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| Companies Seek an Edge Through Engaged Employees | |||||||||||||
| Companies now have the tools to establish how happy a workforce is with their work and their employer. Once they have established this, they can then make improvements, increase employee engagement and boost performance, says a new PricewaterhouseCoopers report. The increasingly recognized link between high levels of employee commitment and bottom line results means business leaders all over the world are exploring engagement metrics and measures. They can be used to enhance the image of the company as a responsible employer, or improve employee retention in fast-developing markets where staff turnover is high due to a buoyant labor market. Rapid economic change and uncertainty in many markets makes such measures more relevant than ever. Levels of engagement are even beginning to be perceived by some investors as an important indicator of a company�s financial health and sustainability. Companies can plot levels of engagement for an entire workforce by looking at data relating to resignation levels, absence rates, employee attitudes, training hours per full-time employee (FTE), performance-related pay and incidence of grievance. These range from the high levels of engagement that produce positive behaviors such as flexibility and innovation to the other end of the scale where companies experience resignations, absence, pilfering, theft, oppositional solidarity, even sabotage. The report also charts the rise of a new kind of offshoring - Knowledge Process Offshoring (KPO) - where traditionally sacrosanct knowledge or judgement services such as research and sales and marketing are run from other countries. The KPO market globally is predicted to grow to $16.7 billion by 2010-2011, implying an annual growth rate of 39% and employing some 390,000 professionals by March 2011. Here, countries such as India, China, Russia, Poland, Hungary and republics from the former Soviet Union provide high levels of skills at comparatively low cost for many western economies experiencing skills gaps. A new concept of �connected sourcing� is also emerging. This sees organizations increasingly focusing on what they do best and then orchestrating a portfolio of relationships for the rest. This requires a new approach and highly developed levels of collaboration, transparency, trust and relationship management. A further development is found in the area of talent management. The traditional focus on high performers and �high flyers� is shifting to include �pivotal employees.� These are segments of the workforce that are expected to create value and determine the success of the organization. They can range from the receptionist to the sales director and the contribution of these core people has a disproportionate impact on determining both the success of an organization and its sustainability. | |||||||||||||
| [Full Article] May-01-2008 | |||||||||||||
| Seven Out of 10 Employees Suffer Personal Legal Woes | |||||||||||||
| An alarming number of U.S. employees spend valuable time during their work days dealing with more than just regular job duties. For many workers, their family, financial, home or automobile legal woes compete for time and attention – resulting in lower job performance, productivity and morale. Among the key results of the ARAG Legal Woes study: The Legal Woes Study indicated that one out of eight employees worked for an employer that offers legal plans at work while seven out of 10 said they believe legal plans would be useful in resolving personal legal needs. Because legal woes take a heavy toll on workplace productivity and can affect business profitability, concerned employers are looking for effective ways to address this issue and many are considering the addition of legal plans to their benefit packages | |||||||||||||
| [Full Article] Apr-03-2008 | |||||||||||||
| 10 Best Places to Get a Great Paycheck | |||||||||||||
| Move to New York, and you could become an investment-banking millionaire. Head for Los Angeles for a chance at an eight-figure Hollywood paycheck. Or go prospecting in San Francisco for dot-com gold. Of course, precious few movers and shakers have the perfect combination of skill, drive and lots of luck to become gazillionaires. So what about those of us simply looking for a solid job with a handsome paycheck? Manhattan, Hollywood and Silicon Valley may boast some of the richest residents in the country, but these hugely competitive places don't necessarily boast the best job prospects for the average American. If you want a good shot at getting ahead, look to Stafford County, outside Washington, D.C.; Forsyth County, outside of Atlanta; or Delaware County, outside Columbus, Ohio. These are the communities where income growth and job growth are the highest. To determine the best places to get ahead, Forbes.com compiled income and job data from the U.S. Census and Department of Labor Statistics. They looked at every county in the U.S., starting with data from the year 2000, and ranked where median income was rising the most quickly. They limited their list to counties where the median income was at least $75,000 in order to highlight places where people are well-off and getting ahead, as opposed to counties that went from low income to average income. Then, to further highlight places where paychecks are earned -- as opposed to places that are bedroom communities or retreats for the rich -- they took into account job growth data going back to 2000. That allowed them to measure where jobs, and local economies, have boomed. The places that experienced prolonged income and job booms since 2000 are often satellite economies of larger cities. Within a metropolitan area, the central city is typically the driving force of the economy. But as suburban counties develop, they often turn into secondary economic centers with their own industry and jobs. The complete top 10 list: | |||||||||||||
| [Full Article] Apr-03-2008 | |||||||||||||
| U.S. Executives Report Employee Retention a Top Priority in 2008 | |||||||||||||
| More than 80 percent of business executives consider employee retention a top priority, according to the annual Employee Turnover Trends survey by TalentKeepers Inc., a global provider of employee retention research. The survey finds that 81 percent of executives consider employee retention an important business priority, a staggering jump from the 41 percent in 2007 who considered employee retention a top priority. The survey gathers turnover data from major U.S.-based organizations representing every major industry. This year's survey response was the largest yet, with over 600 participating organizations. What's interesting to note is that although there is a growing concern for employee retention as a business priority, executives seem to be more optimistic about their own situation than they are about others in their industry — expressing an "it won't happen to me" mentality. Almost 40 percent of respondents believe that turnover will increase within their industry, but only 21 percent expect their own turnover to worsen. | |||||||||||||
| [Full Article] Apr-03-2008 | |||||||||||||
| IT Security Skills in High Demand, Short Supply | |||||||||||||
| There is a wide gap between the IT security skills that organizations want and the corresponding skills that workers bring to the job, according to a new survey commissioned by the Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA). Security tops the list of the technology skills that are most important to organizations today, according to the survey of more than 3,500 technology professionals in North America, Europe and Asia. But there is a significant gap in the security skills available among today's tech workforce, the survey reveals. Among organizations surveyed in nine countries with established IT industries (Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, United Kingdom, and United States), 73 percent identified security, firewalls and data privacy as the IT skills most important to their organization today. But just 57 percent said their IT employees are proficient in these security skills, a gap of 16 percentage points. The gap is even wider in five countries where the emergence of a strong IT industry is relatively recent (China, India, Poland, Russia, and South Africa). Among respondents in these countries, 76 percent identified security as the top skill their organization needs, but just 57 percent said their current tech staff is proficient in security. | |||||||||||||
| [Full Article] Apr-03-2008 | |||||||||||||
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