The Value of Mentorship for Young Working Professionals

98% of Millennials believe working with a mentor is a necessary component in development.  

In the 14th Annual Global CEO Survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers, Millennials also rank training and development three times higher than cash bonuses when it comes to employee benefits.  

The younger generation has been generally more difficult when it comes to developing employee retention strategy. Millennials tend to feel less connected with the organization, and 1 in 4 potential employees plan to leave their jobs in the next 12 months.  

According to Vineet Nayar, Vice-Chairman and CEO of HCL Technologies in India:  

“With Generation Y coming into the business, hierarchies have to disappear. Generation Y expects to work in communities of mutual interest and passion — not structured hierarchies. Consequently, people-management strategies will have to change so that they look more like Facebook and less like the pyramid structures we are used to.”  

Read the Business Insider article

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Employee Mobility Important in Small to Mid-Sized Companies

According to a study published by Portfolio.com, 71% of small and mid-sized businesses (SMB) are “mobile businesses” adopting wireless technology to allow their employees to work effectively outside of the office.  

The findings point to the business habits of the rising number of SMB mobile professionals – those who work outside of the office more than 30% of the time.  

“It’s no surprise that advancements in technology are moving at a fast clip. What is a surprise is how much more successful those business owners are who can be rightly called mobile professionals,” says J. Jennings Moss, Portfolio.com’s editor.  

“This tech-savvy group is spending more time doing business outside of a traditional office by staying connected via smartphones or tablets, and are already looking ahead to the next step – cloud computing.”  

• 64% of small business owners who are considered mobile professionals spend 8+ hours connected to their business via computer, smart phone, or iPad.
• 88% use social networks, including 60% who leverage social media platforms to market their businesses on a regular basis.  

Obviously with more business managers traveling for sales, and generally working while on the go, there is a valued perk of work mobility for future talent in the workforce. More business professionals are looking for careers that allow them to work effectively out of the office.  

Read the Mobile Enterprise news article

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5 Types of Bosses That Drive Employees Away

According to Entrepreneur Magazine, there are five types of managers that lead to employees getting burned out on the job or unhappy with their work environment.  

The research included more than 400 participants, and they found that employees grow increasingly more dissatisfied, and worse, can result in their leaving the company.  

“Nearly 60 percent of workers in the OfficeTeam study said they stayed on the job, despite having a nasty boss. Only 11 percent quit immediately, without another job lined up. Another 27 percent planned their escape, finding another job first and then leaving.”  

1. The Micromanager
2. The Bad Communicator
3. The Bully
4. The Saboteur
5. Mixed Nuts  

 

Read the complete Entrepreneur Magazine article

 

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Women Are Logging More Hours than Men in Their Jobs

“With this economy, women are taking on more of a breadwinner role in the family, and part of this is working more hours,” says Laura Vanderkam, author of 168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think.  

In a research study, conducted by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the work-life changes since 2009 have affected women more than men. For instance:  

• Women are working more hours overall than they did two years ago, including weekends
• Employed women spends 7 hours and 26 minutes a day, on average, doing work
• Women only have their weekend time for doing household activities and socializing  

Women, who have historically worked fewer hours than men, are catching up as the hours men work are decreasing.  

Read the USA Today article

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The Toll of the Recession on Employee Benefits and Healthcare

In a 2011 SHRM Employee Benefits Survey, nearly ¾ of HR professionals in the U.S. confirm the negative impact on benefits due to the economy. For instance:   

• 3/4 of HR professionals report decline in healthcare benefits (a 5% increase from 2010)
• 25% fewer employers are offering housing/relocation to employees  

HR practitioners also have reported a trend of employers have to take on greater responsibility in covering part or all of their healthcare insurance, retirement savings, and other benefits that previously were offered competitively by employers.    

“We have seen so many cuts to HR benefit budgets over the last three years,” Mark Schmit, director of research at SHRM, said. “Organizations have had to be creative to find ways to compensate for the loss of benefits with hard cuts in order to stay competitive in the recruitment and retention of top talent.”  

The addition of workplace flexibility programs has been one of the primary tactics organizations are using to offset the benefit losses.  

Read the Workforce Magazine article

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Work Watch Survey: American Employees Feel Overqualified for Their Jobs

From a Work Watch survey by Randstad, more than 1/3 of employees in the U.S. feel overqualified to do their jobs. However, they do want to acquire new skills or be more challenged at work.  

The recruiting firm found that among 1,000 participants, 33% felt overqualified, 65% felt appropriately qualified, and only 3% felt underqualified.  

“It’s surprising that one out of every three American employees feels over-qualified in their job,” said Jim Link, managing director of Human Resources for Randstad, in a statement.

“The data suggests that U.S. workers are less challenged by their current jobs. It also raises questions about how this will affect employee turnover and retention as the job market recovers.”

•  74% of younger workers and 56% of older workers want more skills 
• 50% of Gen Y and Millennial workers wish they had more hard skills (e.g., trade knowledge)
• 30% of overall American workers want more soft skills, such as social and leadership skills  

Read the Atlanta Business Chronicle article

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96% of Employers Would Hire for Attitude, and Not Job Skills

From Telegraph News, a recent UK poll of more than 1,000 business owners revealed that a vast majority is more interested in a candidate with “the right attitude,” and not the perfect skill set.  

Two-thirds of employers said they if had to reduce their workforce they would fire someone with a perfect skills set over someone with deficient skills but sporting the right attitude.  

The employers ranked the top six “essential” attitude qualities as “commitment, honesty, trustworthiness, adaptability, accountability, and loyalty.” This was even more so true for small business employers.  

James Reed, chairman of recruitment giant Reed and co-author of ‘Put Your Mindset to Work’, which explores the research, said: “It is even more vital for a small business to choose someone with the right mindset when recruiting new talent than for a giant corporation. A single individual will have so much more impact on their prospects.  

“Employers told us that someone with a winning mindset was, on average, seven times more valuable than a normal employee.”  

Read the full Telegraph News article

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Demand Grows, But Hourly Pay Drops for Interns This Year

Employers are putting pressure on their internship programs to support their operations this year. From the National Association of Colleges and Employers, businesses are expecting to increase internship hiring by at least 7%.  

However, while the demand for interns is rapidly rising, the competitive wages they can offer interns is getting lower. The average hourly rate, right now is $16.68 per hour, which has greatly dropped since last year. Instead, companies are opting to pay interns with perks like free lunches, travel stipends, and school credit.  

Considering your own internship program, do you know if you meet the federal criteria?  

HR, and especially small business owners, should keep in mind that the U.S. Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division has rules to prevent you from taking advantage of unpaid interns, when you can’t afford to hire new full-time employees.  

• The internship should model training that would be given in an educational environment
• The internship experience is designed for the benefit of the intern, not the company
• The intern does not displace regular workers, but works under supervision
• It is communicated clearly in advance if/when the intern will not receive wages  

Read the Wall Street Journal article

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Shaking Up Sedentary Jobs: Investing in Wellness and Exercise during the Workday

HR is all about tapping the potential of every unique employee. It goes without saying – from health insurance to wellness initiatives that come standard in several organizations – that you and your employer care about the employee’s health, and his or her ability to perform in their roles.  

An increasing number of employees are already being offered perks like wellness consultants, in-office health screenings, fitness programs, quit-smoking incentive programs, and more.  

According to the corporate benefits group Workplace Options, 70% of Fortune 200 companies offer fitness programs in an active strategy in preventative healthcare and a morale booster for workers.  Dr. James Levine from the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota states that ¾ of U.S. adults get little to no physical activity daily, because of the sedentary nature of working in an office.  

Some interesting ways in which companies are embracing creative ways to get employees moving:  

• On-site yoga and health club reimbursements (Rally Software, Boulder, CO)
• Employee team sports like soccer during lunch breaks (Electronic Arts, Vista, CA)
• Flex-time policy encouraging them to go running, biking, and surfing in middle of the workday (Patagonia, Ventura, CA)
• Company gym and free workshops on physical and mental health (GlaxoSmithKline, nationwide)
• Corporate policy for three 5-min stretch breaks every day (L.L. Bean, nationwide)  

Read the LA Times article

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The Benefits of Hiring Former Interns

Over the past 4 or 5 years, employers have focused more on their intern pool for filling entry-level positions in the organization. In a national 2011 study by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), nearly 40% of this year’s entry-level jobs will be filled by former interns.  

For example, at the consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, 45% of the 4,600 college students that were hired in 2010 for full-time positions were former interns.  

 In doing internal research, their company discovered that former interns performed better than non-interns, and they see this as an important recruiting strategy for the next few years. In their pursuit of hiring interns, they began revamping their efforts to find and recruit students as early as their freshman year of college.  

“Companies are essentially trying to take graduates out of the job market before there’s competition for them,” said Edwin Koc, research director for NACE.  

More than 266 employers participated in the study, showing a marked interest in hiring fresh grads who already have hands-on experience and familiarity with their companies.  

Read the Wall Street Journal article

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