Best time to meet?

A new study says 3pm on Tuesday is the best time to call a workplace meeting as most prospective attendees will be free. The hour in question is an office diary sweet spot - representing a confluence of employee availability, motivation and willingness, say those responsible for the finding.

Keith Harris, of online scheduling service When Is Good, has analysed 100,000 responses to 34,000 meeting requests sent by When Is Good users, and 3pm - particularly on a Tuesday - is the time which has the most acceptances. Conversely, the worst time to plan a meeting is at 9am on a Monday. Then, just one in three people will readily accept, compared with about half for an afternoon meeting.

Swap a book at work

Get your workplace reading by setting up a bookSWAP shelf. This is a simple way to run a small lending library, broaden everyone's literary horizons, and get some good discussions going in the workplace. The website offers ideas on how to run a Swap a Book scheme in your workplace. It is simple to set up and easy to run, as staff get to find out more about each other and enjoy their time at work, whilst employers benefit from having a more literate workforce. So - if you’ve read a good book lately, pass it on for others to enjoy.

Job hunting in the recession

Evangelicals Now magazine offers Practical tips on how to find a job after redundancy for Christians, with the following outline:

• Think and pray
• Preparation
• Finding opportunities
• Interviews
• Settling into what's next
• Resources

Ideal job for mountain lovers?

In a first for Scotland, a Unesco chair has been created at Perth College UHI in recognition of the institution's work into maintaining mountains and their communities. Martin Price, director of the Centre for Mountain Studies, will take on the new chair in Sustainable Mountain Development, where he will work with international partners to promote the field. Professor Price was appointed the world's first Professor of Mountain Studies in 2005; in 2007, he shared the Nobel Peace Prize with former US vice-president and environmental activist Al Gore. See also: 'I like mountains because of the physical challenge and the aesthetics'.

Noddy management

Following the news that Enid Blyton has been voted the UK's favourite writer, comes a confession from a senior academic that her own management style was forged by Blyton. In addition to detailing some of the lessons she has learned from Blyton, she analyses some key characters:

"The Famous Five is the ideal Harvard Business team. There's Anne the administrator; Julian the born leader with his determined chin and propensity to issue orders; Dick the playful networker; George the maverick you would place somewhere in Development. But don't delegate to Timmy the dog: he can't be trusted. "