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Welcome Webinar 1/9: Learn the Secret of Secure Remote Support with GoToAssist As a secure, managed service, GoToAssist reduces the costs and complexities associated with premise-based remote-support solutions while offering administrators the highest level of security and centralized control. Join us for an interactive, in-depth look at the technology and security behind Citrix® GoToAssist™. If you are unable to
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January 8, 2007  |
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| Nardelli Exit Package May Bring New Rules
Second prize went to a technology manager who discovered an employee who had downloaded a huge amount of prohibited content such as videos, MP3 files and movies to his workstation. He then set up an internal media server to the rest of the company in order to “save” bandwidth. Based on the responses from over 500 participants, music and movie downloads were a common problem for network security professionals, posing significant legal consequences for organizations. Hosted Web sites within a company’s network and users setting up wireless access points were among the most common infractions of Internet Acceptable Usage Policies cited in the survey. Participants were also asked to fill out a questionnaire in which results were compared to a similar survey conducted last year. Recent analysis reports revealed a disturbing 38 percent increase in the incidence of phishing and spam-related breaches from six months ago emphasizing the need for Internet filtering and reporting. In addition, a 17 percent increase in bandwidth consumption resulting from employee time spent on personal e-commerce and personal finance activities were among other serious infractions noted by the participants of the survey. The results also showed a 67 percent increase in the number of respondents who stressed the importance of investing in a real-time monitoring and remediation tool that displays an enterprise’s current security threat level in order to successfully manage the most urgent security breaches as they occur. Additional highlights:
Online job opportunities for business and financial operations rose or held steady in 22 of the 28 monitored markets, indicating continued strong demand for finance and accounting professionals, particularly as financial services companies begin preparing for the upcoming auditing and tax season. In addition, online recruitment for education, training and library; as well as food preparation and serving related occupations are up on a year-over-year basis in all 28 monitored markets, showing strong demand nationwide for teachers and food service industry professionals. Cincinnati, which already leads the Index in terms of year-over-year growth for management occupations, registered the largest overall month-to-month rise in November, driven mainly by a sharply higher demand for white-collar professionals in business and financial occupations. The Houston metro market, which remained the fastest growing online recruitment market on a year-over-year basis by a wide margin, held steady at a level of 120 in November, following a four-month growth streak. Growth in online recruitment in the Houston metro area has been driven by a booming oil and gas industry, rising international trade and a strong aerospace and defense industry. Solid population growth in the metro area also has created new job opportunities in the services sector and helped uphold local demand for housing. Meanwhile, Dallas, Indianapolis and Philadelphia were among the markets showing greater online job availability between October and November. Increased online recruitment activity in Dallas was fueled by more opportunities in the broad services sector, while Indianapolis benefited from higher demand for researchers and scientists. Widened job offers in office and administrative support occupations, as well as within the installation/repair and cleaning/maintenance industries, helped drive marginal growth in the Philadelphia metro market. Boston and St. Louis each fell three points and registered the sharpest declines in November, following a three-month period of gradually rising demand. Boston saw online availability ease among business and professional services occupations, as well as in construction related categories. Most categories in St. Louis declined in November, with the notable exceptions of business and financial operations; and transportation. On a year-over-year basis, Houston is followed by Cleveland, Kansas City and Minneapolis as the fastest growing online recruitment markets. In contrast, Los Angeles, Baltimore and Washington, D.C. occupy the bottom spots. Protective service occupations remained the strongest growth rate performers over the past 12 months, followed by food preparation and serving; arts, design, entertainment, sports and media; education, training and library; and building and grounds cleaning and maintenance related positions.
Specifically, more than one-third (36%) of large corporate employers now offer a 401(a) plan. This is compared to just 12% of companies only two years ago, the survey revealed. The Diversified study also found that even before the Pension Protection Act of 2006 provided employers with incentives for offering an automatic enrollment feature as part of their 401(k) plan, 44% of large companies had already implemented auto enrollment for new employees, and in many cases, existing employees. Another 11% of respondents said that they were in the process of implementing this feature at the time the survey was fielded. In addition, corporate sponsors said that they have already implemented or are currently implementing such automated account management features as automatic deferral increases (15%), automated rebalancing (24%), and managed account options (32%). Another key finding of the survey is the fact that even though 401(k) plans have been in existence for over 20 years, employee participation in them continues to increase, with 57% of 401(k) plan sponsors reporting participation rates of at least 70%. This is up from 53% one year ago. One of the factors contributing to greater participation in 401(k) plans is the growing popularity of automatic enrollment. As in previous years, Report on Retirement Plans—2006 also explored the area of total retirement outsourcing (TRO.) While 36% of respondents said they have never considered TRO, 34% said they are either currently considering it, already using it, or are in the process of implementing it. Slightly more (39%) said they are considering it or have implemented total benefits outsourcing (TBO), citing the lower cost of administration as the single greatest advantage. This represents a 6% increase over last year’s TBO findings.
The “Sick at Work” survey uncovered the drivers behind presenteeism and explored how employers can curb the problem. When asked why they go to work sick, the most-cited responses were: I feel guilty for calling in; my workload is too heavy; I save my sick time for personal reasons like family emergencies, sick children, parent care issues and other unexpected events; and I try to have perfect attendance. The survey also found that presenteeism can have a negative impact on all employees in the workplace. Some employees agreed that when employees come to work sick, it creates a work environment where they are afraid of getting sick, it makes them upset with their employer for not encouraging sick employees to stay home, and it sets a precedent where employees feel like they must go to work even if they are sick. As part of the survey, employees offered advice to employers on how to create a healthy work environment. Employees suggested that they not be penalized for calling in sick, and that employers offer paid time off (PTO) programs that give employees a bank of time to use at their discretion. Although the majority of respondents who have taken a sick day were ill, 39 percent have abused this time. These employees admitted to going to the beach, going shopping, and spending the day pampering themselves at a spa when they were supposedly “home sick.”
To learn more about managing multiple generations, Hudson surveyed 2,000 U.S. workers about what they wanted from their bosses regarding meetings and interaction, communication style, work environment and other issues. For this survey, Traditionalists are defined as workers born 1928-1945, Baby Boomers born 1946-1964, Generation X born 1965-1979, and Generation Y born after 1980. Beyond formal reviews, one-quarter (24 percent) of both Generation X and Y workers said they would like feedback from their boss at least once a week, if not every day. Comparatively, only one-fifth of Baby Boomers want feedback that frequently, and just 11 percent of Traditionalists would like that level of communication. Younger workers were also more eager to have access to managers – their own as well as senior management – than older workers. Half of Gen X (48 percent) and Gen Y (55 percent) consider it to be very or somewhat important to work in the same office as their boss. However, that figure was 44 percent and 41 percent for Baby Boomers and Traditionalists, respectively. When asked how important direct access to senior management was to them, 69 percent of Traditionalists state it is very or somewhat important. That figure jumps to 81 percent for Generation Y. Baby Boomers and Generation X were in the middle, with 76 percent and 77 percent, respectively. On top of everything else, Generation Y employees also prefer more frequent social interaction with their managers. One-quarter (26 percent) would like to socialize with their boss at least monthly. This is compared to 21 percent for Generation X, 16 percent for Baby Boomers and 17 percent for Traditionalists. Overwhelmingly, workers of all ages agree that in-person communication is the best means to connect with co-workers. However, not surprisingly, younger generations are more open to email and instant messaging than Boomers and Traditionalists.
Findings from the report include:
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In September 2006, Supportindustry.com and McGarahan & Associates conducted a survey on the state of IT Outsourcing. Impressively, 93.30% of respondents said they would outsource again and 94.10% said they would recommend outsourcing. However, although you can easily save money outsourcing, if your customers are not being serviced and it starts to affect productivity and have business impact – then the cost savings is not what it appears to be on paper. |
| Workplace Privacy Vs. Computer Abuse Prevention
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 Firing Back: How Great Leaders Rebound After Career DisastersBy Jeffrey A. Sonnenfeld, Andrew Ward Is it possible to rescue your career and restore your reputation after a major professional setback? In an age when we're bombarded with press accounts of disgraced CEOs, politicians, and celebrities, this question is more important than ever. In Firing Back, Jeffrey Sonnenfeld and Andrew Ward lay out a five-step recovery process. The book offers a clear plan for any businessperson who needs to recover from career setbacks and reclaim lost prestige and reputation. The authors also identify common barriers to recovery that even seasoned executives can fall prey to, and explain how to surmount them. More books can be found in the RecognizeServiceExcellence.com Required Reading section: http://www.recognizeserviceexcellence.com/ |
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