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| Significant Changes for U.S. Workers Since 1998 | |||||||||||||
| The latest edition of a study of U.S. workplaces finds that employers with more women and more minorities in top positions, and nonprofits organizations, are more likely to offer flexible workplaces. These are just two of the significant findings to emerge from the landmark 2008 National Study of Employers (NSE), released by the Families and Work Institute. First conducted in 1998, the 2008 NSE addresses the changing needs of today’s workforce. Designed by Families and Work Institute and conducted by Harris Interactive, Inc., the NSE interviewed 1,100 employers with 50 or more employees located throughout the United States and provides trend data on changes that have occurred over the past 10 years. The study addresses questions such as: A sampling of changes in the workplace over the past 10 years includes: On the rise: The 2008 study shows that 53% of organizations with 50 or more employees allow some employees to phase into retirement by working reduced hours over a period of time prior to full retirement and 38% allow some employees to take sabbaticals (paid or unpaid leaves of six months or more) and return to a comparable job. On the decline: | |||||||||||||
| [Full Article] Jul-27-2008 | |||||||||||||
| Targeted Back-Office Cuts Instead of HR and GA Can Ease Impending Recession | |||||||||||||
| As the recession looms, many companies are reacting by mandating across the board cuts in key General & Administrative (G&A) areas such as IT, finance, HR, and procurement. But new research from The Hackett Group, Inc. suggests more may be gained by taking an alternative approach -- targeted, strategic reductions that can offset up to almost half the impact of a potential recession while minimally affecting service delivery and the ability to provide strategic value. According to Hackett, typical Global 1000 companies (with $23.4 billion in annual revenue) can generate $200-$400 million per year in savings through targeted G&A cuts, an amount that represents up to 45% of the potential decline in pre-tax profit due to a recession. The cost reduction opportunities are focused in two primary areas. More than 40% of the potential savings, or up to $171 million per year, comes from IT alone. More than a third, or up to $145 million per year, comes from finance. Hackett's research details the strategies and tactics companies can use to accomplish cost reductions, including reducing labor costs, cutting technology spending, and selective globalization of business processes. By utilizing empirically-proven best practices, companies can cut costs while minimizing impact on business delivery. Companies can also simplify or eliminate processes, an approach that often involves the use of outsourcing for activities that can be done faster and cheaper by a specialized provider. Process standardization is also a powerful approach, although it may require companies to make technology investments and can demand strong commitment from senior management. In IT, for example, companies can cut infrastructure management costs in half by achieving world-class efficiency levels through strategic transformation. Another area to target is application maintenance, where cost reductions of over 40% are possible, largely by reducing the complexity of the application portfolio, taking a more disciplined approach to application disposition planning, and improving demand management. | |||||||||||||
| [Full Article] Jul-27-2008 | |||||||||||||
| Small Businesses Have Strategic Opportunities to Compete for Employee Talent | |||||||||||||
| Workplace benefits are being viewed as an important employee retention tool by small businesses. More than half (55%) of smaller employers, those with fewer than 500 employees, say benefits play a very important role in employee retention – a top objective, according to MetLife’s 6th annual Employee Benefits Trends Study. However, many current benefits programs are not being utilized to their full retention potential. According to the MetLife study, only about one-third (34%) of workers at these smaller employers say the benefits they receive are a very important reason to remain with their employer, contrasted to more than half (53%) of employees working at larger companies. In addition, just 37% of employees at smaller companies, compared to 49% of employees at larger firms, say they are highly satisfied with their workplace benefits. A majority (60%) of smaller employers – those with less than 500 employees – say they have a strong sense of loyalty to their employees compared to 45% of larger companies. Yet, many employees are not sensing this – only 44% of workers at these smaller companies believe that their employer has very strong sense of loyalty to them. This is despite another study finding that, among employers that offer benefits, a higher percentage of smaller employers contrasted to larger employers are paying all of the costs for many benefits including medical, dental, vision and prescription drugs. For example, more than one-third of smaller employers (36%) say they pay the entire share of employees’ medical coverage and 29% pay all the cost of prescription drug coverage compared to only 15% and 13%, respectively, among employers with 500 plus employees. Breadth and depth of benefits offerings may have greater impact on employee loyalty than cost-sharing proportions. Employees at smaller companies indicate an interest in paying more to get more – 91% of those surveyed say they are interested in having more voluntary benefits offered with 40% saying they are very interested. Of course, some personal issues confront all employees regardless of their employer’s size. For example, about one-third of all employees say they have a limited amount of time to do necessary research to help them make financial decisions – likely a reason why only about one-third express confidence in their ability to make the right financial decisions for their families. Money is also a concern regardless of employer size – about four in ten employees say they live paycheck to paycheck. With time, money and confidence levels on par, it seems surprising that fewer employees at smaller companies have taken steps to determine their family’s financial needs in relation to financial protection such as life insurance, retirement income and disability income insurance than their neighbors at larger employers. For example: Communication materials may be one cause for the disparity. Both smaller employers and their employees are in agreement that benefits communications is an area that needs improvement. Only about one-third of employers and employees believe that current benefits communications are highly effective. More than half (54%) of employees at these smaller businesses say receiving personalized benefits information with costs for options would make it easier when making choices. | |||||||||||||
| [Full Article] Jun-26-2008 | |||||||||||||
| Executive Leadership, Not HR, Should Drive Diversity Hiring Efforts | |||||||||||||
| More than two-thirds (68 percent) of executive recruiters say diversity hiring efforts should be spearheaded by top company leadership, according to international recruiters who completed the latest edition of the quarterly Executive Recruiter Index, released by Korn/Ferry International, a global provider of talent management solutions. This overwhelming trend reflects the importance of diversity hiring practices in today’s competitive market for talent. Other champions of diversity, according to global recruiters, include the company’s board of directors (13 percent) and the human resources department (11 percent). Additionally, nearly half of recruiters (46 percent) reveal that minority candidates are present in 25-75 percent of their executive searches. More than one-fifth of recruiters (21 percent) report that diversity candidates had been included in three-quarters or more of their recent engagements. Almost half (49 percent) of recruiters attribute the increased visibility around diversity issues to globalization, while another 30 percent cite the increased presence of women and minorities in the workplace as the leading reason. Lastly, nearly 9 out of 10 recruiters (85 percent) agree that companies that have successful diversity programs in place enjoy a competitive advantage in the marketplace. Effective diversity programs provide a more robust talent pool for organizations around the world, allowing them to attract and retain more top talent amidst today’s shortage of skilled professionals. | |||||||||||||
| [Full Article] Jun-26-2008 | |||||||||||||
| Social Workers and HR Managers in High Demand as Weak Economy Hits Home for Many | |||||||||||||
| It's a sign of difficult times for many. Social workers and counselors are now among some of the nation's most in-demand professionals, according to new findings in the Jobfox Top 25 Most Wanted U.S. Job Candidates: June 2008 rankings. Social workers and counselors ranked as the seventh most-wanted professionals, according to the June report from Jobfox, a free online service that uses precision matching to help qualified candidates link up with compatible job opportunities. The Counseling/Social Work profession cracked the Top 25 for the first time since Jobfox began tracking job trends in March 2008. For about a year now, there's been a steady increase in the demand for social workers and counselors. With increases in gas and food prices, we are seeing more stress and more demand for outreach services — especially among low-income families. Money and job pressures are often the triggers to higher levels of anxiety and emotional problems. The Jobfox rankings also indicate increased hiring activity for human resource executives – perhaps more signs of what’s well, what’s not so well and what remains a challenge for U.S. businesses in the current economic climate. Human resource executives are now the 25th most wanted, according to the Jobfox rankings report for June. Recruiting/Staffing professionals also ranked 24th – the second-consecutive month that recruiters have held this position. Many professions remain in high demand, according to Jobfox. The most wanted professions include Software Design/Development, Sales Representative/Business Development, Accounting/Finance Executive, Accounting and Nursing. Rounding out the Top 10 are Networking/System Administration, Counseling/Social Work, Business Analysis – Research, Business Analysis – Software Implementation and Mechanical Engineering. | |||||||||||||
| [Full Article] Jun-26-2008 | |||||||||||||
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