| Pa. district accused of student spying puts IT workers on leave
Two IT employees of the suburban Philadelphia school district accused of spying on students by activating the cameras on their school-issued laptops have been placed on administrative leave. According to the original complaint, student Blake Robbins was accused by a Harriton High School assistant principal of "improper behavior in his home" and shown a photograph taken by his laptop as evidence. Robbins has said he was accused by the assistant principal of selling drugs and taking pills, but he claimed the pictures taken by his computer's camera showed him eating candy. A federal judge has issued a consent order barring the district from activating the cameras.
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Sprint Deploys Automated Training Solution in Call Centers to Help Agents Foster Successful Customer Interactions
Sprint has deployed technology from Knowlagent that delivers training directly to call center agents' desktops during periods of time when there is excess agent availability between calls. Knowlagent's technology, RightTime(TM), will not eliminate the traditional classroom training Sprint Care agents already receive, but rather it will find agent idle time to push out training sessions about Sprint's new policies, programs and procedures. In addition, when agents need to take a course, they will receive a pop-up on their computer directing them to complete their assigned training. The goal is to ensure agents always have access to the training they need to continue improving interactions with Sprint customers.
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CIOs Forecast Increase in Second-Quarter IT Hiring
Chief information officers (CIOs) expect an uptick in hiring in the second quarter, according to the latest Robert Half Technology IT Hiring Index and Skills Report. Nine percent of technology executives plan to hire additional IT staff and 4 percent anticipate personnel reductions. The net 5 percent increase is up two points from the first quarter's forecast and three points higher than the year-ago projection.
The IT Hiring Index and Skills Report is based on telephone interviews with more than 1,400 CIOs from companies across the United States with 100 or more employees. It was conducted by an independent research firm and developed by Robert Half Technology, a leading provider of IT professionals on a project and full-time basis.
Key Findings
- Nearly 80 percent of technology executives are confident in their companies' prospects for growth in the second quarter.
- The net 5 percent increase in hiring activity that is forecast marks the second consecutive quarter in which hiring expectations have risen.
- Recruitment and retention are emerging as concerns for IT executives.
- CIOs in the nation's central regions - West South Central(1), West North Central(2) and East North Central(3) - forecast the strongest IT
hiring activity.
Confidence in Business Growth and IT Investment
When asked to rate how confident they are in their companies' growth prospects in the second quarter, 79 percent of CIOs said they are very or somewhat confident. Additionally, 40 percent of technology executives said they are optimistic their firms will invest in new IT projects in the next three months.
Recruitment and Retention
Recruitment and retention are re-emerging as concerns for businesses, survey results show. Forty-five percent of technology executives said it is challenging to find skilled IT professionals today. Thirty-one percent said they are worried about losing top performers to other job opportunities in the next year.
Skills in Demand
When asked in which functional area it is most challenging to find skilled IT professionals, 15 percent of technology executives said networking. This was followed by security, with 12 percent of the response, and data/database management, with 11 percent.
According to CIOs surveyed, network administration is the technical skill set most in demand within their IT departments, with 64 percent of the response. Desktop support was a close second at 63 percent, followed by Windows administration at 61 percent. (Note: CIOs were allowed multiple responses.)
Industries Hiring
The finance, insurance and real estate sector leads the nation in hiring optimism for the first quarter, research shows. Twenty-three percent of CIOs plan to expand their IT departments and 3 percent forecast personnel reductions, for a net 20 percent increase in hiring activity. Twenty-five percent of technology executives in this sector said it's most difficult finding skilled IT security professionals, compared to 12 percent for all industries combined.
When asked to rate how confident they are in their companies' likelihood to invest in IT projects in the second quarter on a scale of one to five, one being the least confident, 56 percent of CIOs in the finance industry cited confidence levels of four or higher.
Technology executives in two other sectors forecast hiring activity above the national average. Eleven percent of CIOs with business services firms expect to add IT staff and 2 percent project personnel cutbacks, for a net 9 percent increase in hiring. In manufacturing, 9 percent of executives plan to expand their IT departments and 2 percent foresee staff reductions, for a net 7 percent increase in the hiring of IT personnel.
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Survey Reveals HR Executives and Professionals Rely on Social Media for Professional Collaboration
The inaugural Toolbox.com/PJA Social Media Index survey of more than 900 HR executives and professionals reveals that social media is key to problem solving and strategy development in the workplace. In addition, these professionals recognize the advantages that social media offers in helping build their personal brand, increase expertise in their current job roles, and advance their careers.
The results show that active participation in social media is an important component of the HR job role and serves as a substantial resource for experience-based knowledge in the workplace. Respondents named staying current (78%) and networking with peers (71%) as the most popular uses of social media. Additionally, more than half have responded to a question posed by a peer in an online community, while nearly 50% have built their personal knowledge network by making connections with peers.
This survey revealed the following about social media usage:
- Among HR executives and professionals, social media consumption outpaced editorial and vendor content consumption. Respondents consumed social media at a rate of 3.77 hours per week, compared to 2.77 hours of online editorial content and 2.13 hours of online vendor content.
- Social media represents 43% of total media consumption among HR respondents (compared to 32% for editorial and 25% for vendor content).
- Deep experience is seen as the most important attribute in a social media expert, followed by thoughtful and detailed responses.
- Nearly half of respondents say that a social media presence greatly increases or increases their value as a job candidate, while more than 50% claim that social media is important or very important in building their personal brand.
- Respondents agree that social media's biggest impact on career is to increase their level of expertise in their current job position.
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SupportIndustry.com Research Insight: First Contact Resolution
The results of SupportIndustry.com 1-minute survey are in! We tackled the topic of First Contact Resolution, and we want to thank the nearly 100 people who participated.
We took the results and created a SupportIndustry.com Research Insight on the topic of First Contact Resolution, which found that 59.7% of support professionals responding indicated their company currently measures FCR.
Click here to get a full copy of the results.
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| Secrets of Success in Call Center Agent Recruiting
Centers with poor recruiting and hiring habits suffer from perpetual staff turnover. They constantly find themselves behind the eight ball and do not have the “luxury” of recruiting a pool of quality applicants. By hiring in haste, they end up with a workforce of marginal performers who are ill-suited for the job. These agents soon leave and need to be replaced. The revolving door continues. Good recruiting practices feed quality applicants from which centers can assess and hire talented agents who will stay.
Full Article...
Ten Recruiting Practices to Nuke
Downturn notwithstanding, employers are screaming for talented people. Yet you have only to review any large employer's recruiting process (and those of many smaller shops) to see a mind-numbing list of requirements, protocols, and hoops for job-seekers to jump through. Think that the smartest and most marketable candidates will take their brains and abilities elsewhere? Of course they will. They'll turn to consulting or find homes at nimble startups. Check out our list of the 10 most obnoxious, profit-killing recruiting practices.
Full Article...
Improve Retention in the Contact Center
Contact center agents are problem solvers. And solving problems all day is no easy gig. It can be hard to maintain a positive attitude; as a result, turnover is a major issue. But contact center directors can help to a great extent to keep up morale and improve retention in the process.
Full Article...
7 Tips for Keeping the Right Personnel
With IT budgets frozen or pared back, you need to handle any staff reductions carefully to ensure that you hold onto your best engineers and managers.
Full Article...
Leadership and Management Lessons from "Undercover Boss"
With the Olympic fanfare over, I finally had the chance to watch Undercover Boss, CBS's new reality TV show about corporate executives who go undercover to observe first-hand what's happening on the front lines of their businesses and find out how their almighty management decisions really get implemented. I expected to hate the show and to be disgusted by a blatant display of slick PR for the companies and CEOs featured. After watching all four episodes of Undercover Boss two nights ago, I can say at the very least that it makes for good television. I'll spare you my critical analysis of the show, but I want to share a few of the leadership and management lessons Undercover Boss highlighted for me. Of course, I want to get your views on the show, too.
Full Article...
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 The Progress Challenge : Working and Winning in a World of Change
by Dean Lindsay
There is a powerful and important connection between solid leadership, sales success, personal motivation, and customer loyalty. All are achieved by effectively positioning ideas, recommendations, solutions, products, services even ourselves as progress in the minds of those we wish to inspire to action. This book offers a fresh and powerful blueprint for meeting this Progress Challenge.
For more information, or to order your copy...
More books can
be found in the RecognizeServiceExcellence.com Required Reading
section: http://www.recognizeserviceexcellence.com
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White Paper: Best Practices for Coaching Your Support Team to Handle Anything
This white paper provides a step-by-step game plan for solving your support agents' worst nightmares, based on the author's experience in successfully "turning around" support performance, as well as current research in the psychology of how we communicate with people. In the process, you will learn how specific, procedural skills -- both for how your agents respond to customers, and how you coach your team -- can change everything about how your interact with customers, in a way that will impact both your support metrics and your bottom line.
Get the full white paper here!
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