Watch your back—your office pal may be trying to destroy your career.
If you’ve had a job, you know the type: a colleague who's friendly and helpful on the surface—but who's career poison.
These workplace “frenemies” come in many guises, so be alert to the dangers lurking beneath some warm or appealing demeanors. Many frenemies mean no harm, while others are bullies whose power plays must be checked, according to Donna Flagg, the author of “Surviving Dreaded Conversations: How to Talk Through Any Difficult Situation at Work.”
“Once they’re outed, they become more self-conscious of their behavior, and it's less likely they’ll do it again,” Flagg says.
To help you identify workplace frenemies, here’s a rundown of six common types—as well as solutions for dealing with them:
1. The Politician spends a lot of time trumpeting his or her accomplishments—and maybe some of yours—to superiors, according to Blaine Loomer, the author of “Corporate Bull****: A Survival Guide.” Make sure you don’t let his or her grandstanding upstage your contributions.
“The Politician will tell you one thing and tell the boss something else,” Loomer says. "They’re in the boss’s office every five minutes, declaring their indispensable worth.”
Solution: Keep your manager and colleagues in email chains, so your work is documented and the Politician can’t take all the credit. If people around you are blowing their own horns, you have to join the orchestra.
On January 18, 2009, the U.S. Government posted brand new regulations regarding the H-2B Visa. Many have criticized this proposed rule for imposing stiffer requirements and increased costs on employers who are trying to hire a legal workforce through the H-2B program, while at the same time failing to provide a sound method for strong enforcement against employers that hire unauthorized aliens.
Department of Homeland Security recognizes these concerns; however, compliance measures included in this rule making are necessary to ensure the integrity of the H-2B program and to protect workers’ rights.
The H2B program helps to save full-time, year-round jobs held by Americans by supplementing the workforce with seasonal, temporary workers. Since many Americans do not want these seasonal jobs, businesses are forced to hire foreign workers, who are ready and willing to fill empty seasonal temporary positions. One of the major changes initiated in the new rule is the inability for any recruiter, agent, attorney or employer to charge the H2B worker a fee that is conditional upon receiving a job offer for H2B employment.
In the past, potential workers would pay recruiters to find them jobs and handle the massive amounts of paperwork that went with the visa program for the state work-force agency, the U.S. Department of Labor, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. State Department. The employees were happy to pay because they had guaranteed work when they got here. Now the recruiters are looking for money from the employers and that’s an expense owners didn’t budget for and can’t really afford at this time.”
With the restricted number of visas, the soaring cost of legal petitions, the high rate of H2B visa refusals, as well as the recently enacted law that forbids charging the H2B applicants for the immigration and job-finding services, has made many employers withdraw from filing for H2B workers last season.
Paul Monte, general manager and CEO of Gurney’s Inn Resort, Spa and Conference Center in Montauk, New York said: The program is constantly changing and constantly becoming more onerous and hard to follow,” “I’m sure the intent is to legislate the program out of existence. It’s being labeled as an immigration program when it’s not—it’s a labor program. The people are very happy working for their contracted time and going home. They don’t come here with the intention of staying”.
“When the program is monitored by employers that follow the rules, it’s a wonderful program,” Monte added.
The program is vital to keep the industry going, said Shawn McBurney, senior vice president for governmental affairs for the American Hotel & Lodging Association.
“When you get visa workers, you’re able to operate at full capacity, making more revenue and allowing the hotel to retain full-time workers year round,” McBurney said. “If you don’t have visa workers, you can’t operate at full capacity, and that puts full-time workers at risk.”
Despite the above, there is expected to be a shortage of American workers for the foreseeable future, even with the high rate of unemployment in the United States.
Although the H2B market is slower than usual E-JAM and many other people in the industry believe that the H2B program will improve tremendously by 2010. E-JAM has also increased its recruitment efforts in both Canada and the United Kingdom.
Excerpts from articles by: Elaine Yetzer Simon - H2B Portal – Coalition Sapochnick
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What should supervisors do if they receive a telephone call requesting information on an existing or former employee? Policies should address what the recipient of the call should do. For example:
Refer the call to HR.
Request the identity of the caller.
Ask why the information is being sought.
Take the name and telephone number of the caller so that the information provided by the caller can be confirmed as accurate.
Ask for a written request from the person seeking the reference.
Contact the employee before giving out information.
Request written authorization from the employee.
Provide the information in writing.
Confirm the dates of employment and positions held.
Other Types of Reference Request
Requests concerning currently employed individuals. It is customary not to answer a request for information on a current employee without the individual's consent.
The amount of information given may vary depending upon the identity of the requester. For example, if an employee is seeking to qualify for a home improvement loan, an employer may want to be more cooperative than if it is a former employer trying to locate the employee.
Termination letters. If your state requires you to provide employees with a letter detailing the reasons for the employee's termination, the policy should address how to prepare the letter. Consider obtaining legal advice before responding to a written request.
The economy is going bad to worse and one of the greatest examples for this is the falling demand for the H-1B visa. It has come as a surprise to many people around the globe that the USCIS did not reach the H-1B cap yet. It was only a year ago, when USCIS received 163,000 H-1B visa petitions for H-1B visas during the first seven days of April, far more than the 65,000 work permits available for highly trained foreigners. This year, it has been more than a week but USCIS received only 44,000 H-1B visa petitions.
The economists had already predicated about this. Economists believe the reason behind the sharp fall in the demand for H-1B visa is – the economy. The economy recession had a drastic impact on the demand for H-1B visa but now the question is – will the economic conditions affect the seasonal employment the same way?
We of course cannot predict the possible impact of the economic recession on seasonal employment. Some of the immigration lawyers believe that the H-2B visa will not be affected by the US economic conditions the same way like H-1B. And the reason behind this, they said, is H-2B is only a temporary worker visa. Prospective US employers will any how need the people to meet their seasonal and temporary employment demands.
Enhancements to H-2B program:
DHS, effective January 18, 2009 revised rule on H-2B program, from changing the definition of temporary to allow up to three years employment for a particular project, such as constructing a building, has encouraged the seasonal employers and employees. DHS announced a pilot program under which departing H-2B workers would report to DHS as they leave the US.
DHS delegated its power to enforce H-2B regulations to DOL, and limited recruitment of H-2B workers to 28 countries, including Mexico.
Up to 66,000 H-2B workers can be admitted each year to fill seasonal nonfarm jobs. Most H-2B workers are from Mexico and the Caribbean, and most fill jobs in farm-related industries, including gardening, landscaping and reforestry. Employers may apply for H-2B visas six months before they expect work to begin, and employers typically request more than the 33,000 visas available in April and October.
Between 2005 and 2007, the Save Our Small and Seasonal Business Act allowed H-2B workers who had been in the US the year before to be rehired outside the quota. A bill introduced in February 2009 (S 388) would create an H-2R visa for experienced H-2B workers and keep them outside the 66,000 quota. Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) has been the main sponsor of relaxing H-2B admissions at the behest of crab processors in Maryland.
Effective January 18, 2009, employers seeking certification to employ H-2B workers must attest that the employer has forbidden recruiters from charging fees to H-2B workers. The US Circuit Court noted that this regulation would likely prohibit fees such as those paid by Decatur H-2B workers in the future.
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