In this issue
Guest Speaker: Sandy Park, Vibra-Sonic Controls
You are invited to attend the Help Desk Calgary luncheon. We
look forward to seeing you there! RSVP by Registering By Thursday,
October 14th, 2004 Date: Wednesday, October 20, 2004 Place: Bankers
Hall Auditorium Lower Level, 315 8th Avenue SW, Calgary, AB Time:
11:30 A.M. - Noon Networking 12:00 - 1:00 PM - Luncheon Topic:
Office Noise Cost: Members $25 Non-Members $40
Sandy Park
Bio
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Welcome to the monthly Help Desk Calgary newsletter. This
newsletter is distributed to provide news and information
about events sponsored by Help Desk Calgary and Help Desk
Institute. You are receiving this newsletter either because
you opted-in from the registration page on our website, or you
are a current member.
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Office Noise
Your employees incur 82% of the cost of doing business. To
realize the most return from that investment, it is important
to provide your staff with a working environment that allows
them to focus on their tasks without any distractions or
irritations. Time is money; distractions take away time and
diminish focus, thereby reducing productivity.
Studies have shown that 62% of an office employee's time is
spent trying to do quiet, focused work. Noise is frequently
shown on employee surveys to be the number one facility issue,
which causes employee distraction, stress, and loss of
productivity. In a call center environment, it is often
difficult to focus on the client when there is lots of noise
to distract the agent.
Sandy Park has been studying the issues of noise in the
work place for the last six years. She will show you how to
mitigate noise issues in your help desk center by illustrating
the impact that ten areas in the office can make in work place
noise levels. She will explain the optimum thresholds of these
areas and where you will get the most value for your
investment.
Finally, she will talk about the use of sound masking. She
will show how, by raising the ambient noise levels in a work
place, the office becomes a quieter and less stressful place
to work in. She will explain what you should consider before
deciding if this is the solution for your office, and how to
decide what kind of sound masking is right for you.
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"Workforce Aging in the New Economy" by Mosner, Spiezle,
and Emerman
Here is a look into the upcoming demographic shift in IT
staffing in North America and what it will mean to the IT
department in any organization. Here are the facts: -
Currently, the average IT professional is 36 years old. But,
by 2010 over 50% of the IT workforce in North America will be
over 40. - The boomers, people born from 1946 to 1964, will
begin retiring faster than new graduates or current
immigration numbers can support starting in 2006. 32% of the
current IT workforce in Canada today is made of IT
professionals that immigrated here from other countries. They
are going to start retiring too. - The percentage of women in
the IT workforce is declining, it peaked at 28% in 2002, is
now at 25% for 2003, ... and declining. - IT employers in all
sectors must prepare for the forecasted decline in the number
of younger replacement workers.
So how can we best prepare for this demographic shift? Here
are two recommendations from the experts:
1. Find new ways to retain older IT workers. There are 44.5
million IT workers in North America that are over 40 right
now. Strategies that promote lifelong learning in IT and cross
training are recommended for life long retention of IT
professionals. (At the same time, improved health and
increased longevity will make it possible, and often
necessary, for a record number of IT workers to continue
working past the traditional retirement age.)
2. Application accessibility will become an important part
of the user interface. This is about removing barriers and
providing access to aging employees who may have differing
needs associated with aging such as a decrease in one's
ability to distinguish colors, an increased need for
illumination in the workplace, and general eye fatigue.
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Feedback and Self-Concept by Dr. Robert A. Zawacki and
Laura L. Zawacki
Let's assume you're a help desk manager giving feedback to a
first-level support person on her behavior. Susan is new to
the job, and the senior people have been complaining about her
poor interpersonal skills and lack of tact. You decide to
facilitate a counseling session to discuss her behavior.
However, when you inform her of her shortcomings, she may
interpret your comments as a threat to her self- concept
because of her need to preserve her self- image. As a reaction
to this negative feedback, Susan may take one of three
actions: she may act defensively by arguing that others are to
blame, leave the organization, or change her behavior.
Your objective, of course, is to change her behavior
through counseling. However, you need to realize that your
first choice goal is her least likely option. Most likely,
Susan will act defensively. She may leave the counseling
session and may even leave the organization. While your goal
is to change the person's undesirable behavior, her goal is to
preserve or even enhance her self-concept.
Understanding how people can react to negative feedback can
help you better prepare for such counseling sessions and help
guide them to choose the best option: working together to
change their behavior.
How Defense Mechanisms Help Preserve Our Self- Concept When
you evaluate the behaviors of your individual contributors,
you need to be aware that you may be observing an individual's
defense mechanism rather than getting at the real problem.
Read rest of article at:
Feedback
and Self-Concept »
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Future Chapter Events and Notices
NEXT 2004 Calgary Luncheon: November 16 Executive Meetings:
Location: Metafore, 4th Floor 333 - 11 Ave SW Tuesday, October
5, 2004 Tuesday, November 1, 2004 Tuesday, December 7, 2004
Members are welcome to attend executive meetings. Please
RSVP to info@hdi-calgary.org if you would like to attend.
Monthly Luncheons may be paid by: - prepaid tickets
(tickets must be presented at event) - cash, cheque or Visa
Price Change Effective January 1, 2004 - Members $25.00
Non-members $40.00 No-shows will be invoiced
Notice Regarding Luncheon Tickets Effective December 3,
2004 we will no longer be selling lunch tickets. All luncheon
tickets issued in 2003 and prior years must be used by June
30, 2004. Tickets are non-refundable and non-transferable.
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