Another Internet video search has yielded this year's breakout hit for managers and HR professionals everywhere--Do Your Job by "Bruce Springsteen."

In a laugh-out-loud commentary on America's workers, Pete Hulne (who ironically enough had a role in the 2004 movie Employee of the Month) does a fairly accurate impression of Bruce Springsteen, or "The Boss," and tells America to "get back to work!"

The music video shows such irritating occurrences as a waitress who doesn't listen, and a mailman who brings the wrong package because he doesn't read the address. The song delivers hard hitting lyrics, including a few stand-out favorites:

"They don't want to do their job's; they just want a paycheck; they show up, sit around, and then collect."

BLR's Easy Trainer: Hiring, Discipline & Termination gives you customizable, easy-to-use training sessions on key employment topics like hiring, discipline, interviewing, grounds for termination, and many more.

"You've got places to go but you can't get far, because the valet can't find your car."

"I'm not offered mints or any cologne from the bathroom attendant who's on his cell phone."

So the next time you feel the urge to tell someone to "get back to work," show them this video, and let The Boss do the talking for you.

Source: The Daily Tube

While you sit and worry about age and weight discrimination issues and the cost of healthcare premiums and wellness programs, your colleagues in Japan are sending all their over-40 workers to have their waists measured--and it's perfectly legal.

According to U.S. News and World Report, after a study by the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare revealed that the new Western lifestyle is giving citizens "metabolic syndrome," Japan passed legislation in April requiring all citizens over the age of 40 to have their waists measured every year. Men with waists over 33.5 inches and women with waists measuring over 35.5 inches face mandatory referrals to weight-loss and wellness counseling and continued monitoring.

The government blames a change in eating habits from rice and soybeans to beef and sweets for the increase in high blood pressure, abdominal obesity, and diabetes, a condition citizens are calling "metabo," which has doubled in the last 15 years.

The government is also requiring companies to keep employees slim or face higher payments into the national health insurance program, says the article. Japanese employers are responding proactively with wellness measures including diet lectures, exercise breaks, "lifestyle instruction," and even a boot-camp type retreats for overweight workers.

Don't "waist" time and money researching answers to your employment questions. What to Do About Personnel Problems [in Your State] reports on the latest laws and key court decisions to take the uncertainty out of your actions.

Companies are writing weight maintenance into job descriptions, rather than just making it a suggestion. Some are installing high-tech exercise equipment or have begun monitoring--and--prescribing what foods employees eat for lunch. Others are giving workers earlier interventions regarding weight and fitness and are tracking individual results to see who requires individual attention (read "boot camps").

This all this isn't sitting well with some Japanese, who in the past have given deference to their employers and the government. "My waistline is none of my company's business," a worker told the news magazine, while another said his diet "is not the government's concern." However, their insurance premium increases aren't getting skinnier anytime soon.

Source: U.S. News and World Report

By coincidence, HR.BLR.com and Monster.com each conducted a survey recently about summertime fashion faux pas in the workplace.

In the HR.BLR.com poll, a plurality of respondents (46 percent) cited revealing clothes as the most frequent fashion faux pas in the workplace. The next most common response was flip-flops, with 41 percent of respondents saying they are the most frequent fashion faux pas.

As you may remember, this editor of HR Strange but True! believes flip-flops are the biggest fashion sin of the summer in the workplace. While you can look away from someone whose clothing is leaving nothing to the imagination, the sound of flip-flops slapping against the bottom of feet is inescapable.

Readers should know that I purchased my first pair of flip-flops a few weeks ago. Have I worn them to work? No. Besides not wanting to be a hypocrite and cause sight and sound pollution in our office, flip-flops violate our dress code (page 31 of our employee handbook).

During BLR's Dress Codes Audio Conference on July 30, you'll learn about steps you can take to respect your employees' cultural and religious rights while maintaining a professional work environment.

In a similar survey conducted by Monster.com among visitors to its website, visible undergarments and tank tops  (61 percent)  were the top vote getters for the worst summer workplace fashion offense, followed by flip-flops  (29 percent), shorts  7 (percent), and t-shirts  (3 percent).

Monster.com offers some fashion tips for workers:

• Take note of what others are wearing in your office--Acceptable forms of summer workplace attire vary from one workplace to the next.  Workers can determine acceptable summer office attire by comparing their workplace dress with their colleagues.
• Err on the conservative side--Even with relaxed dress codes during the summer months, workers should comply with year-round workplace expectations and dress appropriately for client meetings or business lunches.
• Remeber casual workplace staples--Chino trousers, pencil skirts, relaxed button-down shirts and linen, polo or knitted shirts. These clothes are generally made out of breathable fabrics ­ perfect for warmer weather. 

What's the most flagrant violation of summer fashion sense or your orgranization's dress code? Share your stories with us at http://hr.blr.com/about/strange_submit.cfm .

Sources: HR.BLR.com and Monster.com