Photo credit: iStock

As temporary workers make up an increasingly larger share of our workforce (it’s not just the front desk anymore) and hold positions at companies for longer periods of time—sometimes for years, I got to wondering what it’s like to be a temp worker. Is it horrible and stressful because there are no benefits and no security? Or is it fun and fancy free with lots of variety and minimal commitment? So I decided to ask. Here is the perspective of one temp worker:

Liz: How long have you been a temp worker?

T.W.: I’ve been a temp worker for years.

Liz: How many temp jobs have you had?

T.W.: I’ve had 2 temp jobs and 5 other interviews for temp positions, but I have spent the majority of my time in one position.

Liz: Do you get benefits? Ever?

T.W.: The staffing company I work for didn’t offer benefits directly. They did recommend a short term coverage plan (180 days at a time, catastrophic coverage only) that I had to pay out-of-pocket.

Liz: What’s the best thing about temp work?

T.W.: The best thing about temping is having a job. Looking for jobs these days can be very depressing. There just isn’t a whole lot out there right now so it’s nice to earn some kind of income in the meantime.

Liz: What’s the worst?

T.W.: There are a lot of things that aren’t great about temping. Lack of benefits, lower pay, status in the company; but I think most temps would say the worst part is the uncertainty that the job brings. At anytime you could be let go. Most of the time the jobs have a defined time period so you are able to plan a little bit, but even then things can change and you can be gone pretty quickly.

Liz: Why did you start temping? Was it more desperation or inspiration?

T.W.: Definitely not inspiration. I was frustrated looking for work and didn’t think I had a lot of options. A friend of mine suggested I give temporary employment a shot, while I was still looking. The temp agency worked really fast for me so I stuck with it for a while. 

Liz: What would you like employers to know—from the temp point of view?

T.W.: Be very upfront with us about the expectations of us and the situation we are in. Don’t sugarcoat future employment status. If there is no chance of full-time employment in the future, make that clear. 

Liz: What about your co-workers in the office(s) where you temp: Any message for them?

T.W.: I think most temps are probably overqualified for the work they are doing. I think the reason someone temps may be a little misunderstood. It’s not like I aspired to be a temporary employee, it just kind of happened. All the other temps I’ve met are really smart and driven people. It’s understandable that there is a stigma to being a temp employee, but the reason I am temping is not because I’m unemployable, I just took a different route to get a foot in the door.

I’ve actually really enjoyed most of my time as a temp. I’ve experienced a lot of different types of work and work environments. I would say, despite the challenges, in a transitional or emergency situation, temporary employment is a great alternative to no employment at all.

Liz: What is “Eat Well to be Well”?

Amy: Eat Well to Be Well is a public awareness campaign targeting adults age 60+. The campaign was created by the Twin Cities Hunger Initiative, a community initiative that is striving to reduce and end hunger in the Twin Cities.

The campaign’s purpose is to inform seniors about the positive benefits of food stamps. The goals include:

• To educate the community about food support (food stamps).
• To dispel myths around food support.
• To increase access to information about the food support program.
• To increase participation, especially among the working poor and older adults.

Liz: Why are you specifically targeting older adults?

Amy: The economy has been rough on everyone, but older adults and retirees are caught in a tighter financial bind than most of us. The loss of investment wealth, rising costs of healthcare, housing costs and increased food costs all impact those on limited incomes drastically.

• 75,000 Minnesotans are age 60 and above and have incomes at or near poverty ($18,213/year for a family of two)
• The USDA finds that one in five low-income households with seniors report “food insecurity” or hunger: They do not have consistent access to enough food for active, healthy lives.

Better nutrition is a key to healthy aging. Maintaining one’s independence is critically important to older adults; research confirms independence is tied to mental and physical well-being. Poor nutrition, or skipping meals due to budget concerns, will derail independence.

Not eating enough healthy foods can result in increased frailty, more falls and broken bones, more illnesses, and more frequent and longer hospital visits. All of these mean reduced independence.

Liz: What are some of the most important foods for people—and older adults in particular—to eat?

Healthy foods as identified in the USDA food pyramid like grains, fruits, vegetables, meats, milk and beans.

Liz: What is SNAP?

SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) is a federal nutrition program. Minnesota refers to SNAP as “food support,” otherwise known as food stamps. Hunger Solutions Minnesota has started a Minnesota Food Help Line to determine eligibility for the food stamp program and to provide application assistance.

Liz: What resources are available for older people who are having a tough time making ends meet and sometimes end up choosing between their meds and a nutritious meal?

Amy: Older adults (and those caring for them) should be aware of food support available. Some myths exist about allowable income to qualify for the program, so it’s worth checking out. Older adults are the largest qualifying segment that underutilizes this benefit.

• In 2009, older adults (age 60+) who qualified for SNAP received an average of $111 in food support per month. This goes a long way toward purchasing healthy, nutritious food.
• The asset limit has been raised to $7,000 and does not include vehicles.
• IRAs and tax-preferred retirement accounts are counted as assets.

Homebound older adults or their caregivers can determine their eligibility for the program by applying over the phone.

For more information about Food Support (food stamps) call Hunger Solutions‘ Minnesota Food Help Line at 1-888-711-1151. To locate the food shelf closest to you, call 2-1-1. To order materials for the Eat Well to Be Well Campaign, contact the Minnesota Institute of Public Health, 763-427-5310 Ext. 126.

As part of our kickoff event we saw the new United Way “When you can’t do, donate” ads. They are great fun.

Attention all you budding artists out there: There is also a “design your own” component to this ad campaign. There will be a contest—open to anyone in the community—and the winner will get their ad professionally developed by Campbell Mithun. Very cool. This will launch in September, so watch for more information on United Way’s website.

But wait, there’s more! There is also the Join my Dream Team competition. This isn’t just for our internal campaign, but open to anyone in the community (or, well, really—anyone in the world). When you sign up for a team,

$1 will be contributed to the cause of your choice—hunger, shelter, wellness, or literacy. I personally encourage you to join Team Literacy. It is MY team of choice and we are currently in last place. Each cause is sponsored by a local company (Land O’Lakes, Xcel Energy, HealthPartners, Target) that contributes one dollar for every person that signs on to a team. You lose nothing and the community gains. Sign up now!

The Join My Dream Team competition goes until September 3, giving you plenty of time to sign up, and then four weeks to get your friends and family to sign up.

LIVE UNITED!

Photo credit to Southernpixel

I have been meaning to blog about this since before the 4^th of July, but summer just keeps getting in the way (gardening, birding, trips to the north shore, reading books on the porch).

A few weeks ago I finished Getting a Grip, by Frances Moore Lappé (you may have heard of her, author years and years ago of Diet for a Small Planet). In Getting a Grip, Lappé calls on us to increase our involvement in democracy, moving from what she calls “thin democracy” (primarily voting and consuming) to a more participatory democracy, or what I like to think of as “deep democracy.”

What does that mean? It means we spend less time sitting on the sidelines. It means we get out in the community more often than every 2 or 4 years when there’s an election that we care about. This is not to diminish the power or the importance of voting. Voting is an honor, a privilege, and a responsibility. But it is not enough.

What else, then?

When’s the last time you called or wrote one of our elected officials? I remember during the economic meltdown, senators and representatives were swamped with calls about the bailout. It made a difference; it affected their actions. People were outraged; they called their representatives; it made a difference. It was a horrendously difficult and scary time, but it was great to see people so involved, taking action. Making calls, sending emails, writing letters. Letters!

Additional ideas:

• Attend a city council meeting.
• Join your local neighborhood organization.
• Join a block club.
• Reclaim the streets: Go out walking at night, even if you have to do it in a group!
• Write a letter to the editor.
• Vote with your feet: Support your local businesses and your local economy. Nearly 60% of our GDP still comes from locally owned businesses selling locally.
• Read your neighborhood newspaper, stay informed, and get involved.
• Attend a protest.
  

  Photo by pjah73

• Support local artists.
• Organize a boycott.
• Write a letter of support or appreciation.
• Mow your neighbor’s lawn.

One of Lappé’s strongest points references power. We tend to think of power as a fixed quantity. You either have it or you don’t. There’s only so much to go around, and if someone gets more, someone else gets less. This can be extremely demoralizing, to the point where you start to think that even your vote doesn’t matter.

But what if you think of power as the capacity to get things done? I can get a lot of things done in a day. Getting things done and accomplishing things—this is the ability to effect change.

Now that’s power.

• “Unconsumption” describes the now savvy and respectable trend of reducing, reusing, and recycling.
• Fashions are changing faster than ever because clothing is becoming relatively cheaper. In fact, 21^st century clothes are 70% cheaper than the mod outfits of the Sixties. (This was further elaborated on in Plenitude, Juliet B. Schor’s new book, where she talks about ever cheaper clothes and our increasing propensity to buy—and discard—said new clothes. The average American bought 34 pieces of clothing in 1991; in 2007 the average person bought 67 pieces of clothing. That is a 97% increase!)
• More than 80% of undergraduate students want more sustainability and corporate responsibility material in their curriculae. (Business majors are even more adamant.) Attention to sustainability has become an expectation of college students.
• At least half of the estimated 10.6 million privately held firms in the U.S. are owned by women, employing 19.1 million people and generating $2.46 trillion in sales annually.
• Workers under 30 would rather start their own company than advance through the corporate ranks. Most distrust large institutions and believe that jobs don’t provide a secure economic future.

I always learn something new when I pick up The Futurist. And even though I don’t agree with everything they say, I’m never bored.

Text messaging has made sexual harassment ever so much easier, making the harassment even more persistent and constant. No breaks. No safe time.

And while abusive texting is a big part of the problem, it’s not the only technology abusers abuse: email, phone, and also (newer) through Facebook and other social networking sites.

But there is an upside with the technology as well. It offers strong evidence of the abuse and is being used in courts to assist in conviction.

More important, it can be used for good as well as ill, as reported in a Strib story published on the same day—the story of a woman who used text messaging to call for assistance while she was being sexually assaulted and chased around the house.

The article also references the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Survey data indicating that 9.8% of high school students have experienced dating violence (hit, slapped, or physically hurt on purpose by their boyfriend or girlfriend in the last 12 months); and 7.4% report being physically forced to have sexual intercourse.

Closer to home, the Minnesota Student Survey (we don’t participate in the YRBSS) has similar rates, using somewhat broader definitions of violence.

As you can see—the likelihood of both dating and sexual violence increases with age (no surprise there) and girls are about twice as likely to experience dating violence and sexual violence compared to boys.

What’s to be done?

• Educate yourself about violence prevention.
• Be aware of the warning signs.
• If you’re a parent, make sure your children know the warning signs.
• Don’t be silent about the issue.
• Learn more.

At a broader level, find out about United Way’s work to end domestic violence.

Illustration by Parsua Bashi

It presents several issues—of immigration, of culture, of religion—from multiple viewpoints, and just when you think you know where the author is coming from, zip! you’re looking at it through a different lens.

Here are just a few of the thoughts and questions that ran through my mind as I read this engaging memoir:

• Is religion really a reason for Iran’s problems, or is it merely a smoke screen?
• What constitutes good dinner conversation, and does cutlery really make a difference?
• What happens to a country when it becomes so rigid and prescriptive that the best and brightest and then some emigrate?
• Can freedom of speech be carried too far?
• How different are cults and political groups, really?

A fast but surprisingly thought-provoking read. If you’ve never read a graphic novel (memoir), this might be a good place to start.

The demographic changes include the aging of our population (we are going to see large increases in the 55-75 age group in the next 10 years) and very slow growth on the part of the labor force. What this means for the near future:

• More retirees
• Less consumption, more saving
• Slower economic growth
• Higher interest rates
• More uncertainty about the future

In 2020, the number of Minnesotans age 65+ will outnumber school-age kids—this is a huge demographic shift which could lead to some challenging funding priorities between health care (age 65+) and education (ages 5-17). Overlay a $5.8 billion budget gap (expected for Minnesota in 2012-2013) on that challenge and it doesn’t take a crystal ball to see exceptionally rocky roads ahead.

But all is not lost, and according to Stinson, this New Normal plays to Minnesota’s strengths. Education has been the key to Minnesota’s productivity and prosperity, and if we make the right decisions and investments now, they will help us weather—and perhaps even prosper in—the New Normal.

You can view Dr. Stinson’s complete powerpoint or, if you’d rather see and hear the presentation, check out the video.

You’re stuck alone on a desert island for one year. You can have water and one other food. Here are your choices:

• Corn
• Alfalfa Sprouts
• Hot Dogs
• Spinach
• Peaches
• Bananas
• Milk Chocolate

What do you pick?

The most popular choice in the study Pollan is citing was bananas (42%) followed by spinach (27%). Then corn (12%), alfalfa sprouts (7%), peaches (5%), hot dogs (4%), and milk chocolate (3%).

Only 7% chose one of the two foods that would best support survival: hot dogs and milk chocolate.

Hot dogs and milk chocolate! When I considered the problem I chose hot dogs because hot dogs were my favorite food when I was a kid (and I still like them—they’re always a first at the State Fair). And I was thinking of the protein content.

But apparently more people are concerned about the fat content. In fact, fat has become fairly synonymous with “bad for you.” About one in three people believes that a diet absolutely free of fat would be better for us than a diet containing even “a pinch” of fat.

Lest we forget: The human brain is about 60% fat (every neuron is sheathed in a protective layer of fat). Fat is a nutrient that is essential for our survival (though some fats are better than others).

It made me think. Everything in moderation. . . .

I have finally finished The Tyranny of E-mail by John Freeman. Given that “e-mail has pulverized our days into bite-sized moments of attention,” what’s to be done?

Freeman’s #1 suggestion: Don’t send.

This is not to say stop engaging in e-mail. But do it thoughtfully. Seriously—it almost seems like a contradiction, doesn’t it? E-mail and impulse go hand in hand. Thought and its second cousin mindfulness are far, far out in left field.

Here’s a guideline: If it’s something you wouldn’t say to a person’s face, don’t send. One of the things I hadn’t thought of (but recognized with a “duh” when I read it) is that inhibitions are often completely dropped in e-mail correspondence (psychologists even have a word for it: disinhibition). If it’s a dig or a snipe that you probably wouldn’t say in person, or if you seriously disagree and you can hear your fingers pounding that keyboard—probably a phone call (or a walk down the hall if it’s a colleague) would be the better approach.

We check our e-mail more often than we drink water. (Who does these studies?) But it gives an interesting perspective. How else can we get this under control?

Well, Don’t Send. Here’s my pet peeve: Overuse of “Reply All”: Does everyone on the distribution list really need to hear what you have to say, or can you simply reply to the sender? Copying 200 people on “Congratulations! Well Done!” is not a good idea (unless, perhaps, you’re the CEO). Do not use e-mail to try to induce joie de vivre.

Another tip to reduce or help manage your e-mail:

Do not check your work e-mail either first thing in the morning or late at night. It puts a little boundary between your private life and your work life, which is a good thing.

Also: Check e-mail only twice a day. What? What? Can anyone do this? And then I read this: “If you work in an environment where many people keep their inboxes open all day…”

And I stopped. Doesn’t everyone at work keep their inboxes open all day? Apparently not. And here’s a no-brainer:

Turn off the instant notification e-mail alert. This simple change has helped me be more focused on my tasks, and then I check e-mail as I move from one task or project to another.

A few more suggestions to save time in the long run:

• Read the entire incoming e-mail before replying.
• Don’t debate complex or sensitive matters by e-mail.
• Set up your desk to do something besides e-mail. Have a spot for work that isn’t done on the computer—a space for reading, thinking, doodling, sketching. A place where you can let your mind wander to that elusive place of creativity and good, deep ideas.

And finally—schedule media-free time every day. Even an hour—no e-mail, no texting, no IMs. No internet? No computer? No phone? No TV? No radio? Take it as far as you like. Your brain will be happy for the rest, and you might realize or learn something really valuable.