Author: Dr. Stephanie Eubank (AKA Dr. Bear)

Hi there! My name is Stephanie Diana Eubank and I am a doctoral student at Concordia University Chicago in their online program for Doctorate of Business Administration. My Masters' degree was completed also online at Southern New Hampshire University in Operations Management with an emphasis in Project Management. Prior to my dissertation completion, I will be getting married and once completing my DBA program I will become Dr. Mrs. Stephanie Diana Eubank (Dr. Bear). All the while working full time as one of the country’s experts in Condo Mortgage Underwriting Compliance. The focus broad topic of my dissertation is remote employment which has never been timelier with the recent lockdowns of quarantine during the COVID-19 crisis.

Why Are Managers Trying to Manage Salary Workers Like Hourly Workers Remotely?

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By: Stephanie Diana Eubank

To start this article, I want to point out that I have worked remotely in manager and non-manager roles for over 11 years now.  I have been a salaried worker for over 15 of those years.  When on-site, I know many managers are trained to use the observation approach of workers throughout the day.  But, per the Bureau of Labor and Statistics findings (The BLS), in-person workers are only productive for approximately 3 hours in an 8-hour day.  Where the BLS findings of remote workers show that remote workers are productive 5 hours in an 8-hour day.  Not only that, many remote workers are salary workers.  So, they aren’t paid to work nonstop for 8 hours.  They are paid to get the job done within the project timeline. 

This means that everything else managers observe, thinking employees are productive in person or remotely after those productivity spaces, is workplace theater. And when leadership pushes especially remote workers to be at their computers nonstop, we are pushing an unhealthy organizational culture that promotes burns out, workplace PTSD, low morale, and disrespects our team as if they are hourly workers.

A stressed employee makes more mistakes, has lower morale, and is likelier to develop burnout and workplace PTSD. I have found some tried and true methods to address this in my teams.

  1. Find out which of your employees are salary vs hourly.  As a leader, you should know about your teams, from their interests, skills, education, experience, and their pay based on time or quality.
  2. Encourage remote workers to step away from their workstations occasionally.  We hear too many cases on TikTok where managers have come down on employees for taking a moment to go to the bathroom or get a cup of coffee in the kitchen.  Employees need that small task to replenish their minds to take on emotional labor.  If their work isn’t done and they are gone for hours, yes, follow up.  But often, this is not the case.
  3. As leaders stop investing so much time in trying to catch people in the act of doing something wrong or taking advantage of remote work. When you spend so much time catching people doing wrong, you ignore those doing things right.  You also hurt the organizational culture.  People who are taking advantage of their output will tell the story more than you wasting time trying to be overly suspicious of everyone. Not to mention this behavior hurts your mental health as a leader. 
  4. Encourage team members to take their meetings when they can from outside or in another room than their workspace.  Limited distractions should still exist, but a little time outside helps improve mental health.
  5. Create after-work remote cocktail hour or other such social events to help encourage collaboration and networking.  This helps build morale and helps everyone’s mental health.
  6. Have an honest conversation with HR and your team about them holding additional jobs and what the policies are.  This will help keep everyone above board and help maximize productivity.
  7. Incorporate a quantitative and qualitative method of analyzing productivity. This will give a better picture of your team.
  8. Discuss the importance of taking time off and balancing work and life. For many, their job is a big part of their identity. Creating room for hobbies and friends allows employees to be more fulfilled and more likely to stay.

These are just a few ways to help and support your teams.  For more info, look me up on my social media and my consulting services.  Remember sharing is caring. And as always, remote is here to stay.

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Wickedbofthewest

Website: wickedbofthewestremoteconsulting.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WickedBoftheWestBusinessConsulting

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wickedbofthewestconsulting/

Twitter: @SDEubank

Blog: drstephaniebeardbaremoteresearch.org

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephanie-diana-eubank-dba/

Imposter Syndrome or Workplace PTSD Holding Women Back in Leadership?

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By: Stephanie Diana Eubank

Last month I went to the Gallo Winery summit with fellow faculty members at Stan State and the Dean of the School of Business at Stan State.  (A big thanks to the talent acquisitions department at Gallo for having us). The point of the summit is to see where local Universities can help develop lesson planning for students based on real changes happening in business to better support our students. While at this summit, the discussion of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion within Operational Management was brought up.  I sadly had to inform the representatives from Gallo about the fact of findings from, Mohr (2021), showing that since 2014 on average, women are only applying for jobs and internships ONLY if they meet 100% of the qualifications and skills. The study noted in, Mohr (2021); shows that male counterparts, on the other hand, apply when they meet 60% or less of the requirements.

The concept that we miss all shots we don’t take and the mantra of the worst anyone can say is no are concepts I live by.  So, when I heard this statistic, I was shocked, sad, and curious.  Women, especially, are often told that we suffer from imposter syndrome.  As detailed in, (Paulise, 2023), imposter syndrome is where one has the skills to do an activity but feels as if they are not worthy or like they are pretending to be someone they are not.  A great example of theatrical imposter syndrome can be found on the TV show “Big Bang Theory.” When Amy has a meltdown about the team trying to steal her work as their own.

This got me thinking about how much of our experience as women is imposter syndrome and how much of it is workplace PTSD?  And in researching to write this article, I came across a Harvard Business Review article, Tulshyan & Burey (2022), which argues that unconscious bias and racism in the workplace can contribute to women doubting themselves and seeming like imposter syndrome.  But these negative biases can also be causing workplace PTSD.

As detailed in the article on Lattice, Beaudry (2022), Workplace PTSD is defined as the multiple aspects people had difficulty coping with when they are engaging in a negative and abusive workplace.  Such as the emotional toll and how that can manifest physically when in a toxic or hostile work environment.  (This is why there are HR laws about hostile work environments).  However, over time multiple organizations are having toxic leadership (as I have said often because there is little on-the-job actual leadership training in the business world outside of college. Often, managers are promoted from top performers to leadership, and the first mistake they make is misreading fear as respect.

These factors creating workplace PTSD are hurting the economy and making major companies lose out on really skilled talent, all because we have organizational culture issues to work out systemically in business. So, to be the change I want to see in the world, I continue to offer my services in consulting for business and remote work development.  Also, I challenge all that read this article the next time you are applying to a job and not seeing yourself in 100% of the skills and qualifications, ask yourself, “How many of these skills do I meet that I may be questioning because of how people have treated me vs. if I know I can do an awesome job at this position?”

Remember sharing is caring and if you liked this article like, subscribe, and check me out on my other social networking sites.

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Wickedbofthewest

Website: wickedbofthewestremoteconsulting.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WickedBoftheWestBusinessConsulting

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wickedbofthewestconsulting/

Twitter: @SDEubank

Blog: drstephaniebeardbaremoteresearch.org

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephanie-diana-eubank-dba/

Work Cited

Paulise, L. (2023, March 9). 75% of women executives experience Imposter Syndrome in the Workplace. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/lucianapaulise/2023/03/08/75-of-women-executives-experience-imposter-syndrome-in-the-workplace/?sh=222bea96899a

Tulshyan, R., & Burey, J.-A. (2022, August 4). Stop telling women they have imposter syndrome. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2021/02/stop-telling-women-they-have-imposter-syndrome

Mohr, T. S. (2021, November 2). Why women don’t apply for jobs unless they’re 100% qualified. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2014/08/why-women-dont-apply-for-jobs-unless-theyre-100-qualified

CBS. (2019). The Laureate Accumulation S12.E18. United States. Retrieved July 12, 2023, from https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6674724/.

Beaudry, J. E. (2022, December 10). What is Workplace PTSD – and how can you support your employees who suffer from it?. Lattice. https://lattice.com/library/what-is-workplace-ptsd-and-how-can-you-support-your-employees-who-suffer-from-it#:~:text=Joyce%20Marter%2C%20licensed%20psychotherapist%20and,with%20negative%2C%20abusive%2C%20or%20traumatic

Remote Work Brings an End to Middle Management Era and the Rise of the SME

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By: Stephanie Diana Eubank

Many of us have seen dramatizations of the changes in the workplace due to remote work all while seeing much of these scenarios evolve in real time.  A great example I have seen and experienced was detailed on Laura AKA @Loewhayley accounts on TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, etc., in the form of Human Resources asking hard working specialists who have been at a company for a long time to take on a leadership role.  However, in business culture we do not praise those who choose to stay in their role because that is what they are good at and the challenges in the role evolve and are fulfilling to the employee.  Current business culture tends to favor a business leadership centric financial reward system.  Which was good for those who fall into the past preferred attributes of leadership.  However, remote work turns all those norms on their face.

Since the beginning of academic research in the business sector about the concept of remote work was started back in the 1980’s business culture has always favored a leadership focus. So, let us start with some nomenclature.  Most business research is even from the leadership perspective.  Research that specializes on the perspective of employees is called the study of followership. However, in between these two perspectives of leadership and followership are the grey Jedi’s of the business world.  These grey Jedi’s are called Subject Matter Experts or SME’s for short.

Now that we have the terminology down let’s focus on the current business culture that has been developing since at least the 1900’s which is predominantly leadership focused. Where there is research on followership there isn’t a lot of it.  As such we have social media influencers who advertise as workforce, business, and finance specialists that make memes.  However, this is yet another instance of art reflecting life.

Business culture focuses on the advancement and struggles or leadership in the workforce instead of the focus on the experience of the labor force.  Which causes more than a few topics of divide both for onsite and remote modalities.   Although studies show in remote teams there is natural space for more autonomy for remote workers.  Also, studies show there is more room for creative processing and problem solving especially in remote teams with a diverse and collaborative makeup of the team.  As such in remote work an interesting thing develops.  That is shared leadership.

Shared leadership is where everyone holds responsibility for their own contributions, there may be one or more people doing the coordinating and administrative work such as payroll submissions, or other leadership tools.  However, with the transparency and room for creativity and autonomy that remote work creates it means the time of the middle manager is growing to a close. 

This ushers in an interesting period in workforce development in business.  It means businesses will shift in seven fundamental ways.

  1. Companies will focus higher pay in hiring hire quality talent,
  2. The days of people who just hold leadership jobs will no longer be a concept in middle management,
  3. The business sector will have to redefine what leadership is and what a good leader looks and acts like,
  4. There will be less of a focus on trying to promote people to leadership roles and instead try to work with employees on developing more challenging roles in each aspect of business and more of a culture of loving one’s role instead of working towards the next step up.  Employee satisfaction will become a bigger tenant of business.
  5. SME’s will become the filling in between to help companies develop skills for employees and fill in the organizational gaps of this shift.
  6. Upper management will need to be sought after using a totally different lists of skills, and attributes versus just experience as leadership.
  7. Lastly leadership and business psychology will need to become a bigger concept along with overall operations in business school to better prepare employees.

Now these organizational changes will not come overnight.  All systemic changes come with growing pains and pushbacks.  The change is in the air and the research for over a century is pointing to these changes to be necessary for businesses to stay on the cutting edge and avoid the current situation of business of having too many food critics in the kitchen and not enough chefs.   

If you enjoyed this post, please like, share, and subscribe.  And remember, Remote is here to stay.

Stephanie Eubank

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Wickedbofthewest

Website: wickedbofthewestremoteconsulting.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WickedBoftheWestBusinessConsulting

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wickedbofthewestconsulting/

Twitter: @SDEubank

Blog: drstephaniebeardbaremoteresearch.org

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephanie-diana-eubank-dba/

Let’s Talk About Adding Groups to Diversity, Equality, & Inclusion Discussions

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By: Stephanie Diana Eubank

The weekend I sat down and wrote this was both Father’s Day Weekend and Juneteenth.  For those that are not familiar with the history of Juneteenth and why it is celebrated,

there is a beautiful article from The Smithsonian that can be found at https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/stories/historical-legacy-juneteenth.  On June 19th,1865, Union troops landed in Texas and announced that the President of the United States freed the enslaved people.  It is a day to celebrate Freedom and collectively have hard conversations about Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI).  So, to celebrate a weekend of celebrating the fathers in our lives and the diversity of our country, I want to draw attention to how remote work is helping to increase diversity, equity, and inclusion, along with giving more opportunities for the dads in our lives as well. 

 As seen in the Forbes article, Stahl (2022); workplace diversity and DEI have been studied academically in the business sector since 1990.  The studies since then have shown positive effects on business by encouraging

diversity in the workplace.  Diversity in the workplace is defined as having people of different ages, genders, ethnicities, sexual orientations, cultural backgrounds, and educational levels.  However, I would further argue that people of different economic backgrounds and family structures should also be added to this definition as remote work gains more favor as a modality of work. The article, by Stahl (2022), comments on the benefits to the workplace that embrace diversity, gains more recitative and innovative thinking and product development, develops more room for growth within an organization, and enhanced decision making. However, Stahl (2022); forgot to mention findings from another Forbes article, Johansson (2017), which details how DEI decreases group thinking. To put it plainly, group thinking is where everyone gets stuck and new ideas are not being formed, just groups who have worked together for a long time and not working to get new material. Think of it as a workplace-wide writer’s block.

This brings us to why Diversity in the workplace must include having a workforce comprised of people of different:

·         ages, ·         genders, ·         ethnicities, ·         sexual orientations, ·         cultural backgrounds, ·         educational levels,·         Economic backgrounds, and·         Family structuresAccording to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics (BLS), parents make up a large part of the workforce.  Although men statistically, per the BLS, make up a larger portion of the workforce there are a growing number of single parents.  A shared unconscious bias in Human Resources (HR) is that women will not be as devoted workers as traditionally; women are the ones addressing children’s issues.  However, times are changing, so single parents are both taking on child-rearing roles.  Making that unconscious bias moot.  Remote work also plays a role in helping parents develop work and life balances so that communities and families have a greater chance at thriving. 

Remote work has a bonus to add to increasing diversity, equity, and Inclusion (DEI) in the workplace, specifically with the demographic of those who come from different economic backgrounds.  The BLS also notes that the rise in remote work has created more opportunities for socioeconomic growth for those from other socioeconomic backgrounds.  This addition to the DEI allows for more creative problem-solving.  So, this weekend as we celebrate father figures and Juneteenth, we should all take a minute and embrace the chances for more change by incorporating DEI and how Remote work enhances these positive changes. If you enjoyed this post, please like, share, and subscribe.  And remember,

Remote is here to stay.

Stephanie Eubank

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Wickedbofthewest

Website: wickedbofthewestremoteconsulting.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WickedBoftheWestBusinessConsulting

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wickedbofthewestconsulting/

Twitter: @SDEubank

Blog: drstephaniebeardbaremoteresearch.org

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephanie-diana-eubank-dba/

Why Are We Still Demonizing Remote Work and Why Are Companies Trying to Scam Remote Workers?

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By: Stephanie Diana Eubank

Remote Work has been the subject of a lot of backlashes this year.  Much of it stems from companies wanting to demonize employees for wanting remote work and remote work itself to deflect some serious organizational issues within the company and ongoing recession fears.  

  • Companies want a layoff without the layoff repercussions like paying for unemployment.
  • Companies are sick of all the lawsuits for wrongful termination and hostile work environments because remote allows for more transparency.
    • It also has brought back the desire by employees to want Unions to help protect their rights.
  • The labor market is more competitive, and during COVID, employees learned more about their rights and have learned to set healthy boundaries through the “Quiet Quitting” and “Acting Your Wage” movements.

However, aside from normal scams to force people back into the workplace, some companies are resorting to more creative ways to attempt to shame remote workers.  These attempts to shame remote workers like they are Cersei Lannister with a bell yelling “Shame” really are hypocritical here. It also shows that employers are not willing to ask hard questions about what employees would need to be able to be in person again. 

The scam I am referring to is the current controversy of Marc Benioff of Salesforce offering to donate to “a local charity” for every worker that comes into work in person.  I call this tactic a scam and not as Fortune and Gizmodo.com call it generosity because it really isn’t. 

I was prompted to do more digging into the Salesforce issue when like many, I saw the Youtube video from Attorney Ryan at https://youtube.com/shorts/oQiWZJNuaJQ?feature=share . In his video, he claims that Benioff plans to deduct from the charity for all those who do not come into work in person.  However, I cannot confirm or deny this statement as I found no deduction information.  So, Attorney Ryan, if you have other information on this part to share, I welcome it.

However, the scam part came across when I researched the issue further.  All the articles published about this say that the donations will be made to, “a local charity”.  This is suspicious to me as the charity is not clearly defined.  It is also a common tool for those who have a lot of wealth to use philanthropic charities to hide money and take a tax break.  In the case of Benioff, he and his wife are on the board and head several charities, as cited on foundationguide.org. Further, there is little oversight about donations, which can lead to the wealthy still maintaining a controlling interest in the money instead of leaving it to the charities to use freely.  A more concise explanation can be found by Adam Conover in his TV show, “Adam Ruins Everything”, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWNQuzkSqSM.

So, before any Salesforce employees or other companies start to take into this scam, a few questions need to be asked.  Such as are these charities under the control of someone close to the head of the company.  Is this sort of a method easy to research and see that it’s a scam to make remote workers come back to the office?  And is this a good PR move?

This controversy clearly shows that deeper conversations need to be had.  Such as, why are these companies demanding people return to the office?  Does the reason fall under the three insidious reasons that have been going on since 2013? If a company comes up with a really good reason, they need to ask themselves, “What would my employees need to be supported and able to come back into the office in person?”. 

Such as Salesforce for example, is in San Francisco, one of the most expensive places in the country to live.  According to an NBC Bay Area article, https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/report-bay-area-home-to-many-of-nations-most-costly-commutes/2054545/#:~:text=Coming%20in%20second%20with%20a,minutes%2C%20according%20to%20the%20report the average person working in San Francisco where Salesforce is located commute at least 34 minutes one way every day.  Which means most live in Solano, Alameda, and Contra Costa Counties.  Per NBC, each person spends over $11k per year on commuting. 

Moreover, depending on whether they have families because they must live so far away, many have childcare expenses to address.  As a working mom, I can speak to how hard it was to return to the office and be so far from my kids even though they had great childcare and how remote work allowed more bonding and time with my boys. This means many may additionally have to pay for private school or move further and have a longer commute to have their children in better school districts or aim for areas with more resources for their children if they have special needs.

There is also the cost of housing.  Per Zippia.com https://www.zippia.com/salesforce-careers-10060/salary/california/ The average salary for a worker at Salesforce is Between $95k- $137k per year.  Now for those outside of the San Francisco Bay Area, that sounds like a lot; however, that is not a lot of money for that area.  According to a Fox 11 News article in Los Angeles, from April 2023 noted, for Alameda County, the median income is $155k, and to be middle class, the income ranges from $104k- $311k to be considered middle class. The article can be found at https://www.foxla.com/news/middle-class-california-income-report .   The report showed that the low-income max for San Jose and San Francisco is around $80k a year.  Based on this information, Salesforce workers are making just a little above low income for their area and at the lower end on average for middle-class status.

After going over all this research and all these statistics, companies cannot effectively provide for their employees to encourage an in-person model of business anymore. It just isn’t doable.  Remote work is the most effective way to get productive workers and allows employees to be less stressed when providing for themselves and their families. The math doesn’t lie.  No, the amount of shaming or scamming will work out well for business.  It is clear that Remote is here to stay.

Work Cited

Barr, K. (2023, June 6). Salesforce tells employees it will donate $10 per day to charity if they come back to the Office. Gizmodo. https://gizmodo.com/salesforce-return-to-office-remote-work-tech-jobs-1850511872

Kelly, J. (2023, June 12). Employee tracking and charity donations: Google, salesforce, Meta, Apple and Microsoft’s return-to-office plans. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackkelly/2023/06/09/employee-tracking-and-charity-donations-google-salesforce-meta-apple-and-microsofts-return-to-office-plans/?sh=50f81a32722f

Albrecht, L. (2023, June 7). Salesforce is trying a “cute gimmick” to get workers back to the Office. MarketWatch. https://www.marketwatch.com/story/salesforce-donating-10-per-day-to-get-workers-back-to-the-office-is-a-cute-gimmick-but-will-it-actually-work-a5ae7663

Attorney Ryan Stygar. (2023). Come To The Office Or Else. YouTube. Retrieved June 12, 2023, from https://youtube.com/shorts/oQiWZJNuaJQ?feature=share.

Marc Benioff – the outspoken CEO who gives big. Foundation Guide. (2021, March 14). https://foundationguide.org/philanthropist/marc-benioff/#:~:text=Marc%20and%20Lynne%20Benioff%20are,the%20UCSF%20Benioff%20Children’s%20Hospital.

True TV. (2019). Adam Ruins Everything – Why Billionaire Philanthropy is Not So Selfless. YouTube. Retrieved June 12, 2023, from https://youtu.be/KWNQuzkSqSM.

Rezal, A., & Devulapalli, S. (2022, November 7). Most people who work for San Francisco don’t live in the city. here’s why. San Francisco Chronicle. https://www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/remote-work-17510522.php

Quota Calculation is A Science, not a Philosophy.

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By: Stephanie Diana Eubank

So, a few years back, I was consulting a financial institution that was having difficulty keeping workers.  They have a high turnover rate. I was there to figure out why.  The team was made up of a mix of industry leaders and novices. The whole team was remote due to the pandemic, and only the top two leaders had been there for over seven years. All other hires were there for six months or less.  These workers were all specialized auditors who make a low amount compared to other organizations, and there are only about 100 specialists in this field in the workforce today.  This means the high turnover made it so the company was burning through the whole industry’s employee pool and scraping the bottom of the barrel.

We conducted a productivity stress test to see how many files this team could process in a day. Competitors of this company I have consulted for, on average, with specialists who have significant experience, get about 5-8 files per day done.  This company that I was consulting for had a mandated 17 files per day for everyone in the organization, including managers.  Which had to be completed between 8am -5pm PST; no wiggle room or overtime allowed.  Strict performance review processes were implemented for all workers under these guidelines.  However, the stress test showed that each employee fell into the industry average of 5-8 daily files. 

When I sat down with the manager who oversaw this process, I asked her how she calculated the quota.  Fun fact that you learn in business school that quotas and productivity are mathematically calculated; they are not philosophies. (For accuracy’s sake, I should inform you that before she said this next statement, she started the conversation glowing about her master’s in business from ITT Tech and that she had worked in the industry for 30 years and didn’t need me there to review her team.  But rather, management wanted a fresh perspective.)  She told me, and I quote, “People don’t know their limit until you push them beyond it”. 

Yeah… that’s not how that works.  That’s not how any business works effectively. I had to explain that to her, and in my assessment, I had also sat down with all employees one on one and found that that they were all beyond burnt out, and since it was such a small community, they were working with a lawyer to file hostile work environment and emotional abuse as a class action suit. 

I sat in a few team meetings with this “Leader,” and I could see why past and present employees were working on suing.  I observed her in remote meetings where close captioning was on calling her team names based on age, and race, and said several gender-based names calling to the point one employee cried in the meeting because this person called them names and yelled in such an unprofessional manner.

I spoke with this manager on these items; not only was she defensive, but, she did not believe she was a toxic leader.  Instead, she said, “You young people are all just a bunch of entitled children who don’t want to work anymore”.  She called me a few slurs, and I told her I would not be spoken to in such a way.  I told her we could continue the conversation when she calmly discussed it and apologized.  A few days later, she called me up, and before I could say hello just screamed at me in all sorts of colorful language that most social media would block me from repeating. Once she was out of breath, she commented on how the pandemic was taking a toll on her; she was going through a divorce and had some really negative political views to share with me.  I sat and listened.  She cried and said she was not a toxic person, but everyone seemed to agree, and now work is mirroring her home life, and she can’t seem to get a break from either.  I told her I understand the isolation remote work brings, especially during lockdowns, as it is part of my dissertation research.  And I have worked from home for over 10 years prior, so I get some of the changes are hard.  I asked if she had started to talk to anyone about all that, and she said no.  Her reason is textbook recession fears, though.

Her reason for not seeing a therapist and addressing these issues is that she was so scared to lose her job that she worried taking time to invest in herself would be a weakness. She explained that was her experience getting her degree during the crash of 2008, and she was afraid to relive that, especially with a pandemic.

I reported all this to upper management and put it into my final report.  I recommended removing this person from a person-facing role until retraining in a remote modality was completed. I also pushed that extra hiring should be done to help level the workload and not sacrifice the turn times. Also, I encouraged more of what I call Digital Coffee Breaks.  These are meetings with team members individually and as a group to reconnect with one’s team and build a more positive communication style. 

People are just people, and that’s not an excuse; it is a fact.  But the lessons I took from this experience weren’t just that this person needed some training on calculating quota and productivity.  But toxic leaders do not always know that they are toxic and thus sometimes just hurt and scare people.  With remote work, toxic leaders will have litigation and behaviors highlighted.  This hurts companies and requires review as risk mitigation. Not to mention major damage to the overall workforce and the economy. 

If you enjoyed this content, please like, subscribe, and remember remote is here to stay.

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Wickedbofthewest

Website: wickedbofthewestremoteconsulting.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WickedBoftheWestBusinessConsulting

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wickedbofthewestconsulting/

Twitter: @SDEubank

Blog: drstephaniebeardbaremoteresearch.org

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephanie-diana-eubank-dba/

Seeking Participants In Dissertation Research

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https://cuchicago.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_cGaONOpiCB6du86

I am seeking participants for my dissertation research paper to finish my doctorate on #remotework. I need participants that are 18+ years of age and have #workfromhome either before, during, or since #covid19. If interested, please click the link https://cuchicago.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_cGaONOpiCB6du86 to follow the survey and consent.

Stephanie Eubank

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Wickedbofthewest

Website: wickedbofthewestremoteconsulting.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WickedBoftheWestBusinessConsulting

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wickedbofthewestconsulting/

Twitter: @SDEubank

Blog: drstephaniebeardbaremoteresearch.org

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephanie-diana-eubank-dba/

Remote Leadership Is Not Weakening Leaders it is Evolving Leaders.

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By Stephanie Diana Eubank

My specialty is in Operational and Organizational management with a focused research on Workforce and Leadership Development in remote work and remote leadership.  It sounds like a mouth full, I agree.  But it is very timely as we move forward into the future of work. Which is Remote. However, there is one concept that I hear a lot from colleagues and companies I consult for.  And that is a concern that remote leadership requires leaders to be meeker and milder instead of touch leaders. 

This is another false narrative perpetuated by toxic leaders.  Toxic leadership chooses to lead with fear as they mistake it for respect. The problem is most toxic leaders don’t know that they are toxic. As such, these leaders hear authentic leadership and interpret this as the right to talk without a filter.  Which is not authentic leadership.

Authentic leadership is leading with your most human self.  This allows leaders to have the bandwidth to listen to their teams and show appreciation by looking to more creative ways to meet goals, and load balancing as needed instead of pushing till people break.  If we keep up this toxic pace, we will continue to see these high levels of burnout and stress in the workforce as a whole ruin the economy.

This is why remote leadership has to evolve into more of a teacher and support role, which requires listening and truly hearing our teams.  It truly is a call back to traditional purist leadership concepts like the business concept of your team being your greatest asset. Also, it calls to Kaizen’s business philosophy of bottom-up methodology of everyone having a voice and showing that they, too, are important to the company’s growth.

Toxic leaders don’t enjoy change as it means looking within and seeing how each person effectively contributes to the problem and how to become the solution.  Remote work also shines an uncomfortable light on toxic leaders. This is fine because it leaves room for new types of leaders to take charge and fall into the future of work.  As always, the future of work is remote.  And Remote is here to stay.

Seeking Dissertation Study Participants

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I am seeking participants for my dissertation research paper to finish my doctorate on #remotework. I need participants that are 18+ years of age and have #workfromhome either before, during, or since #covid19. If interested, please click the link https://cuchicago.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_cGaONOpiCB6du86 to follow the survey and consent.

Remember sharing is caring, and if you are interested in my consulting services, please see my social media below. YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Wickedbofthewest

Website: wickedbofthewestremoteconsulting.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WickedBoftheWestBusinessConsulting

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Twitter: @SDEubank

Blog: drstephaniebeardbaremoteresearch.org

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephanie-diana-eubank-dba/

On Memorial Day, Let’s Embrace Diversity & Inclusion

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By: Stephanie Diana Eubank

Earlier this month, my family and I took a trip to our local Air Museum in Atwater, California, on what is called, “Cockpit” Day.   My husband, who is a former Marine Helicopter Mechanic, thought it would be a fun outing as a family and a rare opportunity to share his service experience with us.  For those not familiar with my Instagram page, my husband is a disabled Veteran who has both mobility issues due to an injury and ADHD issues.  With his mobility issues, he cannot stand with or without a cane for more than ten minutes at a time and can only do about 100 meters of movement on a good day with frequent breaks.  Which is why he has a powerchair as his accommodation.  On this trip to the air museum seeing the old Cobra model helicopter he used to work on during his service moved him so much.  He stood even though I could see the pain and limp with his cane as he gave me and our sons a tour of the machine.  I recorded it, and it can be accessed @googlephotos at https://photos.app.goo.gl/QgNFS8j2ArrSUaU97

This was a moving moment and experience with my family, and at this time of the year, when we remember those in the armed forces, especially those who have passed, it made me think about those who made it home.  Even today, concepts in diversity and inclusion still have to contend with an unconscious bias regarding disabled workers, per the Bureau of Labor and Statistics or BLS news release dated March 21st, 2023 (which you can find at https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/vet.pdf).  According to this news release of those who have served during and post 9/11/01, these veterans make up 27% of the Veteran population, and 27% are disabled in some capacity due to service-related injuries. 

Of the total US population, disabled Veterans have a 2.8% unemployment rate compared to the national average of non-disabled workers of 3.6%. Although according to the BLS, 27% of the US population is disabled, and only 17% are currently working.  This is up from 13% before COVID, which is largely due to the rise in remote work opportunities.  Although the report goes on to show that Veterans make up only 7% of the entire US population. This included frightening statistics about how many of our Veterans are institutionalized. 

As we move forward in the Summertime and go on to celebrate Memorial Day, The 4th of July, and Veterans Day, let’s remember that remote work offers a unique opportunity to help these people apply unique talents to our workforce and remember that diversity and inclusion is a benefit of remote work. 

If you enjoyed this post, please like, share, and subscribe.  And remember, the Remote is here to stay.

Work Cited

US Department of Labor: Bureau of Labor and Statistics . (2023, March 21). EMPLOYMENT SITUATION OF VETERANS — 2022  . US Department of Labor: Bureau of Labor and Statistics . Retrieved May 28, 2023, from https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/vet.pdf.