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Links to Articles About Workforce and Workplace Trends
Following our objective to be a broad and deep resource for anyone seeking information and resources about workforce and workplace trends, we offer this growing list of links to a vast array of articles that have been published in the media about this topic. We regret that copyright laws do not permit us to post the entire articles for your convenience, but at least you have a focused resource available for your education and research. New items will be added almost every day.
If you discover a broken link, since some publication limit the time visitors can access articles, we’d appreciate your letting us know at roger@hermangroup.com. Thanks!
| 02/27/2006 | |
What you might be doing in 2055, Canadian Business
Planning a career over the next few years? According to the federal government's Job Futures website, good prospects for 2007 include nurses, dentists, architects, forestry supervisors, real estate sales agents and computer systems analysts. But what if your time horizon is a bit longer?
Joyce Gioia, a consulting futurist with The Herman Group based in Greensboro, N.C., spends her time dreaming up new positions that will need to be filled over the next few decades. "As futurists, we are connecting the dots, trying to figure out what direction the world is going," she says. "Technology will obviously be important, but employees will also need an understanding of human experiences and interpersonal communications." Here is her list of hot jobs for the rest of the century.
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| 02/24/2006 | |
Expert tells businesspeople how to keep young professionals, News & Advance
By 2010, he predicted, the job shortage problem will expand. Employers across America will be looking for 10 million skilled workers to fill job positions.
Herman suggested that employers band together as a community to promote the Lynchburg area.
The community needs to figure out what young professionals are looking for and then market the community to those particular groups, he said.
Herman, an economic futurist, was in Lynchburg Wednesday and Thursday, meeting separately with area employers to offer work force advice.
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| 01/20/2006 | |
Health care help wanted, Charlotte Observer
Charlotte employment agency founder Michelle Fish interviewed a woman this week who is worried about losing her computer graphics job to cheaper workers overseas.
"She wants to break into health care," Fish, head of IntegraRX Solutions, said of the job-seeker. "Health care is safe."
Worries about layoffs and foreign outsourcing are increasingly driving applicants to Fish. This also is prime time to ponder career plans, from acting on New Year's resolutions to tallying income for tax returns.
"This is the No. 1 stock-taking time," said Joyce Gioia, president of the Herman Group, Greensboro consultants specializing in workplace issues. "There's a lot of things that happen in January that cause a lot of churn in the labor market."
In-demand jobs mirror the federal government's forecast of high-growth jobs.
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| 01/11/2006 | |
A Rosy Job Outlook for 2006?, Knowledge @ Emory
Corporate profits are hitting record highs, but employees and job seekers have yet to see much benefit from the U.S. economy’s three-year-old recovery. Nationally, unemployment is still nearly 5%, and according to government statistics, the average worker is taking home just a few pennies more an hour than he or she did four years ago. Yet professors at Emory University’s Goizueta Business School predict that the workers’ lot is likely to improve in 2006, and other Atlanta-area employment experts along with the director of Goizueta’s MBA Career Management Center are even more positive about this year’s job outlook.
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| 01/09/2006 | |
To exit rat race, older workers become own bosses, Miami Herald
Older workers returning to the workforce are often happier when their decision to do so is made voluntarily and not out of economic necessity.A substantial portion of older Americans now in the workforce chose to return there after retiring, and how well they're enjoying their labor now depends a lot on whether they're self-employed, according to two new reports.
About 10 percent of workers 40 and older are retirees who have returned to the workforce, according to a recent survey that screened more than 17,200 workers to find retirees who went back to work. The study was conducted for Putnam Investments by Brightwork Partners, a research firm.
Of those former retirees, about 68 percent returned to work because they wanted to, while 32 percent felt they had to because they needed money or health insurance, according to the survey of 1,726 working retirees, with an average age of 61 years.
Not surprisingly, those who returned to work becau
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| 01/09/2006 | |
Move over, boomers -- but don't leave the workplace yet, Orlando Sentinel
Boomers, born between 1946 and 1964 and numbering nearly 80 million nationwide, may be getting a little long in the tooth, but they are desperately needed in the workplace.
Roger Herman, a business consultant in Greensboro, N.C., is among the many experts who have run the numbers -- and we're in the red.
Nationally, there's a shortage of 6 million trained workers. And it's expected to climb to 10 million by 2010.
That's because the new population is smaller. There are fewer Gen-Xers than there were boomers. But the training is a huge component: People increasingly don't have the education or skills to cut it on the job.
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| 01/08/2006 | |
On the horizon, and far out, Newsday
Some new occupations have yet to fully emerge. But futurists and workplace consultants Joyce Gioia and Roger Herman, in an article in The Futurist magazine, anticipate some of the jobs on the horizon.
Here are three described by the pair, of the Herman Group consultants in Greensboro, N.C. (www.her mangroup.com).
Corporate alumni director. With an expected labor shortage, companies will need to make stronger connections with those who step away from their jobs, such as parents looking to stay home with their children. Such directors would aim to keep ex-employees updated in terms of skills and company news, with an eye to their coming back to work.
Personalized entertainment programmer. With a background in entertainment and perhaps even personalized broadcasting or podcasting, such programmers will scour the entertainment world and create multimedia entertainment collections as one more personal service people may pay for.
Executive chef, space airline. It's unlikely that Richard Branson will go for food squeezed from tubes for his space tourism venture, Virgin Galactic. A chef will be called on to produce meals "judged for variety, attractiveness and ease of eating in both weightless and artificial-gravity environments." |
| 01/08/2006 | |
Get ready for new era of hyperjobs, Dayton Daily News
In a concise yet informative report on future jobs, labor experts John Challenger, Joyce Gioia, Roger Herman and Richard W. Samson examine future careers. While each expert has their own take on the future, the common thread through all of their observations is that those who enhance their uniquely human abilities and have broad, interdisciplinary backgrounds are those most likely to succeed |
| 01/06/2006 | |
UC offers support and analysis as lawmakers grapple with farm labor uncertainties, Western Farm Press
California farmer associations are urging U.S. lawmakers to respond to a labor shortage in the state that they feel is brought on by a confluence of factors – including heightened border enforcement, a changing economy and government regulation. The shortage, they say, is threatening the state’s multibillion-dollar agricultural industry..."In the short run, say a few weeks or months, there is likely to be only a finite number of people who know how to prune grape vines, for example," Sumner said. "So even if the wage went up a bit, not many more people would be available and qualified. Given more time or some advanced information that substantially higher wages would be available, many more people would be available and the shortage would disappear at the higher wage. But, currently, there has not been time for the wage to rise sufficiently and no one knows if the market will remain tight long enough for the wages to adjust."
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| 01/02/2006 | |
Start your 'lifestyle account' and go out for cereal, NorthJersey.com
"Real futurists don't use crystal balls," says Joyce Gioia of the Herman Group, who advises businesses on how to stay a step ahead. Instead, Gioia says, they "look at what's happened in the past and what's happening now and draw a trend line to the future."
And then they guess.
Just kidding. They make educated guesses.
Forward-thinking experts say 2006 will vary only slightly from 2005. But it will look very different from 1996...Industrious members of Generation X may give up on the idea of retirement altogether, Gioia says.
Instead, they'll insist that employers help them build "lifestyle accounts" rather than retirement accounts. Then, after working eight to 10 years, they'll "stop to get refreshed," Gioia says, and use the lifestyle account while they take time off.
"We're talking about people in their 30s wanting to take a sabbatical and see the world, go back to school, fix up a house or have a baby," Gioia says. "The attraction that 401(k) accounts will have for people who can't touch them until they're in their 60s won't be as strong as the attraction of an employer participation program where employees can access those funds earlier in their lives. They'll want to make some of their dreams come true earlier rather than later."
Gioia says lifestyle accounts may one day offer the same tax advantages as a 401(k), "but only if employees insist on it."
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| 11/06/2005 | |
New form of retirement, York PA Daily Record
Joyce L. Gioia, president of The Herman Group, a strategic business futurist firm, said traditional retirement is set for an overhaul.
No longer will people wait until they are 62 to leave work behind.
The new trend has been for people work eight to 10 years, save money during that stretch, and then leave the labor force for up to a year.
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| 10/17/2005 | |
Absenteeism Costs Continue to Eat at Bottom Line, accounting.smart pros
"Lean staffing levels over the past several years have intensified workloads for those employees who avoided layoffs. Now that the labor market is opening up, those survivors may not be as fearful of losing their jobs and may be taking the mental health breaks they feel they deserve," said CCH workplace analyst Lisa Franke. "Employers may even see a 'culture of entitlement' emerge as the economy strengthens further."
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| 10/11/2005 | |
Backsourcing PAIN, CIO, Australia
JPMorgan Chase's decision to first outsource IT and then bring it back in-house stands as a cautionary tale for any CIO considering an outsourcing megadeal. |
| 05/19/2005 | |
Now hiring: the hot jobs of the moment, Christian Science Monitor
On a seasonal basis, experts say the spring or early summer is a time when companies reassess their budgets and hiring needs. "One of the key seasons might be right now," says Marc Karasu, vice president of marketing at Yahoo! Hot Jobs, where the job postings are up 41 percent over last year at this time. "There is definitely a heating up of certain industries and geographic areas."
Still, in the late '90s, the unemployment rate sank to 3.8 percent, while today, the rate is 5.2. The labor market was so tight back then that businesses gave generous signing bonuses and stock options and entered into bidding wars for employees.
"We're not close to the late 1990s by a long shot," says Joyce Gioia, president of the Herman Group, a strategic business consultant in Greensboro, N.C. "The reason is that CEOs don't have the same level of confidence as the late 1990s, when everything was coming up roses from housing to car sales to the stock market."
Yet the job market is still pretty strong for some job categories. Here are some of the strongest areas:
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| 04/09/2005 | |
Futurist: Job Market Soon Will Favor Skilled Employees, DM (Direct Marketing) News
Downsizing has created a favorable market for companies looking to hire, but a lack of skilled workers soon will reverse the trend back in favor of job seekers, futurist Roger Herman said yesterday.
Herman, CEO of The Herman Group, spoke at the National Conference on Operations & Fulfillment here yesterday. Though plenty of workers likely will be available in the coming years, he said, the bigger question is whether the available workers will have the skills companies need.
As the economy has recovered from the dot-com implosion, companies are growing and hiring again, Herman said. Unemployment in some regions is already low enough to create a competitive job market for employers, and the trend likely will continue.
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| 04/05/2005 | |
Live from NCOF: “Unprecedented” Employee Turnover Ahead, Catalog Age
The days of telling workers that they should consider themselves lucky to have a job are just about over. During his luncheon keynote address at the National Conference on Operations and Fulfillment on Monday, futurist Roger Herman, CEO of The Herman Group, warned that economic and demographic trends are transforming what had been a “buyers’ market” for employers to a “sellers’ market.” |
| 03/10/2005 | |
http://www.mndaily.com/articles/2005/03/10/63670, Minnesota Daily
Throughout the years, the University has struggled to recruit and retain quality faculty.
Three University deans are presenting their concerns about this issue to the Board of Regents at its monthly meeting today.
College of Human Ecology Dean Shirley Baugher, College of Biological Sciences Dean Bob Elde and School of Dentistry Dean Patrick Lloyd will discuss some of the challenges that go along with recruiting and retaining faculty members in each college.
“The competition for good people is really pretty intense,” she said. “It’s always a challenge but maybe even more so now.” ...One program, called “spousal partner hiring,” allows for hiring a University employee’s spouse or partner who is also in the field of academics without a search, assuming they have the right qualifications, she said.
Carrier said the University also might be putting more
research into the search for candidates and might form single-search committees to hire multiple positions. |
| 03/02/2005 | |
Worker Confidence Drops Sharply in February, Yahoo Finance
Despite the overall drop in the Index, individuals at organizations with 250-500 employees and those earning annual salaries between $60,000-75,000 displayed surprising optimism. They emerged more confident about their personal finances and less concerned about job loss than last month. In contrast, respondents working for small companies (under 50 employees) were more concerned about the fate of their jobs and their personal finances, even though fewer than the national average expected layoffs in their firms. Twenty-two percent reported job loss concerns, up from 18 percent last month, and only 43 percent felt that their personal financial situation is getting better in comparison to 45 percent last month. (See table below). |
| 02/21/2005 | |
Retirement only a pipe dream for many, Macomb Daily
"For those who have been out of work for a while, some things, including the use of technology, may have changed," said Joyce Gioia, a strategic business futurist and co-author of the new book, "Impending Crisis: Too Many Jobs, Too Few People," (Oakhill Press, $30). "Fields that might best accept these workers are food service, retail and hospitality -- where their dedication to doing a good job will be appreciated," she said. ..The good news is that for a majority of American's contemplating a "working" retirement, most ranked reasons such as "wanting to stay mentally active," 93 percent; "enjoy the social interaction," 86 percent; and "want to feel useful," 73 percent. And a strong majority, 85 percent, said they expect to work at something they feel passionate about. |
| 01/18/2005 | |
Reporting to the Depot, Workforce Management Magazine
Home Depot prizes the skills and leadership abilities that former military personnel bring to the company, and that’s why it hired 13,000 of them in 2004. Now it has launched Operation Career Front, an even more extensive campaign to recruit veterans into its ranks. "It’s good for the individual, it’s good for the company and it’s good for the country because it rewards the brave men and women who serve in the military," says Donovan. |
| 01/18/2005 | |
US gov't moving to fill IT skills gap at agencies, IT World, Canada
One key skills area for the government is project management. There are some 76,000 federal IT workers, and many of them work with contractors and outsourcing vendors.
Advertisement
For instance, Input, a market research firm in Reston, Va., predicted last month that federal IT outsourcing will grow at a rate of 8.3 per cent annually, from US$11.7 billion last year to $17.4 billion in 2009.
"What's driving this is the administration's emphasis on managerial skills to run complex programs and run them effectively," said Ray Bjorklund, an analyst at Federal Sources Inc. in McLean, Va. That includes both outsourced and in-house IT projects, Bjorklund said.
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| 01/09/2005 | |
Fostering Self-Reliance, Baltimore Sun
From the moment they arrive at the Workforce Development Center, the resolve of young people like Frederick to enter and succeed in the work sector is challenged; on day one, they are sent home with applications and instructions on how to complete them.
"Some leave and you never hear from them again," said Brian Lyght, senior associate of the School to Career Partnership. "Others return ready for the next step; you know they are ready to become part of the work force."
Partnership enrollees are also trained in job readiness skills.
"That includes resume development, interview preparation," said McGee. "We make sure [they] know how to dress for an interview, that they take their gold out of their mouth, tuck in their shirt, wear a belt. That's something that's hard to get across, first appearances."
Yet rewards for compliance come early and often. Those who remain employed for nine months receive a personal computer. The partnership also offers an incentive program to help them reach goals, such as covering the cost of driving school, a security deposit for a first apartment, or the purchase of furniture.
For those with little or no work history, one of the big, if less tangible rewards is a growing sense of self-assurance: A steady job promotes a feeling of being employable; it means the listings in the help-wanted section of the classifieds can apply to you.
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| 01/08/2005 | |
Firms running with wellness programs, Dallas Morning News
the National Business Group on Health, a consortium of major corporations and federal health agencies in Washington, took up the cause in 2003 when it launched the Institute on the Costs and Health Effects of Obesity to explore the issues and provide solutions and strategies.
The group's research says wellness programs are beginning to pay off.
Its poll of large employers released last year found that 27 percent said their fitness initiatives have produced health care cost savings and 20 percent saw increased worker productivity and decreased absenteeism. Further, 56 percent reported increased morale.
Still, companies, many cash-strapped from the economic slowdown, must evaluate how far to go with the programs when the choices range from subsidized health club memberships or in-house yoga classes to company gyms or coverage for bariatric surgery.
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| 01/04/2005 | |
Tight labour market and upward wage pressures predicted for 2005 bringing new challenges for HR, onrec.cm---UK
Although employment growth will be slower in 2005, the labour market will remain tight, ensuring employers will have to continue to work hard to drive up productivity and to look to migrant labour and those on long-term incapacity benefits to resist upward pressure on wages. This is one of the key findings of a detailed analysis of the world of work in 2004 and a forecast of what 2005 has in store for employers. Employers have experienced significant problems recruiting suitably qualified and/or experienced candidates to fill vacancies in 2004 - 85% of employers reported such difficulties. Employers have experienced significant problems recruiting suitably qualified and/or experienced candidates to fill vacancies in 2004 - 85% of employers reported such difficulties. Employers have experienced significant problems recruiting suitably qualified and/or experienced candidates to fill vacancies in 2004 - 85% of employers reported such difficulties. Employers have experienced significant problems recruiting suitably qualified and/or experienced candidates to fill vacancies in 2004 - 85% of employers reported such difficulties. |
| 12/27/2004 | |
BOOMER BUST: Now they're changing how America retires, Detroit Free Press
Moreover, anxieties about their retirement savings have kept some seniors working longer than economists thought they might. A decades-long trend toward early retirement began to reverse in the late 1980s, and that appears to be continuing.
Then again, many boomers, like their parents' World War II-era generation, feel a need to contribute to society through work. "We don't want to sit on the porch and wait for the Grim Reaper," says Joyce Gioia, a strategic planning consultant with Herman Group in Greensboro, N.C.
Roger Herman, her partner, says people will continue to work in some format or another well into their 70s, 80s and even 90s. "A shift in personal values and well-being is influencing people to keep working," he says. "They want to be active, engaged and productive."
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| 12/03/2004 | |
The 'achilles heel' of Britain's skills deficit, The Guardian
A shake-up of work-based training was announced by the chancellor yesterday as part of a package designed to improve adults' poor basic skills, which he complained were Britain's "achilles' heel".
All employees in England who do not have basic qualifications or skills will be offered extra training paid for by the government, Gordon Brown said, while employers will be offered a new "brokerage" service to enable them to assess their training needs.
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| 12/02/2004 | |
Employers obliged to take on unneeded staff, scoop.co.nz
Employers obliged to take on unneeded staff: new law from today
From today some employers will find themselves forced to employ people they don’t need, the Employers & Manufacturers Association (Northern) says.
The element of farce is introduced in the Employment Relations Amendment Act (No.2) which came into effect from December 1st.
“Under the new law, employees identified as ‘vulnerable’ can choose to transfer to a new employer on the same terms and conditions when an organisation restructures or out sources part of its work,” said Alasdair Thompson, EMA’s chief executive.
“If an employer picks up the work previously done in house by ‘vulnerable’ workers, they will have no choice but to take on the old firm’s staff.
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| 12/01/2004 | |
Slump In Hiring Intentions Brings Employee Confidence Near Annual Low, Press Release
The Hudson Employment Index(SM)
fell 3.6 points to 104.9 in November as hiring expectations among U.S. workers
declined to the lowest level of the year. This month's reading is the second
lowest posted by the Index in 2004 and reflects the U.S. working population's
lowered expectations during what is typically the slowest season of the year.
The number of both workers and managers who say their firms are hiring
dropped three points in November, to 31 percent and 32 percent respectively.
'Hudson Employment Index' polling also revealed that the percentage of U.S.
workers worried about losing their own jobs increased from 16 percent in
October to 18 percent in November.
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| 11/30/2004 | |
Fed up? You can vent online, Quad City Times
Few employees have a union to turn to when concerns arise in the workplace. And venting openly in the office or on the shop floor can be hazardous — especially if the boss is the problem.
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So workers head to the Web in growing numbers to lodge their complaints, in the hopes that someone, somewhere, will listen.
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The Herman Group, a human resource consulting company in Greensboro, N.C., is one of the latest to offer workers such a venue. Its www.CorporateSuicideWatch.com has attracted 14 responses so far from workers nationwide since its October start, even though it has yet to be promoted.
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Why are we seeing these sites pop up? |
| 11/25/2004 | |
Successful recruiting for the future, www.iol.co.za
The Harvard Business Review recently quoted a 2003 survey saying: "Nearly 60 percent of executives admitted they were not cultivating enough talent to sustain their current business models or innovate for growth, let alone manage an unpredictable future."
It seems no matter how much time organisations spend on succession planning, they end up needing outside talent not previously identified or planned for....This means using tools such as the company's electronic database, the Internet and proprietary research to draw and keep pictures up to date.
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| 11/16/2004 | |
On Leadership: Want leaders? Look for talent management, Pittsburgh Post Gazette
For years, experts have been pointing to a crisis in leadership. But this isn't a crisis of accountability; it's a crisis of availability. We're running short of leaders...."Organizations need to know what kinds of talent they need to achieve their goals. For example, what are the knowledge and skills employees need based on our business outcomes? But they also need to know the needs and expectations of their employees. What will engage and motivate employees? What will attract them to our organization? What will keep them here?"
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| 10/22/2004 | |
Talent management key to filling leadership gap, Record-Searchlight, Redding, C
For years, experts have been pointing to a crisis in leadership. But this isn't a crisis of accountability, it is a crisis of availability. We're running short of leaders. |
| 10/22/2004 | |
Survey: No-Shows Cost $610 Per Employee, SmartPros
"The tight economy seems to have helped companies in holding the per-employee cost of absenteeism steady, but with the rate of unscheduled absences increasing, the overall out-of-pocket cost to employers rises accordingly," said Lori Rosen, J.D., CCH workplace analyst. "This trend makes it all the more important to closely examine why employees aren't showing up for work and what work-life and absence control programs can be used to help stem the tide." |
| 10/16/2004 | |
Life in fast lane leaves no time for children, smh.com.au
Ms Wood said workplace culture made it difficult for many women to mix work and family life, with many full-time professionals working an average of four hours a week above the 38-hour week.
She said the rigidity of working hours for some professionals inhibited family life, compared with pharmacists, who could work part-time and had flexible hours, including weekends and nights.
Ms Wood said many women had to make the "heartbreaking choice" either to leave their careers, taking their skills, education and experience with them, or to have a life without a family, which most believed was a right and part of life
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| 10/15/2004 | |
With planning, students can find work in shaky job market, The Bowdoin Orient
Many seniors are finding that the road to the world after Bowdoin runs through the Career Planning Center. With commencement only seven months away, students are visiting the CPC's office to explore both job and internship possibilities, and the CPC is armed with encouraging statistics and programming geared toward making the job search process less stressful.
While the national unemployment rate stands at 5.4 percent, CPC Director Ann Shields said that students should not worry, provided they have taken the right steps to make themselves marketable in today's workforce. "The national unemployment rate is really irrelevant to us," she said. "When looking at people with college degrees things are a lot different."
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| 10/10/2004 | |
The road now taken, The Hindu Business Line
According to estimates by the National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom), smaller cities will generate at least 30 per cent of India's software export revenues in the next few years. Many of these small centres are now seeing their export revenues growing at healthy rates. |
| 09/27/2004 | |
Nursing a need: Local company helps health-care providers find workers at home and abroad, MetroWest Daily News
The shortage of full-time nurses in this country has grown acute enough to make health-care officials ill, or least place their budgets in the emergency room.
The nursing shortage is projected to reach as high as 400,000 in 2012, according to the Wall Street Journal, while already this year the number of vacant nursing positions has been as high as 125,000.
Because of this shortage, many hospitals end up paying more for part-time help. One hospital, for example, incurred an additional $1.1 million in fiscal 2001, $2.4 million in fiscal 2002, and $3 million in fiscal 2003 to fulfill its nursing staff requirements through overtime, traveling nurses and temporary nurses.
Recruiting overseas can ameliorate this situation, but the process can be time-consuming, costly and may not even produce an employee.
To help health-care officials recruit nurses overseas and, conversely, help nurses overseas find employment in the United States, Peter Melencio started the American Nurse Exchange (ANE), a worldwide resource exchange designed for the U.S. health-care industry. |
| 09/15/2004 | |
From A to Z: Voluntary benefits meet a wide range of employee needs, Employee Benefit News
Voluntary benefits are gaining extra luster in the eyes of employers who continue to look for ways to reduce their benefit costs, experts say.
"We're seeing companies of all sizes continuing to advance the number of voluntary benefits that they provide to their employees," says Garry Sullivan, senior vice president at Aon Consulting. "It's a very active and fluid field right now."
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| 09/15/2004 | |
Best Plants Winners: dj Orthopedics de Mexico, Industry Week
In addition to an identification card, management team members at the dj Orthopedics facility in Tijuana carry another card on the string around their necks. John Yots, vice president of manufacturing, handed them out in the spring of 2003 when the company began to ramp up its Mexican operations. It's a backhoe driver's license. Among other motivational phrases, the card says that backhoe drivers see roadblocks as invitations, drive through obstacles (not around them), and clear the road so others can follow. |
| 08/31/2004 | |
Pitney Bowes Makes AARP'S List of Best Employers for Workers 50+, PR Newswire
Pitney Bowes also was chosen for its proportion of mature employees among
the workforce, which is in alignment with the general business environment.
Eleven percent of the full-time employees the company hired last year were
over 50. Twenty-three percent of the company's full-time employees are over
50. Pitney Bowes also recruits retired and former employees for job openings.
AARP has found that recent projections point toward a continued jump in
the percentage of mature workers. Fourteen percent of the workforce in the
United States is aged 55 and older now, and that number is expected to reach
19 percent by 2012.
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| 08/31/2004 | |
More companies tap location, location, location of inner cities, USA Today
Moving in from the suburbs can offer a company many advantages. Inner cities often are underserved by businesses and offer much more consumer buying power per square mile. They are closer to airports and major highways. They are a source of loyal and motivated workers who in many cases are not used to getting paid a fair wage.
But that's not to say companies such as 180s go to the inner city in search of a cheap workforce. The 9-year-old company's success is built on selling high-margin products such as $19.99 lightweight ear warmers that compete against $4 earmuffs. But even with those margins, CEO Brian Le Gette says there is no way 180s could manufacture in the USA and compete, so he outsources production to China.
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| 08/30/2004 | |
Aon Consulting's Radford Surveys Reports Technology Industry Hiring on the Rise, Layoffs on the Decl, BusinessWire
In findings from key surveys of technology industry employers - conducted by Aon Consulting's San Jose-based Radford Surveys - second quarter 2004 layoffs are at a two-year low, with less than 20 percent of companies reporting layoffs. Additionally, the findings from the July 2004 editions of Aon's Radford Benchmark, Executive and Overall Practices Surveys, which collect and analyze key compensation trends and practices for the technology industry, show that nearly one-third of responding companies have returned to what they consider "normal hiring levels."
Aon's study found that voluntary turnover among surveyed tech companies is at 8.9 percent. This marks the third year in a row that voluntary turnover has dropped, and this figure is the lowest in the history of the surveys, which date back to the mid-1980s.
Also of note, the surveys indicate that technology remains a "stock option culture" despite pressure from institutional investors and the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) to expense stock options. Although some companies are currently considering or incorporating the use of restricted stock, stock options remain the primary equity compensation tool for technology firms.
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| 08/26/2004 | |
Job reports can't track those who dropped off radar, San Francisco Chronicle
It was the latest example of a phenomenon that has become increasingly evident since the recession a few years back. There's a disconnect between the number of people who say they are employed and the number of payroll jobs created.
In part, the puzzle owes to the fact that the job number and unemployment rate are calculated from different surveys but are released on the same day. The payroll job count comes from a survey of employers. The unemployment rate is calculated by asking a random sample of households whether people are working or looking for work.
The difference between the two surveys is highly charged politically.
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| 08/15/2004 | |
Still an employer's market, Vail (C0) Daily
Gone are the days of employee shortages and pirate-like recruitment just to fill positions. In its place is a more stable and willing work force that is providing employers a choice in who to hire.
"Five years ago we'd take anybody who had a pulse," said Jacquie Halburnt, a spokeswoman for the Town of Avon, which has approximately 110 full-time and 160 part-time employees. " The last couple of years we haven't had as hard of a time finding employees. We always have part time employees." |
| 08/15/2004 | |
Reservists Say War Makes Them Lose Jobs, Newsday
WASHINGTON -- Increasing numbers of National Guard and Reserve troops who have returned from war in Iraq and Afghanistan are encountering new battles with their civilian employers at home. Jobs were eliminated, benefits reduced and promotions forgotten.
Since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the Labor Department reports receiving greater numbers of complaints under a 1994 law designed to give Guard and Reserve troops their old jobs back, or provide them with equivalent positions. Benefits and raises must be protected, as if the serviceman or servicewoman had never left. |
| 08/14/2004 | |
Mission accomplished, declares Premier, The Royal Gazette, Bermuda
Bermuda's success was a result of careful planning, strict adherence to international best practice, flexibility, a well trained workforce, and partnership between Government and the private sector |
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