TWENTY-FIVE per cent of Australians do not expect a salary increase this year
TWENTY-FIVE per cent of Australians do not expect a salary increase this year. According to a survey of more than 1,000 people, respondents expected the following increases in their salaries:
43 per cent 3-10%
31 per cent above 10%
25 per cent 0%
However, a separate survey of 1,700 employers found that 2 per cent of employers intend to increase salaries above 10 per cent following the next review. Instead, the majority of employers (69 per cent) intended to increase salaries by between 3 to 6 per cent.
Source: Hays
Europe struggles with talent
MANAGING TALENT is the most critical challenge for HR, according to a survey of more than 1,350 executives from 27 European countries. Only 30 per cent of the respondents said they had begun to tackle talent management, while another challenge was identified as managing demographics, the top future HR issue in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, where 250 executives participated.
Source: The Boston Consulting Group and the European Association for Personnel Management
Business becomes entrepreneurial
BUSINESS LEADERS are demonstrating an entrepreneurial leadership style more often, according to a global survey of senior business executives. While 69 per cent of business leaders thought it was important for large organisations to develop a core competence of entrepreneurship, only 28 per cent of Asia-Pacific respondents thought it was very important. Furthermore, 88 per cent of respondents in Africa believed entrepreneurs could be developed compared to 44 per cent of those in the Asia-Pacific.
Source: McKinney Rogers
UK faces pension scheme risks
INCREASES IN rates of life expectancy in the UKhave forced companies to consider the risks of their own occupational pension schemes. Mortality rates over the last 100 years in the UK have improved on average by about 1 per cent each year, while in the last 30 years the rate of increase has been higher, particularly at some ages. Those born between 1925 and 1940 have experienced improvements in mortality at the rate of 3–4 per cent a year. Compounding these annual rates over the 40 or 50 years of a pension scheme, members can make enormous differences to the size of pension liabilities on companies’ balance sheets.
Source: Mercer Human Resource Consulting
CSR critical to outplacement
EIGHTY-FIVE per cent of people believe corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a critical component in the selection of an outplacement service and partner. A survey of more than 21,000 outplacement candidates across 19 countries found candidates want social and ethical alignment with core values, personalised approaches to achieving the goals of both the organisation and employee, engagement of separated employees more quickly, and more specific data on displaced employees with more meaningful measurements of candidate success. Results also showed 86 per cent of displaced workers remained in their same communities after leaving their organisations.
Source: Right Management
SMEs employees less valued
WHILE 88 per cent of SMEs believe in rewarding employees, only 52 per cent actually provide employees with rewards for recognising their performance. The survey of 500 SMEs also found that a further 85 per cent agreed that incentives and rewards could improve their bottom line, while 73 per cent rated their communication with employees as excellent or good and a further 25 per cent thought it was satisfactory.
Source: AD+INC
UK workers experience cyber-bullying
TEN PER CENT of UK workers said cyber bullying is an issue in the workplace. A survey of 1,072 workers revealed 20 per had been bullied at work by email, while just over 6 per cent had been bullied by text message. A further 50 per cent said they would report bullying to senior management, while only 25 per cent said they would go to HR and/or their trade union.
Source: Dignity and Work Partnership
Aussies to consider Super success
FIFTY per cent of Australians have never compared the performance of their super fund with other funds. A poll of more than 700 Australians found that only 27 per cent had conducted an annual performance comparison, as 83 per cent used their super account annual statement and/or their annual report to review the performance of their super. While 51 per cent said they moved money from one super fund to another, the main reasons for doing so were because respondents had:
Changed employers 73%
Financial planner advice 19%
Unsatisfactory performance with their fund 18%
When checking their statement, the majority reviewed the account balance (97 per cent) and fees (75 per cent).
Source: Institute of Chartered Accountants
Firms to crackdown on travel safety
SIXTY PER CENT of US and UK business travellers feel unprotected from natural disasters, terror attacks and political unrest. Despite the fact that more than half of the 1,039 respondents feared for their safety, almost two-thirds of UK firms that send staff abroad have no clear travel security policy.
Source: Control Risks
US: HR technology on the rise
TWENTY PER CENT of US companies expect to change their HR delivery structure in the coming year. Research into the HR technology trends of 182 companies found that the majority of companies said the main reason for these changes included the desire to improve internal processes (49 per cent), followed by service improvement goals (42 percent). Twenty-one per cent of companies are somewhat or very dissatisfied with the quality of talent management services provided.
Source: Watson Wyatt
