I am probably naive about this topic, but I found this Inc.com article to be surprising regarding theft: While only one in 10 workers admit stealing from their employers, close to 40% of hiring managers say they have fired an employee for theft at the office, according to a recent survey. The survey, conducted by CareerBuilder.com, found that the most commonly purloined items were office supplies (15%), money (14%), and merchandise (11%). 40% just seems incredibly high. However, this motivation does not surprise me: “One of the biggest reasons employees steal from the companies they work for is they feel the company owes them,” Marasco said. Much of this does… Read More
Continue ReadingWhen Photoshop is a Verb
At the risk of piling on about Katie Couric’s doctored photo in the news, I thought I would reference a prescient post regarding Work & Health. If you look at the article’s stats, perhaps Katie’s new anchor position is getting to her. Personally, I thought she looked great in the first picture. I’d write more but I am off to photoshop my own image before uploading it to this site.
Continue ReadingThe Impending Entrepreneur Wave
A good sign from an Inc.com article – Three Out of Four Teens Want to Start a Business. I suspect there is a dream factor to being young and having your work career completely in front of you. Nonetheless, I am all for the youths of this country aspiring to create new careers for themselves. Two interesting points from the article: Of more than 1,400 teens surveyed across the nation earlier this year, nearly 71% said they would like to run a business someday, up from 64% in 2004 Surprisingly, very few said the desire to own a business is driven by a lack of meaningful employment elsewhere. Instead, nearly… Read More
Continue ReadingBlogs & Recruiting
Blogs Could Become Newest Recruiting Tool from the SHRM website (membership required): Blogs offer businesses an excellent and interactive communication tool. For example Microsoft has close to 3,000 blogs posted by the company’s employees. Blogs can give an insiders view of a company’s work environment to potential job candidates. This is extremely important with the younger generations (ed.-see our article), it is as important to understand the culture as it is the responsibilities of the position. For this reason companies that don’t have employee blogs could find themselves at a competitive disadvantage in recruiting. Honeywell Corp. is a good example of a company that uses blogs as a recruiting device.… Read More
Continue ReadingJob Hopping Amongst Executives
Job hopping gets much attention from companies when they are in hiring mode and rightly so. This business article provides some interesting statistics in regards to upper-level management trends. Did you know: A total of 17,612 managers from chief executive officers to vice presidents changed jobs from January through July, more than twice the 7,251 during the same period in 2005, New York-based Liberum Research said in a study released Tuesday. Of the executive changes, 1,636 were CEOs, up 50 percent from 1,089 in the first seven months of 2005 The pressure hasn’t been just on CEOs. Some 1,444 chief financial officers left their companies through July this year, up… Read More
Continue ReadingCrackBerry Lawsuits
Unbelievable. This seems like it must be a joke, but I doubt it. Here is the gist of the article: But instead of increased efficiency, lawsuits against employers who supply workers with gadgets are “very possible,” she says. Addiction to technology blamed by critics on the seeming ubiquity of portable e-mail devices, smartphones, cellphones and laptops, coupled with long working hours is hardly a new phenomenon. But Porter argues litigation could be the next step, as employees seek redress for technology dependence.
Continue ReadingBackground Verification
In an article on Salary.com titled – Can Your Credit Report Hurt You in An Interview? An interesting statistic popped out at me – only 1 out of 5 small to medium-sized businesses run any form of background verification. 20%! I was shocked that the number is so low. Soap box time: If you are not already completing some form of background verification, start with your next hire and all subsequent hires. A true story to illustrate my point. Roughly 2 years ago, we were working with a client that was impressed with a candidate’s ability to close the deal (ask for and start the job). They liked him so… Read More
Continue ReadingJobseekers & Sites
I thought I would pass along some stats and information I found regarding job boards & recruiting. This information can be found in a recent newsletter from Weedle’s, which is a research, publishing, consulting and training firm. They surveyed 750 job seekers and asked them how much time they normally spend on a job board. Here are their findings: 29.1% spend more than 30 minutes on each job board they visit 24.5% spend 11-20 minutes 22.3% spend 21-30 minutes 18.9% spend 6-10 minutes 5.2% blow in-and-out in 5 minutes or less They also provided some suggestions when trying to determine which sites to use in recruiting active vs. passive job… Read More
Continue ReadingWork & Health
I laughed out loud when I read this headline from CareerBuilder’s recent newsletter, 46% of Workers Have Gained Weight at Their Current Jobs. I have to admit that I am in with the 46% so naturally I had to read the article. CareerBuilder.com surveyed more than 2,200 workers from June 6 to June 16, 2006. Here are some of their findings: 20% say they are more than 10 pounds heavier. 10% say they are more than 20 pounds heavier. 57% of government workers gained weight. 54% off IT workers gained weight. 53% of accounting/finance workers gained weight. 35% of retail workers gained weight. 39% of sales workers gained weight. Well,… Read More
Continue ReadingTalent Shortage
According to a recent SHRM article, …approximately 60% of the 3,100 human resource executives surveyed by Novations Group (a Boston-based consulting firm) said they see signs of a talent shortage, while nearly 10 percent said they have seen no shortage but expect to before the end of the decade. That leaves 30 percent that see no or few signs of the shortage. About 20 percent of respondents said they see no signs of a talent shortage but will remain cautious on new hiring in the year ahead and ten percent said they do not even anticipate a shortage of workers in the next decade. More than half of those seeing… Read More
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