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When Your Spouse Calls and Interrupts Your Workday, Is That a Good Thing?

Consider these scenarios. You’re focused on an important project at work and your phone rings. It’s your spouse. You’ve just finished dinner with your family and you’re cleaning up the table. Your phone buzzes. An email from your boss. Are these interruptions of your work and family time harmful or helpful? Yes and no, according to a new Journal of Management study spearheaded by work-life balance expert Emily Hunter, Ph.D., associate professor of management in Baylor University’s Hankamer School of Business. “Our results demonstrate that the effect of interruptions in the work and home domains are twofold: On one hand, they may lead to unwelcome consequences, including obstruction of goals, negative affect, decreased satisfaction with investment in work and family and work-family conflict,” researchers wrote. “On the other, greater integration of work and family may afford workers increased positive affect, as these interruptions help them meet certain work or family goals.” Hunter said technology is blurring the boundaries between work and family, and this can have daily consequences on workers. “When you give to one domain, you must take from the other. There are only so many hours in the day,” Hunter said. “Interruptions from family ‘take’ from work in the form of work goal obstructions, negative emotions and lower satisfaction with investment in work.” When work invades family time, employees can use that to their advantage as well, Hunter said. “Workers who work from home in off-job hours can also benefit from managing co-worker expectations about availability after hours, setting aside time after children go to bed to accomplish work tasks with minimal obstruction to their family role and setting limits on hours of smartphone use for work purposes,” she said. Source:

More than half of Americans do not have $500 in savings

Nearly six in 10 Americans do not have enough savings to cover a $500 or $1,000 unplanned expense, according to a new report from Bankrate. Only 41 percent of adults reported having enough in their savings account to cover a surprise bill of this magnitude. A little more than 20 percent said they would put it on a credit card, the report said, while 20 percent would cut their spending and 11 percent would turn to friends and family for financial assistance. So, is there cause to worry? Just how leveraged is the average American and what does this mean when looking at the long-term forecast of the country’s economy? America seems to finally be back from the financial meltdown it faced in 2008. Is the bubble about to burst again? Dr. David Mitchell is a professor of economics and a director of both the Bureau of Economic Research and Center for Economic Education at Missouri State University. He is a respected expert in economic forecasting and is ready to speak to this important topic. Click on his icon to arrange an interview. Source:

Family firms are a strong contributing factor to the Canadian economy

Great comments by Galen Weston on how Family Firms benefit the Canadian economy. With their patience and long-term vision, family firms can make tough strategic decisions that non-family firms cannot, due to management’s short-term focus. Source:

Our experts provide insights on key changes in the budget that will affect Canadians including: - Registered Retirement Income (RRIF) - Tax Free Savings Accounts (TFSA) - Family Tax Credit and EI Compassionate Care Benefits. The 2015 Federal Budget was released late Tuesday afternoon. We've summarized some of the key highlights of this 528 document to help you understand how this budget effects you and your business. Click below to see our managing partner Michael Burch's interview with 580 CFRA News Talk Radio. Source: