Sick but working
While almost one third of employees reported coming to work "all of the time" even if they are sick or not feeling well, only seven percent of HR professionals think employees do this, according to the findings of Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) Workplace Productivity poll. Only five percent of employees said they never come to work if they are not feeling well.
The poll also showed that employees from the wholesale and retail trade industry are more likely than those in educational services to come to work even if they are sick and, male employees are more likely than female employees to show up if they are unwell.
In August last year, SHRM conducted an online poll of both HR professionals and employees to determine opinions about workplace productivity and the impact of presenteeism had on productivity and morale. The definition of presenteeism is an employee who show up at work even if sick or otherwise distracted, resulting in a lack of productivity despite the fact that the employee is physically present.
Source: SHRM Research - Workplace Productivity Poll Findings, Jan 2005
Project work for candidates
Getting a foot in the door has long been the goal of enterprising job seekers and now it seems that employers also embrace this approach. More than 60 percent of chief information officers say that it is beneficial for potential hires to work on a project or contract basis before being offered a full-time position. One in five executives admits that this approach was very valuable to their recruitment strategy.
"Interviews and reference checks alone don't always provide a complete picture of an individual's on-the-job performance," says Katherine Spencer Lee, executive director of Robert Half Technology. "Project assignments allow managers to make a firsthand assessment of not only technology expertise but also the individual's interpersonal skills, which aren't always evident from his or her work history." Lee adds that by evaluating prospective employees on a short-term basis, firms can minimise the productivity losses and costs associated with poor hiring decisions. Lee recommends this approach for companies that wish to determine if they have a staffing need or if the work can be handled by a combination of project professionals and existing employees.
The poll includes responses from more than 1,400 CIOs from a stratified random sample of American companies with at least 100 employees. It was conducted by an independent research firm and developed by Robert Half Technology, a leading provider of information technology professionals.
No pay cuts
Compensation Resources Incorporated (CRI), USA-based human resources consultancy, discovered that the average salary increase in 2004 was about four percent and the same companies also responded with a projected salary increase of only 3.8 percent for staff in 2005. The findings of CRI's online Year-end Compensation Survey showed that companies with more than 10,000 employees had the lowest salary increases and projections while publicly-traded companies provided higher awards through short-term incentive plans as opposed to private companies and not-for-profit organisations. In terms of long-term incentive strategy, non-qualified stock options are the most commonly provided plans, which are closely followed by cash bonuses. Overall, in terms of compensation package, base salary makes up the largest percentage of the mix, followed by long-term incentives and annual bonus.
Amongst survey participants, the number of layoffs, hiring freezes and salary freezes are expected to decrease in 2005 from the numbers reported in 2004.
It's cheaper in Singapore
Singapore fell by 14 places to be in the 46th position, making it the cheapest Asian nation to live in. Jakarta went up the rankings, beating Singapore's costliness while Tokyo remained the world's most expensive city, according to the latest cost of living survey by Mercer Human Resources Consulting. London moved up five places in the rankings to take second position, followed by Moscow which moved down a place this year. Asuncion in Paraguay is the least expensive city in the survey. "There have been some dramatic movements in the rankings this year which are largely due to currency fluctuations, particularly of the US dollar and the Euro," said Marie-Laurence Sepede, senior researcher at Mercer Human Resource Consulting.
Tokyo is more than three times costlier than Asuncion narrowing the gap between the world's most and least expensive cities marginally this year, by less than two points compared to four points last year. Four of the world's ten costliest cities are in Asia, with Tokyo being the most expensive city followed by Osaka, Hong Kong and Seoul. Chinese cities, though still relatively expensive, have dropped in the Asian city rankings, as the Chinese currency is pegged to the US dollar and has therefore been affected by its depreciation.
The survey covered 144 cities and measured the comparative costs of over 200 items in each location. These include housing, food, clothing and household goods as well as transportation and entertainment costs.
Firms fund more external training
A report summary developed by the Canadian Council for Human Resources in the Environment Industry and funded by the Government of Canada Sector Council Programmes, discovered that over 90 percent of employers found that their new environmental practitioners are as well trained or better trained than they were five years ago. Environmental competencies identified by employers where training was needed included policy, legislation and regulations, environmental communications and public awareness. That said, the study indicated that environmental practitioners in Canada are in need of more training in enabling competencies such as communications, project management, planning and organisation, than technical skills.
Over 60 percent of employers reported funding either internal or external training or both and, a higher proportion of employers fund external training more often than internal training.
In 2003, the Canadian environmental workforce employed approximately 251,000 people who had jobs that contributed to environmental protection, conservation and preservation of natural resources, and environmental sustainability. Within the environmental workforce, there were 166,000 environmental practitioners and women accounted for 36 percent of the environmental practitioner workforce. This confirms the perception of focus group participants who felt that more than 25 percent of environmental practitioners were women.
Commonly used training format in the environmental workforce
- Short courses 60 %
- In-house training 54%
- Distance learning 20%
- Full-time courses 20%
Source: The Canadian Council for Human Resources in the Environment Industry, Environmental Labour Market Study 2004
IT functions are most globally sourced
While leaders in many companies are satisfied with their global sourcing efforts and will continue to invest aggressively in offshoring, they must do a better job of addressing human capital costs and issues to maximise value, according to a recent study from global human resources outsourcing and consulting firm Hewitt Associates.
Of the more than 500 senior finance and HR leaders surveyed, 45 percent indicated that their firms used a global sourcing model or have considered implementing one within the next three years. "It's economics 101," said Mark Arian, corporate restructuring and change practice leader for Hewitt Associates. "In the early rush to migrate to lower cost centres, companies have been grabbing people to fill seats where the supply of workers greatly exceeds demand but, demand will quickly catch up. As their operations mature, companies that have invested heavily in offshore markets will see projected profits disappear if they haven't fully examined issues around scaling, as well as future opportunities for labour arbitrage, developing leaders and retaining workers."
Hewitt's study showed that the percentage of jobs being offshored will roughly double in the next three years, with an average of 13 percent of jobs at each company currently relocated and an additional 12 percent being considered for relocation within the next three years. The top locations used for global sourcing include India, China, Mexico, Canada and Ireland.
Functional areas most frequently globally sourced
- IT operations 67 percent
- Customer relations 49 percent
- Manufacturing 42 percent
- Supply chain 41 percent
Source: Hewitt Associates, Global Sourcing Survey, Mar 2004
