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The typical workday is long enough as it is, and technology is making it even longer. When you do finally get home from a full day at the office, your mobile phone rings off the hook, and emails drop into your inbox from people who expect immediate responses.

While most people claim to disconnect as soon as they get home, recent research says otherwise. A study conducted by the American Psychological Association found that more than 50% of us check work email before and after work hours, throughout the weekend, and even when we’re sick. Even worse, 44% of us check work email while on vacation.

A Northern Illinois University study that came out this summer shows just how bad this level of connection really is. The study found that the expectation that people need to respond to emails during off-work hours produces a prolonged stress response, which the researchers named telepressure.

I always like hearing from readers – you often learn more from them than from management textbooks.  Yesterday was no exception.

I’d recently written a piece, “The Surest Way To Spot A Good Manager,” and an old colleague and friend Thomas Henry had sent me a note quite rightly taking me to task on it.

My point in the article was that three attributes – integrity, a positive optimistic approach, and low turnover – were vital in helping prospective job seekers find high-quality management. Well, though these three definitely are solid managerial qualities, they’re also not close to being an optimal or comprehensive list. Which was exactly Thomas’s point.

Google knows that people don’t leave companies; they leave bosses. But unlike most companies, who wait around hoping for the right bosses to come along, Google builds each Googler the boss of their dreams.

When I ask audiences to describe the best and worst boss they have ever worked for, people inevitably ignore innate characteristics (intelligence, extraversion, attractiveness, and so on) and instead focus on qualities that are completely under the boss’s control, such as passion, insight, and honesty.

1. Great bosses are passionate. Few things are more demotivating than a boss who is bored with his or her life and job. If the boss doesn’t care, why should anybody else? Unforgettable bosses are passionate about what they do. They believe in what they’re trying to accomplish, and they have fun doing it. This makes everyone else want to join the ride.

2. They stand in front of the bus. Some bosses will throw their people under the bus without a second thought; great bosses pull their people from the bus’s path before they’re in danger. They coach, and they move obstacles out of the way, even if their people put those obstacles there in the first place. Sometimes, they clean up messes their people never even knew they made. And, if they can’t stop the bus, they’ll jump out in front of it and take the hit themselves.

We’ve all known the bosses who act like children when they get bad news, face a crisis, or perceive a bureaucratic slight. Some are screamers. Some are whiners. Some just go “into the bunker” and won't talk to anyone at all. How do you deal with a childish boss?

“When your boss is having a tantrum, he is ‘going grasshopper.’ The grasshopper is like a toddler—he wants what he wants and he wants it now. Because the grasshopper is in charge of short-term survival, his primary responses are as basic as freeze, flight, and fight. That is why you get the withdrawal, whining, and screaming from your boss.”

“The most important driver of employee engagement is the relationship they have with their immediate manager,” says Piera Palazzolo, Senior Vice President of Dale Carnegie Training. She says the most successful relationships are those where bosses and employees really get to know one another.

“That’s different from years ago, when you were supposed to ask any personal questions. Those lines are blurred now, people want you to care about them, particularly if there’s something going on in their lives that might affect their performance.”

1) Find out exactly what your boss wants, and understand the pressure they’re working under.

Consulting firm PwC recently published its outlook for work in 2022, based on interviews with 500 human resources experts and 10,000 others in the United States and several other countries. You probably won’t be surprised to hear that big companies could end up so powerful and influential they morph into “ministates” that fill the void when government is unable to provide essential services. Companies will also use sensors and other gizmos to monitor employees around the clock. And workers will mostly acquiesce to this digital leash, in exchange for job security, decent pay and important benefits.

Everyone needs someone in their lives that they can count on, someone to call when there’s no one else to call. And, these days, with radical change and ongoing disruption a constant part of every business, the most valuable people in any company are the ones you can count on in a crisis or a crunch--the "go-to" guys and girls. The people who are there in a pinch and who you naturally tend to run to, not from, when the feces hits the fan.

This isn't part of anyone's job description, and it's not something you can create on the fly. That's why there's no better investment you could possibly make in your career or your future than being the first stop when someone's looking for help, versus the last resort.

The good news is that this is a trait you can develop over time, like any other part of your reputation. If you're truly committed and your efforts are sincere and authentic, you can make it happen. Here's how.

Flextime programs have never been more popular than they are today. Google allows many employees to set their own hours. At Microsoft, many employees can choose when to start their day, as long as it’s between 9am and 11am. At the “Big Four” auditing firm KPMG, some 70 percent of employees work flexible hours.

Employees love these programs because they help them avoid compromises between home and at work. Yes, there are often boundaries within which a work day must begin and end, and at least some chunk of core hours that remain common across employees. But within those constraints, workers can schedule their office hours around the various other demands on their time, giving them greater control over their lives and allowing them to accomplish more. And because employees love the programs, companies have learned to love them, too. 

When you're a boss, you sometimes talk a lot.

The problem might be, though, that you talk a lot of gibberish.

This can annoy your staff to the point at which they think you're not worth listening to. Which might just affect your ambitions.

Here, then, is a new survey in which  British employees declared their 50 most annoying phrases that come out of bosses' mouths.

It was commissioned by SPANA, an organization that offers free veterinary care for animals in developing countries.

As we first run down the list of the worst 10, please spend your day monitoring how many of these phrases you use. Then repent.

The most important driver of employee engagement is the relationship they have with their immediate manager,” says Piera Palazzolo, Senior Vice President of Dale Carnegie Training. She says the most successful relationships are those where bosses and employees really get to know one another.

“That’s different from years ago, when you weren’t supposed to ask any personal questions. Those lines are blurred now, people want you to care about them, particularly if there’s something going on in their lives that might affect their performance.”

We all want to get ahead. Still, even when it seems you're doing everything right--you're never late to work, rarely take a sick day, and always meet deadlines--promotions can be few and far between.

You're putting the work in, so why aren't you getting rewarded? The answer is simple: You don't get promoted for fulfilling your boss's expectations.

Your boss's expectations are the price of entry. Even if you're making a great effort and doing all that's asked of you, you won't stand out. You'll be seen as someone who completes the minimum requirements, and no one who builds a great career is seen this way.

The trick to advancing your career and getting paid more is to add value by making certain your contributions are worth more than you're paid. You want to go above and beyond so that you're seen as someone highly valuable--someone the organization can't live without.

You want to work for a great boss — someone you can respect and learn from. But what if your manager isn’t good at his job? What if you’re more competent or have greater skills? Should you be raising a ruckus or keeping your head down? And how do you get what you need without making your boss look bad?

Employees who are lucky enough to snag an office with a view not only have a sunnier disposition, thanks to the rays of sunshine splashed across their desk. It turns out they also have better overall health than their coworkers whose desks are stuffed in drab corners lacking natural light.

A recent study published in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine shows workers with office windows get 46 more minutes of sleep per night, tend to exercise more, and have lower blood pressure than those without a view.

1. Don't pretend you're not really in charge.

If the buck stops at your desk, acting like you're the same as everyone else won't work. It's a bit like parents who try to function as their children's friends, rather than as authority figures. It may be more fun in the short run, but will likely lead to bad results in the long run.

There are a very few exceptions--one is Morning Star, the tomato processor that has rigorously maintained a non-hierarchical structure since the 1970s. But that takes a lot of forethought, planning, and careful hiring of like-minded individuals. And even so, the company's non-CEO founder must occasionally serve as decider of last resort when employees are unable to resolve their conflicts.

You're an adult. You don't need a babysitter. But telling your micromanaging boss to leave you alone and let you get your work done is never going to be an easy conversation.

If you see that you need to improve, take the action to change right away and let your boss know that you are taking your job seriously and you are looking to improve.

But if your self-check comes up clean--if you are confident that your work is up to par, then it’s time to have that talk with your boss. Here's how:

One of the reasons launching a startup appeals to a lot of people is that being your own boss--and the boss of others--is a lot more appealing than than being an employee.

But just because you're the boss doesn't mean the problems go away. In fact, there seem to be more--clients, employees, investors, regulations--and sometimes, the biggest problem is you. Here are a few ways to tell if some of your so-called problems could easily be fixed by changing your behavior and attitude.