Posts by Ruth Weirich:

Power in the workplace: One of the reasons employee conflict occurs

“The measure of a man is what he does with power.” –Plato Ever worked for someone you didn’t like, but you respected their position? I have. (Also, don’t raise your hand or give away any nonverbals if they are sitting right beside you as you read this!) Obviously, we understood…

Tick tock, the dang time clock!

Do you have employees who have a hard time getting to work on time? Do you have employees who shrug it off when you approach them about being tardy…again? Are you ready to pull your hair out? When employees live in daily stability and have enough resources for today and…

Webinar podcast: Workplace stability with Ruth Weirich

I took the core constructs from Bridges Out of Poverty and reframed them for the business sector. So really what we’re doing with this is discussing how instability is a form of diversity based on economic class and what a business can do to get higher retention and productivity from…

Have you considered discussing diversity in the workplace by using the lens of economic class?

Employees come to us woven from unique threads of experience based on the environment they grew up in and how they spend their time. From the standpoint of general human experience it is the same, of course, for us. Many of us, however, tend to assume our employees and co-workers…

Motivation starts with developing relationships of mutual respect

By now many of us have read the Gallup survey that shows how actively disengaged employees cost the United States an estimated $500 billion a year in lost productivity. The Dale Carnegie Training and MSW Research also discovered through a survey of 1,500 employees that there are three key drivers…

Boomers and millennials, economic stability and instability; yes, all this diversity can work at work

Most of us tend to be rather quick to categorize, even stereotype, our co-workers by their age and habits. Many baby boomers and millennials, however, are successfully collaborating in the workplace, mixing the potential that comes with high expectations and self-confidence. On the one hand, we have team-oriented millennials who…

Former Bridges trainer at TEDMED: I reduced Utah homelessness by 91%

Lloyd Pendleton, a former Bridges Out of Poverty certified trainer, gave a talk at TEDMED earlier this month. In his presentation, Pendleton detailed his journey from failing to understand homelessness to reducing homelessness in Utah by 91%. From Christina Farr’s original article at Fastcompany.com: Lloyd Pendleton grew up on a ranch in rural Utah, an upbringing that taught him values…

Will #hashtags eliminate poverty? 

@RuthWeirich Possible? Have you joined the 232 million plus active users using Twitter to get their messages across? There are literally millions using this platform as a voice for expressing their interests, passions and desires. Will you join with us in drawing attention to #inequality and #PovertyAwareness, #diversity, the #homeless, #lowincomefamilies, #lowwage employees, and…

Why bother with reframing?

@RuthWeirich When working with those that live in daily instability – well, let’s face it, with any colleague, client, student, family member or friend – it is important to frame the message in a way that is meaningful to the recipient. We are looking for a “win,” and reframing allows…

The tyranny of the moment – how economic class differences impact success in higher education

“The trouble with being poor is that it takes up all your time.” Willem de Kooning quoted in the Richmond, Virginia Times-Dispatch When working with higher education professionals who support under-resourced college students, we start by discussing the mental models of three economic classes (poverty, middle class and wealth). Doing so allows us…