there way soon, but again, with the post system there's about a 75% chance of arrival.
Wishing you all the happiest of New Years, I know a lot happened in the last couple of months and here's hoping we are on to better things!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)