Is it time to change jobs, change firms or leave the industry?

By NIcki Gilmour, Executive Coach and Organisational Psychologist

Is it time to change jobs, change firms or leave the industry? (F)

Image provided by Shutterstock.

If you have been feeling like you need a change of scene for a while or even if that feeling has just begun then you have to firstly listen to it and then secondly distill what is really going on.

This series of three posts over the next three weeks discusses the triggers that can make us want to leave and they are worth understanding for each of you if they are just triggers or actually accurate instincts that you should follow. Often when I am coaching there are three scenarios that are happening when someone comes to me with a “ I want to leave my job” instinct.

Scenario 1: You do not see a path for promotion at your current job

Scenario 2: There is a lack of trust in the people in your team/your boss to do the right thing or be competent.

Scenario 3: The company and /or industry is in flux. Let’s discuss this scenario this week.

The thought of yet another reshuffle or round of layoffs have my coachee anxious and they want to pre-empt being on the receiving end of an HR conversation by finding a new job first. The politics involved in surviving can be exhausting and some people have the right personality to ride it out without it eating them. The reality is that most people do not have quite the capacity for not getting sucked into the politics at play when the heat is on. In fact sensitive people can be worn out to a point of burnout so it is absolutely necessary to know oneself and your endurance levels. All my long term coaching clients do a personality test called the Hogan which does give us an indication for their natural ability to ride out these messy company restructures and mergers.

However, I think that sometimes it is perfectly valid to leave when you want to leave and get a head start on your vision for your next career job before the market is flooded with laid off employees. To this end, it is fairly important to understand the external environment and your specific industry niche or job niche so that you do not end up wondering what happened to the segment. Keep thinking about the transferability of your skills and update them regularly as well as keeping your network strategic and up-to-date.

Finally, if you do decide to go, know that proactivity and first mover advantage is always rewarded and with the element of choice on your hands you can choose your next job wisely since you have a job and therefore in a position of strength in the talent pool.

If you are looking for an executive coach to help you navigate your career contact nicki@theglasshammer.com for a no obligation conversation to discuss how we may help

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Reverse and Peer Mentoring – How Can It Help Your Career

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mentorsBy Nicki Gilmour, Executive Coach and Organizational Pyschologist

If you are managing a team, chances are that the team is already diverse. It may be made up of mixed age groups as well as perhaps having other social identity differences such as gender, ethnicity, nationality, LGBT status etc.

So, have you thought about breaking out of the traditional structure of looking for or being a senior person mentoring a junior person? Instead have you thought about getting a peer mentor or even a reverse mentor? A reverse mentor can be a junior level person mentoring a senior person or can be someone who is reverse to you (gay/straight for example).

The point of the interaction (at least in my opinion) is to learn things that you normally do not have access to. Experiences differ, so create a space where you can hear about them. It will make you a better leader, manager and probably person but only if you can listen without prejudice or judgement. Open your mind, heart and ears!

If you are interested in hiring an executive coach to help you navigate your career contact nicki@glasshammer2.wpengine.com to discuss further

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How to maintain your professional network

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Professional-networking-advice featuredBy Zoe Anderson

You’re busy all the time. Between your career goals, life, friends and family, you don’t even have the opportunity to reward yourself for all of your hard work with a pedicure or a glass of wine. How do other women do it? It seems like so many succeed without ever needing to take time out for a breather. The answer is: having a strong professional network to lean on. Keeping in touch with important, influential individuals means you won’t have to work so hard to know of upcoming opportunities to advance your career.

Be easy to find

If you aren’t easy to find, people aren’t going to find you. No one wants to go out of their way scouring the earth for you, but there are plenty of people who would like to build connections with you, provided that you’re in their line of sight. Keep contact with former co-workers and connect with as many key players as possible.

Value quality over quantity

Agonizing over your relationship with a file clerk is going to be a drain on your energy, unless you really enjoy that person’s friendship. A large number of networking acquaintances doesn’t necessarily improve your prospects – it’s more about how said acquaintances can help you. Prioritize your business relationships with influential people, and don’t worry so much about those who won’t be able to provide you with much assistance.

Regularly update on social media

You need to keep yourself fresh in everyone’s minds. If you have a LinkedIn, Twitter, or Facebook that you use specifically for professional purposes, don’t just scroll through everyone’s updates and log out. You need to take time to interact with people. Retweet, like, share, and make plenty of your own relevant posts. You want people to feel like they know you, and like you have a reliable rapport. When an opportunity comes up and they have some information to spread, you’ll already be on their minds!

Make yourself an authority

There is no better way to gain clout than to build a reputation as an industry leader and voice of authority. Always stay abreast of industry changes and trends. Read about new technology and innovations. Create a blog with helpful resources such as infographics, FAQs, and archived interviews that your colleagues can reference. Regularly updating your content not only strengthens your authority in your field, it can also boost your SEO presence, which allows the right people to find you. If you’re present enough online, opportunities may present themselves to you without you having to go out and find them.

Speak highly of others

Speaking highly of others is a cornerstone of mutually beneficial relationships. If you know someone who needs work done, or a specific kind of consultation, you should be thinking about which person in your professional circles you can refer them to. Sending customers and clients in the direction will help people perceive you as a great knowledge resource to tap, whilst simultaneously creating a high level of respect for your opinions and views. They’ll be more likely to remember you when the time comes if you’ve done something to improve their livelihood. Consider who is worthy of your honest personal recommendation, and always take multiple business cards to hand out from those you believe are worthy.

Make plans

It always helps to put a face to a name. The internet has taken over a lot of business affairs, and because of this, we mostly know people by their profile pictures and the content they post. Try to arrange to do something in person with your network, bimonthly at the very least. Seminars, meetings, or company parties are helpful ways to strengthen your networks and put a name to a face. You may find events you can sit in on, or even a corporate softball game you can attend. This gives you the opportunity not only to help keep you top of mind, but also to make some great first impressions.

Most of these things are easily achievable. They don’t require a ton of effort on your part if you can create an environment that’s beneficial for everyone. Since you can do most of these things from home in your free time, this means you’ll still be able to order some takeout, watch Netflix, and catch a little bit of a break from your exhausting life.

Zoe Anderson is a marketing assistant at StudySelect. She’s keen on learning about new branding strategies and digital marketing tools.
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3 Tips On How To Manage Your Career During the Dog Days of Summer

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woman in a field at summer featuredBy Nicki Gilmour, Executive Coach and Organizational Pyschologist

Things are finally slowing down as we head into the summer holiday season and yet this is a great time to spend time on managing your career. Here are 3 ways to enhance your skills from the office or even the beach.

Tip #1 Summer reading- pick 1-3 books that you want to read this summer that are career focused or can help you in some way. Text books can be dry, so if books are too much, pick articles (we have 5000 on glasshammer2.wpengine.com) that are research backed and you can read the research for deeper knowledge.

Tip #2 Have Lunch and coffee with your network- refresh your relationships and hear what others are up to professionally with iced coffees and a bite of lunch. Also, use this slower time at the office to secure a lunch with important sponsors and new people for your network.

Tip #3 Recharge a little yourself, so that you are ready for the fast-paced flow of work and meetings once the dog days of summer are over!

Happy Summer! And Happy Independence Day in the US!

If you are interested in hiring an executive coach to help you navigate your career please contact nicki@glasshammer2.wpengine.com to discuss further.

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Alyssa Cowley of Shearman & Sterling Talks About Why She Feels It Is Important to Co-lead Sterling Pride and What She Hopes to Achieve

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Alyssa CowleyThe world was a much different place a decade ago when Sterling Pride, Shearman & Sterling’s LGBT inclusion network, was formed. As a former history major, my mind tends to go to the story of a place or group first. I wonder about the conversations that sparked the idea, and discussions involved in becoming one of the first law firms with an in-house LGBT inclusion network. In June 2006, the firm readily took the first step in giving its LGBT lawyers a voice in how to foster an inclusive environment for LGBT lawyers and staff by creating Sterling Pride. Shearman & Sterling didn’t have to be a leader, but it chose to be.

In 2006, while those conversations were taking place at Shearman, I was a junior at a north Texas high school. That year, my classmates threw around the word “gay” as a synonym for “dumb” or “worthless,” and the Gay-Straight Alliance at my high school was effectively dead on arrival. My best friend, a bisexual man, and I whispered about our “different-ness” backstage during after-school musical rehearsals. The concept of being bisexual barely existed, let alone had achieved any level of acceptance with our peers.

Ten years later, I am so grateful to begin my career as an attorney at a place with a true commitment to the LGBT community and to diversity more broadly. Beginning with the on-campus recruitment process, the visibility of Sterling Pride lawyers signaled to me that Shearman & Sterling was a place that I could focus on growing as a lawyer without the distraction and pressures of having to “cover” as a straight woman. It can be easy to feel a little lost as a first-year associate in a large New York office, but in Sterling Pride, I felt as though I had a built-in community. Being a member of Sterling Pride has connected me to a network of mentors, deepened my connection with my colleagues, and has given me opportunities to meet clients and lawyers across the city. Furthermore, my colleagues, whether partners or first-year associates, have consistently been reflective and engaged, both formally and informally, about how to make the firm’s environment more welcoming, more fair, and more of a meritocracy. I have been able to thrive because of the strong foundation that Sterling Pride members and allies have built.

Now, as co-chair of Sterling Pride (and as the first woman to serve in such position), I am honored to be an ambassador for our inclusive atmosphere, but I also know that there is work to be done. Women are underrepresented in the law—particularly in the ranks of senior leadership. Women are also underrepresented in LGBT spaces—bisexuals even more so. It is true that bisexual women tend to benefit from invisibility and passing, and thereby enjoy a level of privilege that others within the LGBT community do not. However, for that same reason, they are uniquely positioned to challenge stereotypes and to carry messages of inclusion into hetero-normative spaces. I believe that cultural change is achieved one person at a time, one connection at a time. As we continue to diversify the voices around the table, we reaffirm the value of each individual’s contributions.

Importantly, being a part of Sterling Pride has been a way to begin giving back to—and investing in—the firm that has chosen to invest in me. As part of a firm with a global presence, we have a distinct opportunity to set the tone in all of our offices and to make sure all of our lawyers and staff can grow in their careers regardless of their sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression. As the work of organizations such as Out Leadership and the Williams Institute have shown, diversity makes business sense. Inclusive environments retain talent, increase productivity, and allow employees to be more fully engaged at work. Discrimination is costly, both in terms of underemployment and in expending resources to combat the mental toll that discrimination takes on those who are victimized. Furthering Sterling Pride’s reach within the firm strengthens it overall, making us more competitive in and more adaptive to the changing conditions of the global marketplace.

In closing, I turn back to the history of the firm once again. John William Sterling, one of the firm’s two co-founders, never married but lived together with his best friend and companion, a man, for nearly 50 years. While it is impossible to know what Sterling might think of the firm’s commitment to the LGBT community today, I believe he would be proud of the firm and the enormous progress we have made in supporting LGBT issues in the century since his death. Hopefully, we will all be even prouder in the next hundred years.

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How to be a good Sponsor and Champion to LGBT people in their careers

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LGBT flag featuredBy Nicki Gilmour, Executive Coach and Organizational Pyschologist

Following on from last week’s career advice and staying with the LGBTA theme for the month since June is Pride month, today I am going to talk about how to be an Ally, Champion and Sponsor to your LGBT colleagues and co-workers. I come across many people who want to be an inclusive leader and ensure that their team members get to focus on work and not on fitting it or assimilating instead. However, many leaders and managers with the best of intentions still do not have many LGBT mentees or sponsees. Tips to ensure your portfolio of people that you mentor is diverse can include:

Do not be afraid of offering up supportive statements to indicate you are an Ally. Gay team members often do not know where you stand on the topic as a concept because sadly the topic is still at ‘concept’ level ( there are still millions of overtly homophobic people out there some more covert than others, how do we know that you are an ally if you don’t tell us!)
Don’t presume you know them just because you know one other gay person (or even several) because like racial bias, you are stereotyping whether you realize it or not.
Respect their individual personality on how much they want to talk about their spouse and family just as you would any other coworker, not everyone wants to share regardless of their identity. Equally, ask them the questions you ask your other team members ( like: hey how was your weekend, how are the kids etc?)
Coach other less exposed/less evolved executives on your team and know you are a culture carrier.

Know that you have the ability to advance people individually but also change the system so that future generations can truly come to work and not have to come out everyday and fear mixed reactions.

Contact nicki@theglasshammer.com if you want to hire an executive coach to help you navigate your career

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Six Reasons Why Women Execs Should Volunteer

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show-of-hands featuredBy Jennifer Davis

As a professional woman, you’ve probably dreamed of making an impact in the community, beyond your role as an industry leader or executive. “If I only I the time,” you might have told yourself, “I’d tackle world poverty. Or start a nonprofit foundation. Or work on a cure for cancer.”

Indeed, women are the nation’s most prevalent volunteers, with more than 28 percent giving their time, compared to 22 percent of men. Part of the reason may be that women intuitively understand that their responsibilities extend beyond payroll and profits. “Women are hard-wired to be engaged in their communities,” says Dr. Val Hannemann, a psychologist in Flagstaff, Ariz. “Volunteering connects women. They share, they compare, and they adopt new strategies to make a difference in the world.”And let’s not forget, most volunteers are recruited by volunteers and so women have a tendency to invite their female networks to engage in their projects.

Yet the reality is that many women who volunteer their time work part-time or not at all. In fact, women who are primarily care-givers or homemakers can become “professional volunteers.”On the other hand, time can be a major issue for professional women, who may have less flexibility in their schedules or priorities. If you’re like a lot of working women, you’re probably already juggling family, children, and your health —in addition to a demanding job. Yet if you haven’t carved out the time to volunteer, it may be time to reconsider. Yes, making the world a better place is important for its own sake. But it’s also a critical part of your professional development strategy. Here are six reasons why you should make the time:

  • You’ll build your experience base

    Volunteer work can play an important role in helping you get the experience you want in your career. These opportunities provide great opportunities to learn new skills, interact with mentors, and build your portfolio. And, of course, you can list volunteer opportunities on your resume and LinkedIn profile, alongside your paid work.

  • You’ll expand your network

    The old adage, “It’s not what you know, but who you know” is true. Furthermore, it is really about who knows you. Volunteer opportunities allow you to build relationships outside your normal circle of friends and colleagues, helping you to broaden your network of folks who have had positive interactions with you and are inclined to think of you when opportunities arise.

  • You’ll broaden your perspective

    By working with a different set of people and challenges, you’ll inevitably widen your perspective. Volunteering can pull you out of your comfort zone, forcing you to tackle new problems from different angles. It can also give you profound new perspectives that can shape both your approach to life and the way you show up on the job.

  • You’ll hone your leadership skills

    As a volunteer, you can do things that an employee can’t. You can work outside the organization chart. You can seek out new opportunities for growth and involvement. And you can make connections between organizations. With the right volunteer opportunity, you’ll gain experience setting a vision, developing strategies, raising funds, motivating people, and reconciling conflicting perspectives—all essential leadership skills. And you’ll have the opportunity to practice those skills in a safe environment—and then apply them back at work to make yourself more visible and indispensable.

  • You’ll position yourself for promotion

    A volunteer opportunity outside of work is a great way to demonstrate your readiness for the C-suite. By sitting on the board of a local nonprofit, managing a community-based initiative, or organizing a volunteer program for your own corporation, you’ll be required to tackle many of the same issues faced by top executives within your company. Moreover, taking on a leadership volunteer role “send(s) the signal that you aspire to leadership potential,” says leadership coach Muriel Maignan Wilkins. Indeed, taking on the right volunteer opportunity can earn you recognition as a leader—helping you to get the promotion you desire.

  • You’ll do good for others—and for yourself

    Last, but not least, volunteering is vital to the health of our communities. You already bring so many skills to the table, and using them for the greater good makes the world a better place. At the same time, serving others gets you out of your own head and puts your own worries and problems in perspective. Research has shown that volunteering helps people feel more socially connected, wards off depression, and may even contribute to better physical health like lower blood pressure and improved memory. So, do yourself some good by doing good!

Jennifer Davis is Chief Marketing Officer of Leyard and Vice President, Marketing and Product Strategy for Planar Systems

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Coming Out, Connecting and Finding Allies

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LGBT flag featuredBy Nicki Gilmour, Executive Coach and Organizational Psychologist

This week and this month on theglasshammer.com we are celebrating LGBT women at work and the Allies that champion and support them. We do this series every year in June since we aim to inspire professional women at work and if you are a gay woman and are out or thinking about coming out then we want to make sure you know you are not the only lesbian executive around. Much like the broader mission of theglasshammer.com, our career advice today in this column is to help you find sponsors, mentors and champions so that you can build your network and connect with people who can ultimately help you. To connect with anyone, both parties need to know a little about each other and build a little trust and that is the number one reason to come out at work. Studies show that if you are not able to bring your full self to work then it is going to be harder to perform, engage and generally stay motivated.

Theglasshammer and our consulting arm Evolved Employer did comprehensive research back in 2012 in both NY and London with LGBT women and one of the conclusions was sometimes it is gender bias that is still preventing us from advancing than our LGBT status. Read the US and the UK research here- some nuances to think about.

I also did a piece of work with my a colleague Dr. Frank Golom at a leading Fortune 100 firm on stereotype threat for LGBT people at work (read about that here) and a major career strategy that we recommend from the research is that you need to make sure people know who you are and what you can do at work instead of any preconceived notions they might have. They have these notions for many reasons ( such as the media portrayals, narrow experience of actual gay people or knowing one gay woman and then thinking every other gay person they meet is the same and gender role conformity expectations depending on how you show up on the expression spectrum). Sure, it can be super tedious to educate others all day, every day, but to some extent everyone has to do it albeit, the more non-dominant social identities you have the more it seems you have to educate.

Career advice? Seek out internal and external networking groups if you feel like it will help you formally and informally. It is not for everyone, just as not everyone wants to join a women’s network but if you like to share experiences and seek situational advice from people who have been there then it could be a good fit. Out Leadership have recently formed a women’s group headed up by Stephanie Sandberg. Out and Equal are a fabulous resource also and there are many other groups (GWN and Stonewall in London for example) that host events and get togethers. Many firms have LGBTQIA networks You might find a mentor or at the very least friendship there and remember the A stands for Allies and Allies can sponsor and champion you in your career. We help develop LGBTA networks as well as women’s networks from mission to structure to actual content so contact us if you are leading one or are trying to start one at your firm.

Contact nicki@theglasshammer.com if you wish to hire an executive coach to help you navigate your career

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LGBT Leadership Update: Rising Corporate Activism and Executive Pride

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LGBT flag featuredBy Aimee Hansen

With June, we turn to Pride Month on the diversity calendar, so let’s focus our spotlight to recent progress on advancing LGBT inclusive business cultures and LGBT executive leadership.

Corporate Activism Defends LGBT Rights

Recently, state law setbacks to the LGBT community (and human rights) have one positive side effect: they’ve led to a collective backlash from companies and employers who have united to defend LGBT rights.

Repeatedly, companies have been asserting to state lawmakers that upholding LGBT rights is a necessary condition for attracting and maintaining the best talent for businesses.

Since North Carolina passed an anti-discrimination law that failed to protect against discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity, over 200 business leaders – including CEOs and executives of major companies such as Apple, Bank of America, Citibank, Ernst & Young, Goldman Sachs, Facebook, IBM, Microsoft, and more – have signed an open letter to the state governor calling for a repeal to the “HB 2” law, stating that “such laws are bad for our employees and bad for business”.

Canceled plans by Paypal, Deutsche Bank and performance artists are estimated to have cost the state “tens of millions in dollars of losses”. Meanwhile, companies also joined in activism with an open letter to state leaders in Mississippi to repeal “HB 1523”, which gives individuals or organizations license to discriminate against LGBT people based on religious justification.

In the Harvard Business Review, author Andrew Winston points out that business has been ahead of the public curve when it comes to LGBT rights. Winston notes that over half of Fortune 500 companies were offering domestic partner benefits ten years ago when only 35% of Americans supported gay marriage (and 55% opposed it), and that today corporate adoption of anti-discrimination policies based on gender identity (66% of companies) outpaces public acceptance of transgender rights.

In the case of LGBT rights, Winston argues the moral imperative of non-discrimination in the workplace and the economic motivation to thrive with diverse customers are so understandably linked that business is “pro-actively influencing societal norms.”

LGBT Diversity Associated with Stock Performance

Influencing policy is part of the equation, but building an LGBT-inclusive culture is another thing. When LGBT employees do not feel free to be themselves, when they feel they have to “hide in plain sight”, it’s proven costly not only to employees but to business.

When diversity is celebrated and genuinely fostered, not only individual productivity but company productivity seems to benefit. According to a recent report by Credit Suisse, the stock of companies that exhibit LGBT diversity outperform the stock of companies that do not.

LGBT diversity was factored by companies that have openly LGBT leaders and senior management, are voted as leading LGBT employers, or have many employees in local LGBT business networks.

The LGBT basket of 270 companies outperformed the MSCI ACWI by 3% annually since 2010, as well as outperforming a custom basket of companies in US, Europe and Australia by 1.4% annually.

The correlation of LGBT diversity with performance is important, since according to the report, 72% of senior LGBT executives say they have not come out at work, which is not surprising when it’s still legal to fire someone based on sexual orientation in over twenty states and based on gender identity in over thirty states.

Celebrating LGBT Executive Role Models

Celebrating diversity at the very top, for the first time in the three years since its introduction, a woman topped the 2015 list of the 100 Most Powerful LGBT Executives in the World, named by OUTstanding and the Financial Times.

Inga Beale is the first female CEO of Lloyd’s of London and openly bi-sexual. As she told The Guardian, “It’s not about me. It’s about what you do for other people. For me, it’s so important because you need these role models.”

According to OUTstanding as reported in Entreprenuer, recognition is critical since closeted LGBT employees are 70% more likely to leave a company within the first three years.

The list of LGBT power executives, for which activism outside of the workplace is also taken into account, included several from the finance world, including Accenture’s Sander van‘t Noordende (10), Citi’s Bob Annibale (28), Goldman Sach’s Gavin Wills (36), and PwC’s Andy Woodfield (78) and Mark Gossington (82).

Speaking to the inclusive culture fostered at Accenture, Sander van’t Noordende has said, “Only when people are comfortable in their workplace will they be able to get the best out of themselves,” advising individuals to not only value their difference, but also find a company that values their difference too.

Promoting LGBT C-Suite Leadership

Stanford is also stepping up to encourage aspiring LGBT executives to value their difference. Stanford Graduate School of Business introduced the Stanford LGBT Executive Leadership Program, which will first take place in late July 2016 and is accepting applications until June 24th.

With a focus on fostering authentic and impactful senior LGBT leadership and network building, Stanford states, “This is the only Executive Education program of its kind offered by a leading business school to address the significant gap in leadership for lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and transgender people in the C-suite.”

According to program co-director Tom Wurster, the one-week training is ideally aimed at “the LGBT executive with a minimum of 10 years professional experience and 5 years of management experience who is preparing to take on more significant leadership roles.”

More visible leadership within more significant leadership roles – out and proud and C-Suite is the call.

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Things to Negotiate for….Besides More Money

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Smartly dressed young women shaking hands in a business meeting at office deskYou’re no stranger to the idea of salary negotiation when it comes to career advancement, but that’s just one of the fringe benefits up for discussion at the bargaining table on your road to the C-suite. You can’t go in assuming that certain perks like maternity leave or promotions are a given. Be prepared. One of the most effective tools at your disposal is your bargaining power.

Be Bold

Sheryl Sandberg discusses many of these points in her book, “Lean In: Women, Work and the Will to Lead.” Don’t be afraid to go to the table knowing what you want for the future of your career. Take charge, as Sheryl writes:

“Taking initiative pays off. It is hard to visualize someone as a leader if she is always waiting to be told what to do.”

That doesn’t mean you should storm through the office door and make outrageous demands, expecting them to be met instantly. Approach the situation with the right information and engage in tactful and professional discussion. Not sure exactly what that means or what those negotiations should entail? Here are six topics to keep in mind, and how you should approach them.

1. Flex Time

In the modern workplace, there are actually more people than you think working outside of the office with more flexible, nontraditional schedules. In a 2013 survey by the research group Catalyst, four out of every five respondents holding graduate-level degrees said they had some kind of work flexibility with their employer – that’s a whopping 81 percent.

In order to secure that type of perk at your next position, you’ve got to go in knowing exactly what you want from the flex time – both the when and the why. Your employer is going to be more keen to accept this stipulation if you have a detailed plan heading into negotiations. Be sure that you’ve cross-referenced any existing flex-time policy with the HR department to cover all your bases.

2. Professional and Personal Development

Make sure your future employer knows about your interest in professional and personal development. Continuing to learn and grow in your chosen profession keeps your skills innovative and creative, which will enrich the working environment for those around you as well. In fact, this type of incentive is among one of the most sought-after additions to an employment package by millennials. Consider asking about family friendly programs that encourage a work/life-balance, one of the most important points for Gen Xers.

3. Promotions

If you find yourself facing your annual review, consider your promotion options. Don’t be afraid to demonstrate how you’ve added value to the company, and why you should be considered for compensation.
Of course this doesn’t just magically happen one day by telling your boss you’re a rock star and should be paid accordingly. You need to work on cultivating a relationship and proving you are a valuable member of the company – these real bosses will give it to you straight.

In fact, a study done by Accenture in 2011 found that 85 percent of employees out of the 3,400 companies it surveyed got something – whether a large increase in salary to some kind of other incentive – simply by asking for a raise.

4. Maternity/Paternity Leave

Unfortunately, this is still an issue. In all the developed nations of the world, the U.S. is currently the only one that does not offer federally mandated parent leave. In OECD’s 2014 family database document, America literally has 0s across the board. You are not guaranteed anything.

Luckily most companies that want to retain talented staff recognize the importance of maternity/paternity leave. You could piggy-back your discussion concerning flex-time as well, and increase your chances of extending time at home with your new addition.

5. Vacation Time

Other than maternity leave, vacation time is also extremely important. Again in the U.S., the average employee has less vacation time than most other advanced economies in the world. Typically, a worker is only entitled to 10 days of paid vacation and six holidays, but even these are not guaranteed – quite different than the 30 days in France or 20 in New Zealand.

As you well know, this is where your bargaining power and value to the company can come in handy to secure more than the 10 days. Use tact, and also offer solutions for the time you are requesting to be away For example, tell your boss “I’ll be out of the office, but regularly checking my emails.

It’s important that you take advantage of complete time away from the office for a recharge. You’ll be more of an asset to your company when you return re-energized and refreshed.

6. Big Project Participation

If you really want to put yourself out there and be bold, ask to swim in the deep water, rub shoulders with the executives and request to work on the interesting projects that are happening in your company. This will help you get noticed, and you can also take the opportunity to cultivate mentoring relationships at the leadership and management level.

By Sarah Landrum

Sarah Landrum is a Penn State graduate, marketing specialist, freelance writer and the career expert behind Punched Clocks.
 
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