http://www.camagazine.com/generations/default.aspx

Different generations, same objectives

Boomers, Gen X and Gen Y all want the same things at work, a new study says.

What do the generations in the workplace really think of each other? Increasingly, organizational leaders are becoming concerned with this very question. The age structure of today’s workforce is changing, with baby boomers (aged 45-64) remaining in the workforce longer, Gen Xers (aged 30-44) taking on new roles and responsibilities, and Gen Yers (aged 15-29) entering the workforce in rising numbers. At the same time, the move toward “flatter” organizational structures and more intense team-based collaboration has placed workers of all generations in closer interaction. If negative stereotypes prevail, the prospects for productivity-damaging conflicts will increase.

The implications of intergenerational workplace conflict prompted The Conference Board of Canada to investigate the similarities and differences among Baby Boom, Generation X, and Generation Y workers. Along with an extensive review of other studies, the board conducted its own survey of more than 900 Canadian workers (including at least 300 from each of the three generations). Respondents were asked what they thought about the workplace characteristics of their own and other generations (e.g., adaptability, manageability and loyalty), as well as the respondents’ own personal characteristics (e.g., personality, communication preferences and social interaction). 

The research found some differences in how the generations see one another, many of which mirror popular—and often negative—generational stereotypes. Yet workers from all three generations share many preferences in the workplace. In short, many of the supposed differences between the boomer, Gen X, and Gen Y workers are based on perception, not reality. There is no one “type of worker” that best describes any particular generation.

Generational differences: perceptions of other generations
According to the Conference Board’s survey findings, there are several differences in the way generations regard themselves and each other.

Adaptability. All generations say their generation is adaptable, but Gen Xers and Gen Yers regard boomers as less adaptable than younger generations of workers. In particular, Gen Xers and Gen Yers think boomers are less comfortable with technology, less open to change and less accepting of diversity.

Manageability. All generations feel that Gen Yers are more difficult to manage than other generations. Boomers and Gen Xers believe Gen Yers require more close supervision, are less likely to follow procedures and are less results-driven than other generations.

Teamwork. All generations see themselves as good team players, although there are some differences in how each generation perceives the work ethics of the others. While Gen Xers and Gen Yers view their generation as hard-working, some boomers and Gen Xers regard Gen Yers as less willing to give maximum effort.

Balance. All generations say they seek work-life balance. Gen Xers and Gen Yers feel they are slightly more likely to seek work-life balance than their boomer colleagues. As well, each generation perceives Gen Xers and Gen Yers to have a greater preference for informality in the workplace than boomers.

Loyalty. All generations see themselves as somewhat trusting in an organization, but boomers regard younger generations as less trusting than they are. Gen Xers and Gen Yers agree their generations are less likely to remain with an organization, but this tendency may be strongly influenced by their current, earlier career stage.

Generational stereotypes: real consequenses
If left unchecked, such perceptions can lead to intergenerational misunderstandings, frustration and conflicts. Perceptions of boomers as inflexible, technological illiterates may leave them out of the loop in discussions of technological issues among younger workers. Similarly, the presumed lack of commitment and loyalty on the part of Gen Xers and Gen Yers can complicate the challenge of maintaining organizational cohesion and effectiveness.

Generational similarities: shared workplace preferences
In spite of the stereotypes, respondents from each generation share similar patterns of workplace preferences. The strongest similarities are in the areas of personality traits, workplace motivations and learning styles. Workers from all three generations are made up of roughly equal numbers of introverts and extroverts, those motivated by work and those motivated by personal goals, and those who like “hands-on” experiences versus those who prefer written instructions.

Individuals from the three generations prefer to communicate and interact in similar ways, although there are a key few differences. Boomers, for example, are less likely to find technology an acceptable medium of communication for dealing with difficult issues or workplace conflicts. They are also somewhat less likely to be interested in after-hours socializing with their workplace colleagues.

In short, workers from all three generations desire many of the same things in the workplace, including respect, flexibility, fairness and the opportunity to do interesting and rewarding work.

Implications: manage by principle, not by stereotype
Maximizing the productivity and performance of a multigenerational workforce involves much more than knowing the profiles of the “typical” boomer, Gen Xer, and Gen Yer (e.g., age, presumed characteristics and preferences).

Today’s workforce is increasingly diverse­—not only demographically, but also in lifestyles, cultures and circumstances. It should come as little surprise to employers that many workers do not “fit” within neat stereotypes based on large generational categories.

Generational perceptions, even if inaccurate, do influence organizational performance. Perceptions are an important dimension of workplace culture. How different groups of workers within an organization see one another—and themselves—can have a major impact on organizational effectiveness. Positive perceptions can promote workplace cohesion, teamwork, innovation and performance, just as negative views can hinder all of the above.

Employers, therefore, need to understand and manage the differences in perceptions across the generations, while also accommodating the cross-generational similarities in workplace preferences. Employers can begin by fostering understanding and inclusion among the generations, and by providing flexible working arrangements that fit the differing needs of individual workers. By applying these principles of organizational effectiveness, employers can derive the full benefits of a multigenerational workforce.

http://www.camagazine.com/generations/default.aspx

http://www.cambridgenetwork.co.uk/news/article/default.aspx?objid=69046

How to retain and motivate employees in post-recession.

Cambridge-based consultant launches special offer package to help local companies retain and motivate key talent.

As local economic conditions start to improve, Cambridge businesses are beginning to switch their focus from survival to revival. And chances are, their staff will too. As employees begin to consider their career options, how can companies retain their key employees and enhance their motivation and productivity?

The answer lies in employee engagement: the way companies talk and listen to their people. Local consultant Sophie Jefferies specializes in helping organizations of all shapes and sizes do exactly that with a special offer package launched this week.

A report commissioned by the Dept for Business, published last year, reveals that
• Engaged employees are 87% less likely to leave their organization
• Engaged employees generate more revenue
• Higher levels of engagement relate to higher levels of innovation
• Engaged employees even take less sick leave

Most Cambridge businesses start small. At the outset much of their internal communication and engagement happens around the coffee machine. It is easy to stay in tune and keep everyone up to date.

As companies grow, particularly once they exceed a headcount of 30, those informal networks are just as important, but they become more complex and harder to tap into. Leaders need to work harder to engage and inform, particularly if employees feel their loyalty has been stretched by pay freezes or other economy measures during the downturn.

The good news is that there are lots of simple, cost-effective employee engagement solutions for organizations of all shapes and sizes, from simple management practices through to social media solutions. Whereas internal communications used to only be affordable for very large organizations, it’s now an essential for all. And this is particularly true for Cambridge businesses, where human capital is often one of their greatest assets.

The only problem lies in choosing and using the right engagement channels from the rather confusing array of options available.

http://www.cambridgenetwork.co.uk/news/article/default.aspx?objid=69046

Management holds key to employee engagement | HR Magazine | Find Articles at BNET

Finding and keeping the right people with the right skills presents a major challenge for organizations. Engaging those people to voluntarily deliver maximum effort in key strategic areas adds another dimension to the challenge.

Achieving success requires the active and willing participation of the organization's workforce. However, a new survey finds that only one in seven employees worldwide is fully engaged with their work. There is a vast, largely untapped reserve of employee performance potential.

How can organizations engage workers and tap into this reserve? You can't order people to generate new ideas or to be more cost-conscious or more productive. Employees need to care about their organization and be committed to its success.

The Global Workforce Study, by consultancy Towers Perrin, found that while many people are eager to contribute more at work, the actions of their managers and culture of their organizations--with HR professionals playing a major role--may discourage them from doing so.

Some of the study's findings challenge commonly accepted workplace assumptions. For example, conventional wisdom holds that some people are natural self-motivators and others aren't--that's the way it is, and nothing can change it. The survey found otherwise--that people's engagement with their work is directly affected by their experience within their organizations.

Management holds key to employee engagement | HR Magazine | Find Articles at BNET

Employee Engagement: What It Is and Why You Need It – BusinessWeek

 

BusinessWeek.com reader Derek Irvine on the importance of engaging employees strategically and authentically

By Derek Irvine

As someone whose job it is to advise companies on employee engagement, I was fascinated to read "Making Employee Engagement Fashionable" by the CEO of Gucci recently on BusinessWeek.com. As I was moved to comment on the column, strategic recognition is the key to fostering a truly engaged workforce.

As the recession drags on, company leaders are looking for any solution to boost morale, increase productivity, and help gain competitive advantage. Employee engagement is rapidly becoming the answer for many organizations, though many remain confused about the benefits of employee engagement, what it is, and how to foster it in their organizations.

Why should you care if your employees are engaged? The research on the bottom-line benefits of employee engagement is clear: Towers Perrin has found that companies with engaged employees boosted operating income by 19% compared with companies with the lowest percentage of engaged employees, which saw operating income fall 33%. What does that mean in real dollars? For S&P 500 companies, Watson Wyatt (WW) reports that a significant improvement in employee engagement increases revenue by $95 million.

Productivity Boost

The effects of engagement on employee productivity, retention, and recruitment are no less astonishing. Watson Wyatt further found that companies with highly engaged employees experienced 26% higher employee productivity, lower turnover risk, greater ability to attract top talent, and 13% higher total returns to shareholders over the last five years.

Additionally, highly engaged employees are twice as likely to be top performers—and miss 20% fewer days of work. They also exceed expectations in performance reviews and are more supportive of organizational change initiatives.

So you're convinced you need to get your employees more engaged. But what does that mean? The definitions of employee engagement seem endless and include increased line of sight, greater commitment, and willingness to give additional discretionary effort.

Instead of trying to define employee engagement, I want to know what an engaged employee looks like, how they behave while at work, and how to replicate that in the organization. One definition of an engaged employee is one who gives additional discretionary effort. That doesn't go far enough. That additional effort, willingly and happily given, must be put toward something that matters to the company.

The most worthwhile engagement is seen in employees who happily want to give additional effort and know where to apply it. This combination of action and line of sight results in an engaged employee who willingly works harder to deliver against your company's strategic objectives in their own daily tasks.

Say "Thank You"

Now that we've explained why you should care about employee engagement and defined it, there's still one catch. Do your employees know your strategic objectives? More important, do they have any idea how their daily work impacts the achievement of those objectives?

In my experience very few line employees can even cite the company's objectives, much less articulate how their work helps achieve them. But it has never been more urgent for every employee to understand precisely this connection.

You need to clearly communicate the needs of your company (e.g., your strategic objectives) and show employees how their individual, specific efforts help the company achieve those objectives. How? It's simple: Say "thank you."

During a down economy, when companies need employees to give more discretionary effort to achieve critical objectives, strategic employee recognition specifically acknowledges actions and behaviors that align with company values and help achieve those objectives, encouraging employees to repeat precisely those behaviors needed for the organization to succeed.

Recognition is based on fostering an environment in which employees want to perform, then letting managers and even peers acknowledge exceptional effort and praise deserving employees. All employees need recognition for their efforts and validation that their work is appreciated—now more than ever. If the recognition is for demonstrating a company value or achieving a strategic objective, employees begin to see how their individual efforts contribute to company success.

Strategic recognition is by far the most positive and effective way to ensure that employee effort is maximized, aligned with company objectives, and reflective of company values.

Employee Engagement: What It Is and Why You Need It - BusinessWeek

The Issue: Maintaining Employee Engagement - BusinessWeek

For CEO Gamal Aziz, the challenge is maintaining the MGM Grand's remarkable employee engagement during tough times for the hotel and for Las Vegas.

Under Aziz, revenue zoomed, and the MGM Grand became the second most profitable hotel on the strip after the Bellagio. Some credit goes, of course, to a $400 million spruce-up of the hotel in which 36 restaurants were opened or remodeled and Cirque du Soleil was brought in as a headlining act.

But ask Aziz what was the single most important factor in the jump, and he won't talk about twirling acrobats or signature dishes such as free-range quail stuffed with foie gras. His answer is: the employees. Now with times getting tougher in Las Vegas as tourism drops and gambling revenues fall, Aziz says his people have become even more critical to the company's success.

Cost-Cutting Moves

"Employee engagement in times of difficulties and severe economic climate is far more profoundly important now," says Aziz. "Employees are willing to give their all when they are well-treated, appreciated. And the ability to unlock that potential is a competitive distinction…It's their decisions, their actions, their attitude that really make the difference. Imagine taking 10,000 employees, and each and every one of them wanting to give more. That's really the difference between [us and] a company that has its employees just punching the clock and trying to get through the day."

But Aziz, like all managers, is under pressure to justify every cost. Although his hotel is still running 96% occupied, groups are canceling, and those that do come are spending much less per visit. That's forced Aziz to economize on some of these successful programs. He still does regular employee appreciation dinners for top performers, but he's spending about half as much this year as last. He's started recruiting managers from sister properties to attend his MGM Grand University as a way to defray the costs of training his own top managers. And he's put on hold one program training next-generation line managers.

Rank-And-File Insight

Aziz shares with employees the challenges he's facing. Employees, the CEO says, were what got the hotel to the next level, and they are the key to pulling through hard times. "We will get through this, we will survive," says Aziz. "Once we get through this, the employees will be the ones who have gotten us through."

When Aziz arrived in 2001, he quickly sought out rank-and-file insight into the hotel and how it could improve. A survey of the hotel's 10,000 employees made clear that very little was being communicated to the staff about the events going on in the hotel on a daily basis, including such basics as who was staying there, and what the hotel had to offer those particular guests. Employees sometimes didn't even know what conventions were at the hotel. That made it difficult for staff to give the level of service that would affect customer loyalty, return visits, and spending in the hotel.

Aziz came up with a simple fix. There is a short meeting now at the start of every shift in which every employee is given the rundown of what's happening in the hotel that day. It's a simple concept based on meetings restaurants have long held to get waiters up on the daily specials. But rolled out across 10,000 employees a day, it's a major undertaking.

MGM Programs

The MGM Grand made other moves to help employees grow. In his recent book Closing the Engagement Gap, co-author and Towers Perrin Managing Director Don Lowman highlights many MGM programs, including the MGM Grand University that offers dozens of classes on an invitation-only basis for high achievers. The MGM Grand Leadership Institute is a 24-week program for executives. And REACH! is the hotel's six-month course on basic supervisory skills for ambitious hourly workers. All this investment in the staff, along with recognition dinners and other rewards, have led to more than 90% of MGM Grand employees saying they are satisfied with their jobs, and 89% saying their work has special meaning. According to the book, 91% report they are proud to tell others where they work.

"One of the ways we'll get through this dire economic circumstance we find ourselves in is if leaders set this tone that we're all in this together," says Lowman, who interviewed Aziz for his book but hasn't done consulting work at the company. (His firm, however, has in the past). Lowman worked with a multitude of companies as a consultant at Towers Perrin and ranks MGM Grand among the best at connecting with employees. "It's very easy to say 'let's just whack 15% of the company.' You can immediately take a lot of costs off your books. But that has a big cost both on the people doing the whacking [and on the company] in the long term, when you'll need those people [you let go] again."

In the book, Lowman sites a finding from the firm's survey of tens of thousands of employees in six countries including the U.S., China, and India: that the No. 1 thing that engages employees is senior management's interest in their well-being. That trumped career advancement, relationship with one's direct supervisor, and even pay. Visiting the MGM Grand, Lowman says he found evidence of that connection in spades. Aziz was impressive, Lowman says, for his tendency to ask questions and listen to the answers. Engagement that starts at the top.

The Issue: Maintaining Employee Engagement - BusinessWeek

Workplace stress probably associated with obesity | Health Jockey

Workaholics may find this news to be some relevance to them. A new study alleges that chronic job stress and no physical activity are said to be powerfully linked to being obese or overweight.

Unpredictably, study authors also discovered that a diet rich in fruits and vegetables did not seem to do much to counterbalance the outcome of chronic job stress on weight gain among the employees, who were generally inactive. Instead, exercise appeared to be the key in controlling stress and maintaining a healthy weight.

University of Rochester Medical Center experts performed a study of roughly 2,782 employees at a big manufacturing facility in upstate New York, but the outcomes could be pertinent to nearly any job setting in which layoffs, or lack of control at work seems to be a major concern.

Lead author Diana Fernandez, M.D., M.P.H., Ph.D., an epidemiologist at the URMC Department of Community and Preventive Medicine, mentioned that her study is among several that seem to relate high job pressure with cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome, depression, exhaustion, anxiety and weight gain. After working the whole day, participants wish to watch TV after going home. It was seen that snacks highest in fats and calories vanished away pretty fast from the vending machines. A few workers believed that they did not take time off to eat properly or exercise at lunch since they were dreading the aftermaths of leaving their desks for too long.

Around 32 percent of adult men and roughly 35 percent of adult women are overweight in this country. When the occurrence of overweight and obesity are merged, roughly 68 percent of adults fall into this category. This was as per a new recent report in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The upstate New York workplace apparently replicated the national statistics.

Study authors gathered baseline data from almost 2,800 employees by means of body mass index (BMI) as the measurement for weight status. With a BMI more than 24.9, it would be seen as overweight/obesity. With a BMI less than 24.9, it would be healthy/underweight. It was observed that roughly 72 to 75 percent of the employees were discovered to be obese or overweight. Majority of the subjects were supposedly middle-aged, white, married, extremely educated, comparatively well-paid like earning over $60,000 a year, with an average of around 22 years of work at the company.

It was also seen that over 65 percent of the employees mentioned that they spent roughly 2 to 3 hours per day in front of the TV. Among those who supposedly watched TV for 2 to 3 hours, roughly 77 percent seemed to have more chances to be overweight or obese. Those who spend four or more hours in front of the TV per day, it apparently augmented their odds of obesity by 150 percent as opposed to people who watched less than two hours of daily TV.

Stressful working conditions are supposedly known to influence health behaviors directly and indirectly. Directly, stress could impact the neuroendocrine system, thereby leading to abdominal fat. It could also cause a reduction in sex hormones, which may often result in weight gain. Indirectly stress could be associated with the consumptions of too many fatty or sugary foods and inactivity.

The study team gauged psychosocial work conditions via a comprehensive job questionnaire. Interventions were designed and employees who worked at intervention worksites took part in an inclusive, two-year nutrition and exercise program. This comprises of walking routes at work, portion control in food, and stress-reduction workshops. The data comparing control groups and the groups who participated in the nutrition and exercise program is apparently still being evaluated.

Nevertheless, while examining baseline data, experts found that employees working in the most high-job-strain conditions seemed to have nearly one BMI unit more of weight as compared to people who worked in more passive areas. Study authors did not appear to determine that chronic stressors and acute stressors jointly seemed to have a bigger outcome on weight as compared to those when checked independently.

Diet was assessed exclusively by the amount of helpings of fruits and vegetables per day, and perhaps appeared to have no power on weight status since evaluating diet in this way could not be a good measurement of quality or quantity. An enhanced means to observe diet quality could be through an assessment of the complete diet.

The study proposed that workplace wellness programs ought to not only deliver notions on how to be healthy but also investigate the organizational structure and offer ways to reduce a taxing environment for everyone.

The study was published in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

Workplace stress probably associated with obesity | Health Jockey

More Employers to Penalize Workers for Unhealthy Behaviors

While U.S. companies continue to use financial incentives as a way to increase employee participation in health and wellness programs, a new survey by consultancy Hewitt Associates shows that employers’ appetite for penalizing workers for unhealthy behaviors is also on the rise. This shift in strategy suggests that companies increasingly are challenging employees and their dependents to be accountable for the decisions they make regarding their health.
That trend might be accelerated by the 2010 health care reform law, which will give employers more leeway in incentivizing healthy behavior. See SHRM's Health Care Reform Resource Page.

Hewitt’s annual health care trends survey of nearly 600 large U.S. employers—representing more than 10 million employees—shows that nearly one-half (47 percent) use or plan to use financial penalties over the next three to five years for workers who do not participate in certain health improvement programs.

Read more…

http://www.njbiz.com/article-multiple/80971-poll-finds-employee-morale-is-top-cfo-concern

Keeping employee morale up in a down economy was the top takeaway from the recent recession, according to Robert Half Management Resources, which released a national poll of chief financial officers Wednesday.

“Nearly three in 10 executives surveyed said they learned not to overlook team morale,” according to an announcement by the California-based executive search firm. “CFOs also cited the value of controlling costs early on and not cutting personnel too deeply.”

Morristown-based Financial Executives International CFO Paul Chase said he agrees with the findings.

“In discussions I’ve had with executives at FEI chapter meetings, we’re hearing that cutbacks mean fewer people have to do more work,” Chase said. “So maintaining morale becomes even more important. When a top executive thanks someone personally for a job well done, it can mean a lot to the employee.”

In New Jersey, the top concern is how to borrow less and save more, according to the New Jersey Business & Industry Association’s Christopher Biddle. But he sees morale building as a closely related issue.

“Companies with less debt may be able to avoid some of the painful layoffs we’ve seen in this deep recession,” Biddle said. “It’s particularly tough in a smaller company, where the top executive probably personally knows all of the employees.”

http://www.njbiz.com/article-multiple/80971-poll-finds-employee-morale-is-top-cfo-concern

Are you a Leader or just a Boss? | The Practice of Leadership

I often find that many people onfuse leadership with positional power. We tend to believe that a person in a position of authority or someone with a title, has their position or title due to their leadership qualities. However, in many cases there is no correlation between someone’s position and their leadership ability. Just having a title does not make you a leader, leaderships is about influence. Title only buys you time to exercise true leadership, and in this time your leadership either increases or diminishes and eventually fails. There is a huge difference between being a boss  and being a leader…! Consider the following…

“The boss drives group members; the leader coaches them.
The boss depends upon authority; the leader on good will.
The boss inspires fear; the leader inspires enthusiasm.
The boss says ‘I’; the leader says ‘we.’
The boss assigns the task, the leader sets the pace.
The boss says, ‘Get there on time’; the leader gets there ahead of time.
The boss fixes the blame for the breakdown; the leader fixes the breakdown.
The boss knows how it is done; the leader shows how.
The boss makes work a drudgery; the leader makes it a game.
The boss says, ‘Go’; the leader says, ‘Let’s go.’“

– Author unknown

People follow the boss because they have to if they want to keep their jobs. People follow leaders because of who they are and were they are going.  Too many leaders today rely on their position to lead. How about you?

Are you a Leader or just a Boss? | The Practice of Leadership

The majority of workers do not feel their work and life has meaning. - Free-Press-Release.com

The majority of people are not thriving in the workplace according to the latest poll by Performancepoint, LLC. In fact, 65% of those surveyed were not thriving. They do not feel like their work is meaningful and some of them do not feel their life is meaningful. The last two years of economic turmoil has a great deal to do with the current malaise in which many people find themselves. Many who answered the poll elaborated on why they answered in the manner that they did.
“I have been unemployed for 11 months and I am worthless!”
“As a business development manager, I am finding the current economy and the impact it has had on corporate spending to be impacting the fulfillment I have through my job. How can sales people, who are judged by the deal, learn to be satisfied with the process it takes to get to the win – especially when the wins are few and far between?”
“I said "sort of" because the economy has sort of "curbed" my pioneering spirit. Although I feel more purposeful treading new ground, I simply can't afford to make mistakes right now.”
“I am in a professional rut.”
“I said 'no'...relative to the 90's, I am making less than half what I averaged for that decade. I have great energy, tremendous desire to learn and apply that knowledge, but the opportunities seem to be so limited and the constraints so abundant. I have hope for better days to come. Checking the unemployment stats I am not alone.”
The stress and anxiety workers feel is significant. Tied to this stress is the impact on our organizations, our relationships, and at home. People who are not thriving are struggling. People under this type of pressure tend to:
• Sleep poorly
• Have higher blood pressure
• Suffer from depression
Even if we do not look at the significant risk factors and only look at the everyday work challenges these individuals face, we find that these same individuals:
• See job responsibilities and assignments as tasks to get done with less regard for the impact
• Strive for the path of least resistance versus working toward maximum results
• Exhibit self oriented behavior versus an interest in their customers and team Procrastinate
These behaviors reduce creativity and collaboration in the workplace--a significant price to pay personally and professionally. While current circumstances may concern some, other results from the poll were even more striking. When it comes to what position you occupy in a company where you sit matters:
• Only 18% of the C-level population said they were fulfilled
• 22% of Management felt they were thriving
• 35% of Associates responded as thriving
The reason executives and managers may be less fulfilled than the rest of the work population could be because they feel responsible and may be struggling with how to improve the lot of their associates. The executives and managers have a great deal of weight on their shoulders.
Additional survey findings include:
• Enterprise (multi-national) organizations had the largest amount of employees that felt they were thriving at 50%.
• Large businesses (national firms) had the largest number of associates not thriving at 46%. Medium and small firms had the smallest number of employees not thriving at 11% and 15% respectively; however they had the largest “sort of” groups at 67% and 63% respectively
• Administrative and support were unanimously not thriving at 100%
• Consulting was the industry with the most thriving population at 50%
• 31% of females were thriving
• 38% of males were thriving
• Most thriving age group was 25-34 year olds
• Least thriving age group was 55 and over
Regardless of how the numbers were broken down one thing is clear…satisfaction is at an all time low. Individuals are struggling personally and professionally through a difficult period of time including executives. The good news…there is a great deal of room for improvement.
About Performancepoint, LLC:
Performancepoint is a client-driven management consulting firm specializing in Employee Engagement.
Our mission is to increase the productivity and tenure of (key) employees in a manner that creates healthier organizations both on and off of the balance sheet.
Our solutions typically fall into these categories:
• Organizational Engagement Process
• Engagement Leadership
• Sales and Service Team Engagement
• Personal Engagement Strategies
Challenges Our Clients Face:
• Need to increase prospecting, referral generation, revenue generation, or customer retention
• Missed deadlines, delayed projects, new key business objectives to be rolled out – need to improve accountability and ownership across the organization
• Leadership needs development and/or not as effective as needed – increase productivity and /or reduce turnover in key areas or with key employees
• Productivity is lower than it should be – need to improve employee engagement especially during poor economic conditions, lay-offs, mergers, change in stock value, etc.

The majority of workers do not feel their work and life has meaning. - Free-Press-Release.com

Lost heart with your current job? Don’t rush to escape

I‘ve read recently that as many as 60% of workers intend to leave their jobs this year. Assuming that there’s some economic upturn to enable it, that’s going to be one heck of a lot of people circling the job market. At least the recruiters will be happy!

It’s no wonder things are this way. In my client work I’m hearing some real horror stories of how people are being managed at the moment. And as you’ll recall from my last post, research is only affirming that people’s satisfaction with work is on the skids.

So I can quite understand why you’re burning the midnight oil blogging, revamping your LinkedIn profile, getting onto Brazen Careerist, getting your CV out there, or all of the above. It’s soul-destroying to feel overworked on the one hand, undervalued on the other. It’d be great to land a brilliant new gig so that you could give the middle finger to the bosses that are treating you so badly.

But is a quick exit the most you-loving strategy?

Pain of any kind is distressing. Our natural reaction is to escape it. If we have a headache we take aspirin; if we burn ourselves, we pull away from the flame. Emotional pain is particularly insidious. We try to fix it as best we can. Sometimes we medicate ourselves with food, alcohol or drugs. Or by taking action that feels like it puts us back in control. If a job consistently makes us feel bad, the default remedy is to quit.

The danger with escaping, however, is that it doesn’t always help you deal with the real cause of your work upset. And you can end up carrying that with you, unconsciously of course, into your next scenario, where the chances are you’ll reinvent it in one way or another.

Lost heart with your current job? Don’t rush to escape

LINE: Hiring Anticipation Grows as Recovery Gains Traction

 

As the long labor-market recovery emerges, more manufacturers and service-sector companies are expected to add to their payrolls in March 2010 than did so in March 2009, according to the Society for Human Resource Management’s (SHRM) Leading Indicators of National Employment (LINE) survey, released March 5, 2010.

“Though overall the labor market continues to struggle, LINE is revealing some positive trends,” said Jennifer Schramm, SHRM’s manager of workplace trends and forecasting. “This is the fifth month in a row in which hiring is up on an annual basis. HR professionals in manufacturing are reporting hiring rates at levels not seen since June 2008, and the percentage of companies hiring in the service sector is the highest since July 2007.”

The LINE Employment Report, 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, new-hire compensation, difficulty in recruiting top-level talent, and job vacancies. SHRM has tracked manufacturing-sector hiring trends since 2004 and service-sector trends since 2005 through its LINE indices, which are not seasonally adjusted.

http://www.shrm.org/hrdisciplines/staffingmanagement/Articles/Pages/HiringAnticipation.aspx