Portland State Magazine Fall 2011

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 's 9 ■ It depends. If your boss made you feel welcome, proved to be supportive and fair, and gave you responsibility, your answer is probably a thumbs up. WRITTEN BY SHELBY OPPEL WOOD .•...... .ILLUSTRATIONS BY DAN SELLECK WELCOME TO the fictional Supermarket from Hell: Ac che deli counter, an employee struggles co keep up with a rush of custom– ers. Her co-worker called in sick because she couldn't find a babysitter. The deli supervisor changes the schedule with little notice, so working parents are constantly scrambling co find childcare-and often don't. In produce, it's a stock boy's first day. After a brief orientation, he's left on his own and can only shrug when a customer needs help finding the corn. None of his new co-workers bother co say hello. In the head office, a stressed-out manager scans the web for job openings. With his skills and experience, he should be running a much bigger score. He could run chis one better, coo-if his bosses would lee him make more decisions. The Supermarket from Hell, or any real– world workplace with similar woes, doesn't have to be chis way. Researchers at Portland Scace can prove it. In Psychology and Busi- ness, professors are examining the impact of workplace relationships and developing measures co strengthen chem-drawing connections between bad bosses and sick employees, and between satisfied workers and a healthier bottom line. A BASIC first step is for employers co understand chat their employees have life challenges outside the workplace, and chat unless they can cake care of chem, they're probably nor going ro do well at work. Flexibility is key. Leslie Hammer, a professor of psychol– ogy, recalls a 23-year-old man typical of the low-wage employees whom she finds most compelling-chose with the least control over their schedules and fewest resources for "picking up the slack" when work and family collide. When Hammer interviewed him as part of her current research, che man was supporting his 13-year-old sister and their drug-addicted parents. He needed co ralk with his sister each afternoon co make sure 8 PORTLAND STATE MAGAZINE FALL 2011