Archive for December, 2010

Okay, I couldn’t resist the urge to squeeze in one more “year’s best” list…but can you blame me? (Don’t answer that.) From flight attendant freakouts to too-sexy bankers (is there such a thing?), and everything in between…let’s just say that if the following workplace stories were people, Barbara Walters would be interviewing them during sweeps. Continue reading

• 
• Posted by: Mary Lorenz on December 31, 2010
• There are 0 Comments. Join the discussion.
• Categories: In Review, Insights & Trends, Year in Review

It’s a non-denominational holiday miracle! (Okay, ’miracle’ might be a bit of an oversell, but regardless…) Good things are in store for the job market this coming year, if CareerBuilder’s 2011 Job Forecast is any indication.

Released today, the annual survey shows that more employers plan to grow jobs and increase salaries than last year – indicating a stronger overall employment picture for 2011.  According to CareerBuilder CEO Matt Ferguson, in a statement for the press release: Continue reading

• 
• Posted by: Mary Lorenz on December 29, 2010
• There is 1 Comment. Join the discussion.
• Categories: Forecasts, Insights & Trends, Survey Results

This post originally appeared on Snelling Staff Services’ Hire Education Blog, an up-to-date hiring resource for employers and job seekers.

Your Clients and Candidates: Closer than You May Realize
Continue reading

• 
• Posted by: Eric Gilpin on December 20, 2010
• There are 2 Comments. Join the discussion.
• Categories: Talent Acquisition

If there’s one thing Americans love, it’s year-end,”top ten” lists.

Not to discount the role family time, seasonal light displays, gift-giving and Charlie Brown all play in creating an overall sense of merriment this time of year, but I’d be willing to bet that top ten lists have a lot to do with what makes this season so merry and bright. Continue reading

• 
• Posted by: Mary Lorenz on December 20, 2010
• There is 1 Comment. Join the discussion.
• Categories: Employee Engagement, Retention, Talent Acquisition

While you were busy preparing to hang up your suspenders, claiming you were going to be busy washing your hair that night anyway,  or trying to ruin every child’s fun…here’s what was happening in the world of workforce management this week…

• Working in pajamas is preferable to fighting traffic. Employees who telecommute the majority of the workweek have more job satisfaction, a new study from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee shows. (UWMNews)  
• Sometimes the best workplace holiday gifts are the ones not given. Workplace gift-giving can be tricky (and by tricky, I mean ‘awkward and potentially disastrous’). Todayshow.com offers tips for what to get – and what to avoid getting – for that special colleague in your life. (TODAY)
• All Obama wants for Christmas is more jobs. President Barack Obama held a meeting with 20 top CEOs on Wednesday, hoping to encourage them to invest their funds in growth and hiring.  (WSJ)
• No more playing fast and loose with the term ‘contract worker’ State and federal agencies are cracking down on companies that misclassify employees as independent contractors. (USAToday)
• Too bad this story is real, and not just another bad sequel to Wall Street. An insider trading probe at Wall Street continues to deepen, with charges now against six people. (NPR)
• Micro-management’ could take on a whole new meaning. More businesses try to do more with less workspace, increasingly taking away corporate office space and closing the walls on corporate workers.(Los Angeles Times)
• American CEOs have been waiting four years to feel this good. A new survey indicates that optimism about the future of sales, investments and hiring among U.S. chief executives is at its highest level since2006. (Bloomberg) And finally… Continue Reading…

• 
• Posted by: Mary Lorenz on December 17, 2010
• There are 0 Comments. Join the discussion.
• Categories: In Review, Insights & Trends, Week in Review

This post originally appeared on TLNT, an HR blog about “The Business of HR,” with news, insight, and topical information from experts and thought leaders in HR, talent management, and all areas related to HR and managing a workforce.

Post a job, sift through the resumes and interview candidates. Continue reading

• 
• Posted by: Brent Rasmussen on December 16, 2010
• There are 2 Comments. Join the discussion.
• Categories: Survey Results, Talent Acquisition

Note: This post is the last of a three-part series on re-engaging your employees. Click here to read part one: Want to Re-Engage Your Employees? Do This First…or here to read part two: 7 Ways to Inspire Your Employees

If you feel like you’ve been hearing a lot about employee engagement lately, it’s probably not your imagination…

From the recent Towers Watson survey that shows that only 21 percent of workers feel “highly engaged” in their work, to the Hewitt Associates study that shows that employee engagement and morale have declined more in 2010 than in at least the past 15 years - not to mention Corporate Executive Board’s recent finding that a mere 23 percent of employees indicated a high level of “intent to stay” with their current companies this year – employee engagement is basically the ‘HMU’ among talent management experts.

And it’s no wonder, either: It’s not unusual for businesses to see high staff turnover rates following periods of economic depression, so now is the time for employers to focus on ways to retain their top talent.

In my earlier posts from this series, I discussed the first two of workplace management expert Holly Green’s three steps to re-engaging your employees: informing and inspiring. Finally, we’ve gotten to the third part: engaging your employees. Among the benefits of having engaged employees are higher rates of productivity and lower (costly) turnover rates. Plus, they’re way more fun to be around. Continue Reading…

• 
• Posted by: Mary Lorenz on December 15, 2010
• There are 0 Comments. Join the discussion.
• Categories: Uncategorized

You might call Heidi Grant Halvorson the Patti Stanger of success.  After all, there are a few striking similarities between the author of  SUCCEED: How We Can Reach Our Goals and TV’s “Millionaire Matchmaker.”  Much like how Stanger has made a career out of helping people who are struggling to find love, Halvorson specializes in helping people achieve that other seemingly elusive goal: success.  Even Stanger’s own theory on love (“Everyone wants it, but not everyone finds it.”) could be applied to success.

But that’s where the similarities end.  Where Stanger’s expertise is limited to matters of the heart, Halvorson, a motivational psychologist, applies her years of experience and research to helping people achieving success in virtually every area of their lives.

And while Halvorson may not have her own reality show on Bravo (…yet), she is spreading her expertise to the masses another way: With the release of SUCCEED, in which she outlines practical strategies people can utilize to help themselves achieve success.  Success, Halvorson says, is surprisingly easy to come by. It’s simply a matter of understanding the habits that help us in – and, in some cases, inhibit us from – reaching our goals and creating a plan to keep ourselves accountable.

“People can’t always explain why they are successful”
“People are surprisingly bad at understanding their own behavior,” Halvorson told me in a recent phone interview to discuss the book. This lack of understanding creates a problem with much of the motivational advice that is out there today: People who write these books base their advice on theories or beliefs about what makes them successful that, in reality, aren’t necessarily right. “Even if they are right, they can’t always tell you how to do the same.” Not to mention that what works for one person won’t necessarily work for someone else.

Unlike so many other motivational books, which are based on anecdotes and personal experiences, Halvorson, who holds a doctorate in the field of psychology, based the advice in SUCCEED on years of scientific research on the specific behaviors that contribute to success. She says she wanted to write a book that explained, succinctly and “in plain English,” how years of scientific research prove the behaviors that lead to success. “The scientific approach allows you to have confidence in this advice in a way that we don’t have with other people’s experiences.” Continue Reading…

• 
• Posted by: Mary Lorenz on December 14, 2010
• There are 0 Comments. Join the discussion.
• Categories: Uncategorized

You know how every once in a while you do a mental check to estimate how much money you’ve spent in coffee in the last year, and you’re all, “Holy $*^@! Did I really spend that much money? On coffee?”

Well, replace the word “coffee” with the term “bad hires” and that pretty much sums up the results of CareerBuilder’s latest survey, in which 67 percent of employers said that a bad hire has adversely affected their business in the last year.

Here’s what else the survey of more than 2,400 employers nationwide revealed:

• 40 percent of hiring managers said that one bad hire cost their business more than $25,000 in the last year.
• 24 percent said one bad hire cost them more than $50,000.

(As a point of reference, $50,000 can also get you: Toyota’s first hydrogen car, Carrie Bradshaw’s dress or a cloned pet…and $25,000 can get you Nissan’s new electric car, an entry into the Kentucky Derby, or Michael Jackson’s coffin. Just in case you’re wondering what you’re missing out on.)

What was lost – a breakdown
When asked for specifics on how a poor hire affected their business in the last year, employers reported the following:

• Lost time to recruit and train another worker – 39 percent
• Loss of productivity – 38 percent
• Lost money to recruit and train another worker – 37 percent
• Negative effect on employee morale – 30 percent
• Negative effect on client relations – 21 percent
• Fewer sales – 11 percent
• Legal issues – 9 percent

Where did it all go so wrong?
While it might seem that the plethora of talent available today would make making costly hiring decisions a virtual impossibility, employers reported that time constraints, strained resources and a lack of insight into target talent have been obstacles to finding the right people for their open positions. Of employers who made a bad hire…

• 36 percent said their hiring mistakes happened because they needed to fill the job quickly
• 20 percent blamed a lack of understanding of where their target talent is
• 9 percent attribute the mistakes to unsuccessful sourcing techniques Continue Reading…

• 
• Posted by: Mary Lorenz on December 13, 2010
• There are 0 Comments. Join the discussion.
• Categories: Survey Results

In the following excerpt from CareerBuilder’s recent interview with Jeff Akers, Chief Executive Officer of Critigen,  he discusses the experience of being a “new” brand and the  power of humility, integrity and vision.

WHAT IS YOUR PHILOSOPHY AS IT RELATES TO PEOPLE AND THEIR IMPACT ON YOUR DAILY BUSINESS? Continue reading

• 
• Posted by: Mary Lorenz on December 11, 2010
• There are 2 Comments. Join the discussion.
• Categories: CareerBuilder Leadership Series