These 16 companies (including Thrive Global) want to lower your stress level at work

These 16 companies (including Thrive Global) want to lower your stress level at work We need gender neutral dress codes in the workplace. If you dont yet agree with that statement, look no fartherbei than a 55-page presentation given to women executives at Ernst Young in a June 2018 training. pThe presentation, which made headlines last month when an offended participant leaked it to the Huffington Post/a, reinforced gendered stereotypes of how women should dress and present themselves at work. Some highlights, which are actually lowlights in terms of equality in the workforceul class=ee-ul ee-ulliA list of appearance blunders for women to avoid, including no-nos like too-short skirts, plunging necklines, bottle blonde, flashy jewelry/liliOutfit and grooming suggestions to minimize distractions from your skills sic set like good haircut, manicured nails, and well-cut attire/liliAdvice on how to dress dont flaunt your body sexuality scrambles the mind/li/ ulpThe women, there to invest in their professional development, were bedrngnis learning how to be better leaders or combat macho stereotypes at work, but instead were being lectured to about what to wear and how to groom themselves.pWhile the presentation wasnt the official EampY dress code, it does highlight bias and assumptions made around gender that women have to manage. And this particular training focused only on the male-female binary. Employees who identify as transgender or nonbinary might feel even more burdened by dress code policies based on gender. pImagine how much more productive all employees, regardless of gender, could be, if they werent focused on avoiding dress code policing.pTraditional gender-based dress codes can also discriminate on the basis of race. Many grooming guidelines for women, including rules on acceptable haircuts, are extra burdens for black employees, particularly those who want to wear their hair in natural styles. In 2010, Chastity Jones got a job offerto be a customer service representative from Catastrophe Management Solutionsbut the offer was contingent on her cutting off her locs. When she refused, the company took back the job offer, and when she sued, with the help of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, she lost her case in 2013 and again in 2016, when her appeal was dismissed. pAnd beyond forcing women of color to maintain their hair in a way thats deemed acceptable, gender-based dress codes can also discriminate against people of certain religions. Employees whose faiths keep them from cutting their hair or necessitate that they wear certain clothing (including head coverings) shouldnt be forced to adapt their beliefs to what their employer deems professionally appropriate for a woman at work.pThe possibility for gender-, race-, and faith-based discrimination posed by prescriptive employee dress codes has led the Human Rights Campaign to recommendthat if an employer has a dress code, it should modify it to avoid gender stereotypes and enforce it consistently. Requiring men to wear suits and women to wear skirts or dresses, while legal, is based on gender stereotypes. Alternatively, codes that require attire professionally appropriate to the office or unit in which an employee works are gender-neutral.h3Okay, So Gender Neutral Dress Codes Sound Good. What Do They Look Like?/h3pIn their simplest (which, in my opinion, also means best) form, gender neutral dress codes at the workplace can take the form of General Motors dress policy. When now-CEO Mary Barra was VP of global human resources for the automotive giant, she replaced their 10-page dress code with two words/a Dress appropriately. pIn the article linked above, the author explains why Barras dress code works so well She avoided assumptions, instead choosing to trust her employees judgment, which in turn empowered all employees and was particularly impactful for women. pFor workplaces that need more specificity about what emplo yees can wear, HR should follow in the footsteps of other institutions that have successfully adopted gender-neutral dress codes. Namely, high schools.pAfter a wave of protests, social media outrage, and thoughtful advocating, several schools have revamped their dress codes/a, which tended to put undue burden on female students. New guidelines apply to all students, regardless of their gender. Instead of specifying the length of skirts versus shorts or the width of a cami strap versus a tank top, a Virginia high schools new gender-neutral dress codesimply defines what must be covered clothing must cover areas from one armpit across to the other armpit, down to approximately three to four inches in length to the upper thighs.pstrongWhat does that look like at work?/strong pSpell out specific dress code rules by article of clothing, not by gender, use non-gendered pronouns, and make sure that any grooming guidelines could apply to anyone. Dont place burdens on anyone based on their ge nder, and try to empower employees to manage their own appearance in accordance with professional expectations.pFor business casual workplaces, try this, adapted from Forbes/a Employees should dress in business casual attire, which could include casual slacks and skirts, collared shirts, blouses, or sweaters. Inappropriate attire includes sportswear, jeans, and unkempt clothing, among other options. Please exercise good judgment.pFor business formal workplaces, you could use the following Traditional business attire, including dresses, suits, and pantsuits, is required for external meetings with clients or prospects. Employees should use discretion on other occasions and are expected to demonstrate good judgment. pAnd for casual workplaces, which are on the riseaccording to Indeed/a, 50% of companies allow employees to dress casually every day, as of 2019go with something simple, like this, adapted from The Balance/a Dress comfortably for work, but please do not wear anything that c ould offend your coworkers or make them feel uncomfortable. That includes clothing with profanity, hate speech, or exclusionary language. Your clothing, while casual, should show common sense and professionalism.pNo matter the level of formality your dress code needs to define, make sure youre thinking from the perspective of all employeescurrent as well as futureand creating an environment where they can thrive.p----pstrongWant to share these tips with your company? /strongShow them this handy one-page guide on creating a gender neutral dress code p class=shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image img alt=Gender Neutral Dress Code Guide class=rm-shortcode data-rm-shortcode-id=UGVL4K1574631551 data-rm-shortcode-name=rebelmouse-image data-runner-src=https//assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjEwMDE3Ni9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTU3NDc2NjEyMX0.5akget5uOA_9aHMcPUxY1YM_Zn2w2Yhcj7m_HSCqg7I/img.j pg?width=980 id=a14b6 type=lazy-image/ pbr/

Everything You Wanted to Know About Being Fired (But Were Afraid to Ask)

Everything You Wanted to Know About Being Fired (But Were Afraid to Ask)Everything You Wanted to Know About Being Fired (But Were Afraid to Ask)Getting fired is scary and stressful. Not only has your source of income just been yanked away from you, but you might be left with questions about what to do next, how to talk about it in future job interviews and even whether what your employer did was legal. Heres a quick primer on what you need to know about getting fired. I was fired without any warning. Is that legal? Generally, yes. No law in the U.S. says that employees must receive a warning before being fired. Good employers will typically warn employees before firing them, in order to make sure that they have a chance to improve, and because they dont want other employees worrying that they could be fired out of the blue. But thats up to the employers own policy and isnt governed by law. Read How to Assert Your Legal Rights at Work. Does my employer have to have a good reason for firing me? Your employer can fire you for any reason at all, or for no reason, as long as its not because of your race, religion, nationality, sex, marital status, disability or other protected characteristic. You can be fired because your boss just doesnt like you or because the CEO wants to bring in her cousins neighbor to take your place. There are two exceptions First, if you have a contract, which most workers in the U.S. dont, your company is bound to the terms it lays out, including around separation. Second, if you work in Montana, youre in the one state in the country that requires firings to be for good cause. Will I be eligible to collect unemployment benefits? It depends. State laws vary, but most states allow fired employees to collect unemployment benefits as long as they werent fired for intentional misconduct or for violating clearly stated workplace rules. For example, being fired for poor performance wont generally make you ineligible to collect benefits, but ex cessive absenteeism often will disqualify you. Read 8 Signs That Youre a Problem Employee. Does my employer have to pay me severance? No law in the U.S. requires severance payments, so its up to individual employers. However, you can certainly try to negotiate a severance package. Youll generally have more bargaining power for severance if your employer is concerned that you might sue for something (for example, if you had cause to think you had been discriminated against on the basis of race, sex or another protected characteristic) because severance is typically accompanied by general release of future claims against the employer. Your chances of severance can also go up if the employer thinks they have done you wrong in some other way, such as moved you into a sttte that you didnt have the skills for or fired you soon after you moved from out-of-state for the job. In that case, reasonable employers are likely to want to provide severance to cushion the blow. Read 5 Workplace Laws Your Employer Might Be Violating. Should I list the job on my resume in the future? It depends. If you were only at the job for a short period of time (say, less than six months), listing it will probably do more harm than good. A few months at a job wont be useful in showing any real accomplishments or advancement, and including it will likely raise questions about why you left so soon. On the other hand, if you were at the job for longer, you may prefer to list it, so that you dont have to answer questions about what you were doing during that time period. How should I talk about the firing if it comes up in an interview? Be prepared with a few sentences that explain what happened. Most interviewers will only need a brief explanation and wont expect you to present a detailed account of what happened. For example, you might simply say, Actually, I was let go. The workload was very high, and I didnt speak up about that soon enough. I ended up making some mistakes because of the vo lume. It taught me a lesson about the need to communicate better when the workload is high and to get on the same page as my manager about priorities if were in a triage mode. Or in another schriftart of situation, you might say, It turned out to be the wrong fit. The job required expertise in web design, which is not my strength, and ultimately we agreed that they need someone with that background in the role. Whats really crucial here is being able to talk about the situation calmly and non-defensively. If you seem bitter and angry, thats going to be a red flag. On the other hand, if you seem to have learned from the experience and understand what went wrong, that can assuage any concerns from the interviewer.