| IBM Lays Off 1,315 workers, Union Says
IBM laid off 1,315 U.S. workers from its global services division in early May, according to a union group under the Communications Workers of America. The world's largest technology company also released an unknown number of contractors, and job cuts will continue, Alliance@IBM said on its Web site. The company said at an investors' conference in April that it would reduce costs in the U.S. and noted a slowdown in its U.S. enterprise business. IBM reported its net profit rose 8 percent year-over-year in the first quarter to $1.8 billion. The layoff announcement came just a day after IBM announced plans to open a new call center in Daleville, Indiana that will eventually create 500 jobs.
[Source: Infoworld}
Infor Releases Talent Management 4.5.1
Infor has announced the worldwide rollout of Infor HCM Talent Management 4.5.1, the next generation of its workforce learning and performance solution that includes enhanced features for operating in the global marketplace. Regardless of company size or location, businesses around the world now have access to functionality that allows them to develop and retain top talent, and more efficiently track individual employee growth and workforce performance. Infor Talent Management enables organizations to closely align the workforce with corporate strategic goals by providing an environment to track and manage the process of workforce learning and development across the company.
EDP Selects Ventyx Workforce Optimization Solution
Ventyx, a Service Delivery Management (SDM) solution provider, has announced that major Portuguese utility EDP has selected a workforce optimization solution from Ventyx to increase efficiency and improve its delivery of service to more than 5.8 million electricity customers across Portugal. The solution will help EDP, which owns approximately 99 percent of the electricity distribution networks in mainland Portugal, improve customer satisfaction by efficiently assigning and managing all technicians and tasks related to service orders for maintenance, customer orders and outages.
Strong Demand for Back-Up Child and Elder Care Support Programs
A national survey of working adults commissioned by Workplace Options (WPO),a provider of work-life employee benefits, found that 59% of employees or their spouses missed three to ten days of work in the last year due to the lack of adequate back-up child or elder care options.
Back-up care is needed when primary child care or elder care arrangements fall through due to illness, vacation or other unexpected circumstances. When these situations arise, they can be stressful and costly for employers and employees alike. Workplace Options conducted this survey to learn just how severe the issue is in corporate America today.
The national survey polled working adults with dependents about their back-up care needs and opinions. Fifty-seven percent of respondents were women and 43% men. Household incomes ranged from less than $30,000 per year to more than $100,000.
When asked how valuable back-up care would be, 93% of respondents said “clearly valuable” or “extremely valuable.” The demand for back-up care was equal amongst men and women, with 90% of both women and men stating they were “nearly certain” or “extremely certain” they would use back-up care if it were available at their company. Demand for back-up care services was also strong across all income brackets. Eighty-six percent of households earning less than $30,000 and 75% earning more than $100,000 a year said back-up care is “extremely valuable.”
Previous research has shown that most employees need to work shortened workdays because their child care or elder care arrangements fall through – reducing their productivity and costing employers billions of dollars per year.
When respondents were asked if they, or their partner, missed any work in the last year because they did not have back-up care, 59% responded “yes” with 56% missing 3-10 days of work. Additionally, 59% of respondents called in on short notice to use vacation time or sick leave because they did not have back-up care.
When asked how comfortable they would be about using a back-up care program, 85% said they would be comfortable using such programs, with little difference between men and women.
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Unequal Pay for Equal Experience
Top IT executives at small and midsize companies are much less likely to have business cards that say "CIO" than their peers at organizations with revenues topping $500 million. But in other ways, the two groups are not very different, according to recent research conducted by CIO Insight. They have the same aspirations to create business strategy. Their personal backgrounds are comparable, primarily IT with business and consulting experience. Mid-market CIOs have put in as many years, if not more, as the top IT executive. And both like what they are doing; more than 90 percent enjoy their jobs most of the time. But one thing CIOs at SMBs can't be too happy about is their pay: On average, they earn 58 cents for every dollar earned by CIOs at larger organizations. If there's a coming CIO shortage, as the Society for Information Management recently reported, this income disparity is likely to lead ambitious mid-market CIOs to look for opportunities at larger companies.
Key findings from the survey:
- CIOs at mid-market companies are similar to their peers at larger firms in age, experience and background. Both are typically just under 50 years in age, come from IT backgrounds, and have plenty of on-the-job experience. In fact, the top IT executives at companies with revenues of less than $500 million have been at their current jobs, or in the CIO role, for half a year longer than their counterparts at larger companies. They also have held a wide variety of jobs before being named to the top tech position. The biggest differences? Mid-market CIOs are less likely to have a CIO title, or to work for companies that conduct business in foreign countries. It also appears that fewer women are advancing to the CIO position at mid-market firms.
- The opportunity to earn more is too good to pass up. CIO s at mid-market companies earn much less than their peers at larger companies, even though they have as much, or more, experience as CIO . No wonder these CIOs are more likely to be on the outlook for a new job: It's a chance to make significantly more money.
- The CIO role is changing at SMBs, but the shift away from daily IT responsibilities isn't quite as drastic as it is at larger companies. That's probably because mid-market CIO s don't have as deep a bench on which to offload IT work. Still, they seem determined to get away from project oversight and day-to-day operations. One blind spot: While they are growing more interested in finding new technologies, they are making it less of a personal priority to find and develop IT talent.
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Canadian Employees Want More Perks on the Job
Only 20 percent of Canadian employees enjoy corporate wellness programs that include such perks as fitness and nutritional coaching, gym memberships and opportunities for professional growth, according to a new poll.
Almost 70 percent of 2,857 Canadians who participated in a recent online poll at Monster.ca said they wished their employers offered such incentives. Twenty percent of those who already receive corporate wellness programs really appreciate them. And 10 percent of Canadians said such programs are a waste of resources and would not be interested even if their employer provided such services.
Meanwhile, in a separate Monster.ca poll of 3,594 participants, less than 20 percent of Canadians receive pay increases, have flexible scheduling and other work/life balance initiatives. Most respondents said their employers are doing very little to retain them.
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What Is Not Getting Talked About At The Watercooler: Mental Health
To officially launch National Mental Health Week, the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) and Desjardins Financial Security have released a study that shows that mental health continues to be a taboo issue in the workplace. The study found that only 34% of employees report having readily access to services and tools at work to help with mental health issues.
The study found that many employers, supervisors and employees are uncertain how to manage or help colleagues experiencing a mental health issue. Just over half (51%) of employees who learned that their co-worker had a mental health issue turned to no one about it for information or support. Only eight percent of employees turned to their immediate supervisor, while only seven percent turned to an EAP program.
The silence surrounding mental health in the workplace is particularly alarming considering how prevalent the issue is at work. Approximately 43% of Canadians have had a colleague who has had a mental health issue and 34% have had a co-worker leave work for a period of time because of a mental health issue. Interestingly, 74% of those respondents noted that their colleague never came back to work.
The uncertainty on how to handle mental health issues continues even after an employee returns from a leave. The study found that 57% of respondents noted that their workplace provided no preparation to facilitate their colleagues' return to work after being on a leave because of a mental health issue.
CMHA offers the following tips to employers to help create a workplace that supports mental health:
- Train managers on how to encourage work-life balance and how to manage colleagues with mental health issues.
- Educate employees about workplace policies and programs available to promote mental health.
- Establish flexible hours to help employees balance responsibilities at home and work.
- Encourage staff to stay home with sick children or elderly relatives when necessary.
- Create a method to track employees’ satisfaction with their work-life balance.
- Reintroduce employees who have been on leave because of a mental health issue gradually.
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Are American Workers Going Green?
In recognition of Earth Day 2007, Adecco commissioned a survey to find out if American workers are bringing their environmental consciousness to work. The latest Adecco USA Workplace Insights Survey found that only one-third (33%) would be more inclined to work for a “green” company, despite all the recent attention on environmental issues.
Key findings from the survey:
- A slight majority want their company to do more: About half of employed adults (52%) think their company should do more to be environmentally friendly. Only about 1 in 5 employed adults (22%) say their company already does enough or too much, while about one in four (26%) are just not sure.
- He said, she said: Employed men are more likely than their female counterparts to say they know their company’s environmental policy (35% men vs. 28% women).
- What’s your company’s policy?: While about 7 in 10 employed adults (69%) know that their company has an environmental policy, only about a third (32%) knows what that policy is.
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The
Hr Value Proposition
