A little extra walking during your workday can improve your fitness level

Who knew that working in an office could actually help contribute to your physical fitness? It's true to some extent. According to a recent study by the American Council on Exercise, the average administrative professional takes a total of 4,327 steps during each workday, or 1.7 miles.
The problem is, although that may sound like a lot, it's really not when compared with other occupations. A nurse, for instance, takes a daily average of 8,648 steps or 3.4 miles, a restaurant server takes 10,087 steps adding up to 4.0 miles, and a mail carrier takes 18,904 steps accounting for a whopping 7.5 miles. (Results for each of the above were compiled by having those study subjects in each occupation wear pedometers during work hours for three days).

Specific to office professionals, among the contributing factors in keeping their walk total so low is the electronic capability of today's office. Years ago, an executive assistant might need to answer a buzzer from the boss 20 or 30 times a day, which often involved getting up from the desk and walking into the boss's office. Plus, memos were typically hand-delivered, meaning more walking. Now, of course, most if not all of that kind of communication is completed with a few strokes on the keyboard and the click of a mouse.

So, how can you fight back against the increasing sedentary lifestyle of todays office and help improve your fitness level while working? Here are some ideas:

If you drive to work, park farther away in the parking lot.

If you live within a mile or two of your office, consider walking to work once in a while on days when the weather is nice.

If your office is located on a floor of your building other than the first, take the stairs instead of the elevator.

At least once in a while, rather than emailing a co-worker, walk to their cubicle or office and deliver the message in person.

When you go to the rest room, instead of going to the closest one, walk to one farther away...preferably one on another floor where you can take the stairs.

On breaks (if possible) and during lunch, go for a stroll. During cold winter months you could just walk throughout the building, but in summer, get outside if you can and walk for a solid 10 or 15 minutes.

Special Thanks To Pendaflex

"Let's have a meeting." Never have so few words brought about so much dread for the organizer.

Okay, daily, run-of-the-mill meetings that run five to 10 minutes don't usually pose a lot of problems, but the lengthier, day-long marathon meetings do. That's because they tend to require the planner to pull together a variety of details from having the right equipment on-hand to coordinating snacks and meals.

You can hire a meeting planner who will do all of this for you -- and sometimes that is a good idea, especially if your meeting is large and requires finding an off-site venue. , But with a little advance planning-particularly if the meeting is on-site-anyone can pull off a meeting with few, if any, glitches.

Consider the setting. Choose a conference room that is light and airy without too many distractions. Make sure it can accommodate all the guests. There's nothing worse than having to squeeze too many people into a room, which can make the meeting feel claustrophobic, or having too big a room with a lot of empty chairs, which can send the message that the meeting wasn't important enough for everyone to attend.

You will want a conference table that allows plenty of room to spread out papers. Chairs should be comfortable to sit in for an extended period of time, but not so comfortable that attendees are included to nod off after lunch.

Invest in a sturdy easel that will not wobble if someone with a heavy hand writes on it or easily tips over if bumped.

Keep a fresh pad of oversized easel paper on-hand for writing notes or brainstorming ideas.

If only a few notes are needed, consider a white, dry erase board. They come in handy and can be erased completely when the meeting is over.

Double-check that you have a fresh supply of markers and dry erase markers.

If you are showing a slide presentation or PowerPoint from a laptop, dim the lights, but don't have them so low that people can't take notes or become drowsy. Draw the blinds on the window and dim lights near the screen, while keeping other lights on.

A laser pointer will help the speaker make his point accurately without standing in front of the screen.

If there is a PowerPoint presentation, spend some time refining the graphics before the meeting to make it interesting. The content of a presentation might be solid, but it will appear boring if the graphics are dull. At the same time, if there is too much animation, a good presentation might appear disjointed and confusing.

Keep high-energy snack foods handy. Peanuts are good. So is granola. Serving too many snacks with a high sugar content can rev up attendees only to have them crash later on.

While you can't avoid serving coffee at meetings, consider having some bottled water on hand.

Follow these tips and you are likely to put meeting planners out of business will likely be congratulated for your organizational expertise.

Romance in the office can lead to marriage or to a lawsuit.

Office romance is not unusual. In fact office romance is fairly common these days as the office is where we spend so much of our time. Handled well it can lead to a relationship. Handled badly it can lead to a lawsuit for harassment.

It is not surprising that romance springs up at the office. We spend a third or more of our lives in the office or other places of work. It is a non-threatening environment where we have an opportunity to meet potential dating partners and learn more about them than just what they look like. Yet romantic involvement between employees is loaded with dangers for both the employees and for their employer.

Many companies tried to ban dating among their employees. Most have since abandoned that plan, because of legal restrictions and a recognition of the inevitable. Instead most now try to restrict such activities that are harmful to the business.

Is It Appreciated?

If you are going to allow employees "coming on" to other employees, you have to first make very clear the company policy on harassment. If an employee is not interested in, or receptive to, an advance from another employee, it should end there. Playing around, verbal sparring, etc. are appropriate preludes to dating, but only if the receiving party is comfortable with them. If you have a harassment policy, make it very clear all employees. If you don't have one, you need to generate one right now.

Is It Appropriate?

In most cases, mutually-agreeable relationships between employees pose no danger to the company. However, there are instances where they are inappropriate and may be harmful to the company and its interest. For instance, it is never a good idea for a manager to be romantically involved with a subordinate in their own organization. Situations such as this should be clearly spelled out in the company policy as inappropriate and subject to corrective action.

What Are The Downsides?

Some of the downsides are preventable. Others aren't. If two employees marry and have children, one employee may leave the company to raise the children. There is nothing you can, or should do, about this except be prepared to hire a replacement.

The downside with the biggest danger to the company is when a relationship between employees breaks apart. In many cases, the employees will handle it like adults and move on with their respective lives. In other cases, the resulting unpleasantness may require transferring one or both employees to new roles. An employee may file a claim of harassment, even if your policy is very clear and is enforced. In an extreme case, the emotional stress may lead an employee to lash out and commit an act of violence.

What are The Upsides?

The upside to romance in the office is that you will have some happy workers. When people are happy they tend to be more productive and have fewer health issues. When partners work for the same employer, they have someone they can talk with about their activities and problems at work who understands and can help them resolve the issues

What You Need to Do

You need to develop a fraternization policy, publicize it, and then enforce it.
The specifics of a fraternization (or non-fraternization) policy for your company will depend on your company's culture and industry, the laws of your location, and good managerial decisions about what you want to accomplish.

If you encounter a problem situation, you may need to relocate one party or the other so they no longer work together. If you can't find another position within the company for either of them, let them decide who leaves. (If they don't decide, you must be prepared to make the decision, and document the business purpose behind it.)

Once you have developed your policy, publish it to all employees. Give a copy to all new employees as part of their new employee orientation. Make sure everyone in the organization knows the policy, and knows the penalties for violating the policy.

A "broken heart" can be a severe emotional stress for some people. Be sure your employees know about your Employee Assistance Program (EAP) if you have one. If you don't have an EAP, you should look at adding one to your employee benefits package.

Finally, once you publish the policy, you must enforce it. Be careful to be even-handed in your enforcement of the policy so that you don't get accused of gender bias. Look at each situation on its own merits. Don't arbitrarily assume that the more senior individual is more valuable to the company.

Managing This Issue

A well-written, widely publicized, strictly enforced fraternization policy won't prevent office romances from developing. It will, however, make life a lot easier, and less litigious, for you when you have to deal with it.