May 12, 2008 2:12

Are stay-at-home moms worth more?

Salary.com released its annual Mother's Day findings on what it thinks moms ought to be paid. (Figure out your own worth on the site's Mom Calculator.) From its release:

For 2008, Salary.com determined that the time mothers spend performing the 10 most popular "Mom job functions" would equate to an annual cash compensation of $116,805 for a Stay-at-Home Mom and $68,405 for a Working Mom, down from last years calculations of $138,094 and $85,938.

Whoa. Stay-at-home moms merit more pay than working moms? How'd that compute? The website says it used proprietary software and these parameters:

The job titles that best matched a mom's definition of her work in both countries are (in order of hours spent per week): housekeeper, day care center teacher, cook, laundry machine operator, computer operator, psychologist, facilities manager, van driver, chief executive officer and janitor.

And:

The primary driver of mom's six-figure salary, however, remains the amount of overtime worked. This year, mom's overtime averaged 54.4 hours per week. According to the Salary.com survey, Stay-at-Home Moms work a 94.4 hour "workweek" - over half her time spent on the job is overtime. The Working Moms reported an average 54.6 hour "mom work week" in addition to their paying jobs.

Okay. I have no problem with the job of mom being highly valued, if only by some b.s. survey designed to garner the website some press. But what sticks in my craw is the devaluing of working moms and dads. We too perform those other roles—housekeeper, cook, shrink—but on top of schlepping off to bring home the bacon. I just can't figure out how a stay-at-home parent pulls more overtime than a working one. Someone help me out with this math.

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May 12, 2008 11:56

In job interviews, the handshake counts

Hair combed? Check. Suit lapel free of latté dribble? Check. Resumé in some form of English? Check. Firm, strong handshake? Uh.

For many women and Donald Trump, the weird practice known in the Western world as the handshake is something we never master. Who cares, right? A friendly wave will do in most situations—and what with business going global, we may as well learn the art of the bow. But according to new research by University of Iowa business professor Greg Stewart, the grip is key to winning over a job interviewer.

"We've always heard that interviewers make up their mind about a person in the first two or three minutes of an interview, no matter how long the interview lasts," said Stewart, associate professor of management and organizations in the Tippie College of Business. "We found that the first impression begins with a handshake that sets the tone for the rest of the interview."

The as-yet-unpublished research was conducted with 98 students in the business school who were participating in mock job interviews with representatives from Iowa City–area businesses. The students also met at various times during their interviews with five trained handshake raters (!) who introduced themselves and shook hands—but otherwise did not participate in the interviews.

Stewart said the researchers found that those students who scored high with the handshake raters were also considered to be the most hireable by the interviewers.

Why is the handshake important?

Stewart suspects it's because a handshake is one of the few things that provides a glimpse into the person's individuality during the first few minutes of an interview. "Job seekers are trained how to act in a job interview, how to talk, how to dress, how to answer questions, so we all look and act alike to varying degrees because we've all been told the same things," he said. "But the handshake is something that's perhaps more individual and subtle, so it may communicate something that dress or physical appearance doesn't."

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May 12, 2008 10:59

TIME 100 party gets someone fired

From TVNewser:

A 24-year-old Fox News Channel production assistant was fired this morning for something she said during the red carpet arrivals at the Time 100 Gala last night.

Insiders tell us the assistant, identified as Jennifer Locke, was on assignment with a camera crew to cover the entertainment angle of the event. When Sen. John McCain walked by, the assistant said, "I voted for you in the primary, you're going to win."

McCain was overheard saying to her, "You're not supposed to reveal that." Locke apparently continued to explain that she is the daughter of a Vietnam veteran.

Insiders who were at the event were surprised and shocked to hear the disclosure, which was recorded on videotape. A Fox News insider called it "journalistically unacceptable." An FNC spokesperson would not comment on the personnel matter but did confirm Locke is no longer with the company, where she'd worked for a couple of years.

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May 12, 2008 10:10

Best gifts for Mother's Day

On Sunday morning, I got:

• to sleep in;
• a dozen red roses;
• a card featuring a drawing of a mama rabbit vacuuming raisins from the carp—hey, those aren't raisins!
• a message inside the card from my three-year-old featuring noun, verb and accurate punctuation;
• a big box of Godiva truffles.

I'm not sure how it came to be that moms across America receive this standard—if lovely—lineup of gifts on Mother's Day. As for what moms actually want, Parenting magazine polled readers on its website and found that 72% want "a self-cleaning house" (those raisins don't vacuum themselves).

Too bad dads think different. Check out this list of Top 10 Mother's Day gifts, according to AskMen.com. Perfume? A heart pendant from Macy's? A Monet print? What am I, a decor-challenged undergrad in a cinderblock dorm room? No. 2 is a watch, and No. 1: diamond earrings.

Fellas...seriously. We can buy our own earrings. Just scrub the lasagne pan, and we're yours for another year.

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