All About Working

There is an excellent article today provided by Market Watch about the way employers are offering lower salaries than they normally would have. 

Since the labor market began picking up steam, companies hiring for entry-level or administrative spots with pay that would normally range from $40,000 to $50,000 have been offering workers $28,000 to $38,000, said Randy Miller, founder and chief executive of ReadyMinds, a Lyndhurst, N.J., a provider of online career counseling and coaching.

For workers further up the food chain, an offer that might have been $100,000 a few years ago is now coming in at $85,000 or $90,000, he said.

It seems that there is still a high level of sensitivity to pricing today.  But how low should a worker go when it comes to accepting an offer?

Read the entire article here.

• Go personal and communicate – make employees feel like “part of the family.”
• Give attention and recognition
• Give chances to learn new skills

Read the entire article here.

If you found yourself unable to access Twitter or Facebook yesterday, you were not alone. Twitter went down between 9:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. EST on Thursday morning, August 6. Service was spotty afterward with network timeouts. By evening, things seemed to have improved. Reason given for the problem, Denial of Service.

Denial of Service occurs when hackers overload a web site with server requests and prevent legitimate users from using the site.

Facebook appears to have encountered similar issues but not as severe as Twitter.

This writer was a bit surprised to learn how dependent she had become on these two sites for instant information, especially concerning an event taking place that day. It was quite a revelation to learn how quickly new technology had a part of my planning process!

Human-resource consultants Watson Wyatt Worldwide Inc. and Hay Group estimate that median pay raises for 2009 ranged between 2% and 3%. The U.S. Labor Department says pay for the average worker increased 2.2% in the year ended March 31, down from 3.2% in the year-earlier 12-month period.

For next year, the firms are projecting slightly bigger raises of 3%.  The Hay Group reports that it is the smallest increase in the 29 years it has done its survey and Watson Wyatt says its prediction is among its smallest ever. The Watson Wyatt and Hay Group surveys try to cover a broad range of workers, including both salaried and hourly employees in most industries.

In a July 2, 2009 article on Forbes.com, Ashlea Ebeling reported that as unemployment continues to rise, more Baby Boomers are moving to self-employment.  Unemployment rates in June continued to climb for those aged 55 and older–to 7.7% for men and 6.4% for women, up from 3.1% and 3%, respectively, in December 2007.

The article states:

Fortunately (for those in this age group and for the economy), older workers have recently demonstrated they have a plan B: Work for themselves.

Over the past decade, the highest rate of new-business creation has been posted by the 55 to 64 age group, Dane Stangler, senior analyst at the Kauffman Foundation, a Kansas City, Mo., charity devoted to entrepreneurship, notes in a new report, “The Coming Entrepreneurship Boom.” Using data from the Kauffman Index of Entrepreneurial Activity, the study finds that from 1996 to 2007, Americans aged 55 to 64 averaged a rate of entrepreneurial activity roughly one-third higher than those aged 20 to 34.. .

. . . The image of the 20-something entrepreneur obscures the trends that have persisted for a decade,” Stangler says.

. . . The older-entrepreneur phenomenon predates the current recession. For example, a Kauffman survey of 5,000 firms started in 2004 showed that 18% of the founders were 55 or older.

The migration of older workers to self-employment helps explain a seeming anomaly in the job numbers. Even as their unemployment rate grows, so too does the total employment of those 55 and older.

It turns out that it is not just the workers who have been laid off that are heading toward entrepreneurial ventures; this movement includes those who are coming out of retirement as well.  Chances appear to be slim that many of these people will return to corporate jobs.

This may be the start of a new entrepreneurial era in the workplace.

Friday, June 26th has been designated as Take Your Dog to Work Day.  It’s being given more publicity this year so it will be interesting to see how it goes.

I’m able to have my own dog at work because many of my days are spent working from my downstairs office.  My dog, Emma, will sometimes visit with me, but she seems to be able to sense the “crunch” times and stays out of the way!  She alerts me when a delivery is taking place and when the mail is arriving.  So in a sense, she is my upstairs employee!!

Emma and I wish the best to everyone who will be participating in this event tomorrow.

According to an article in the Wall Street Journal online, a growing number of employers are resorting to salary cuts as the recession drags on.

A January survey by global outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas found that of 100 human-resource professionals surveyed, 27.2% reported that their companies have imposed a salary freeze or cut. A February survey of 245 large U.S. companies conducted by human-resource consultants Watson Wyatt Worldwide found that 4% of companies plan to reduce salary over the next year, with 7% already implementing pay cuts.

. . .Other companies have imposed cuts but also added incentives to recoup lost salary.

Some companies are trying to make up for the salary loss by other means.

At Momentive Performance Materials Inc. in Albany, N.Y., a chemicals and specialty materials company with 4,600 global employees, any worker forced to take a pay cut will receive an extra week of paid vacation for each quarter that the reduction remains in place.

Similarly, nonunion New York Times Co. employees were forced to take up to a 5% pay cut, effective this month, but were given 10 vacation days in return. Vail Resorts is granting full-time, year-round employees stock-based incentive compensation on a sliding scale. “It’s partially to ease the blow, but it’s also giving people some ownership to participate in our future success,” says Mr. Katz, the CEO.

This full article can be found here.

Yes, you read the title of this post correctly! And you just knew it was going to happen someday. Somehow, some way, a study would be done to show that all that time you are spending watching YouTube selections and checking your Facebook page would pay off! Well, maybe you didn’t, but here’s the data:

MELBOURNE (Reuters Life!) – Caught Twittering or on Facebook at work? It’ll make you a better employee, according to an Australian study that shows surfing the Internet for fun during office hours increases productivity.

The University of Melbourne study showed that people who use the Internet for personal reasons at work are about 9 percent more productive that those who do not.

Study author Brent Coker, from the department of management and marketing, said “workplace Internet leisure browsing,” or WILB, helped to sharpened workers’ concentration.

“People need to zone out for a bit to get back their concentration,” Coker said on the university’s website (www.unimelb.edu.au/)

“Short and unobtrusive breaks, such as a quick surf of the Internet, enables the mind to rest itself, leading to a higher total net concentration for a days’ work, and as a result, increased productivity,” he said.

According to the study of 300 workers, 70 percent of people who use the Internet at work engage in WILB.

Among the most popular WILB activities are searching for information about products, reading online news sites, playing online games and watching videos on YouTube.

Coker also said Coker said the study looked at people who browsed in moderation, or were on the Internet for less than 20 percent of their total time in the office.

“Those who behave with Internet addiction tendencies will have a lower productivity than those without,” he said.

So perhaps companies need to update their policies on blocking certain Internet sites and reevaluate their use.

This article came from reuters.

Last week, the Families and Work Institute, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization released a study that showed significant and surprising changes among men and women at work. The report was produced by the Families and Work Institute (www.familiesandwork.org) and funded by IBM. It is the first report issued based on data from FWI’s 2008 National Study of the Changing Workforce (NSCW), the only study of its kind to provide 30+ year comparisons (from 1977 to 2008), of life on and off the job. The report is also supplemented by other public data to provide as broad and current a picture as possible.

According to the March 26, 2009 press release for the first time, young women want just as much to advance to jobs with more responsibility as young men. Moreover, being a mother does not significantly change young women’s career ambitions.

The changes in attitude reflect women’s evolving roles in the workplace. The share of dual-earner family income contributed by women has risen to 44% and 26% of women now earn 10% or more than their husbands. At the same time, men have increased the amount of time they spend with young children and are experiencing more work-family conflict than women. These are among the findings of a newly released report entitled “Times Are Changing: Gender and Generation at Work and At Home,” which examines the evolution of work-related gender roles over the past three decades.

The press release went on to say:

The gradual increase of women in the labor force over the past half century, combined with various work life trends and economic pressures, has resulted in a shrinking gap between how men and women view their careers, family roles, and the fit between their lives on and off the job2. From the desire to take on greater responsibility at work, to how men and women share responsibilities at home, the new report highlights how differences between the genders are in many cases narrowing.

“Our findings are striking and surprising,” said Ellen Galinsky, president and co-founder of Families and Work Institute and lead author of the study. “There are many firsts in this study—the first time that younger men and women feel the same about job advancement and the first time that there is no statistically significant difference between men and women in their views of appropriate gender roles.”

“The results of this study highlight the need to understand what motivates different generations and ensure your programs meet their needs,” according to Ron Glover, Vice President, Diversity & Workforce Programs, IBM. “IBM has conducted Work/Life Surveys since 1986 and we have seen a steady increase in work/life challenges for men. Work/Life difficulty is no longer a women’s issue — it’s a people issue.”

Some of the very notable trends identified in the report include:

• Women in dual-earner couples are contributing more to family income. In 1997 women contributed an average of 39% of annual family income. That figure rose to 44% in 2008. In 2008, 26% of women living in dual-earner couples had annual earnings at least 10 percentage points higher than that of spouses/partners, up from 15% in 1997.

• Among Millennials (under 29 years old), women are just as likely as men to want jobs with greater responsibility. In 1992, 80% of men and 72% of women under the age of 29 wanted jobs with greater responsibility. Today the figure is 67% of men and 66% of women. The figure reached its low point for both genders in 1997.

• Today, there is no difference between young women with and without children in their desire to move to jobs with more responsibility. Whereas 60% of women under 29 with children and 78% of women without children wanted jobs with more responsibility in 1992, today the percentages are 69% (with children) and 66% (without children).

• Men and women are both less likely to embrace traditional gender roles. Only 41% of employees in 2008 believe it is better “if the man earns the money and the woman takes care of the home and children,” down from 64% in 1977. The drop is even more pronounced among men (74% to 42% versus 52% to 39% of women). Now there is no statistical difference between men and women in their views.

• Greater proportions of both men and women agree that employed women can be good mothers. In 1977, 49% of men agreed (strongly or somewhat) that a mother who works outside the home can have just as good a relationship with her children as a mother who does not work. Today, 67% agree. From 1977 to 2008, the percentage of women agreeing moved from 71% in to 80%. Both men and women who grew up with employed mothers exhibit greater acceptance of working mothers than those whose mothers did not work outside the home.

• Employed fathers, especially Millennials, are spending more time with children today than their age counterparts did three decades ago, where as employed mothers’ time has not changed significantly. On average employed fathers of all ages spend 3.0 hours per workday with children under 13 today compared with 2.0 hours in 1977. For employed mothers of all ages, time spent with children has remained at 3.8 hours. Today’s Millennial fathers spend 4.3 hours per workday compared with the 2.4 hours spent by their age counterparts in 1977. Mothers under 29 today average 5.0 hours compared with 4.5 hours in 1977.

• Men are taking more overall responsibility for the care of their children. In 1992, 21% of women said that their spouses or partners were taking as much or more responsibility for the care of their children as they were. By 2008, that percentage has risen to 31%.

• Interestingly, 49% of men reported taking as much or more responsibility for the children as their wives, indicating a perception gap.

• Changing gender roles appear to have increased the level of work life conflict experienced by men. Men’s work-life conflict has increased significantly from 34% in 1977 to 45% in 2008, while women’s work-life conflict has risen less dramatically and not significantly from 34% to 39%.

• Fathers in dual-earner couples experience more work life conflict than mothers . In 1977, 35% reported experiencing some or a lot of conflict. In 2008, that figure has risen to 59%. The level of conflict experienced by mothers in dual-earner families has not changed significantly during that time period (41% in 1977 and 45% in 2008).

The report on “Gender and Generation at Work and At Home” is downloadable free of charge at www.FamiliesandWork.org

The Wall Street Journal is running an online article entitled ‘Start Over as an Intern.” It says:

When I was in school just over a decade ago, internships were only for college students. The jobs we performed were unglamorous.
But in today’s professional world, internships have gotten a facelift, and mid-career adults are flocking to them as a way to reinvent their careers.

This could provide a nice opportunity for someone who is looking to make a career change. It listed the Center for Interim Programs in Princeton, N.J. which places mid-career professionals in short-term positions. The article also said thatemployers like Sara Lee and Goldman Sachs are welcoming interns with solid career records and transferable skills. Those internships can lead to full-time work, making a mid-career internship a good option for career changers or layoff refugees.

Could this turn out to be a help to organizations that cannot hire but need manpower?

The possibilities are large here and it does open the potential for a new way of getting qualified people into an organization. What better way is there to hire than to have had someone actually on the job?