2005 In Review: 10. HCI
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Reveille and Hyperbole
A new study by Business 21 Publishing on employee screening shows that the majority of companies do not conduct any type of job
candidate intelligence testing or personality testing during the recruiting process. What's more, less than a quarter conduct both types of employee screening tests to evaluate candidates' intellectual abilities and the likelihood that their personality is suited to the job.
When BlessingWhite, a global HR consulting firm, needed to reach out to its target audiences with a series of brand messages, HRmarketer.com's unique
marketing and public relations tools handled the distribution legwork so marketing managers could concentrate on the message itself.
You Should Know
Bangladesh:
- Bangladesh's manpower export reduces as international demands drop High cost of migration coupled with reduction of international demands are thwarting the promotion of manpower export of Bangladesh. The country's manpower export to traditional markets
like the Middle East countries is declining and an unhealthy competition among the recruiting agencies is increasing the cost of migration,The Daily Star reported Sunday. A worker now pays 200,000 to 230,000 taka (3,077 to 3,538 US dollars) for a job of a cleaner in Saudi Arabia whereas the cost
was 140,000 to 170,000 taka (2,153 to 2,615 dollars) only a few months ago. The crises have been aggravated as the importing countries are now encouraging the employers to hire their own unemployed youths. (ChinaView)
Canada:
- HR profession at crucial crossroads as talent shortage looms When Gabriel Bouchard launched Monster.ca to the Canadian market in 1996, the idea that people would look for jobs online was a hard sell. The original site had
postings of 400 jobs, 8,000 resumes and 40,000 visitors a month. "We had to convince people that one day Canadians would find jobs on the web and I can tell you that very few companies believed that at the time," the vice-president and general manager of Monster Canada said during a presentation
last week. "But almost 10 years later, for the first time the Internet has become the number one tool for Canadians aged 18 to 49 when it comes to finding a new job. There are 35,000 postings today on Monster." Quoting a recent study by Ipsos-Descaries, he showed that the Internet has surpassed
newspaper ads and word of mouth as the most effective tool for job searchers. (OttowaBusinessJournal)
Global:
- How Google woos the best and brightest Free cafeteria food, annual ski trips to the Sierra and free laundry are just some of the fringe benefits of working at Google. Getting hired is the trick. Every month, aspiring workers deluge the popular Mountain View search engine with up to
150,000 resumes, equivalent to a stack of paper at least 50 feet high. And the firm claims to read each and every one. As one of Silicon Valley's hottest companies, Google has become a beacon for job seekers. In just a few short years, the interest has helped the company amass an arsenal of what is
arguably among the world's top technology minds. (SFGate)
- Web 2.0? It doesn't exist No, I am not turning into a "flat-earther." The world is pear-shaped, Pluto is not a planet, and global warming exists. But Web 2.0 does not exist. The advances being touted under the general umbrella of Web 2.0- advances written about with
considerable skill on our own Web 2.0 Explorer Blog by our own Richard MacManus - well, of course those advances exist. RSS, Social Media, content aggregation, podcasting, you have it. My problem is not with the characterization of the components of Web 2.0. It is the implication inherent in the
very livery, "Web 2.0," that I just don't get. (ZDNet)
- To succeed in a job hunt, it's vital to manage references Q: I didn't know when I was hired at a high school that I was one of six 'new' teachers in a department of 10. It became apparent during the year just why everyone else had left. I won't get into it here, but because of bad
management and so forth, I am now looking for another job. I have many great references and have great qualifications, but I fear that my last school where I was employed is bad-mouthing me, though I have not listed them as a reference. So what am I to do? A: Being disillusioned during the first year on
the job must have been disappointing. Many people are so excited to get an offer that they are distracted from doing their homework about why the position is open, the style of the manager, and their colleagues - all things that will affect happiness and success on the job. I'm confident your next job
search will include that research. (BostonWorks)
- Paper-run Web sites prosper Publishers rethinking online strategies amid growth While fewer Americans are opening up a morning newspaper, more are clicking onto newspaper-run Web sites throughout the day - a trend providing a bright spot for the industry amid gloom about falling
circulation for print editions. Newspaper analysts say the increase in visits to online newspaper sites - 11% over last year, according to an October report by Nielsen/NetRatings - shows there still is a broad audience for newspapers. But the rise in online visits also acknowledges that the methods
for delivering the news are expanding and adapting to meet consumer demands, they say. (JSOnline)
India:
- India industry: The next wave India's IT and remote-service industries just keep on growing ASKED for a sound-check at a function in Delhi this month, Bill Gates eschewed the "1,2,3..." favoured by ordinary mortals. "One billion, 2 billion...," he counted. They think big, these IT moguls, and
especially, these days, in India.Microsoft later announced plans to invest $1.7 billion in India over the next four years, about half of it in adding to its existing research and development (R&D) and technical-support operations. "The only thing that limits us in India," Mr Gates told the local
press, "is the speed at which we can recruit." A few days earlier, Intel, a giant chipmaker, had unveiled plans to invest more than $1 billion over five years, much of it in expanding its R&D centre in Bangalore. In October Cisco Systems, the world's largest maker of the routers and switches that
direct internet traffic, announced its own plans to invest $1.1 billion in India. (TCM)
- The shocking outsourcing crime The shocking murder of a young female employee of Hewlett Packard Global Delivery Application Services by a cab-driver working for a travel-operating firm contracted to pick her up in the early hours of Tuesday morning has sent shock waves throughout the
BPO industry in Bangalore and elsewhere. (Economic Times)
- Manpower survey reveals positive hiring activity in India in Q1 Manpower India has released the Manpower Employment Outlook Survey for the first quarter of 2006 revealing sustained positive hiring intentions by employers in India. The hiring pace in India continues to be the strongest of the
23 countries and territories surveyed this quarter, with a positive overall Net Employment Outlook of +27%. Even though this figure represents a decrease of 13 percentage points from the fourth quarter of 2005, the labor market remains extremely healthy. For the first time since the survey was launched
in India, employers in the Finance, Insurance and Retail industry sector are the most optimistic, with a Net Employment Outlook of +32%. (IndiaInfoline)
Ireland:
- Women face inequity in labour force Although childcare dominated the budget earlier this month, the number of working women between the ages of 35 and 59 lags well behind other countries in the EU. According to the NESF report, the participation of women in the labour force is
between 10 and 15 per cent lower than the rest of the EU. "Women are ‘crowded' into a narrow range of occupations and along with the costs of childcare and other caring services, this limits their potential for advancement," says the report. "Furthermore, Ireland has one of the highest penalties in pay
reduction associated with motherhood." (Post.ie)
Jamaica:
- Career planning for retirement TRADITIONALLY, retirement is defined "as the end of career and the withdrawal of the worker from the workforce to live a life of leisure, using savings or pension" (Morris, 1976). Despite this definition, a significant percentage of retirees want or need to
continue working after retirement. Contributing factors include ones such as the improvement in health care and therefore the increase in life expectancy and the ability of persons to remain actively engaged for a longer period. (JamaicaObserver)
Mexico:
- Mexico blasts immigration bill that lacks work program The Mexican government slammed the U.S. Congress for approving an immigration bill that would tighten border controls and make it harder for undocumented immigrants to get jobs. The House of Representatives voted 239-182 Friday night
in favor of measures that would enlist military and local law enforcement to help stop illegal entrants and require employers to verify the legal status of their workers. (AustinStatesman)
New Zealand:
- Police feel staffing pressures The government is confident new measures will help answer high levels of dissatisfaction amongst the police. The random survey of 750 officers, both sworn and non-sworn, carried out by the Police Association found 96%
of sworn officers have grave concerns at the lack of front-line resources. Eighty five percent said there needed to be a clear distinction between the job of regular police and that of traffic police. Officers are currently required to carry out both roles. (TVNZ)
Thailand:
- Soldiers take rubber plantation training to help planters in deep South Insurgency in Thailand's southernmost provinces of Yala, Narathiwat and Pattani mean that daily jobs in which workers go out to isolated areas is sometimees quite risky. To assist the thin-stretched
labour supply in these areas, some 200 army officers are receiving a four-day training on how to collect rubber latex to help planters who have been harassed or even attacked by militants in the restive South, a senior army officer said. (MCOT)
UK:
- Ageless key to best workforce Age discrimination claims could cost UK industry billions. Steve Billam of Age Positive Cymru urges Welsh businesses to avoid litigation and instead bring together the unique skills of younger and older employees With Christmas coming, it is likely that the
one thing employers will have on their corporate wish list is the secret to a more productive workforce. Have you ever considered the fact that by changing your attitudes towards older and younger workers, your business could have access to a wider range of skills and experience, show lower
turnover and higher retention? (icWales)
US:
- Teacher recruiting gets more difficult As the education world braces for a shortage of teachers and plans to call on professionals to consider working in the classroom, the state has made it increasingly difficult to get credentials for the low-paying job. A classic clash of needs for quality
educators and quantity of them has put the pressure on institutions that teach how to teach. "The public fails to understand how heavily regulated teacher preparation has become," said Anthony Avina, a professor and credentials coordinator at Cal Poly Pomona. (Daily
Bulletin)
- Analysts: Crackdown Won't Halt Immigration House Bill Is Criticized for Not Factoring in the Effect of the U.S. Demand for Labor The bill passed by the House late Friday to step up border enforcement and crack down on the millions of undocumented workers in the country would be
doomed to failure if enacted because it does not acknowledge the inexorable economic forces that drive illegal immigration, according to many analysts. "Enforcement alone will not do it," said Demetrios Papademetriou, president of the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute. "There is a certain
emperor-has-no-clothes aspect to these enforcement-only bills. The only way they can work would be if you totally militarize the border. And even then, people would find some other way to come in." (WashingtonPost)
- Florida leads U.S. in adding new jobs The state's growth rate of 3.4% was more than double the national rate. Florida kept rolling along as the nation's leader in job creation in November, adding 255,100 new jobs during the previous 12 months. That was the highest number among all
U.S. states. Florida's growth rate of 3.4 percent was more than double the national rate and also No. 1 among the 10 most-populated states. (Orlando Sentinel)
- Slim job growth in November Silicon Valley experienced another month of slim job gains in November. Employers in Santa Clara and San Benito counties added 2,000 jobs over October, resulting in the addition of 700 positions from November 2004. Local employers reported a total of 871,200
jobs for last month. The November tally represented a meager 0.2 percent increase from October and a 0.1 percent uptick from a year earlier. (MercuryNews)
- Job growth on the rise Strong retail trade for the holidays pushed up job growth in the Oakland metropolitan area in November, while the unemployment rate continued to fall, state figures released Friday revealed. The unemployment rate in Alameda County fell to 4.9 percent in November
from 5.1 percent in October, and the rate inched down in Contra Costa County to 4.6 percent in November, down from 4.7 percent the previous month. (Bay Area Insider)
- Hawaii unemployment 2.8% Hawaii unemployment is now 2.8 percent, still the nation's lowest, the Bureau of Labor Statistics in Washington, D.C., reports. (PacificBusinessNews)
- Graduating nurses wade into dire state shortage Graduate nurse Julie McDaniel (right) receives a College of the Desert nurses' pin from her five-year-old daughter Kala McDaniel at the graduation ceremony at Annenberg Center for Health Sciences at Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage.
According to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, the United States is in the midst of a nursing shortage that is expected to intensify as baby boomers age and the need for health care grows.
The problem is compounded by the fact that nursing schools are struggling to expand enrollment to meet the rising demand for nurses, according to the association.
The latest projections from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics published in February 2004 in the Monthly Labor Review show more than 1 million new and replacement nurses will be needed by 2012. In California, a shortage of about 14,000 nurses currently exists, according to the state Labor and Workforce
Development Agency. (DesertSun)
- Pity your paycheck Despite good economic news, wages don't keep pace For the past three years, salary increases at Shawnee, Kan., ink company Nazdar have hovered around 3.5 percent. This year may be no different. Industry trends for 2006 suggest only a slight uptick in pay, from
3.6 to 3.8 percent. While the 445-employee company has yet to finalize its own merit-increase pool, rising healthcare and energy costs are weighing heavily on its decision. "We realize that employees are taking on more expenses," says Anissa Elsey, vice president of human resources. "But so is the
company." (USNews)
- 'Half US workforce expects a better 2006' Nearly half of US workers expect their employment situation to improve next year after a tough 2005, according to a survey released on Wednesday by human resources company Hudson. In the company's year-end survey of 1,874 workers comprising a
cross-section of the US work force nationwide, 47 per cent of those polled said they think their employment prospects next year will be better than in 2005. Twenty-one per cent said they expected to earn significantly more next year, while 42 per cent said they hope to earn "at least a little
more." (Financial Express)
Survey Sez:
Australian Managers Can't Do Employee Performance Management
The Performance Management Institute of Australia conducted a survey of Australian Manager attitudes towards the Performance Management process. Approximately 140 Managers responded from a wide variety of businesses and enterprises.
The Survey found that:
- Most Performance Management systems in Australia are antiquated..79.4% are based on filling out paper forms and only 22.8% are capable of producing meaningful reports.
- Most Australian organisations don't understand what top performance means in relation to their employees. Performance data is used in only 11.8% of organisations to help identify top performers. Also, only 20.6% of organisations use Performance data for identifying potential successors. Skills
and experience may still be the overriding factors in determining staff performance, with little consideration given to past Performance data. Only 38.2% of businesses use Performance data during the recruitment selection process. These results appear to debunk the talent shortage myth. Australian
organisations are their own worst enemies when it comes to identifying and therefore retaining their top people and on implementing high impact succession plans.
- Only 26.8% of Australian organisations tie rewards to performance Seniority, cronyism and other soft measures are still used by 63.2% of Australian organisations to link rewards to performance.
- Most Managers don't work towards satisfying client or investor needs. Managers believe that 75% of Performance Management Objectives are aligned to Business Strategy but only 54.4% of Managers say they are highly conversant with the organisation strategy. Only 21.1% of Managers say that their
objectives are aligned to Investor expectations and only 56.6% to Customer expectations. This confirms that only half of all Managers really understand the organisation strategy. It might also mean that a large number of organisation strategies are unclear about desired customer or investor outcomes.
There is a clear disconnection between what Managers believe they have to achieve and actually achieving good outcomes for both clients and investors.
- Poor management training continues to dog Australias line Managers. Most Managers surveyed do not know how to run the Performance Management process. with emotional employees. About 66.2% saying that they have not had formal training in Performance Management. Over 75% say that they have
had no training in managing good or poor performance or dealing.
- The lack of adequate reporting is causing most Performance Management systems to fail. Only 33.1% of organisations have real time reporting. In the majority of cases, there is little consequence for Managers who don't execute the Performance Management process and therefore objective setting
and periodic reviews simply don't happen.
Coming Soon
Jupiter Webinar
Automated Bid Management:
Tools for Search Marketers
January 10, 2006
2:00pm EST, 11:00am PST
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The HR Directors Summit 2006
30-31 January 2006
Radisson Edwardian
Heathrow
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OnRec presents:
Digital Content Forum
Feb 02, 2006
Cafe Royal, London
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HR Metrics - 2006 Summit
Dallas, TX
February 23, 2006
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OnRec Awards 2006
March 8, 2006
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Nominate A Firm or A Person
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ER Expo 2006 Spring
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March 14-16, 2006
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Staffing Industry Executive Forum
March 13 - 16
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37th Annual Employment Management Conference
March 30-April 1, 2006
Manchester Grand Hyatt
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Human Capital Summit Conference
April 5-7, 2006,
Chicago Marriott Downtown Hotel
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IHRIM: HRM Strategies 2006
April 9-12, 2006
Washington, DC
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SHRM's 2006 Annual Conference & Exposition
June 25-28
Washington, D.C.
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2006 EREC
21-22 June 2006
ExCel
London, UK
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2006 Strategic HR Conference
October 4-6, 2006
Westin Kierland Resort
Phoenix, Arizona
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Human Resource Executive's
9th Annual HR Technology® Conference & Exposition
Oct. 4-6, 2006
Navy Pier in Chicago, IL
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2006 SHRM Workplace Diversity Conference
October 16-18, 2006
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HR.com's Employers of Excellence Conference 2006
October 25 - 27, 2006
Red Rock Resort
Las Vegas, Nevada
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