The best companies to work for…if you are a parent
Not many people think about maternity benefits when applying for a job, and yet organisations differ hugely in what they provide for parents. Some offer the bare legal minimum, others offer a year’s maternity leave on full pay. In an era of increased awareness of the importance of work-life integration, The Guardian argues, following a study of 250 organisations, that it is the smart organisations that take maternity benefits seriously who will attract and retain talented staff.
The survey discovered that companies often treat family life as being entirely separate from the workplace rather than being, as they are in the lives of most employees, tightly bound together. Very few corporations showcase strong parental benefits among their recruitment incentives or as evidence of high corporate ethics. And yet any working parent knows how damaging it is to productivity, creativity and mental health to work for organisations that blank out or are hostile to the beating family heart of its staff.
The Guardian argues that good support to parents is a social contribution as important as a companies charitable donations, recycling or carbon footprint reduction efforts.
As part of the marketing campaign for the new Simpson’s Movie, the promoters drew a massive Homer Simpson on the hillside in Dorset, right next to the the Cerne Abbas giant – an ancient fertility symbol. See picture. As a Simpson’s fan, I thought it was genius.
Face_it, Beam_it, Blog_it! This is the phrase used to launch Fuji’s latest camera, the Z10fd, which will be focussed on the 13- to 26-year-old demographic – a generation they call “Generation Z”. They have realised that this group uses cameras for social networking, blogging and interactions. 
A new generation of “ethical consumers” are starting to demand more than just great products and services at fair prices – they also increasingly require transparency, environmental care, social responsibility, diversity and a host of other characteristics in the companies they buy from. They will be demanding these from their employers in the future, too. In this article, Dr Graeme Codrington helps you to see your company – your product offerings, your brand, your reputation, your leaders, your people and your future – through the eyes of your future consumers and staff.
Aloysias Maimane asks what makes someone an African. Part of the answer relates to African celebrations. In this article, Aloysias explains what celebrations mean to Africans, and what implications this has for companies and leaders. Anyone who needs to attract, retain and inspire African staff members, whatever their cultural background, would do well to consider the importance of celebrations.
A few years ago, some of the TomorrowToday team attended a workshop by Jennifer Deal. She certainly challenged our thinking. Her contention was that all the focus on generation gaps in the workplace was obscuring the fact that there are many similarities between people of all ages. She is right, of course – and it is a good “corrective voice” for business to hear. As much as there are certain distinctive characteristics of different generations, each person in your company is nevertheless still that: a person, a human being. As such, they have certain drives, ambitions, requirements and characteristics that should not be neglected.
I received this in an e-mail today….
There has been a rise in the number of households living below the poverty line over the past 15 years. At the same time, households in already wealthy areas have tended to become disproportionately wealthier, with many rich people now living in areas segregated from the rest of society. The widening gap between rich and poor had led to a fall in the number of average households, which were classed as being neither rich nor poor.
This Sunday, the Mail on Sunday newspaper in England will hand out free copies of Prince’s (The artist previously known as Symbol, previously known as Prince, etc) new album, Planet Earth. The album was self produced by Prince, and the Mail on Sunday hopes to sell in excess of 2.5 million copies of their newspaper on Sunday – the paper is sold for less than £ 1.50. As far as I can tell, they are not increasing the cover price for this week’s edition – this is a genuine free CD. 
Prince stated that he wanted to send a message to the music industry – and this one is loud and clear. The album is a full album, and will not be carried in shops in the UK (not for now anyway). See the 
Saturday’s 07/07/07 Live Earth concert series is claimed to have been the largest global entertainment event in history. About 150 musical acts performed over a 24-hour period on all continents (including Antarctica) to draw attention to the global climate crisis. The event was broadcast to a mass global audience through radio, television and the internet. Broadcasts were interspersed with practical tips illustrating how small improvements in consumer behaviour can have a noticeable impact.
Over 2,500 people learned they’d lost their jobs when the British Amulet Group fired them by sending a 
I heard on the news today that Sprint-Nextel, America’s third largest mobile phone service provider this week terminated the accounts of its 1,000 most annoying customers. It said in the notification to these clients that they were being terminated because they phoned the customer care centers too often – on average about once a day – often the same issues, and mainly with dumb ones (this isn’t what they actually said, but it’s what they meant). They have waived the termination fees, and given the people a month to change service provider. Read the 
KeithCoats – The Inconvenient Truth for Leaders
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