About Mary Lake

Mary has 25+ years' experience in education, curriculum development, workforce training and development, and technical writing. She holds a BA in Education from the University of South Florida.

Keeping National Politics out of the Office

Over the past year, the American public has been inundated by our political process, with a large number of potential candidates and ideas vying for votes and support. Although the number of potential candidates have decreased as the national conventions draw near, the nation is increasingly drawn into debates and heated [...]

PTO Policies for Wanderlust Employees

My last blog addressed the trend of employees failing to utilize vacation time and what employers could do to encourage them to take their well-deserved time off. Since the blog’s publication I have been personally exposed to some additional generational and cultural trends concerning paid time off. In November, my son [...]

By |2020-02-16T20:22:42+00:00January 20, 2015|HR Foundation, Piece it Together|

The Workplace Impact of 400 Million Wasted Vacation Days

By now I’m sure that you’ve seen the MasterCard commercial loaded with cute kids chanting “One more day!” These adorable kids are bringing to our attention that an estimated 400 million vacation days go unused in America every year.  This is an astounding and disturbing number that is certain to have [...]

Managing Workforce Reduction

The current government shutdown brought my thoughts back to a recent Dulles SHRM meeting that I attended where Misti Mukherjee of Jackson/Lewis spoke about Preparing for and Managing Employee Terminations and Reductions in Force.  Not knowing how long the government will remain shut down and what the impact might be on [...]

By |2020-02-16T20:22:45+00:00October 14, 2013|HR Foundation, Piece it Together|

Using Appreciative Inquiry to Enhance Organizational Strengths

In the June 2013 edition of HR Magazine published by SHRM there was an interesting article on Positive Momentum that focuses on the Appreciative Inquiry process.  Although fascinating reading, I was uncertain how this change management process could best be incorporated into many workplace cultures.  I realized that I was doing [...]

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