Administrative
Assistant's
Professional Development for Canada's Office Support Staff
PM #40065782
Presenteeism
"epidemic"
Presenteeism is a relatively new
buzzword for an old problem:
it's when people come to work
when they should really be at
home. For instance:
• when they're sick or injured;
• too soon after the death of a
loved one; or
• when they have any other
condition that means they're
functioning well below par.
One recent study says that 93
per cent of employees come to
work when they're ill. The survey of more than 1,000 workers
said about 33 per cent of them
would rather use their annual
leave time rather than take sick
days. Other people come in
rather than stay home because
they "didn't think it was serious
enough to take time off," according to the study.
Inside
Assert yourself!. . . . . . . . . . 4
Our communications expert tells
you in no uncertain terms how to
improve your speech.
Who or whom? . . . . . . . . . . 5
Two of the most frequently
misused words.
Stupid questions . . . . . . . . . 7
Are there any? Oh, yes.
Sleep is #1. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Tips from media mogul Arianna
Huffington on getting ahead.
UPDATE
DECEMBER 2013
Borrow someone's vacation
Use her time off to upgrade your skills: It's a win-win
By Helen Latimer
Many of us struggle to
find the time to upgrade our skills or learn
new ones. Between our
work and our personal
commitments, it can
be impossible to block
off the time needed to
enroll in a course or
attend a workshop. It
occurred to me that vacation time is perhaps
a missed opportunity.
I don't mean using
your vacation time to
attend classes (although if that works
for you, carpe diem).
Rather, I'm suggesting finding
out when a colleague will be away
on vacation and jumping in to see if
you can take on one of their duties
or assignments while she's away.
A real-life example that worked
An admin I worked with, Anna (she
and her situation are real but I've
changed her name), was looking for
ways to expand the types of projects
she was involved in at work.
A fellow admin, Salome, was
often involved in different projects than were available to Anna.
When Salome began planning her
vacation, Anna made a pitch to get
approval to take on some of the responsibilities. Anna's thinking was
it would be a chance for her to 1)
demonstrate her interest in upgrad-
Photo: Monkey Business Images/Shutterstock.com
ing her skills, 2) demonstrate her
ability to take on new assignments
and 3) learn some new skills.
Anna's first step was to approach
Salome. She took Salome out for
coffee and presented her idea. She
asked if there was a particular assignment or project Salome was
working on where it would be helpful to have Anna involved, so work
on the project could continue while
Salome was on vacation.
Planning
Anna and Salome sorted things out,
how Anna would get up to speed,
how things would be communicated, and so on.
The second step was for Anna
Continued on page 4
