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By Carmie Dulguime* AT LEAST 50 percent of my daily news feed from my Facebook “friends” is about their games updates. Someone just bought a harvester in Farm Ville. Another one needs help in ordering a hit on Mafia Wars. Yet another one took a photo of her pet in Pet Society and made it her profile pic (uhrm, that would be me). Time stamps of these feeds indicate that these games are being played during office hours. Talk about stress-busting at work! Playing online games during office hours were frowned upon in offices about six years ago. Today, the atmosphere has changed radically. Companies are beginning to embrace the idea of letting their employees play at work for, believe it or not, productivity and motivation purposes. Perhaps these companies realized they could not stop their employees from stealing company time by playing online even with sophisticated software installed in the system to monitor employees’ activities online. Thanks to companies like Snowfly, Inc., online gaming during office hours are now legitimized because of the advantageous effects of its web-based incentive software programs. It developed a gaming program called Capstone which rewards employees for playing. In return, the company gets real-time results that help determine the productivity and morale level of its workforce. Too good to be true? It’s a win-win situation for both employees and the company, if you ask me. Aside from incentives, online gaming in the workplace is now also being used as training aides. At Novartis in London, employees play interactive games online in order to familiarize themselves with company policies and code of ethics. This most certainly makes seminars and workshops a lot more exciting than merely looking at Powerpoint presentations, watching videos, or performing skits. This should not, however, provide employees with a convenient excuse to become a slacker at work. Games, in any form, are addicting. It can defeat the purpose of de-stressing and/or learning through online games. All work and no play can make you dull, but more play and less work may make you lose your job. *Carmie Dulguime is a corporate editor in a multinational public relations company. Her work encourages actual participation in social networking through the Internet, including online gaming.

THERE REALLY is no easy way to break somebody’s heart (just ask James Ingram and all the sawi sa pag-ibig right now), and this is true too in the corporate world. My balikbayan friend from the US was just telling me last Sunday how her friend, also a Pinay, agonized going to work every day at Lehman Brothers before the big collapse, not knowing if she would still have a job the next day. I also heard of another friend who worked at a California bank which has closed shop last year, and yes, it is hard to be told you just lost your job. But just as it is so heartbreaking to be told you have been fired or have lost your job through no fault of your own, it is equally, if not more, heartbreaking to be the boss having to decide a subordinate’s fate and tell him about it. A 41-year-old software engineer in Manila remembers having been asked by his former employer to draft a list of 10 to 15 people to be fired as a result of a merger with a bigger company. “I made a list, but I never sent it until I just resigned. It was hard as some of those people were my friends,” he says. “When they greet you ‘Hi, sir’ I get guilty because I am in effect sharpening the axe and they have no idea. Plus you know that if these people lose their jobs, their families will be in a dire financial crisis.” But sometimes the axe has to fall. If you have exhausted all means and have no recourse but to fire someone, follow these tips: 1. Make sure you have a solid case. The same software engineer had to fire someone recently after gathering solid evidence and following due process. “The offenses were failure to deliver (which by itself, I would’ve had more patience), and worse, chronic dishonesty. Her dishonesty ranged from questionable expenses to saying she’s working at home when she’s somewhere else. When she discovered that she would be fired in a day or two, inunahan ako and she resigned,” he explains. 2. Have everything about the case put down in writing. 3. Talk with a lawyer to cover all possible legal loopholes. 4. Call the employee to a private meeting and state the case. According to about.com, be straightforward, civil, concise and compassionate. Give the person a chance to talk. 5. Offer advice such as what kind of job would suit the person better. 6. Have the Human Resources Department brief the employee on what to do (exit interview, turnover of company property, clearance procedure) and when to expect final payout of salary and benefits.

Some jobs are really hard to fill. Just ask employers in the country who have difficulty finding the right person for jobs such as: * accountant and auditor * computer professional * commercial and technical sales representative * mechanical engineer * professional nurse According to the Integrated Survey of Establishments, a survey done since 2006 by the Department of Labor and Employment’s Bureau of Labor and Employment Statistics, these are the top five hard-to-fill jobs. Next to these are the following jobs that are also hard to fill: * air traffic controller * aircraft pilot * navigator and flight engineer * personnel and human resource development officer * geologist and geophysicist * pharmacist * industrial robot controller * decorator and commercial designer * bacteriologist * pharmacologist * pathologist and related worker * technical and vocational instructor/trainor * safety, health and quality inspector (for vehicles, processes and products) * architect * photographer * image and sound recording equipment operator * science and mathematics teaching professional But don’t we have many unemployed graduates today? It’s not that simple, though. There has to be a fit: the right man for the right job. According to Anna Karissa B. Marcial, HR Officer of BCC Global Solutions, an HR firm, the following are the reasons why job hunters do not get the jobs: * Cutthroat market * Global competition [Some of our best workers go abroad] * Applicants do not have enough relevant/related solid experience * Applicants fail psychological exam and job interview * Applicants demand high salary even on entry level * Clients have high standards/qualifications on some of these positions Looking for the right person for the right job may feel like looking for a needle in a haystack. Once a company finds the right man, though, it should make sure the employee stays. How? Marcial gives these recommendations: * Give a good compensation and benefit package * Have motivational and developmental programs (personal and professional) * Encourage work-life balance * Have job enlargement and job enrichment so the employee won’t get bored after staying in the company for a while Makes sense.