5 Stories of Social Media Hurting Careers

5 Stories of Social Media Hurting Careers5 Stories of Social Media Hurting Careers2From politics to popular celebrities, you have an opinion on everything, and you have no problem sharing it. You like to voice your thoughts on social media, where others often join in on the conversation. But while posting what you really think of Kim Kardashian on facebook inc might seem innocuous, it can potentially hurt your chances of finding a job- or worse, get you fired from your current one. Dont believe us? Here are five stories of social media hurting careers and what you can learn from it.In the New York Times article, How One Stupid Tweet Blew Up Justine Saccos Life, writer Jon Ronson warned of the perils of not thinking before posting/tweeting.1) One Tweet Leads to Public BacklashOne of the biggest social media gaffes welches committed by Justine Sacco, a then-senior director of corporate communications at IAC. On a trip to South Africa, she began tweeting what she must have thought were funny tweets. Chilly- cucumber sandwiches- bad teeth. Back in LondonBut it was this next tweet, as she began the last leg of her trip to Cape Town, South Africa, that really caused a stir Going to Africa. Hope I dont get AIDS. Just kidding. Im whiteWhen she got off the 11-hour flight, her phone blew up with texts, tweets, and phone calls. Within a few hours, Sacco went from having 170 Twitter followers to becoming the 1 worldwide trend on Twitter. The backlash was swift and fierce, with people eager to see Sacco get fired in real time. One person even went to the airport to capture the moment when Sacco got off the plane and turned on her phone to discover her sudden fame. Her friend, Hannah, deleted the tweet- and Justines account completely- but it was already too late. As one Twitter user wrote, Your tweet lives on forever.2) A Pictures Worth a Thousand Words?Another social media mishap was had by Lindsey Stone, who often took pictures in front of signs doing the opposite of what the sign said. Most were harmless- smoking in front of No Smoking signs- but then she took a picture at Arlington National Cemeterys Tomb of the Unknowns. Standing in front of a sign that read Silence and Respect, Stone pretended to scream and flipped the bird. She posted the pic, without realizing that her mobile uploads setting was set to public, not just friends.A few weeks later, someone found the photo, which led to a popular Fire Lindsey Stone Facebook page. News crews were outside her home, and she was immediately fired from her job, working with developmentally disabled adults. She admitted that she barely left her house for the following year, both depressed and horrified by the intense backlash and hatred she experienced online.3) A Halloween Costume Gone WrongAt a Halloween party, Alicia Ann Lynch dressed as a Boston Marathon bombing victim, complete with a running outfit and fake blood smeared all over her arms and legs. Pictures were published on social media, includin g on Twitter where Lynch was known as SomeSKANKinMI and her personal information was discovered. She was sent threatening messages, and was also fired from her job.4) Crude Joke Gets Outed on TwitterThe New York Times Ronson also interviewed a man who worked at a tech company back in 2013. During a meeting, he made a crude joke and was surprised when a woman sitting in front of him turned around to take a picture. She then tweeted the pic to her 9,000+ followers with the caption Not cool. Jokes aboutbig dongles right behind me. A few minutes later, he and his friend were taken aside to explain the comment. Two days later, the man- married with three children- was let go.5) Turns Out, the Joke Was On YouThe story of the crude joke didnt end there. The woman who posted the pic, Adria Richards, soon experienced an immense backlash from people working within the same industry of developers. She received death threats on both Twitter and Facebook, and someone went so far as to tweet her home address along with a photo of a beheaded woman with duct tape over her mouth. Richards wound up sleeping on friends couches for the rest of that year. When her employers website was taken down (and her employers told the attacks would stop if she were fired), Richards was publicly let go the same day.Learning from Stories of Social Media Hurting CareersWhether youre job searching or planning to ask your babo to give you a flexible schedule, its very, very important to be careful what you post online. One innocent tweet can cause chaos online- and possibly destroy your reputation as a professional. You might even end up in the New York Times.So be sure to keep your Facebook profile (and all subsequent posts) private. You should even consider setting up a second profile as a professional page to highlight all of your previous successes in your industry. Try to stay away from anything controversial, such as politics or hot button topics.But that doesnt mean you shouldnt ever post anything online, either. Instead, comment on topics that relate to your industry that show off your expertise. That way, youll show your professionalism, and be one step closer to a job interview, promotion, or that flexible schedule youre after.Readers, have you heard of these stories of social media hurting careers? Have you been more careful of what youve posted online since you started your job search? Let us know in the comments section below

Isaac Newton and the process of meaning-making

Isaac Newton and the process of meaning-makingIsaac Newton and the process of meaning-makingAfter studying Isaac Newton, the 20th-century economist John Maynard Keynes once claimed Newton welches leid the first of the age of reason, he was the last of the magicians.This reference has to do with the work Newton did on occult and alchemy, the latter of which took up more than one million of his words out of the ten million in total that we have today.Its a strange thing, knowing that perhaps the greatest scientist in history, the man who first detailed gravity, mechanics, optics, and calculus in his Philosophi Naturalis Principia Mathematica, lived a life with a level of superstition that would make it easy to discredit him.Keynes, in fact, even argued that knowing this about him, we cant make the claim that the Newtonian worldview is fully mechanical, as the man himself may not have seen it as such.Nonetheless, his famous Principia is one of the most important documents ever produced by a single person in ur history. Without it, the shape of the current world would be different.Its difficult to quantify exactly how different it would be, but given the foundation it laid for subsequent works of science, its not hard to see how those pages harbor real meaning.Every moment in history is caused by a confluence of factors not all valuable. Some moments, however, like every time Newton sat down to write his book, have enormous influence, one that ripples through the currents of culture to reshape everything we know.But what exactly was it about Newtons contributions that brought meaning into the world?Meaning as an actionWhen the question of meaning is usually brought up, we often find ourselves talking about one of the two different modes in which we assume it exists the objective and the subjective.The objective is the it, the world, the universe that exists independently of what we say about it. The subjective, however, is the I, the me, the person who lives to exp erience this universe.If meaning is objective, then there is a grand purpose to it all, one we either know through God or a supernatural force of reason, or one that we dont know but can sense in a way.If meaning is subjective, then its up to us and our own experience to construct this meaning based on whatever it is that we happen to fill our mind with as we go through life in time.This dichotomy is helpful in analyzing the world, to see its different masks, but when it comes to understanding it, ignoring the interactions that exist between the two is a mistake.Newtons science didnt bring meaning into the world because it existed out there (although thats part of it) but also because Newton himself was there, with his unique brand of experience to uncover it, acting to embody it into the fabric of reality with his work.Meaning is an action. Its created when a subject with a certain function or purpose acts in such a way as to move matter about in the physical world so that they fit the environment.Every outer environment has boundaries based on what is relevant to a specific subject with a particular function. Meaning, in this sense, is the process of harmonizing these two things.You cant create meaning in your mind entirely subjectively, nor is it about finding what is already out there its a process of coordination, one moment at a time.The vitality of lifeThe architect Christopher Alexander has a philosophy of design which roughly states that the purpose of design is to give form to an object so that it better fits the context of its use.This is similar to meaning being an action, where you zone in on a particular and relevant environmental area to consider how a thing matches it when given a shape (or acted out).Over the years, Alexander has created what he calls a pattern language, a mathematical approach to best capture what makes a good fit with an environment and what doesnt.One of his conclusions is that, in a sense, life is everywhere. If we look at nature, and the way it interacts, the patterns that it creates, we can see that some interactions make more sense than others, because theyre more beautiful, they fit better, and they have a vitality.Even in our own human designs, its clear that certain buildings, certain ecologies, and certain cities have a zest that is lacking in other, more poorly-fitted places we have built.Good design, then, and we can argue the creation of meaning, too is about combining the different elements you are working with so that it creates a pattern of universal harmony.This pattern isnt static, and it cant be captured by a subject or an object alone, but its secret lies in how its interactions evolve, in each moment, with each new shape, with each action.If life is a container, meaning is the vitality that you fill it with. If meaning is an action, then there is such a thing as a right and a wrong action at any given moment that correlates with the quality of your life with how much you can give to and get from whats around you.Design provides a good analogy for life because, in a way, design is how we discover life.The takeawayWe live in a reality of matter, but we also live in a reality of mind. If mind didnt move matter, we wouldnt have civilization. If matter didnt influence mind, life would be a vacant dream.For Newtons laws of motion to exist, and for them to have the historical impact that they have had in reality, its not enough to just know that there is something like them out there.Newton, the man, is just as important for grasping the mysteries of the universe as the laws of physics. And more importantly, there would be no written laws of physics if it wasnt for the fact that Newton took the right actions, from day to day, when creating his body of work.Meaning isnt externally found or internally created, but its more like a real-life drama acted out, in one space and another, over the course of one period and another, as we live.Every contextual environment pr ovides an opportunity that is unique to a subject with a particular function and purpose, and meaning emerges when there is a fit between the two.Nature exemplifies this harmony better than we often do. It creates a life of vitality in the patterns and connections that it places together, organically growing out of its constituents.At the end of the day, we are animals, living in a particular ecology, with internal drives and motivations, and meaning-making is the process by which we design our own reality.To leave meaning to either the supernatural or the imagination is limited. Meaning is an act.Want to think and live smarter? Zat Rana publishes a free weekly newsletter for 30,000+ readers atDesign Luck.Thisarticlewas originally published onDesign Luck.

Technology continues to disrupt in disappointing jobs report

Technology continues to disrupt in disappointing jobs reportTechnology continues to disrupt in disappointing jobs reportThe U.S. Department of Labor has released its monthly jobs report, which indicates how employers are behaving.The upshot yes, there are jobs available, but some major industries are suffering and a continuing rise in part-time work, the quality of jobs isnt very high.What the latest jobs report tells us about whos working in AmericaFirst, the overall view job creation is notlage as strong as economists had hoped, which means the economy isnt as strong as it should be.How do we know that? Because fewer new jobs are being created. When the economy is strong, and companies feel confident, they create mora jobs. Thats not the case now, or for the past two months.For instance, although many economists expected 185,000 jobs to be added in May, only 138,000 jobs were added. In more bad news, the Labor Department said it had overestimated its initial March and April job gro wth estimatesand was off by 66,000 jobs for the two months.Which industries are up, and which are downSecond, some major industries are suffering. Retailers lost 6,100 jobs in May, continuing the trend of brick-and-mortar stores being in freefallbecause more Americans are shopping online.Although there were promising job increases in healthcare and mining, that strength stands out because other industries are so weak.On Thursday, consultancy firm Challenger, Gray Christmas reportedthat grocery stores and the automotive industry were beingimpacted by job cuts. Michael Kors announcedThursday that it isclosing about 100-125 stores over the next two years to save costs.Whats causing the job destruction in retail? Right now, people prefer to shop online more than they did in the past. Even though online shopping is less than 10% of all shopping, its enough to hurt the stores and the people who work there.And its only going to get worse. When online technology can giveyou price transpare ncy at the click of your fingers, it makesin-person salesobsolete.The consumer has an amazingly efficient and effective mechanism to discover what prices are and to make a virtually snap judgment about what theyre willing to pay for such things and that has shifted the balance of power to consumers away from retailers and producers, Mark Hamrick, senior economic analyst at Bankrate.com, said. Theres still going to be brands like Apple and Teslathat continue to be capable of commanding premium prices but its harder and harder.People are dropping out of the workforce, but where are they going?Hamrick said that overall, the May jobs report was a big disappointment and that the job numbers showed that the recent past hasnt beenas strong as we thought it was.On the positiv side, the unemployment rate stayed steady at 4.3%, the lowest its been since 2001.This all sounds good on the surface - until you see that the labor force participation rate fell too. Labor force participation is a me asure of how many people are working when the number drops, it means theyre dropping out of the work force. Thats whats happening now. More people are not looking for work and are not rejoining the job market. The labor force participation rate declined by 0.2% to 62.7% in May as about 429,000 people dropped out of the labor force.Its a firm trend labor force participation has been dropping since 2000, as this chart from Business Insider shows.There are no clear answers about exactly why and which Americans are disappearing this month, and if this is out of the ordinary. The obvious suspects are Baby Boomers, who are of retirement age, but women and young workers are also dropping out of the payrolls.Theres nothing thats going to compel baby boomers to stop retiringeven if theyre underfunded for retirementAnd for the most part, high school students are continuing to stay in school and go to college, Hamrick explained. Between those factors and the fact that females are not contribut ors to the labor force participation likethey were in years past, those are all demographic reasons that arent changed by a days or months or years worth of headlines on employment.This make sense. More Americans are going to college than ever before and are not joining the job market until later. Moreover, the U.S. not having mandatory paid family leavedisproportionately hurts women when it comes to employment.Some economic analysts also believe that labor force participation rates slumpis due to the job market being at full capacity everyone who wants a job currently can find one. Thats an optimistic view, but one thats hard to prove.So, jobs are there but are they may not be good enough for people to want them.If we want to compel more people to join the job market, we could entice them with more job training and higher wages, but growth inaveragehourly earnings remains sluggish. Wages increased by just four cents last month to $26.22 an hour.

Liquid Body ArmorNew U.S. Army Technology

Liquid Body ArmorNew U.S. Army TechnologyLiquid Body Armor- New U.S. Army TechnologyLiquid armor for Kevlar vests is one of the newest technologies designed to save soldiers lives thats beenunder development by the U.S. Army Research Laboratory. This type of body armor is light and flexible, allowing soldiers to be mora mobile while theyre leise protected. It doesnt hinder an individual when running or aiming his or her weapon. The Components of Liquid Armor The key component of liquid armor is a sheer thickening fluid or STF. This fluid is composed of hard particles suspended in a liquid. The liquid, polyethylene glycol, is non-toxic and it can withstand a wide range of temperatures. Hard nanoparticles of silica fasson the other component of STF. This combination of flowable and hard components results in a material with unusual properties. STF is soaked into all layers of a Kevlar vest to make liquid armor. How Liquid Armor Reacts The Kevlar fabric holds the STF in place an d it also helps to stop bullets. The saturated fabric can be soaked, draped, and sewn just like any other fabric. During normal handling, the STF is very deformable and flows like a liquid. But when a bullet or frag hits the vest, it transitions to a rigid material. This prevents the projectile from penetrating the soldiers body, according to Dr. Eric Wetzel, a mechanical engineer from the Weapons and Materials Research Directorate who heads the U.S. Army project team. Wetzel and his team have been working on this technology with Dr. Norman J. Wagner and his students from the University of Delaware for several years. The Goal of the Technology The goal of the technology is to create a new material that is low cost and lightweight while still offering equivalent or superior ballistic properties compared to current Kevlar fabric. But liquid armor also has more flexibility and less thickness, according to Wetzel. The technology has a lot of potential. Liquid armor is still undergoi ng laboratory tests, but Wetzel is enthusiastic about other applications that the technology might be applied to. The sky is the limit, said Wetzel. We would first like to put this material in a soldiers sleeves and pants, areas that arent protected by ballistic vests but need to remain flexible. We could also use this material for bomb blankets, to cover suspicious packages or unexploded ordnance. Liquid armor could even be applied to jump boots so that they would stiffen during impact to support soldiers ankles. In addition to saving soldiers lives, Wetzel said liquid armor used in Kevlar vests could help those who work in law enforcement. Prison guards and police officers could also benefit from this technology, said Wetzel. Liquid armor is much more stab-resistant than conventional body armor. This capability is especially important for prison guards, who are most often attacked with handmade sharp weapons. Wetzel and his team have been awarded the 2002 Paul A. Siple Award, the Armys highest award for scientific achievement, for their work on liquid armor. By Tonya Johnson, Army Public Affairs

Veterinary Acupuncturist Career Profile

Veterinary Acupuncturist Career ProfileVeterinary Acupuncturist Career ProfileAlternative medicines and treatments are getting more popular notlage just for people, but also for animals. Some of these methods include homeopathy, massage, herbology, chiropractic treatments, and acupuncture. Acupuncture has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for more than 3,000 years and involves the use of very thin needles being transsumpted into various points in the body. Its believed that acupuncture stimulates healing processes in the body and thus, allows the body to heal itself. The treatment has been used for both prevention and the treatment of diseases. In the case of animals, the person who performs the process is the veterinary acupuncturist. Heres a look at the duties, career options, educational requirements, salary and job outlook of the veterinary acupuncturist. Duties Veterinary acupuncturists insert small needles into various pressure points on an animals body. The inserti on of the needles into these pressure points causes various natural chemicals such as endorphins to be released in the body. Acupuncturists may also connect tiny electrodes to the acupuncture needles after insertion, using a mild electrical current to stimulate the various muscle groups and nerves. Veterinary acupuncture can be used to treat a wide array of conditions such as arthritis, neurologic disorders, reproductive disorders, gastrointestinal disorders, paralysis and muscle injuries. It is also frequently used as a maintenance procedure for healthy, athletic animals used in performance competition events. Many Thoroughbred racehorses, for example, receive regular visits from their veterinarian for acupuncture treatment. Many canine breeds suffer from hip dysplasia and other degenerative joint-related conditions - especially as they get older. While many traditional medicines may temper the symptoms, the American Academy of Veterinary Acupuncture says acupuncture can be fairly effective when treating dogs with these debilitating conditions. Veterinary acupuncturists develop and implement treatment plans based on the individual animals needs. The acupuncturist must determine the frequency of treatment as well as the anatomical points that must be stimulated to correct the problem. fruchtwein treatment plans for acute problems involve more frequent treatments in the initial stages and taper off over a period of a few weeks. Veterinary acupuncturists may also design special nutritional and behavioral modification programs to work in conjunction with the acupuncture regimen. The acupuncturist must be able to communicate the treatment regimen to the pet owner effectively. They must be able to assure them that acupuncture is not a guarantee, but an alternative to traditional medication. Career Options Veterinary acupuncturists may specialize by species, with equine and canine treatment being the most popular. Some acupuncturists may also specialize in trea ting avian or exotic species. Acupuncturists may practice in veterinary clinics, kennels or zoos. Large animal acupuncturists tend to travel to provide services to their clients, while small animal acupuncturists tend to see patients in an office setting. Some acupuncturists choose to branch out, offering additional alternative treatment options, such as herbal therapy or massage therapy. Education Training To become an accredited veterinary acupuncturist, the practitioner must be a licensed veterinarian who has completed extensive, additional training related to muscle physiology, anatomy and acupuncture techniques. Founded in 1974, the International Veterinary Acupuncture Society (IVAS) has offered the most prominent international acupuncture certification path. The IVAS, which has more than 1,800 members worldwide, certifies licensed veterinarians and fourth-year veterinary students to practice on large animals, small animals, avian species and exotic species. The IVAS certi fication course is comprised of both educational lectures and practical hands-on training. Most American veterinary acupuncturists also choose to join the American Academy of Veterinary Acupuncture (AAVA), the U.S.-based affiliate of the IVAS which was founded in 1998. This group focuses on offering additional continuing educational opportunities and information for U.S.-based veterinary acupuncturists. It is important to note most states only allow acupuncture to be practiced by a licensed veterinarian as it is classified as a surgical procedure. An aspiring acupuncturist is unlikely to enter the profession without first obtaining a veterinary degree. It would be wise to check with veterinary boards and departements of health for specific requirements. Salary The salary a veterinary acupuncturist earns can vary based on factors such as the number of patients treated, job location, years of experience, level of education in the field and whether the vet has partner or associate status in their practice. With significant experience and skill, the veterinary acupuncturist can earn top dollar for their services. When calculating their yearly salary, a veterinary acupuncturist must take into account additional expenditures such as the purchase of medical equipment and travel expenses for making home and farm visits to work on their clients. Most experienced veterinarians earn a salary in excess of $80,000 per year. Board certified specialists can earn salaries well over $150,000. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics (BLS), the average annual salary for any veterinarian in 2017 was $90,420. The highest 10% of vets earned more than $159,320, while the lowest 10% earned less than $53,980. The agency does not differentiate between standard veterinary practices and those who offer specialties. While veterinary acupuncture is not recognized by the American Veterinary Medical Association as an individual specialty category at this time, many board cer tified vets have completed the additional training in acupuncture and use it as a part of their practice. Job Outlook The BLS projects careers in the veterinary field will continue to grow at a slightly faster than average rate - roughly 19% between 2016 and 2026. This is because of the rise in consumer spending for animal wellbeing and healthcare, as well as the advances in veterinary technology. The interest in alternative therapies for animals also seems to be growing steadily. Veterinary acupuncture is expected to grow in popularity as it gains recognition in the medical community and continues to prove beneficial in treating various physical problems. According to the American Veterinary Medical Association, the average salary of a veterinarian increases by nearly six percent each year, outpacing the rate of inflation and cost of living increases. Veterinary acupuncture is part of the very stable veterinary profession that has an excellent outlook for the future.

The Secrets of Resume Profile Statement Exposed

The Secrets of Resume Profile ansicht Exposed The profile isnt a succession of sentences, but instead a series strategically placed words and phrases. Employing bullet points is a wonderful means to spell out your accomplishments and success stories from prior positions. Rather than stating what you would like, make the previous sentence of the profile statement all about your urge to add to the employer. Create your own private objective statement employing these phrases. For human resource jobs, the reader will probably be professionally conscious of resume standards so that it is vital to present your information in the most suitable format. Nevertheless, an alternate choice is to obtain a precise software bundle, which is later downloaded to your pc. There are various formats and forms of resumes to use, and which you pick can depend on lots of factors. Use the search box to find precisely what you are interested in. Management resumes benefit from listing the crucial skills of a person. Profiles have limited space inside them, so they will need to get handled with care an excessive amount of info, or too little, can kill your odds to impress a hiring manager. Tell us exactly what you would like. Be certain to include all your present contact information somewhere close to the peak of your resume. Resume Profile Statement and Resume Profile Statement - The Perfect Combination The prospective employer receives the work seekers information and details in the right method. Your profile ought to be customized to coordinate with the qualifications the employer is seeking. You are able to select the resume foster that specializes in the sort of career youre aggravating to pursue. Simply adhere to the directions and suggestions, and youll learn just how to capture the attention of hiring managers. Introducing Resume Profile Statement A work hunt may be a stressful ordeal, parteicularly when youre faced with long waits and rejection. When you receive a job, you barely have the time to do laundry. Your resume says a good deal about you. Revamping your resume in front of a work search is almost always a good idea. Show the reasons you should stand besides the remaining part of the applicants as the most fascinating and competent candidate. Youve got to frame such statements which make you distinguish yourself from the crowd. The statements have to be meaningful and impressive with lots of of perfection. A good deal of people believe a personal objective statement is a critical part of your resume. The 30-Second Trick for Resume Profile Statement For instance, if you need your healthcare resume to secure you considered for a managerial position, then youll want the right type of training together with experience for a shift coordinator. Transferable Skills There are a lot of core abilities and competencies that could be applied to many different careers. No matter your degree of job experience, your resume stru cture is critical to making your program stick out. Be certain to include any additional, relevant training you have gotten. After her experience for a principal is her previous teaching experience. If you believe you dont have enough experience for the appropriate job, then you may combine your experiences designation wise. Everyone has desirable abilities and experiences to provide employers including you Each guide is based on another amount of skilled experience, so locate the one most appropriate to your specific circumstance. Resume Profile Examples play an important part in assisting and supporting job seekers in the appropriate method. Make certain you tailor your resume to the job youre applying for. With a little preparation and a deep comprehension of the local job market, it is possible to easily simplify your work search. What to Do About Resume Profile Statement Use the in depth human resources job description to assist you with your human resources resumes. Outline the topics you have to cover. Show you want to learn and polish your abilities and interests. Use the thorough job description at to assist you. The profile section needs to be set right on top of the page following your name and contact details. Basic layouts are extremely simple to edit, even when you have never made a resume before. Follow our professional profile examples to make your own. Resume Profile Statement Features Career objectives are most useful for people targeting one specific position, since they let the applicant to directly cover the requirements of the business and show how they are going to fit in the workforce. Resume is a continuous procedure and it is going to likely to call for updates in your whole career life. Chronological resumes are the ideal place to highlight your accomplishments.

What is the Ideal Work Week

What is the Ideal Work Week In a hotly contested candidate market, the most progressive employers are beginning to binnensee that employee retention and/or revitalization is as important as making new hires. In many respects, it can be more important as studies show that internally promoted candidates are both cheaper and regularly outperform externally appointed candidates. One way to increase both employee retention (and your attractiveness to external talent incidentally) is to improve your work life balance. Yes, a Hay Group study has shown that 17 percent of staff in firms that hilfe work life balance plan to leave their jobs in the next two years, compared to 27 percent of staff in firms where work life balance is not supported.Despite these statistics showing the value of work life balance, studies show that the UK and U.S. are embedded in an unhealthy long-hours culture, with 75 percent of Americans working long hours, i.e. over 40 hours a week, with 33 percent working over 50 hours a week. There is a similar picture in the UK with an Austin Knight study showing that 2 out 3 employees are working over 40 hours a week and 25 percent are working over 50 hours a week.So, there is clearly a long-hours culture operating in many workplaces, which is harming work life balance and harming staff retention. This suggests employers should be looking at initiatives to reduce sustained overworking and get rid of the long-hours culture. So, while we can see its important to reduce hours, by how much should these hours be reduced? Or to put it another way, what is the ideal work week? You can see my thoughts on this belowNot more than 40 hours?Research shows that after 40 hours of work in a week, productivity drops by 50 percent, and employees who work for 60 hours will see an incremental or additional reduction in productivity once they have done this for a period of four weeks. A s well as this, research shows that people who work 11 hours a day are more than twice as likely to be depressed than those working 8 hours, which could itself lead to further disengagement and sick days. So, there is a strong argument that the ideal work week should be not more than 40 hours, so perhaps between 35 and 40 hours.The four-day work week?The idea of the four day working week was originated by American labor union leader Walter Reuther, but it has not caught on. But, in a world where the incidence of families with both parents working is rising dramatically, it seems that the idea of flexible working and perhaps working a four-day week may be relevant and even an ideal solution to the issues that working parents (and especially working mothers) face. It may also be beneficial to the company bottom line as when Utah introduced four day weeks for many of its state employees in 2008 they saw boosts in productivity and worker satisfaction. Another company, called 37signals, also reported increases in productivity after moving to four-day weeks. It probably needs more scientific proof, but there is growing evidence that a four-day working week could be extremely beneficial to both employees and employers.A 25-hour work week? Now, I acknowledge that this is very radical I am just putting it out there. Science Nordics James W Vaupel, head of the Danish Max Planck research centre, believes that the 40-hour week is totally outdated at a point in time when people are living and working longer, (e.g. official retirement ages are climbing or being removed all together). It is his belief that people should work 25 hours with a view to working much longer, perhaps until they are 80. This does not mean that people should work more total hours over their lifetime, but that it should be spread out over a longer time period as this is beneficial to people at all stages of life. For example, a 25-hour working week means younger people can spend more time with their k ids or expanding themselves and older people who have more time on their hands can use work to keep them active. In fact, studies show that older people who work part-time are healthier than those who do not. I realize this is a radical argument, but it certainly got me thinking.As for where I stand, I feel the ideal working week is somewhere between four or five days a week, but I think due to the challenging business world we live in, periods of intensity are required in order to achieve things and make ground against the competition. However, while I am not quite ready to surrender to the concept of a 25-hour week, I do believe in the idea of working into my 70s as a way of preserving my health so, something will have to give.