Week 1 - Blog Assignment

Working in construction for a General Contractor, I work with members of a union daily. My superintendent was once in a union before starting to work for a general contractor, and our foreman is hired through our general contractor while still being employed by the union. While working with them, and our subcontractors who have laborers employed by a union, I have been able to understand some of the pros and cons.

Labor unions are a pilar of our nation. The first labor union was established in 1774 for leather workers and cobblers. Since then, labor unions have been the foundation of our countries. From nurses to teachers to electricians, unions have been supporting the American worker assuring fair wages, benefits, and working conditions.

Often, you might hear about labor unions on strike on the news and at times this can be the reality of a union. This might be seen as a bad thing, but the union uses its power to put pressure on employers to negotiate for better benefits, wages, and working conditions. This is one of the benefits of working for a labor union, receiving competitive wages, and having great job security. The union will insure that you have work to do and will compensate you if not. Something I found out from my foreman on site, is that his union has to pay you every week, and for every hour you go unpaid from when you were supposed to receive your pay, they owe you hourly compensation, even if you’re asleep!

On top of fair wages, benefits, and working conditions, unions support workers in their career advancements with a typical 4 to 5 year path. This allows those who don’t want to go to college or what a career change to easily begin working for a union with little to no experience. However, if you do have some experience, often you still have to go through the same 4 to 5 year pathway which can be frustrating and limiting to some. Additionally, compared to a typical job, joining a union can have an extensive and competitive application process. For many, these cons are worth the benefits they receive from the union and many really enjoy the path and job security that a union can provide. Unions work for many people, and unions work for America.

Pros and cons of Union Apprenticeships in Construction Trades. Classet. (n.d.). https://www.classet.org/post/exploring-the-benefits-of-a-union-apprenticeship

Public Broadcasting Service. (2024, April 22). 6 facts about labor union history in the U.S. PBS. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/classroom/lesson-plans/2023/09/6-facts-about-labor-union-history-in-the-us#:~:text=The%20first%20labor%20union%20in,cobblers)%2C%20founded%20in%201794.

In today’s fast-paced professional environment, stress is almost unavoidable. After taking the Life Stress Inventory, Coping and Stress Management Skills Test, and Type A Personality Survey to better understand my stress levels and coping mechanisms, the results were both resonating and eye-opening.

What I Learned About Myself

The Life Stress Inventory indicated that I have a moderate-to-high risk of experiencing stress-related health issues in the next 2 years due to various life events. There has definitely been events in the last year that have lead to negative stress in my life, but at the same time, I feel like I do better in a more stressful environment. I feel dissatisfied in life if I do not have enough responsibilities on my plate, but with that come stress. I try to balance my stress levels to where I stay motivated, but don’t get overwhelmed. The Coping and Stress Management Skills Test revealed that I often rely on problem-focused coping, which works well when I have control over a situation but isn’t as effective for uncontrollable stressors. Lastly, the Type A Personality Survey confirmed that I exhibit some Type A traits, such as impatience and urgency, which can contribute to stress if not managed properly. However, I believe myself to be have more of a Type B personality.

Steps to Manage Stress in My Professional Career

Based on these insights, I plan to take proactive steps to ensure stress does not negatively impact my well-being or productivity:

1. Adopting Emotional Coping Strategies: Since not all stressors are within my control, I will incorporate mindfulness, meditation, and relaxation techniques to handle uncertainty. Especially when I get overwhelmed at work this will be most effective. I tend to get short and snappy if I feel stress from too many responsibilities on my plate.
2. Time Management and Work-Life Balance: It will be important to set boundaries, prioritize tasks, and taking regular breaks to help prevent burnout. The company I am working for after graduation has a very generous PTO policy which they expect you to utilize to take breaks and manage your personal life so you can perform better as an employee while you are at work.
3. Physical and Mental Well-being: Exercise, proper nutrition, and adequate sleep are also essential for managing my stress. This will allow me to feel like my best self and perform effectively. Additionally, the company I will be working for has a health and wellness program that helps you make purchases such as gym memberships, apple watches, personal trainers, sports activities, etc.

How Organizations Are Addressing Workplace Stress

Organizations are increasingly recognizing the importance of stress management. Many companies are now implementing Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs), offering mental health resources, and promoting flexible work arrangements to help employees manage stress. Wellness initiatives like on-site fitness programs, stress management workshops, and mental health days are also becoming more common. Like I mentioned earlier regarding the generous PTO policy, my company also has a health and wellness program that helps you make purchases such as gym memberships, apple watches, personal trainers, sports activities, etc.

Understanding my stress triggers and coping mechanisms is a valuable step toward my personal and professional growth. As organizations continue to focus on employee well-being, it’s essential that individuals also take responsibility for managing their own stress. By balancing problem-solving with emotional resilience, I can navigate challenges more effectively and maintain a healthier work-life balance.

At the beginning of this term, I was prepared to begin as a paid teaching assistant for the Strength of Materials course I took my sophomore year of college. This position is with a professor that I have already worked with times before and have enjoyed working for her. The course is also an online course which allows me a lot of freedom in my working hours. The online teaching assistant role is something I have done before and it pairs really well with being a full-time student. However, I got a call week one of the term from the Project Manager I worked with the summer before. He called asking if I would be interested in coming on part-time during the school year because they could really use my help AND he’d even try to get a pay increase from an already high wage! Despite the obvious fact that continuing my internship part-time provides a much better related learning experience for me compared to the teaching assistant position, but the hourly rate played a large part in it too. I made the decision to resign from my teaching assistant job, which was hard to leave the professor without help, but I couldn’t turn down the experience and an increase of over $10 per hour than what I would have been making. Not only does a position with this large of an increased wage better support me in being significantly more financially stable, but it motivates me to be more effective and have higher quality in my work. A higher wage increases my confidence in myself and makes me feel like my time is more valuable (because it is). This results in producing a higher quality of work. Knowing how much the company is willing to pay me, makes me want to take on greater challenges, grow my knowledge, and perform well for the company. With the higher wage and quality of work, I am much more motivated to go to my internship at 7 am than to do remote grading from my bed…

Lifeguards, they are the first responder to an aquatic rescue. Their duties include enforcing pool rules, scanning the water, making water rescues, and saving lives. Training is essential to a lifeguard.

After growing up a competitive swimmer my whole life, it only made sense that my first job was going to be a Lifeguard. I wanted to be prepared to start my job the day I turned 16, so at 15 years old I signed up for a local lifeguard training class. This class was 3 days classroom and hands-on training to prepare us to pass a series of tests. Each day we would begin in the classroom and discuss the different type of rescue techniques. We would see examples on a presentation and discuss which technique is used when. Then, we would suit up and jump in the pool to practice these techniques ourselves. After some time practicing, our instructor would present us with a real life scenario. Someone would be in the water as the distressed swimmer and we would have to use the skills we just learned to properly make the rescue. We would take turns in the scenarios being the active lifeguard, and the second responding lifeguard. This series of training techniques was very beneficial towards my understanding. By first communicating the relevance, making the content meaningful, and then allowing time to practice in a group setting I was able to perfect my skills and gain confidence within a short period of time. Watching others complete their skills, working in a group to complete a rescue, and receiving feedback allowed me to pass all my skill tests.

The training during my time as a lifeguard didn’t stop there. We had monthly trainings that gave us the time to practice our skills, communication, and team work. These monthly trainings were very crucial for the success of our lifeguard team. Not only did we ensure our first aid and rescue skills were top notch, but we grew as a team. The trainings took away the obligations of our day to day responsibilities and allowed the team to open up and get to know each other better.

As discussed in class lectures, what was most effective during my lifeguard training was meaningful content followed up my group hands-on experience.

What makes an effective interview?

In the fall of 2023 I attended my first career fair of my college time. After completing my first year of BACC Core and math classes, I came back to school in the fall and listened to the advice of my professors. Despite my lack of construction knowledge, I set forth to the School of Civil and Construction Engineering Career Fair. Full of employment opportunities, I took my chance at talking to some construction firms that interested me to discuss internships and by chance, I left the career fair with 2 interviews set up for the next day. Oh no what am I going to wear!? When the next day rolls around, I arrive at the alumni center to meet with my two back to back interviews. The first of two was Perlo Construction, a medium sized construction firm in Tualatin, Oregon. The two interviewers were women, something that immediately made me feel welcome. The two women on the other side of the table chatted with me about my goals, my time in school, my extracurricular activities, and even my hobbies. We were talking about all things I’ve exceled in and not my lack of construction knowledge. I left the interview feeling like Perlo got a great sense of who I am as a person, my strengths, and the qualities I bring that would help me exceed in this role. The second interview, a nationwide large construction firm, Skanska. The two guys on the other side of the table from me look at my resume longer than in my eyes. They study it instead of me. Their questions remain in the box and don’t veer off of focusing on the lack of my construction knowledge. I leave the interview unsatisfied and unlikely to accept a job offer from them if it were to be offered.

In the terms of this interview for a entry level internship position, Skanska used a more reliability approach keeping all interviews with candidates under similar conditions. Perlo on the other hand used more of a validity approach to the interview by understanding my personal skills and qualities rather than my experience. Ultimately, this approach was very effective to me and I accepted a job offer with Perlo Construction that week.

Job Analysis and Job Descriptions

What is Job Analysis?

The analysis of the work and the employee characteristics needed to perform the work successfully.

What is Job Description?

Defining the identification (Title, department, positions to report to, ect.), summary, task statements, and working conditions of the job.

Why do these matter?

Job analysis allows companies to design or redesign jobs based on the results of their research. From what they learn regarding the needs of the company, they can develop job descriptions to fill roles appropriately. A clear and accurate job description is necessary for both the employer and employee, ensuring that both parties feel like they are a good fit for the role.

In my personal experience with job descriptions, from working part-time jobs throughout high school and college, job descriptions allowed me to ‘Shop’ for the right job for me. If the job descriptions stated something that I knew I wasn’t experienced in, or something I wouldn’t find satisfaction in doing, I would know this isn’t a good choice for me. Opposingly, if a job description is well spelled out and includes areas I could be successful in, then I would be drawn to that role. This is crucial for employers to effectively fill the roles in their company.

Challenges and Risk

With that said, jobs are constantly fluctuating and adapting, companies are challenged with staying up to date with their data analysis to appropriately make changes to their companies roles as they see best fit. When a role changes while being filled, its the companies responsibility to redevelop the job description and communicate with the employee so they understand the new expectations. Without clear communication of these job descriptions, tasks could get missed or end up in the wrong hands. There is also a risk of an increase in employee grievances with unclear job expectations such as if one employee began to gain a large load of responsibilities without compensation and vise versa, if an employee lost job responsibilities and felt lost in their role.

Developing these changes within the company isn’t an easy task. It can take some convincing of the company to understand why the change is necessary towards the success of the company, but strong job analysis can make it clear. Job analysis can be determined by interviews, questionnaires, observations, and diaries to understand where change is needed. This world is always changing and if companies don’t adapt and change their roles to maximize their efficiency they will fall behind their competitors. This is a large but important role of upper management that greatly affects the overall success of the company

2,080 hours. Each year of your adult life, you’ll spend an average of 2,080 hours annually at work (without any overtime!). Nothing is worse than devoting about a quarter of your year to an employer that just doesn’t seem to care.

Each year, the Great Place to Work reports the top companies to work for voted on by their own employees! The 2020 Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For reports on a wide range of employers which includes companies from hospitality, technology, retail, insurance, construction, ect. From #1 to #100, employees have great things to say about their employers and other companies can learn a thing or two from them!

#1 – Hilton (Hospitality): “I love how I don’t feel like just a number here. I am a strong believer that Hilton cares about their employees just like they care about their family and I am truly blessed to have been given the opportunity to work for such an amazing company.”

#23 – David Weekley Homes (Construction) : “We are regularly asked by management what they can do to improve not just our work environment, but our personal lives. As part of this, we recently introduced `SmartDollar´ as many were asking for help with financial planning.”

#50 – Power Home Remodeling (Construction) : “You are provided everything you need to be successful in the position and surrounded by people willing to help.”

#100 – Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts (Hospitality) : “Four Seasons really makes me feel they genuinely care about me as part of a family, as opposed to just their employee. My house was affected by a disaster and HR contacted me to see if I needed a place to sleep and if I was alright. Above and beyond.”

Employees of the four companies above, all seem to have one thing in common when talking about their employers. They all say how their employer goes up and above for them in one way or another. They report feeling important, cared about, and more than just a number. Before anything, their employer puts the people first, which makes the employee willing to devote their time.

The Human Resource Manager of any company is a crucial job. Their role exists to ensure the human workforce of the company is running effectively and efficiently. Most industries rely on the people as the sole success of their company. With good, healthy, and happy employees, companies are able to thrive. The HR manager, holds all of this together like a spider web. From being an admin expert with employee concerns and complaints, to advocating for the employees best interest, to even guiding the people of the firm to the change and path the business would like to move forward on.

Ulrich’s Model of Strategic HRM

An HR Manager day to day will wear many of hats. I believe this to be the most challenging part of their job. Effectively and professionally handling the deep emotions of employees from good to bad, an HR manager has to juggle both.

A successful manager, one that I thrive to be, has perfected the art of softly yet clearly and precisely delivering the hard news, while also being the joy to the wins. Good managers need to know how to handle emotions, while also being able to lead the team to a successful outcome. It’s a constant dance, 2080 hours a year.