Optimistic hiring levels expected this quarter
Singapore employers forecast an upbeat hiring outlook for the second quarter of 2005, according to the Manpower Employment Outlook Survey. The net employment outlook for the period of April to June this year stands at a steady 12 percent reflecting s a four percent increase compared to the first quarter of 2005. Net employment outlook is calculated by subtracting employers who plan to reduce headcount from those who plan to hire. A positive result indicates that more companies plan to increase rather than decrease staffing levels whilst a negative result reflects the opposite.
Manpower Inc., a recruitment company, surveyed more than 40,000 employers globally, including 724 Singapore employers, and revealed favourable hiring intentions in most industries. In the lion city, great optimism comes from employers in the transportation & utilities sector as they continue their steady hiring activity for the third consecutive quarter.
"Employers in this sector are also reporting the greatest year on year increase together with companies in the manufacturing sector," said Iain Herbertson, senior vice president & managing director of Manpower Asia Pacific. "In comparison to the previous quarter, a notable improvement is also expected from employers in the finance, insurance & real estate sectors and wholesale, trade & retail segments."
"How do you anticipate total employment at your location to change in the three months to the end of June 2005 as compared to the current quarter?"
Source: Manpower Inc., Manpower Employment Outlook Survey, Apr-Jun 2005
"His cash is my money, my money is mine"
Although most of the female surveyed admitted to using more of their spouses' cash, in a Synovate study on women's financial independence, the market research company discovered that the ladies' attitudes toward money vary widely from market to market. Synovate studied the female workers' position concerning the increased dual income situation in nine key countries, and found that more than half of American women earned more than their partners. Secret slush funds were also alive and well in Japan and Saudi Arabia, and nearly nine out of 10 mainland Chinese women claimed to have at least an equal say in the purchase of big-ticket items such as property and cars.
Apart from having unrestricted access to their man's wallet, more than 75 percent of the women in China and the UK said they can afford what they want without asking for money from their partner. Director of Synovate China Larry Wu said that at home, the woman controlled the finances with the man's salary as the major source of expenditure. "Socially, Chinese women would always claim that their men held final say - as part of giving face to the man - but it's a different story at home."
The study surveyed nearly 4,000 women and although the responses indicated that money is still central to a woman's sense of security and independence, more than half disagreed that the one who earned the most held the power in a relationship.
Source: Synovate, Women's Financial Independence Study, Jan 2005
Productivity seems to depend heavily on technology
Employees averaged only three productive days per week yet most respondents said they were working longer hours, discovered Microsoft. According to results of the Microsoft Office Personal Productivity Challenge, unclear objectives, lack of team communication and ineffective meetings were amongst the top time wasters that workers around the world said made them feel unproductive. The online survey, which drew responses from more than 38,000 people in 200 countries, rated workers' individual productivity based on their responses to 18 statements about work-related practices.
Dr. Larry Baker, developer of the survey questions, said, "In my three decades of studying what makes workers productive, I've found the most crucial skills are their ability to efficiently communicate across all kinds of boundaries, share important documents and manage the increasing volumes of information."
Overall, respondents revealed that as they grapple with the need to work longer hours and the desire for better work-life balance, they relied heavily on technology tools to help optimise productivity levels. It seemed that employees worked an average of 45 hours a week and considered about 17 of those hours to be unproductive.
"The modern and hectic lifestyle is often skewed towards the work environment, an issue that companies have started to address by offering employees more flexible working arrangements such as work from home schemes which rely heavily on technology," explained Daniel Ng, director of business & marketing at Microsoft Singapore.
Whilst women had an average productivity score of 72 percent, men's average productivity result was 71 percent. Both sexes said
Productivity was directly related to software - 55 percent
Meetings aren't productive - 69 percent
They used scheduling tools to gain more free time - 34 percent
They don't have work-life balance and being unproductive contributes to this - 60 percent
Source: Microsoft, Microsoft Office Personal Productivity Challenge, Mar 2005
Company performance increasingly affects CEO pay
Mercer's annual study of CEO compensation at 350 of the largest public companies in the US reflected that a CEO's remuneration showed close alignment with a company's performance. The Wall Street Journal/Mercer Human Resource Consulting CEO Compensation Survey reported that the median annual CEO bonus rose to US$1.5 million in 2004, correlating closely to a median annual increase in net income of 23 percent amongst the companies studied. At the same time, median total direct compensation for CEOs, which included base salary, annual bonus and the present value of long-term incentives, rose to US$7 million. This mirrored the median 17.4 percent increase in total shareholder return.
"Management and corporate boards have heard and responded to the calls for change in executive compensation," says Peter Chingos, a senior executive compensation consultant with Mercer in New York. "For the last few years, we've seen boards revising compensation programmes, adopting new performance metrics and enacting tougher performance standards - all designed to strengthen the connection between executive pay and company performance. Now, we're seeing the results of these efforts."
Source: Mercer Human Resource Consulting, The Wall Street Journal/Mercer Human Resource Consulting CEO Compensation Survey, Apr 2005
"Stealth expatriates" posed new tax risks
More than 75 percent of human resources executives responsible for employee relocation and global assignment management believed or suspected that they have stealth expatriates in their organisation, according to a report by Cendant Mobility, a global mobile management provider. The phenomenon referred to employees who are working in countries outside the companies' formal global mobility programmes, without the knowledge of HR. Respondents pointed to tax penalties, visa or work permit issues and a lack of ability to track their workforce, as the most common issues stemming from the stealth expatriate trend.
"Even with growing awareness of the ramifications, taking the "stealth" out of the stealth expatriate issue is not an easy task," said John Arcario, executive vice president of Cendant Mobility. "The tools that can help companies track their employees, such as targeted policy support and online tracking and reporting, are effective only if the assignees are captured in the system."
Cris Collie, executive vice president of Worldwide Employee Relocation Council (ERC), added, "As the stealth expatriate phenomenon and other types of non-traditional expatriate situations gain more focus, we expect companies to put more sophisticated tracking processes in place and improve communications between managers and departments to aid in compliance and build the optimal global workforce."
When Cendant Mobility along with the Worldwide ERC and the UK Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, conducted this survey with organisations in the US, Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific, more than a quarter of the 216 international HR respondents saw an increase in the stealth expatriate trend.
Source: Cendant Mobility & Worldwide ERC, Stealth Expat Survey, Apr 2005
