SEE YA! Thirty per cent of employees left their job to seek new challenges or opportunities that were lacking with their previous employers
SEE YA! Thirty per cent of employees left their job to seek new challenges or opportunities that were lacking with their previous employers. A recent online survey of 1300 US employees revealed that poor talent management increases employee turnover with respondents reporting they left their jobs because of:
Contributions not valued 21%
Poor relationships with managers 22%
Ineffective leadership 25%
Furthermore only 43 per cent of US employees reported to be fully engaged in their jobs.
Source: Right Management
Chief executives know diddlysquat
ONLY FOUR of twenty chief executives with FTSE350 companies could state exactly how many people worked in their head office. A recent research paper also revealed that only four of the CEOs knew how much their head office cost to run each year. The study says unnecessary layers of complexity and bureaucracy accumulating over time may be a reason for this lack of knowledge.
Source: Maxxim Consulting
OHS training hit and miss
NINETY-EIGHT PER CENT of clerical temp employees feel workplace safety is an important issue for office-based jobs. Despite this, employers appear to be taking an ad hoc approach to safety training with only one in three (33 per cent) survey respondents saying they are always provided with a safety induction. More than half (52 per cent) of respondents say their employers are still failing to check that their workstations are ergonomically correct – one of the leading causes of spinal and neck injury for office-based workers – while more than a third (37 per cent) felt they were often not told about possible workplace hazards.
Source: Workpro
HR offers to come clean on salaries
HR PROFESSIONALS are prepared to reveal their own salaries in a bid to eradicate pay inequality. A survey of 1000 workers found that six in ten HR professionals would reveal their earnings to colleagues to achieve pay parity: 64 per cent of respondents said more transparency about pay would reduce the gender pay gap, helping avoid a situation that still sees men paid 17 per cent more than women in the same position. Similarly, 57 per cent of respondents believe that senior managers should also be made to disclose their salary to staff.
Source: Hudson
Company cars overtaken by cash
TWENTY PER CENT of employers provide a cash allowance instead of a car; double that of four years ago. A recent UK survey also found that a further 46 per cent of employers offer the choice between car and cash. This brings the proportion of employers providing either cash instead of or as an alternative to a company car to 74 per cent. This is in sharp contrast to much of the rest of Europe, where the direct provision of a company car is still largely the norm.
Source: Watson Wyatt
Executives willing to forgo portion of salary for “green” initiatives
ALMOST THREE-QUARTERS of executives (73 per cent) are willing to sacrifice at least one per cent of their salaries to fund their companies’“green”initiatives. The greatest number of respondents (40 per cent) would be willing to forgo between one and two per cent of their salaries. Though a small minority, (3 per cent) of respondents would be willing to sacrifice upwards of 10 per cent of their salaries. However, more than a quarter (27 per cent) of executives would be unwilling to sacrifice any portion of their salary to support sustainability efforts
Source: Korn Ferry
Ineffective language training for foreign workers
A MAJORITY of US employers are doing very little to deal with language limitations of foreign-born workers. A recent survey found that 66 per cent of companies do not provide English language skills in their training programs. Among this group, more than half said this is because they "have not found a need to warrant such training," even though more than 80 per cent report employing English-deficient employees. Foreign-born Americans comprise more than 10 per cent of the population, and roughly 15 per cent of the labour force
Source: The Conference Board
Bad language gets you fired
THIRTY-SIX PER CENT of US bosses have issued a formal warning, and six per cent have actually fired an employee for swearing. A survey of more than 2000 executives also found that 81 per cent of senior executives believe that working alongside a foul-mouthed colleague in the office is unacceptable. Etiquette reasons included leaving the office without telling anyone (33 per cent) and too many personal calls (28 per cent)
Source: The Ladders.com
Salary hikes for secretaries
AUSTRALA’S TOP listed companies are paying their company secretaries more as they recognise their increasingly specialised role in board management and corporate government. Large companies paid company secretaries on average $416,000 in 2007 compared with $377,500 three years ago. Remuneration for those in medium-sized companies also increased from $267,000 in 2005 to $302,000 in 2007. The survey said this was due to the changing role of the company secretary in corporate governance, with 69 per cent of company secretaries now responsible for the annual report compared with 58 per cent in the two previous surveys.
Source: Chartered Secretaries Australia.
Boozers losers at work
FOUR OUT of five UK employers say alcohol is the biggest threat to the wellbeing of employees. According to a recent survey of 1000 people across 250 businesses, one in three UK employees admit they have been to work with a hangover and more than one in 10 have been drunk at their desk with 85 per cent saying it affected their performance. The industries with the most employees reporting to have been to work while still drunk were:
Business services 23%
Construction 24%
Media and creative jobs 41%
Source: Norwich Union Healthcare
