November 18, 2011

HR Fact Friday: Give Me My Coffee!

Filed under: General HR Buzz — Tags: , , — Paul @ 6:00 am

If you need that morning cup of joe every day to get you going, you are not alone.  According to a survey by Dunkin’ Donuts and CareerBuilder, nearly half of all U.S. workers (46%) claim that they are less productive without coffee.  (Note to office manager:  time to upgrade that coffee pot!)  Other key coffee consumption trends in the workplace include:

Coffee has helped younger workers, aged 18 to 24, with their careers by providing an opportunity to network with other coworkers.

The region with the most workday coffee drinkers is in the Northeast, with 49% of employees admitting to needing coffee while on the job. And for some, one cup is not enough!  The majority of coffee drinkers (61%) drink two cups or more each workday.

(more…)

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September 30, 2011

HR Fact Friday: Communication is Key to Effective Management

Filed under: Benefits — Tags: , , , — Paul @ 6:00 am

How would it feel if you knew business was slow and your boss was in closed door meetings all day and didn’t make eye contact much less say hello, good night or anything in between to you all day long, day after day? Would you feel secure, appreciated and valued as an employee? Of course not.

Simple, sincere and brief acknowledgement from managers asking employees about this or that project or how their six year old is doing in kindergarten goes a long way to improving staff morale and productivity. Effective communication is what causes employees to feel valued and respected as a professional and as an individual on a daily basis.

The worst thing senior management can do when sales are down and the economy is challenging is to bury their heads in the sand and not engage with the staff. This is the fastest way to get the rumor mill going and cause employees to feel edgy and insecure.

(more…)

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March 4, 2011

HR Fact Friday: Hiring Outlook Mixed

Filed under: Hiring & Jobs — Tags: , , , , — Paul @ 6:00 am

The U.S. private-sector labor force is expected to add jobs in manufacturing in March 2011 compared with March 2010, but hiring is expected to ebb in the service sector for the same time frame compared with March 2010, according to the Society for Human Resource Management’s (SHRM) Leading Indicators of National Employment (LINE) survey for March 2011.

Two other reports, by payroll processor ADP and outplacement consulting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, also show that private-sector payrolls expanded in February 2011. But layoffs were up for the month as well.

Private-sector employers added 217,000 jobs in February 2011, which is an increase over the 189,000 jobs added in January 2011, according to a report by ADP released March 2, 2011. However, the number of planned job cuts announced by U.S.-based companies increased for the second consecutive month in February 2011, rising to 50,702—the highest total since March 2010, Challenger reported.

“It is too soon to say whether the increases in January and now February [2011] represent a trend,” said John A. Challenger, chief executive officer of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, in a statement about the report. “Certainly the specter of rising gas prices could impact employers’ staffing decisions over the next six months. At the very least, rising energy costs could force employers to postpone hiring plans. At worst, increased costs could kill the fragile recovery and spur another round of layoffs.”

The LINE Employment Report, which is based on a monthly survey of private-sector human resource professionals at more than 500 manufacturing and 500 service-sector companies, examines four key areas: employers’ hiring expectations, job vacancies, new-hire compensation and recruiting difficulty of top-level talent.

Source: SHRM.org

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December 23, 2010

HR Fact Friday: 2011 Compensation Budgets Stabilizing

Filed under: Compensation,Salaries & Pay — Tags: , , , , — Paul @ 6:00 am

U.S. employers’ compensation budgets are likely to remain intact for 2011, and few companies expect to have to take drastic actions such as pay freezes to reduce costs, a November 2010 survey from consultancy Aon Hewitt reveals.

Aon Hewitt’s survey of more than 500 employers found that:

  • Three-quarters of U.S. companies expect to reach or exceed business performance goals by year-end 2010, leading to the stabilization of pay and variable pay budgets in 2011. Most companies (56 percent) made no revisions to their original base salary increase budgets in the latter half of 2010.
  • In 2011, salary increases for salaried exempt workers are expected to be 2.8 percent. This is up from 2.4 percent in 2010 and significantly higher than the record-low pay raises workers saw in 2009 (1.8 percent).
  • Sub-3 percent increases represent the new ‘normal’ in base-pay spending.

In addition, spending on variable pay—performance-based awards that must be re-earned each year—is holding steady. Updated findings show that 2011 spending on variable pay as a percentage of payroll will be 11.6 percent for salaried exempt workers, down slightly from original projections of 11.8 percent.

Lastly, Aon Hewitt’s survey shows that none of the respondents planned to cut pay in 2011, and just 11 percent planned to freeze salaries for salaried exempt and nonexempt workers in 2011, which is similar to 2010, when 12 percent of organizations froze salaries.

 Source: SHRM, Stephen Miller 

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November 24, 2010

HR Fact Friday: Will You Check Work E-mail Over the Holiday Weekend?

Filed under: Work/Life Balance — Tags: , , , , — Paul @ 1:28 pm

I will not be checking work email over the long Thanksgiving weekend . . . but I am bringing a little work home with me. Nevertheless some interesting statistics on checking email  from home on long holiday weekends . . .

Long holiday weekends aren’t always free from work. Almost 60% of working Americans check their work e-mail during Thanksgiving, Christmas, and other holidays, according to a recent survey by Xobni.

How often? Of those who do check e-mails during the holidays, 55% said they check at least once a day and 28% visit their inbox multiple times per day, the survey said.

Additional findings on holiday work e-mails:

Reaction to e-mail: 19 % are “Thankful” or “Relieved” to have the distraction of work e-mail on holidays. On the other hand, 41 % of those that received work e-mails said they were either annoyed, frustrated, or resentful.

Gender: The survey suggests men (67%) are more likely to check work e-mail than women (50%).

Age: Employed middle-aged adults, aged 35-44, check work e-mail the most (65%).

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September 24, 2010

HR Fact Friday: 30 Percent of Managers Under More Stress

Filed under: Management Practices,Work/Life Balance — Tags: , , , — Paul @ 9:38 am

Thirty percent of managers say they are more stressed at work today than a year ago, according to a survey by OfficeTeam, a division of Robert Half International Inc. Only 11 percent said it was lower, and 59 percent said it was about the same.

The survey also found that 28 percent of respondents expect their anxiety levels to rise in the coming year. Sixty-four percent said it would be about the same.

“Professionals at all levels are working harder and assuming more responsibilities as a result of companies relying on leaner teams,” said OfficeTeam executive director Robert Hosking. “Managers, in particular, may be feeling the heat as they strive to keep employees motivated and productive with limited resources.”

The survey was based on telephone interviews with more than 1,000 senior managers at companies with 20 or more employees.

Source: Staffing Industry Analysts

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June 11, 2010

HR Fact Friday: Most Employers to Wait to Cover Adult Children

Filed under: Insurance — Tags: , , , , — Paul @ 8:38 am

Many companies do not intend to comply early with a provision in the new health care reform law that will require group health care plans to extend coverage to employees’ young adult children up to age 26, according to a survey released Tuesday, June 8.

Among the 501 large employers responding to a Hewitt Associates Inc. survey, 77 percent said they will wait until the effective date before offering the coverage. Ten percent of respondents said they will extend coverage early to all eligible adult children, 9 percent said they will continue coverage for graduating students already covered in their plans, and 4 percent were undecided.

The law requires the extension to be made on the first day of the plan year starting after September 23, 2010. For calendar-year plans, which are the most common, the effective date of the provision would be January 1.

Source: Jerry Geisel, Business Insurance, a sister publication of Workforce Management.

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January 15, 2010

HR Fact Friday: Americans’ Job Satisfaction Falls to Record Low

Filed under: General HR Buzz — Tags: , , — Paul @ 8:16 am

Even Americans who are lucky enough to have work in this economy are becoming more unhappy with their jobs, according to a new survey that found only 45% of Americans are satisfied with their work.

That was the lowest level ever recorded by the Conference Board research group in more than 22 years of studying the issue. In 2008, 49% of those surveyed reported satisfaction with their jobs.

The drop in workers’ happiness can be partly blamed on the worst recession since the 1930s, which has made it difficult for some people to find challenging and suitable jobs. But worker dissatisfaction has been on the rise for more than two decades.

(more…)

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November 13, 2009

HR Fact Friday: Worker Engagement and Expectations Dropping

Filed under: Management Practices — Tags: , , , , — Paul @ 6:00 am

Cost cutting actions made by U.S. employers in 2009 to deal with the economic downturn have contributed to a sharp decline in the morale and commitment of their workers, especially top performers, according to an annual survey by consultancy Watson Wyatt and WorldatWork, an association of HR professionals.

The 2009/2010 U.S. Strategic Rewards Survey found that employee engagement levels among all employers dropped 9% since 2008 and have plunged close to 25% among top performers.  Additionally, 36% of top performers say their employer’s situation worsened over the past year; the number who would recommend others take jobs at their company has declined by nearly 20%.

“The fallout from the actions employers have taken in response to the recession is now coming to light, and it is significant,” said Laura Sejen, global director of strategic rewards consulting for Watson Wyatt. “Having less engaged and committed workers is a major concern for employers. This could have a long-lasting and detrimental impact on productivity, quality, and customer service, as well as an increase in the risk of companies losing their best employees.”

The survey was conducted in May and based on responses from 1,300 full-time workers at large U.S. employers.

Source: HR Magazine, Stephen Miller, November, 2009 pg. 16

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October 23, 2009

HR Fact Friday: HR Poll — Compensation Audit Frequency

Filed under: Compensation,General HR Buzz,Salaries & Pay — Tags: , , , — Paul @ 7:50 am

It’s no secret that here at HRN we practice what we preach regarding best practices in compensation administration and employee performance management.  For example, at HRN we utilize Compease for establishing salary grades and comp levels based on current and accurate market data. We regularly update Compease with new and current compensation data compiled from the most trusted and respected sources. 

In my regular review of HR news and information sources I came across a live online survey on hr.blr.com asking this simple question: 

How often does your org. audit its compensation plan to ensure fairness and equity in employees pay? 

The reason this question stopped me in my tracks was because it is one of the first questions our compensation consultants ask prospective clients when discussing their compensation plan and strategy. So I was quite interested in seeing the results. And what I saw was surprising; especially when you consider that all repsondents are HR professionals who should know better. 

Source: hr.blr.com

Source: hr.blr.com

 

The good news is that 30% do audit their comp plan at least once each year. Hopefully these are all Compease clients because this annual update and review function is included in the solution. But what really did surprise me is that an equal amount; nearly one-third have never audited their compensation plan! Never? The next highest number of respondents at 17% selected the ‘less frequently than 3 years’ option. Now I understand this is an unscientific and uncontrolled online poll but even with a margin of error of 10% it’s still a significant finding. 

How can a company remain competitive and justify their bottom line if they have no true understanding of what other companies of the same size, in the same industry and geographical region are paying staff members for specific job functions and taking into account experience, education, and performance? With no researched and current comp plan in place a company is at risk of either overpaying employees, resulting in lower profitability, or underpaying key contributors and risking high attrition and turnover. Turnover costs the company money to recruit, hire, and train new staff. 

When I see data like this I am motivated as a marketer to do a better job in communicating the benefits of Compease to HR professionals. 

Having an annually updated and reliable comp plan in place does not have to be difficult, expensive, or time consuming. HRN has the solution. It’s called Compease. Give us a call and talk to a compensation professional or check it out online at here. Or better yet . . . attend a demo.

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