Jobworksaz.com - Job Seeker Tips

After the Terror When Work Won't Wait
By Joyce Lain Kennedy

Two key players in the recruiting industry had too-close-for-comfort experiences Sept. 11, experiences that foreshadow the workplace fallout of that infamous day.

Jim Lemke of Los Angeles, a top human resources consultant often quoted in this column, had planned to leave an HR technology conference in Baltimore on Tuesday when colleagues convinced him to stick around for another day.

That chance delay kept Lemke from his reservation on Tuesday's American Airlines Flight 77 from Washington Dulles to Los Angeles, the infamous hijacked flight that slammed into the Pentagon.

Rather than wait around -- or risk -- the uncertainty of return air travel, on Wednesday Jim and two colleagues took matters into their own hands. They rented a van and dead-headed 3,000 miles back to the West Coast.

Michael Forrest is one of those modern executives who "live on planes," traveling a quarter of a million air miles annually. At the last minute, Forrest, CEO of Cleveland-based JobOptions.com, changed his plans to arrive Tuesday morning in New York where he often does business in the World Trade Center.

In a telephone interview, I asked how comfortable he is flying in a post-complacency era after four airliners were seized as weapons.

"Flying is part of my job," Forrest said. "But instead of automatically flying coast-to-coast in fuel-intensive aircraft, maybe I'll spend a little time considering alternate routes through low-profile locales less likely to tempt hijackers."

Reflective Moments

Whether serious about changing itineraries or not, Forrest joins Lemke and millions of Americans who are reviewing some aspects of how they get their work done in the aftermath of the attack on America. Here are select speculations, including some suggested by San Francisco State University professor John Sullivan:

Employees may show reluctance to fly to business meetings from major airports, especially to New York or Washington. A USA Today/CNN/Gallup poll says 48 percent of people in the general population are less willing to fly on airplanes following what 86 percent described as an act of war against the United States.

Companies may rely more in the future on video conferencing to reduce corporate travel.

Employees may show reluctance to work in tall buildings, especially high-profile buildings. If these worried workers don't get over it, they'll be out the door with the first decent job offer.

Managers will have to deal with an increase in non-work discussions between employees and their increased interest in getting the news on television and radio and reading online newscasts. Productivity may suffer as employees talk out their anxieties, fears and anger. Calls to family members may increase.

Absenteeism could spike, along with late arrivals. Employees may want to "do something" like give blood or mourn casualties of the new-to-American-shores terrorism. Some will request leave time to be with family in a kind of "What's it all about, Alfie?" reflection of their lives.

Similarly, some people, according to Chicago clinical psychologist Laurie Anderson, who are feeling a heightened sense of mortality will revisit their career decisions and decide that their balance of life and work ratio needs adjustment. Some will make dramatic changes in jobs or careers in deciding priorities.

Employees whose lineage traces to certain ethnic and religious groups may unfairly be hassled, requiring fair-minded managers and co-workers to speak up promptly and redirect anger where it belongs -- to the terrorists and any state that supports them.

We're Tough

Finally, what's a good motto when you're chained to your desk but the work isn't getting done? Remember this:

The American eagle, it is said, was chosen as America's symbol because it is the only bird that isn't scared in a storm.

As Jim Lemke, Michael Forrest and I agree, expect bumps in the workscape for the immediate future now that we know we are no longer exempt from the atrocities and mayhem that the peoples of Western Europe and the Middle East have known for years.

But we also know that we are a resilient workforce and we will overcome the devastation visited on untold numbers of people who did nothing more than go to work on Sept. 11.

Send career questions for possible use in this column to Joyce Lain Kennedy at Box 368, Cardiff, CA 92007, or e-mail her at jlk@sunfeatures.com. Sorry, the volume of mail makes personal replies impossible.