Tag: coffeebreak

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Good morning everyone and thank you for stopping by for one of my classic Coffee Talks. As I am getting more involved with my blog I hope to do a lot of more of these with my goal each week to be one Coffee Talk and then one Breakdown, with potentially more updates coming soon for the future.

For today’s topic, I wanted to talk about how we as remote workers stay active from home. It is amazing how much activity you can get while working from an office because those steps really do add up. More than anything, it is probably the fact that our offices are much larger than our homes so we are covering a greater distance, especially as we head to the breakroom, bathroom, or to the printer. I will be honest that these last four years working from home have certainly seen me gain some unintentional weight that I do hope to work on. So what can we do while from home to get those extra steps and activities in during the work hours that we used to get while in the office? Better yet, rather than just rattling on things that you can do, I’m going to talk about the things that I want and plan on doing. Let us see this as a chance to maybe get a bit healthier together, and not as a means of making ourselves feel guilty and try to celebrate our accomplishments.

1. Do not get lax with eating. One of the top perks working from home is my kitchen is only a few feet away from me so I no longer have to worry about planning out my lunch since I can just swing by whenever I want a snack, or choose my meals at my leisure. Where this gets dangerous is all too often I don’t feel like preparing something at lunch time and might just grab a couple handfuls of snacks. Instead, lets try to get back to planning our structured lunches that are a bit healthier that I can choose from. My goal is to try to a bit of meal planning; I used to do this awhile back and it worked out pretty well. While it saves time during the week, it just requires a bit more work upfront, including planning them out. I have also been meaning to get new food containers, so why not these? https://amzn.to/4aZrQ77
   
2. Monitor your progress. Now keeping track of your calories and steps is by no means for everyone. You could even Google to see if it is beneficial, and there will be sources supporting both sides of the argument. I personally am a fan of the wearables and I can explain why. For when I am actively trying to watch what I eat, keeping track of my calories helps me keep my unnecessary snacking in check. It really does help see where my excess calories are coming from and instead I can opt for something healthier, usually saving the extra calories for my D&D sessions or parties where you are supposed to indulge. Additionally, I like being able to see my steps because it does help give me a personal kudos that I accomplished something. Maybe I didn’t hit 10,000 steps but by taking the dogs out for a walk I was able to get in an extra 1,000. Sometimes it isn’t about hitting the mark but by making the effort that counts. An additional benefit is many of the wearables also track sleep, which as my husband and I have been having some sleep issues since our New Year’s incident with our dog, Loki, they have been nice to be able track and try to figure out what works and doesn’t. My go to has always been Fitbit, ever since my husband gifted me with one about 8+ years ago, and that sucker was able to last a very long time. I did finally upgrade in January and that was when I got him one as well by going to the Fitbit Charge 5. Game changer, since it also include the Fitbit app which allows you to look at a historical of everything. Once we can get back into working out, it will make all the difference. If interested: https://amzn.to/3KBz3Q2
   
3. Workout routine. They say the key to keeping up with anything is by setting up a routine, make it part of the everyday. This is certainly where I am struggling, because I have to get that motivation to stick with it. Back when I was in the office I had a couple of coworkers who every 15-minute break, they would go out and do a walk and that was their big way to stay active at work. Part of the reason I haven’t done this is because if I went for a walk I’d feel bad not taking my dogs, and three dogs is a lot to take for a walk. So my personal goal is going to do some sort of activity on my breaks. Maybe I will take them all for a walk, I might decide to do some jumping jacks or sit-ups, or perhaps use that time to clean up the backyard. Another good routine is your morning, before you even start work. I have always talked about doing morning workouts, but that might be a lot to start right away. I think I will start with morning stretches to get the juices flowing, and try to get up to at least trying to do a morning run or walk. Here is a tip: if that morning jog leads you to a fancy coffee drink, that might just act as some motivation.
   
4. Home workout equipment. Now I am not talking about setting up a full home gym (unless you really want to) but I am referring to what can you get in your home office that you can use throughout the day. A couple years ago I actually purchased this: https://amzn.to/3x4ps15. I forget where I was inspired to get the desk cycling but I thought it would solve all of my problems. I do bring it out occasionally, my main problem is it fits awkwardly under my desk so it isn’t always there. Additionally, while it is great for during those large meetings you don’t actually speak during or else general clerical work, it can be very distracting at times you need to pay attention. But my goal is to start using that each week, coordinating it with my schedule so I can designate at least half an hour each use. Now a popular option is the standing desk: https://amzn.to/3VjCCzk. I personally never got into them, but I think that is because I just hate standing so that is a bit of me just wanting to sit. But I have colleagues who swear by them, and typically break their day up between standing and sitting. You might not be moving but standing is much healthier compared to sitting all day long so this is absolutely an option. The other big one, for those who think like Dwight Schrute, is a ball chair: https://amzn.to/45nYHkD. I have not personally used one so I cannot comment them. I have known a lot more people with standing desks in comparison to these chairs, but those who did have the chairs really loved them. I feel this is very much a personal preference. Thankfully they are not nearly as expensive as a standard office chair so it isn’t a huge cost.
   
5. Make it a group effort. Now I am fortunate enough to work for a large enough company that they have many health initiatives throughout the year. We even have an app through Virgin Pulse where we can track various activities that lets us accrue points to purchase gift cards and can count towards our benefits. But they also create challenges which might include seeing which group can get the most steps in a period or complete some sort of goal. While we might not work in person together, that shouldn’t stop us from creating these shared experiences. More than anything, it reminds us that we are not alone and that there are others hoping to see that we succeed. That is perhaps one of my biggest struggles, reaching out for support from others. So if your company or department doesn’t have events like these, maybe try to find some colleagues to join you and do them. You could share and rate new healthy recipes, perhaps do conferences calls while out on a walk instead of at your desks, or maybe do yoga meetings where you collectively follow along to a yoga video. There are a lot of cool ideas out there, we just have to be willing to try them!

So those are my best tips, and they are ones I want to try to follow myself more often to. Please comment below to everyone if you have your own recommendations that I might not have mentioned or perhaps your own feedback on those I did. More than anything, I want to know how everyone stays motivated? Motivation is most likely my biggest struggle, so how does everyone else do it?

I’m looking forward to you recommendations, and I especially look forward to seeing you later this week at the Breakroom. As always, a new Breakroom Breakdown will be up at 7:30am CDT on Friday. Until then, I hope you all have a fantastic week!

Good morning everyone and welcome back to the Breakroom! After a very long week I have decided to focus on another one of my Coffee Talk topics rather than a full breakdown of the office happenings, and I do have a good one today!

This topic originally came to my attention while I was doom scrolling through Facebook and saw an article talking about a new law in Minnesota which I view as a major win. Known as Bill HF3587, this bill requires that companies with more than 30 employees to disclose their salary ranges in their job postings beginning January 2025¹.

So why is this important? For those of you who may not review job postings very often, you can see as many half of all job postings disclose no actually information about pay. Or if they do, they might include the popular “competitive wages” listed. This can be a struggle for most people reviewing jobs because many of us have a certain expectation when it comes to salaries when looking at a job. In my opinion, it could not only be a waste of time for the applicant but also for the employee to go through several rounds of interviews and finally be offered the job, only to turn it down because the pay is not in line with what they require. This is why postings with this information will statistically see more applicants than those without the details, but still this practice continues. Thankfully Minnesota joins a group of around a dozen states which have similar laws in place, and almost a dozen more have bills under consideration to require the details.

To give them the benefit of the doubt, I went to Indeed to find out why companies think it is okay this information doesn’t need to be shared. A big piece is that companies do not want to create competition with their competitors by creating a “bidding war” if you will, but also they are worried that if current employees start to see that new hires might come in at higher rates, they will expect properly compensation. While I understand that each person’s experience can vary, I have say that this entire situation can be rationalized by the principal of supply and demand. If there is a limited supply of candidates and you are willing to pay more to meet that demand, then just be upfront about it. Yes, your competitors might see the higher wages you offer and then raise their own wages, but this is good from the employees and they would be excited to see wages truly be considered competitive. I know a lot of companies like to say that their fun or family-oriented atmosphere is a benefit and a reason to work with them, but the vast majority of us care more about the income we need in order to survive. Another big reason about companies hiding the range is they worry that by offering $25 to $50 an hour for a job, most people will focus on the $50 and then be upset when they are offered less. While I feel most people have a pretty realistic idea of where they would fall in such a range, this is easily fixable. The offered wages typically are calculated by the company off a formula based on their experience and credentials for the job they are applying for. If the company would be willing to provide an explanation of why they fall at that number in the range, this could resolve the issue². It could even offer the chance for the applicant to realize they might have missed including a piece of their experience in the resume which could then correct the offer (I have spoken to at least two employees in the last several months who state they realized they did not include pieces on their resume so this does happen).

But the biggest reason why companies might like to keep salaries private is it gives them more ease to lowball employees so they do not need to pay them higher rates. While employees wants to make money, companies are always trying to save money and that is just an unfortunate truth. And while this transparency is great for all employees, what really resonated with me was an explanation from Rep. Kristin Bahner (DFL-Maple Grove) because when she previously worked for a technology company, she discovered she made $20,000 less than a male counterpart. Her focus for this bill is it is a means to hold companies accountable in working towards reducing the multitude of pay gaps that exist in this country. Besides men routinely making more than women, we typically will see a white employee making more than a person of color³. At the end of the day, I truly believe this bill will help our state for the better and I hope that companies will see the benefits that this can offer them once they offer a bit of transparency.

I hope this fun piece of legal information gives you a nice morning jolt, I know it felt good venting a bit about big companies which can be fun. To everyone out there looking for new jobs, I wish you all of the best and I hope you all have a great Memorial Day weekend, feel free to share your plans for the weekend in the comments! And as always, I’ll see you around the Breakroom.

1. Wagner, J. (2024, May 23). New Minnesota law requires companies to list salary range on job postings. CBS News. Retrieved May 23, 2024, from https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/minnesota-law-salary-range-jobs/ ↩︎
2. Fluckiger, B. (2021, December 8). Why Employers Aren’t Posting Salaries; and Why They Should. LinkedIn. Retrieved May 23, 2024, from https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-employers-arent-posting-salaries-should-brandon-fluckiger ↩︎
3. Basham, B. (2024, March 7). Legislation calls for state’s larger employers to include salary ranges in job postings. Minnesota House of Representatives. Retrieved May 23, 2024, from https://www.house.mn.gov/SessionDaily/Story/18151 ↩︎