Summertime Blues I'm taking
a long slow look at the way the industry has changed over the past
decade. You know the old story about the frog in the pan of water, right?
Even though
it's not literally true, there's a useful bit of truth in the story.
If you don't watch carefully, things happen right under your nose. A
routine can get so comfortable that you miss what's happening.
In the past six months or so, I have been
revisiting the truths I thought applied to our Recruiting Industry. What
is important? Who is important? Which trends are critical? What is the
job of a trench level recruiter and does it vary by setting? What do the
demographics really mean? (Read More)
Correction: Supplier Summit is the 17th of October 2007.
Reveille and Hyperbole: Halogen Software Inc., the leading
provider of Web-based employee performance and talent management software
today announced the second quarter of 2007 resulted in the most new enterprise
customers in any quarter to date - with 81% growth in new customers over the
second quarter in 2006. This record growth is due to the company's focus on
delivering outstanding value to each and every customer and their exceptional
reputation among HR professionals.
CareerTours, an internet based recruiting resource that allows career seekers to experience companies through profiles and Video or Audio CareerTours, has announced the addition of Shore Road Financial Group, one of MetLife's leading financial services divisions, to its client list.
Wellness Layers, Inc., a leading provider of online private-label nutrition, fitness and wellness solutions, announced today that it has released a new version of its consumer wellness web platform. The Wellness Layers Platform called WLP enables companies to rapidly establish a comprehensive private-label nutrition, fitness and wellness portal for their customers, patients and employees.
The Kronos Optimal Health WOW! (Work on Wellness) workplace wellness program is designed to give professionals fast, fun and easy ways to start improving their health by adding exercise to the workday.
Deck Chairs: Michael Young has joined Buck Consultants as Principal in its Secaucus, NJ office.
Young joins Buck from Commerce Banc Insurance Services, where he served as Senior Vice President. His expertise includes strategic consulting, health care consumerism issues, underwriting, plan administration, client management, and new business development …
Upcoming Event:
The Center for Talent Retention, known as the leading experts on taking action to engage and retain employees, and Derrick Barton are honored to be the opening keynote presenter at the Talent Retention Conference offered by the Goa Institute of Management on August 11 and 12. This is first ever national conference in India focused on talent retention. Derrick will present Engage and Retain Talent Best Practices.
You Should Know: Mill Valley, CA: Checkster Introduces First Personal Performance Management Tool for Organizations
Checkster announced the introduction of the first personal performance tool to empower organizations to grow and improve their talent. This unique web service leverages leading edge research in expert performance and associates it with innovative Web 2.0 collaborative technology.
"Today's employees expect more than a job from their employers; they look for organizations that enable them to grow and learn. Checkster's personal performance tool is about enabling individuals to shine, while providing organizations with tools that are really aligned with their employees needs. Checkster empowers organizations and ensures them of superior performance by arming their employees with what the latest research shows is needed for expert performance," explains Yves Lermusi, CEO of Checkster.
"Having annual 360's for only the top management is not acceptable anymore in today's fast moving and knowledge economy."
Several early customers of Checkster agree:
"In today's pharmaceutical development, the steps leading toward successful commercialization of a drug is seen as risk management. Rather than emphasizing the technical risks, at Clinuvel we tend to put emphasis on the talent pool working around the technology. Developing talent markedly reduces this risk. Checkster's easy, yet powerful tool helps us do just that." - Philip Wolgen, CEO of Clinuvel Pharmaceutical.
"We deal with companies with some of the most talented people in the world, including Microsoft, SAP, Cisco and many others, and we have to make sure our team is up to par. We use Checkster as a self-managed career performance tool to provide our employees with real time, frequent views of their performance." - Yaron Lipshitz, Managing Director of Ridgecrest Capital Partners.
Checkster's 360 Checkup product provides a solution to the complicated issues surrounding "the lack of candid feedback," which is described as the "biggest little dirty secret of business," by Jack Welch. Checkster's 360 Checkup enables companies to assist their employees in growing their talents by giving them a true view of their performance, thanks to confidential online feedback from co-workers.
To learn more about what the Checkster 360 Checkup can do for your organization, view the interactive audio/visual presentations at http://www.checkster.com/employer360tour.php
About Checkster:
Founded in 2006, Checkster (www.checkster.com) created the first Personal Performance Management Tool. Organizations can now empower their employees with tools that help them grow and develop within their career. Employers leverage the Checkster tools to hire, retain and grow the right talent. To learn more about what Checkster can do for your organization or to set up a consultation, visit www.checkster.com
Checkster Contact: Yves Lermusi, CEO
(415) 699-2226
press (at) checkster.com
Deep Release: US Employees Waste 20% of Their Work Day According to Salary.com™ Survey
Personal internet use and socializing with co-workers among activities that consume an average of 1.7 hours per day
Salary.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: SLRY), a leading provider of on-demand compensation management solutions, today released the results of its 2007 Wasting Time Survey revealing that the average employee wastes 1.7 hours of a typical 8.5 hour work day. This is the third year Salary.com has conducted the survey and, while the amount of wasted time has steadily declined, companies are still paying billions in salaries for which they receive no direct benefit.
As in previous years, personal Internet use (34.7% of respondents), socializing with co-workers (20.3%) and conducting personal business (17.0%) remain the leading time-wasting activities. Respondents also report making personal phone calls and taking long breaks to run errands while on the job.
Interestingly, the reasons for wasting time cover both extremes. While many employees admit to wasting time because they ‘don't have enough work to do' (17.7%), the second most popular, and somewhat contradictory, response is ‘my hours are too long' (13.9%). Employees also cite being underpaid (11.8%) and a lack of challenging work (11.1%) as reasons for slacking on the job.
"While a certain amount of wasted time is built into company salary structures, our research indicates that companies with a challenged and engaged workforce can expect more productivity in return," states Bill Coleman, chief compensation officer at Salary.com.
While the amount of time wasted at work may appear high, it has actually declined 19 percent since the first survey in 2005. At that time employees reported wasting an average of 2.09 hours per day and, in 2006, the figure receded to 1.86 hours. This trend is likely the result of numerous factors, including a growing economy, increases in employee productivity and a tightening labor market.
"A shortage of labor and tighter company budgets have resulted in an increased burden on employees who now have less time available to waste," adds Coleman. "This translates into a greater return for companies but increases the risk of employee burnout. When increasing workloads, organizations should also allow a certain amount of flexibility for employees to conduct personal business or take a mental breather."
Other interesting findings from the 2007 Wasting Time Survey include:
Over 63 percent of respondents admitted to wasting time at work.
Younger workers waste more time than their older counterparts. Employees between 20-29 years old reported the highest total—2.1 hours per day. The average for 30-39 year olds drops to 1.9 hours and ages 40-49 report wasting just 1.4 hours per day.
Survey respondents also feel that some of their work-related activities are a waste of time including: fixing someone else's work (18.1%), dealing with office politics (16.2%) and sending or responding to emails (13.1%).
About the Wasting Time Survey
Salary.com surveyed over 2,000 employees across all job levels during June and July of 2007. The surveys were fielded to AOL and Salary.com users and their responses were submitted electronically. Salary.com compensation professionals reviewed the data for accuracy and consistency and aggregated the valid submissions.
About Salary.com, Inc.
Salary.com is a leading provider of on-demand compensation management solutions helping businesses and individuals manage pay and performance. Salary.com provides companies of all sizes comprehensive on-demand software applications that are tightly integrated with its own proprietary compensation data sets, thereby automating the essential elements of the compensation management process and significantly improving the effectiveness of its client's compensation spend. For more information, visit www.salary.com.
Request for Reports, Dates and Surveys for the Bugler:
We are reviewing our publication materials and calender and would like to be sure we include our readerships preferences.
Please let us know what you like and dislike. Do you miss the calender that was at the end of the Newsletter for years?
Does your company have studies and whitepapers that we have not covered and should?
Please write or call Colleen Gildea to make let us know what your needs are.
Thanks for your loyal readership. We are looking forward to your thoughts.
Colleen Gildea
colleen.gildea at interbiznet.com
415-377-2255 direct line
NEW:
Presentation from John and Bridget Sumser, Rethinking The Workforce is available for download.
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