Executive Staffing & Search Recruitment

American Workforce’s Incoming Generation Most Diverse, Startlingly Least Educated

2010-06-30T13:17:00.001-07:00

6/22/2010

By Roy Maurer

Seismic changes in the racial makeup of the U.S. population have led to the American labor force’s incoming generation being the most diverse in history, while at the same time being the least educated, leading to a dire forecast for the nation’s global competitiveness.

A group of panelists discussed this and other related issues at “The New America Policy Summit on the Changing Demographics of a New Generation,” sponsored by the National Journal Group in association with the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) June 17, 2010, in Washington, D.C.

Pointing out that two-fifths of the Millennial generation, or Gen Y—the generation currently entering the workforce—is non-white, according to 2009 statistics, SHRM President and CEO Laurence G. O’Neil stated that the demographic change will “have huge implications for our workforce, our education system and our domestic policy.” He added that “SHRM’s 250,000 members, HR professionals from every industry, are on the front line of this change every day.”

The panel exchange that followed included a presentation by William H. Frey, demographer and senior fellow for the Metropolitan Policy Program at the Brookings Institution, and lively discussion about education reform, workforce training initiatives and racial inequality in American society.

Based on the 2000 census, the U.S. workforce (generally ages 25 to 64) is in the midst of a sweeping demographic transformation. From 1980 to 2020, the white working-age population is projected to decline from 82 percent to 63 percent. During the same period, the minority portion of the workforce is projected to double from 18 percent to 37 percent, and the Hispanic portion is projected to almost triple from 6 percent to 17 percent. By 2042, the U.S. population will be more non-white than white, making it a majority minority population.

This demographic shift can be traced to two primary engines: Larger numbers of younger Americans are ethnic minorities, and increasing numbers of white workers are reaching retirement age, together making up the so-called “browning” and “graying” of the population. The aging of the Baby Boomers, who are beginning to enter retirement, and the influx of immigrants, mostly from Latin America and Asia, will generate major change ramifications to the labor force for years to come.

“As these largely white Boomers retire, the working-age population will decline by about 5 million whites, and the rest of the working-age population will gain about 15 million minorities, 90 percent of which in the next decade will be Hispanics,” Frey said.

The educational attainment of the fastest growing segments of the new labor force is especially startling. Just 39 percent of Hispanics in America in 2010 have a high school education, and only 13 percent are college graduates, with dropout rates in the Hispanic population particularly high.

Substantial increases in those segments of America’s young population with the lowest level of education, combined with the coming retirements of the Baby Boomers—the most highly educated generation in U.S. history—are projected to lead to a drop in the average level of education of the U.S. workforce over the next two decades unless the educational level of all racial and ethnic groups is improved.

The projected decline in educational levels coincides with the growth of a knowledge-based economy that requires most workers to have high levels of education. At the same time, the expansion of a global economy allows industries increased flexibility in hiring workers overseas. As other developed nations continue to improve the education of their workforces, the United States and its workers will increasingly find themselves at a competitive disadvantage, the panelists said.

Businesses “are looking down the pipeline to see where they’re going to get their workforce, the skills that those individuals are going to have, what their success rates are going to be in post-secondary education, and they’re very concerned, because they do see the changing demographics,” said Karen Elzey, vice president and executive director of the Institute for a Competitive Workforce at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. “The question is, What role can [businesses] play in being able to support effective policies that allow them to get their workforce here? If they can’t get their workforce here, they’ll go [elsewhere] and get it,” she said.

Larger corporations are embracing the demographic changes, Elzey said. “They see the need to have a more diverse workforce and the value that a diverse workforce will bring to them in terms of the clients and vendors they are going to work with,” she said.

Corporate America has begun to adjust to labor force changes with an increased use of contingent workers, telecommuting, and workplace flexibility and diversity initiatives, she said.

On the other hand, American companies are struggling to find native-born workers with an expertise in science, engineering and math and “will look for the best and the brightest from wherever they can find them,” she added.

Roberto Rodriguez, special assistant to the president for education on the White House Domestic Policy Council, addressed the Obama administration’s education and workforce reform goals, including pushing for 60 percent of the population to hold college degrees by 2020, a 20-point uptick from 2009 rates.

“We clearly must do better,” Rodriguez said, by raising the bar of the quality of the workforce through strengthening workforce training and remediation for displaced workers and shoring up the nation’s community college system.

U.S. Could See Hiring ‘Heat Wave’ in May

2010-05-11T09:33:00.000-07:00

5/7/2010

By Theresa Minton-Eversole

More unemployed Americans might have a better chance of finding a job this coming summer than in the summer of 2009 if May 2010's expected hiring "spring fling" is any indication. May 2010 hiring activity in the manufacturing and service sectors could reach levels not seen in three years, according to the Society for Human Resource Management’s (SHRM) Leading Indicators of National Employment (LINE) survey report released May 7, 2010.

Signs are growing more positive this month, with LINE employment expectations indices for both sectors at levels not seen since 2007,” said Jennifer Schramm, SHRM manager of workplace trends and forecasting. “The percentage of manufacturing companies that are hiring is the highest since October 2007; in the service sector, since June 2007.”

Good workers are getting slightly harder to find, too, with more employers in April 2010 reporting a higher level of difficulty with landing top-level talent than in 2009. In addition, new-hire compensation continues to increase. For the third consecutive month, the rate of new-hire compensation in April 2010 rose on an annual basis in both sectors.

The LINE Employment Report examines four key areas: employers’ hiring expectations, new-hire compensation, difficulty in recruiting top-level talent and job vacancies. It is based on a monthly survey of private sector human resource professionals at more than 500 manufacturing and 500 service sector companies. Together, these two sectors employ more than 90 percent of the nation’s private sector workers.

EMPLOYMENT EXPECTATIONS	Manufacturing	Service
In May, for the seventh straight month, hiring will increase in manufacturing and services on an annual basis.	+48.7	+37.0
RECRUITING DIFFICULTY	Manufacturing	Service
In April, the index for recruiting difficulty rose in both sectors compared with a year ago.	+18.9	+14.2
NEW-HIRE COMPENSATION	Manufacturing	Service
The rate of increase for new-hire compensation in April rose on an annual basis in both sectors.	+7.2	+10.9

Source: SHRM Leading Indicators of NationalEmployment(LINE), www.shrm.org/line.

Employment Expectations

Despite problems in the labor market, hiring looks much better in May 2010 than in recent months. The manufacturing index improved by a net of 48.7 points, which means a net 43.9 percent of companies will hire in May 2010, compared with 4.8 percent that conducted layoffs in May 2009.

The service sector hiring index rose for May by a net 37.0 points; a net 54.4 percent of respondents will add jobs in May 2010, compared with a net 17.4 percent that added jobs during May 2009. Even with the positive numbers, the unemployment rate is expected to remain elevated throughout 2010. The sharp rise in the LINE hiring indices is also a reflection of poor job market conditions from a year ago.

Exempt, Nonexempt Vacancies

LINE statistics cover exempt (salaried) and nonexempt (hourly) vacancies. Changes in the number of job vacancies can be one of the earliest indicators of a shift in the balance between labor supply and demand.

In the manufacturing sector, a net total of 18.7 percent of respondents reported increases in exempt vacancies in April 2010 (24.5 percent reported increases, 5.8 percent reported decreases). This represents a 22.2-point increase from April 2009 and the ninth consecutive month that exempt vacancies are higher than those of the same month the previous year.

A net total of 23.7 percent of manufacturing respondents reported that nonexempt vacancies increased in April 2010 (31.9 percent increased, 8.2 percent decreased). This represents a 28.6-point increase from April 2009.

In accordance with federal data, this suggests that manufacturers are adding jobs slowly and that demand for production is improving.

In the service sector, a net total of 16.6 percent of respondents reported increases in exempt vacancies in April 2010 (25.9 percent reported increases, 9.3 percent reported decreases). That is a 28.6-point increase from April 2009 and the ninth consecutive month that exempt vacancies are higher than the previous year.

For nonexempt service positions, a net total of 29.1 percent reported increased vacancies in April 2010 (36.9 percent increased, 7.8 percent decreased). This marked a 31.0-point increase from April 2009. Increased demand for positions in the service sector might be driven in part by the health care industry, which added 27,000 jobs in March 2010, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

New-Hire Compensation

The continuing high rate of unemployment and a large pool of job seekers in the market have given many companies the option of reducing the wages and benefits they are offering new hires in an effort to control costs. But the LINE statistics show that new-hire compensation continues to increase incrementally, noted Schramm.

“April marked the third consecutive month where new-hire compensation rates were up on a year-over-year basis,” she said.

In the manufacturing sector, a net total of 4.9 percent of respondents said they would increase new-hire compensation in April 2010 (6.1 percent increased, 1.2 percent decreased). That is an increase of 7.2 points from April 2009.

In the service sector, however, a net total of 1.3 percent of companies decreased new-hire compensation in April 2010 (3.4 percent increased, 4.7 percent decreased). That still represents a net increase of 10.9 points from April 2009, when a net of 12.2 percent of service companies decreased new-hire compensation.

The low rates of change in the two sectors indicate that most organizations are keeping new-hire compensation rates flat and that people landing new jobs are continuing to accept lower wages and benefits as the labor market remains weak.

Recruiting Difficulty

LINE’s recruiting difficulty index measures how hard it is for firms to recruit candidates to fill the positions of greatest strategic importance to their companies. Even though small numbers of respondents are having a harder time finding top talent, the level of difficulty has risen compared with a year earlier.

For example, in the manufacturing sector, a net of 0.9 percent of respondents had less difficulty with recruiting in April 2010 (8.8 percent reported more difficulty, 9.7 percent reported less difficulty). This is still a sharp net increase of 18.9 points from April 2009, when a net of 19.8 percent reported less difficulty with recruiting.

In the service sector, a net of 6.5 percent of companies had less difficulty recruiting in April 2010 (10.4 percent had more difficulty, 16.9 percent had less difficulty). This was a modest increase of 14.2 points from April 2009, when a net total of 20.7 percent of companies had less difficulty with finding top talent.

“Improved hiring is likely what’s behind the slight rise in the LINE recruiting difficulty index,” said Schramm. “More employers [are] reporting difficulty filling their “A positions” compared to this time one year ago.”

LINE: April Hiring Should Reflect Recent Economic Improvements

2010-04-07T08:24:00.000-07:00

4/2/2010

By Theresa Minton-Eversole

Buoyed by incremental improvements in the U.S. economy, manufacturing and service-sector companies will hire more workers in April 2010 compared with a year earlier, according to the latest Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) Leading Indicators of National Employment (LINE) survey. Although these hiring trends are positive, they are an indication of just how poor hiring conditions were in 2009.

Hiring is up on an annual basis for the sixth month in a row. In April 2010, the percentage of manufacturing companies that expect to hire will reach a level not seen since June 2008. In the service sector, the percentage of companies that expect to hire is the highest since July 2008.

In addition, recruiting difficulty continues to increase, according to the survey results, with more employers reporting difficulty landing top-level talent in March 2010 compared to March 2009.

New-hire compensation also rose slightly in March 2010. For the second consecutive month, the rate of new-hire compensation rose on an annual basis in both sectors.

The LINE Employment Report examines four key areas: employers’ hiring expectations, difficulty in recruiting top-level talent, new-hire compensation and job vacancies. It is based on a monthly survey of private-sector human resource professionals at more than 500 manufacturing and 500 service-sector companies. Together, these two sectors employ more than 90 percent of the nation’s private-sector workers.

Employment Expectations	Manufacturing	Service
For the sixth straight month, hiring will increase in April 2010 in both manufacturing and services on an annual basis.	+52.4	+42.9
Recruiting Difficulty
In March, the index for recruiting difficulty rose in both sectors compared with a year ago.	+19.0	+26.6
New-Hire Compensation
The rate of increase for new-hire compensation in March rose on an annual basis in both the manufacturing and service sectors.	+2.4	+2.6

Source: SHRM Leading Indicators of National Employment (LINE), www.shrm.org/line

Employment Expectations

In February 2010, employers took 1,570 mass layoff actions involving 155,718 workers, reported the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics on March 23, 2010. The number of mass layoff events fell by 191 from the prior month, with manufacturing events hitting their lowest levels since August 2007.

Hiring in April 2010 will provide a better picture for job seekers. The manufacturing index improved by a net of 52.4 points (a net of 37.9 percent of companies will hire in April, compared with 14.5 percent that conducted layoffs a year earlier). The service hiring index rose in April 2010 by a net of 42.9 points (a net of 37.4 percent will add jobs, compared with a net of 5.5 percent that conducted layoffs a year earlier).

Even with those positive numbers, the unemployment rate is expected to remain elevated throughout 2010.

“Improved economic factors in the early months of 2010 compared to the dire employment conditions of the same time last year have resulted in increased year-over-year hiring expectations for the sixth month in a row,” said Jennifer Schramm, SHRM’s workplace trends and forecasting manager. “However, even with these increases, the rate of job loss during the worst months of the recession was so high that it will take many months and even years of sustained job growth to bring unemployment down significantly.”

Still, April 2010 marks the tenth straight month that more companies will hire rather than cut jobs in manufacturing (48.3 percent will hire, 10.4 percent will eliminate jobs), and it is the 12th straight month this has occurred in the service sector (46.5 percent will add jobs, 9.1 percent will cut jobs).

Recruiting Difficulty

“More employers are also reporting increased difficulty filling the jobs of most strategic importance in March compared to the same month one year ago,” Schramm said. LINE’s recruiting difficulty index measures how difficult it is for firms to recruit candidates to fill the positions of greatest strategic importance to their companies.

For the 13th consecutive month in March 2010, this index recorded single-digit response levels for those reporting increased difficulty with recruiting. In the manufacturing sector, a net of 2.3 percent of respondents had less difficulty with recruiting (6.6 reported increased difficulty, 8.9 percent reported less difficulty). This is still a sharp net increase of 19 points from March 2009, when a net of 21.3 percent indicated less difficulty with recruiting.

In the service sector, a net of 2.9 percent of companies in March 2010 had increased difficulty recruiting (9.6 percent had more difficulty, 6.7 percent had less difficulty). This was also a substantial increase from March 2009, when a net total of 23.7 percent of companies had less difficulty finding top talent.

New-Hire Compensation

“After a long stretch of decline and for the second month in a row, the LINE new-hire compensation index also increased on an annual basis in both the manufacturing and service sectors,” Schramm noted.

In the manufacturing sector, a net total of 1.1 percent of respondents said they would increase new-hire compensation in March 2010 (2.8 percent said they would increase, 1.7 percent said they would decrease). That is an increase of 2.4 points from March 2009. In the service sector, a net total of 0.4 percent of companies raised new-hire compensation in March 2010 (2.3 percent increased, 1.9 percent decreased). That is a net increase of 2.6 points from March 2009, when a net of 2.2 percent of service companies decreased new-hire compensation.

Bur the overall low rates of change in both sectors indicate that most organizations are keeping new-hire compensation rates flat and that people landing new jobs are continuing to accept low wages and benefits as the labor market remains weak.

Exempt, Nonexempt Position Vacancies

Vacancies for salaried jobs increased in March 2010, according to the LINE report. In the manufacturing sector, a net total of 11.9 percent of respondents reported increases in exempt vacancies in March 2010 (22.8 percent reported increases, 10.9 percent reported decreases). This represents a 20.2 point increase from March 2009 and the eighth consecutive month that exempt vacancies are higher than those of the same month the previous year.

In the service sector, a net total of 12.0 percent of respondents reported increases in exempt vacancies in March 2010 (21.0 percent reported increases, 9.0 percent reported decreases). That is a 23.3 point increase from March 2009 and the eighth consecutive month that exempt vacancies are higher than the previous year.

Vacancies for hourly jobs also rose in March 2010 for both sectors. A net total of 21.3 percent of manufacturing respondents reported that nonexempt vacancies increased in March 2010 (30.4 percent increased, 9.1 percent decreased). This represents a 30.5 point increase from March 2009.

In accordance with federal data, this suggests that manufacturers are adding jobs slowly and that demand for production is improving gradually. Industrial production rose for the eighth consecutive month in February 2010, according to the Federal Reserve.

For nonexempt service positions, a net total of 23.3 percent reported increased vacancies in March 2010 (32.7 percent reported increased vacancies, 9.4 percent reported decreased vacancies). This marked a 31.7 point increase from March 2009. Increased demand for positions in the service sector might be driven partially by the retail industry, which saw its sales rise by 0.3 percent in February 2010, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Business Week's "Fed’s Bullard Says U.S. Is ‘About to Turn the Corner’ on Jobs" Article

2010-03-22T08:50:00.000-07:00

"March 22 (Bloomberg) -- James Bullard, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, said the nation’s job market is “about to turn the corner” after the deepest slump since the Great Depression.

“We’re about to turn the corner on jobs,” Bullard said today in an interview with CNBC. “I think we’ll get some good months of jobs reports coming up very, very soon. We’re looking for March to be strong.”

Bullard repeated his view that the central bank’s pledge to keep rates low for an “extended period,” affirmed last week, creates the perception policy makers have a specific date in mind for increasing borrowing costs.

“The extended period language is putting us in a box,” he said. “People are interpreting that as a date certain when we will raise rates.”

The Fed will hold the target rate for overnight loans between banks at its current range of zero to 0.25 percent through the first nine months of the year, according to the survey median. The rate will rise to 0.75 percentage point by the end of the year.

Bullard said he expects a “reasonable” economic recovery, though not a “roaring recovery.”

Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said last month the U.S. economy is in a “nascent” recovery that still requires low interest rates to encourage demand by consumers and businesses once federal stimulus fades."

Wellisz, Christopher. Fed’s Bullard Says U.S. Is ‘About to Turn the Corner’ on Jobs. Business Week. 2010 Mar 22 [cited 2010 Mar 22]. Available at http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-03-22/fed-s-bullard-says-u-s-is-about-to-turn-the-corner-on-jobs.html

U.S. Salary Increase Budgets Barely Matching Inflation Survey shows lowest level in 25 years

2010-02-17T09:41:00.000-08:00

2/15/2010 By Stephen Miller

With total salary increase budgets in the U.S. barely exceeding inflation, even top performers might be disappointed to discover that their 2010 raises—in many cases following a year of frozen compensation—are only keeping up with cost-of-living increases, according to The Conference Board’s Salary Increase Budgets for 2010—Winter Update report.

Projections for 2010 show that salary increase budgets in the U.S. will be below 3 percent for the first time in more than two decades, and projected 2010 salary structure adjustments for all categories of employees are not expected to top 2 percent—well below the inflation rate (2.6 percent) forecast by The Conference Board, a not-for-profit business research association.

Salary increase budgets—the pool of money that a company dedicates to salary increases for the coming year. It is represented as a percentage of current total base pay.

Salary structure adjustments—the changes (usually annual) to the salary structure of a compensation program. Organizations make these adjustments to the minimum, midpoints and maximums of their pay ranges to account for changes in the cost of living generally, and to changes in the salary markets within their industry.

“Compensation professionals usually make sure that the salary structures move in lock step with inflation in order to ensure that structures represent market rate for jobs,” says John Gibbons, human capital program director at The Conference Board. “They budget increases in a particular year to reward great performance, allowing earnings to exceed inflation and move people up through the ranges. Salary ranges also represent employers’ anticipation of what the job market will require. Projections of near zero percent in real terms mean that employers are making the assumption that the salary market is simply not going to move up, regardless of increases in the cost of living.”

“U.S. workers will continue to face downward pressure on their salaries and wages,” predicts Linda Barrington, the association’s human capital managing director and co-author of the report. “Without the purse strings loosening on financial rewards, employers are going to have to rely on other ways of engaging employees—especially top performers—in order to keep their companies competitive.”

Historical Low

The revised median forecast of salary increase budgets for 2010 stands at 2.8 percent for all U.S. employee groups except executives (2.75 percent). This is the lowest level in the 25-year history of The Conference Board survey.

This historical low is consistent with historically low growth in government compensation measures. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) Employment Cost Index, total compensation in 2009 grew by 1.5 percent while consumer prices rose by 2.7 percent—meaning that, adjusted for inflation, total compensation fell by almost 1.3 percent. The Employment Cost Index’s increase is the lowest since the BLS survey began in 1982; prior to the 2009 recession, the 12-month change never fell below 2.7 percent.

------------------------------------------------
Adjusted for inflation, total compensation
fell by almost 1.3 percent in 2009.
------------------------------------------------

“Despite five months of improvement in The Conference Board’s Employment Trends Index suggesting that a turning point in job growth is on the horizon, recovery in compensation is probably a few years away,” says Gad Levanon, associate director for macroeconomic research at The Conference Board. “In the previous three recessions, compensation began accelerating only several years after employment bottomed. High levels of unemployment allow businesses to limit raise demands from existing workers and hire workers from unemployment at lower compensation levels.”

Expectations Revised Downward

The Conference Board’s Annual Salary Increase Budgets Survey, conducted in November 2009 among 285 U.S. organizations, represents a sharp drop from the 3 percent median forecasted for salary increase budgets in April 2009. More than a quarter of respondents (27.7 percent) said they had already changed their originally projected total increase budget for 2010. The median projected total salary increase budget for this group, 2.5 percent, is lower than that of respondents overall. Compared with their original median projected increase budget, the current median projected 2010 salary increase budget for these respondents is 0.5 percentage point lower than what they report as their original forecast for 2010.

The highest forecasted median salary increase budgets for 2010 are in consulting services—3 percent for all employee groups except nonexempt hourly, which stands at 2.85 percent. The second highest projections are reported in the trade sector, with all employee groups at 3 percent except nonexempt hourly (2.5 percent). The lowest 2010 increase budgets are in the banking industry (2 percent).

Bonus Budgets Slightly Higher

For merit increase budgets forecast for 2010, the median is 2.5 percent in each employee category for all industries. This compares to lower 2009 medians of 2.1 percent for nonexempt hourly, 2.38 percent for nonexempt salaried and 2 percent for exempt employees.

The median merit increase budget for executives in 2009 was zero. The highest median projected merit increase budgets for executives are in energy/agriculture, manufacturing and trade, at 3 percent.

HR Goes Green!

2010-01-20T08:52:00.000-08:00

From Mediapost.com, this article was posted today to highlight the impact that green efforts make on attracting, hiring and retaining new employees.

Beyond Green PR: Green HR

by Greg Menken

With the rise of green consumers, many businesses have turned their attention to communicating their eco-virtues to these customers.

However, as companies vie for "greenness" among external stakeholders, they must not forget their most important audience -- their own employees.

It is well known that happy employees make for happy customers, because satisfied workers turn out the best product.

Companies compete on many factors to attract and retain employees, from salary, benefits, vacation, culture, etc. Today, the eco-friendliness of employers is increasingly impacting job satisfaction and employee recruitment.

More than ever, current and prospective employees are placing greater emphasis on how green their employers are, and companies that respond to this trend stand to attract and retain the best talent.

According to research by Harris Interactive, 36% of American workers would be more inclined to work for a green company, while 59% believe their companies aren't doing enough to improve environmental performance.

Research by the Kenexa Research Institute found that companies supporting sustainability initiatives increase employee engagement levels. These initiatives increase employee pride, overall job satisfaction, and willingness to recommend their employer as a good place to work. Another report from Brockmann and Company shows that companies with sustainability programs have higher customer satisfaction, higher employee satisfaction and higher revenues per employee.

Perhaps most importantly, research finds that younger employees are the most eager to work for eco-friendly companies. As our nation's demographics quickly change, companies will come under intense pressure to compete for these younger workers.

While the Harris Interactive report showed that 52% of baby boomers would like their employers to be eco-friendly, greater than 67% of Generation Y workers wanted the same. A MonsterTRAK survey showed an astounding 92% of young workers would choose to work for an environmentally responsible company.

As baby boomers phase out of the workplace, more and more workers will seek out green employers, giving these companies a competitive hiring advantage over their non-green competitors.

Moreover, the Harris Interactive report showed that nearly a third of workers would be willing to sacrifice salary for the satisfaction of working for a green company. Again, Gen Y workers align much more strongly on this point than baby boomers, with Gen Y workers willing to sacrifice 6.2% of salary, as opposed to only 2.5% for baby boomers.

This evidence makes it clear that companies must take their green marketing beyond their external audience and engage their own employees and potential employees. By extending green marketing beyond PR and into HR (human resources), companies will attract better staff, achieve greater worker satisfaction, and increase profitability.

To do so, companies must implement strategic communications plans for their HR audience, just as they would for customers. Effective worker-oriented green communications plans must provide clear direction, explain the personal stake each employee has in the program, make employees part of the process, and establish recognizable goals that can be rewarded.

By targeting workers with a green message, a business will attain the highest possible level of engagement among staff, earn a reputation as a green (and great) place to work, and achieve the strongest competitive position when recruiting the next generation of talent.

Where the Job Market Will Open Up

2009-12-17T08:46:00.000-08:00

If your interested in finding the most qualified professionals for upcoming opportunities at your company, check out O'Donnell Staffing Research's recruitment services and how they benefit you and your business.

Check out the article below about potential employment openings.

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Where the Job Market Will Open Up

Worrying about competition for talent probably isn’t your biggest concern right now. But it’s coming, especially in some industries and for some job titles.

The U.S. Labor Department released its report on 10-year projections for job and industry growth. Here’s what’s in the report.

First, as just about everyone knows, the manufacturing sector will continue to drop, even after a loss of about two million jobs in the sector over the last year, and they are unlikely to return.

Total employment is expected to rise in the next 10 years by 15.3 million, or 10.1%. That’s better than the 7.4% increase in the most recent 10-year period, but the numbers can be deceiving, since the recession dragged down the numbers so badly in the most recent 10-year period. Plus, we’re starting a low point in employment, so there’s a lot of room for growth.

Construction. The number of jobs will rise by 1.3 million, but even with the increase, there will be a percentage decrease when compared with the job market as a whole.

The service sector. Expect 96% of job growth to come out of this sector in the next 10 years — in particular in professional and business services, and health care and social assistance. Jobs in health care, which grew even during the recession, will skyrocket.

Which positions will see the most growth? The Labor Department projects increases of:

72% for biomedical engineers
53% for systems and data analysts
50% for home health aides
41% for financial examiner

To view the article by J. Giuliano at HR Morning click here.

LINE Confirms that Job Recovery Will Be Slow

2009-12-09T07:37:00.000-08:00

12/4/2009

By Theresa Minton-Eversole

December hiring in manufacturing and services will surpass levels reached one year ago, according to the December 2009 Leading Indicators of National Employment (LINE) survey released Dec. 4, 2009, by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). But the positive signs are less a nod to a long-awaited economic recovery than they are a reflection of how poor the job market conditions were in 2008.

The LINE Employment Report examines four key areas: employers’ hiring expectations, new-hire compensation, difficulty in recruiting top-level talent and job vacancies. It is based on a monthly survey of private-sector human resource professionals at more than 500 manufacturing and 500 service-sector companies. Together these sectors employ more than 90 percent of the nation’s private-sector workers.

Employment Expectations, Job Vacancies Increase

The December employment expectations index is positive in both sectors. In the manufacturing sector, a net total of 10.7 percent of respondents will add jobs in December (28.2 percent expect to add jobs, 17.5 percent will eliminate them), the sixth straight month in 2009 that hiring will exceed firing in manufacturing. In the service sector, a net total of 18.8 percent of companies will add jobs in December 2009 (28.0 percent expect to hire, 9.2 percent will cut jobs), the eighth straight month that the hiring rate will exceed the layoff rate in that sector in 2009.

Employment Expectations	Manufacturing	Service
Hiring will surpass layoffs in December in manufacturing and services, and the activity is also ahead of December 2008’s pace.	+21.6	+27.9
Recruiting Difficulty	Manufacturing	Service
In November, manufacturers had slightly less recruiting difficulty, while the service sector had increased difficulty landing top talent compared with a year ago.	-1.4	+10.7
New-Hire Compensation	Manufacturing	Service
For the 14th straight month, the rate of increase for new-hire compensation dropped in both sectors in November.	-1.2	-1.7

Source: SHRM Leading Indicators of National Employment (LINE), shrm.org/line.

A net total of 2.5 percent of respondents in the manufacturing sector also reported increases in exempt vacancies in November 2009 (16.1 percent reported increases, 13.6 percent reported decreases). This difference of 14.1 is an increase from November 2008 and is the fourth consecutive month that net exempt vacancies are higher than those of the same month in 2008. Likewise, a net total of 1.0 percent of respondents in the service sector reported increases in exempt vacancies in November (11.8 percent reported increases, 10.8 percent reported decreases). This is also the fourth consecutive month that exempt vacancies in services are higher than those of the same month in 2008.

A net total of 3.3 percent of manufacturing respondents reported that nonexempt vacancies increased in November 2009 (16.0 percent increased, 12.7 percent decreased). This represents a 22.1 point increase from November 2008 and could suggest that work is slowly being ramped up once again at some companies. Although the gains were small, the Federal Reserve reported that industrial production rose 0.1 percent in October 2009 and 0.7 percent in September 2009.

For nonexempt service positions, a net total of 5.2 percent reported increased vacancies in November 2009 (16.9 percent increased, 11.7 percent decreased). This also marked a significant increase from November 2008, when a net total of 16.0 percent of service companies reported decreases in nonexempt vacancies.

However, these large gains aren’t as good as they sound. “For the second consecutive month hiring expectations in manufacturing and services surpass levels of a year ago, but this may be more of a reflection of the very low hiring levels in the fall of 2008 rather than any significant return to health for the current job market,” said Jennifer Schramm, SHRM’s manager of workplace trends and forecasting.

The latest Conference Board Employment Trends Index tells a similar tale. Published Nov. 9, 2009, the index increased for the second consecutive month and was up 0.7 percent from the revised September 2009 figure. But the index is still down 13.2 percent from the same period in 2008. The increase in the November 2009 index was driven by positive contributions from four out of the eight tracked indicators, including initial claims for unemployment insurance, the number of temporary employees, industrial production and real manufacturing and trade sales.

"While layoffs have certainly declined in recent months, we still expect to see employers adding hours to their existing workforce before hiring will strongly increase," said Gad Levanon, senior economist at The Conference Board, in a statement regarding the organization’s November 2009 index results.

New-Hire Compensation

LINE shows that new-hire compensation is still down, though, because of the continuing high rate of unemployment and large pool of job seekers in the market. “The year-over-year comparisons of the rate of increase for new-hire compensation is still falling, another sign that overall the job market remains weak,” noted Schramm.

In the manufacturing sector, a net total of 1.1 percent of respondents said they would increase new-hire compensation in November 2009 (2.3 percent increased, 1.2 percent decreased). That is the lowest November response total in five years for manufacturers reporting increases to new-hire compensation.

In the service sector, a net total of 1.5 percent of companies raised new-hire compensation in November 2009 (2.8 percent increased, 1.3 percent decreased).

“Even after months of decline in the LINE new-hire compensation index, there continues to be little pressure on employers to ramp up compensation packages for new hires, indicating that there is still a large pool of job seekers willing to accept lower offers,” said Schramm.

Coming to Terms

2009-12-03T09:44:00.000-08:00

In an uncertain economy, employers and employees take a wary approach to job offers, noncompete agreements and contingent work arrangements.
By Diane Cadrain

The recession has shifted the terrain of employment agreements in every area from job offer to severance, according to experts. And some of them predict that, like the Great Depression before it, this economic crisis will affect employment relationships far into the future.

A formal document called an "employment contract" is quite rare except for executives and employees working on a limited-project basis, notes Jeffrey Tanenbaum, leader of the labor and employment law practice in the San Francisco office of law firm Nixon Peabody. "They’re typical in the entertainment industry, but also wherever there is a limited scope of engagement."

To the extent there is a written understanding at all, "most of it goes by letter of agreement, or is a contract for a specific project or a deliverable, not an employment contract," says Kevin Wheeler, CEO of Global Learning Resources, an HR consulting firm in Fremont, Calif.

But, Tanenbaum adds, certain documents may be treated like contracts. For example, an employee handbook can be "loaded with obligations, and a court may decide it’s a contract."

Here are some of the ways that agreements are evolving:

Job offers. "Certainly there’s less willingness to offer a term of employment," says John A. Snyder, a partner in the New York office of law firm Jackson Lewis. "When employment is at will, employers just use the offer letter as a contract. Or an employer might set forth job duties and chain of command in a contract, but without a definite term. Employment at will is always the rule, and now it’s even more so."

Because it is an employer’s market, "employers are less willing to make commitments than they were, such as automatic pay increases, or bonuses, or even to contract at all," says Jonathan A. Segal, a partner with the Philadelphia law firm Duane Morris.

"Employees are also more reasonable in terms of their expectations," he continues. "Three years ago, employees might have had three job offers and could use them to negotiate among employers. Now employees are asking for less, and employers have less to give."

Noncompete agreements. "At one time, employees wouldn’t sign them, but now they will," says Segal. "If it’s a choice between no job and a job with restrictions, they’ll take the job with restrictions."

Segal explains that noncompete agreements have to pass three tests. The first is the legal test: Is it enforceable? That varies from state to state. California won’t enforce noncompete agreements, except in limited circumstances. New York will if they’re reasonable.

"The second is the market test: Will the market bear this? In this market," he observes, "a noncompete agreement that passes the legal test automatically passes the marketplace test."

The third test is relational: "What will this agreement do to the employer-employee relationship?" Segal asks. An employee might sign the agreement but resent it down the line.

"Some employers ask for every legal protection in their contracts," he says, but he advises employers to consider the effect of an overly restrictive contract on the employee relationship. "If you start with ugly negotiations, or make unreasonable demands, employees will feel resentful," he observes.

His advice is to try to balance the interests of both sides. If the contract is too legally protective, it may look like the employer has gone too far. But if everyone signs it willingly, maybe the employer hasn’t gone far enough.

Executive compensation agreements. Executive compensation has seen a lot of changes, says Garry Mathiason, a shareholder in the San Francisco office of law firm Littler Mendelson. "In anticipation of this change, bonuses are being tied to performance. Before, executives had bonus structures triggered by something other than performance. You don’t want a company to take TARP [Troubled Asset Relief Program] funds and then give out unreasonable bonuses."

"There’s more compensation in base pay and less in bonuses now, because of a backlash against excessive bonuses," adds Wheeler. "We’re seeing a readjustment of how the compensation is parceled out."

Severance packages. "Severance packages are less generous. They’ve decreased by 50 percent," says Mathiason. "Companies have fewer resources, and shareholders are pushing back."

"It goes back to general public attitude about compensation," says Wheeler. "There’s a tendency to cut it way down."

But sometimes a generous severance package makes sense, Segal explains. "Though employees right now are reluctant to ask for too much, and employers don’t have as much to give, I still see applicants saying they want to help the employer make it. If a company is about to go down, and an applicant takes the risk of coming on board to help keep it afloat, they may ask for a lot of severance in that event," he says. "Employers need the best talent, and they may protect themselves by protecting the employee by making the employee less anxious—take away the reason why the employee could be nervous."

Workforce Future: Contingent?

As the economy is "just now starting to see the process of coming out of the trough of the recession, [and] as employers are starting to address the rehire process," says Tanenbaum, "there’s a greater interest in contingent workforce alternatives."

As the recession ends, "contingent workers will constitute, on average, a full 50 percent of the new source of workers to whom employers will turn," according to Mathiason. "The result of this trend will be that contingent workers will make up approximately 25 percent of the total workforce, and this percentage will continue to increase."

Since before the recession, the number of people—voluntarily or involuntarily—becoming independent contractors has been going up, says Wheeler, pointing to research by the Enterprise Center at Salem State College in Massachusetts showing that self-employment grew seven times faster than wage and salary employment between 2002 and 2006. And Wheeler points out that E-lance.com, a web site where freelancers offer their services, now has a client base of 60,000 and just passed $200 million in revenue.

"We’ll see the trend continue the rest of the decade, driven in part by the recession," Wheeler concludes. "Most companies will stay staffed lightly with full-time employees and will supplement with independent contractors. For example, the HR role is a perfect job to be contracted out. Companies will bring someone in and see how it works out."

Andrew Paley, a partner in the labor and employment department in the Los Angeles office of law firm Seyfarth Shaw, sees some companies trying new approaches with their contingent worker arrangements.

Paley says he knows of two medium-sized companies, one in health care and one in telecommunications, that sponsor health plans for their contractors. "Although health benefits aren’t required by law, sometimes they are required from a competitive standpoint," he comments. "Traditionally, independent contractors wouldn’t have benefits, but some employers, particularly with key individuals, now provide some type of benefit as part of a contractual relationship. The plans they offer may not be as good as an employee plan, but they’re better than what’s available on the individual market."

But relying on contingent workers or independent contractors has its pitfalls. Contingent workers offer flexibility and cost-savings in the short term, Tanenbaum says, but employers must continue to be aware that such short-term employment relationships can transform into regular full-time employment relationships, and that transformation can have staggering costs and implications.

"When such relationships are challenged," Tanenbaum says, "courts take a variety of factors into account in determining whether the person is a regular employee."

Duration of the relationship. One of the more important factors is the duration of the working relationship. Courts reason that independent contractors often have limited periods of employment and routinely move from one place to another, as compared to employees, who generally work exclusively for one employer, often for an indefinite and unspecified period of time.

Whether the person works for more than one employer at a time. The fact that someone has continued to hold outside work can offset a lengthy period of employment and tip the scale in favor of independent contractor status. Courts have found an employee relationship where an individual works exclusively for one employer for a considerable length of time.

Employee expectations regarding the length of employment. Independent contractors are often hired for specific or discrete projects, and therefore have an approximate completion date for their employment.

Tanenbaum advises that employers can reduce their risk by:

Relinquishing control over independent contractors.
Establishing discrete, short-term assignments.
Hiring individuals who are also employed by others or who have other clients.
Distinguishing between the work performed by contingent workers and an employer’s regular workforce.
Using temporary employment agencies and/or professional employer organizations.

"The bottom line is that if an independent contractor does what other employees are doing, the company has a problem," says Segal. "If you misclassify a person as an independent contractor, you may be liable for taxes, workers’ compensation and health benefits. The test is whether the employer controls the means and method of doing the work. The closer the control, the greater the likelihood that the person is an employee."

Diverse Employees Lure Diverse Customers

2009-11-17T08:54:00.000-08:00

A lack of employee diversity may be preventing your company from reaching a broader range of customers.

By Stephenie Overman

Every business needs customers. A company can have cutting-edge, high-quality products, but, unless customers buy those gadgets or services, the organization can’t get off the ground. Even established companies must find new ways to effectively serve and expand their customer base if they want to grow. One way to attract more customers is to hire a diverse workforce.

Having a diverse workforce is critical from a business standpoint because it enables companies to get in touch with the wants and needs of a broad range of customers by drawing on the expertise of employees with whom those customers and potential customers identify, says Mitzi Adwell, vice president of strategic solutions for The Newman Group, a Los Angeles-based Futurestep Company that provides talent management strategy services and solutions.

Companies looking to expand their customer base need to do more than push products and services to customers, she says. They need to "pull" customers in by finding out what influences what they buy and where they buy. A diverse employee population can help provide that information.

For example, diverse employees at an adult beverage company may have insights on consumption habits in different market segments, Adwell explains, which helps marketing and sales staff determine where to place products to attract new customers. "It’s that level of understanding that sets your go-to-market strategy," she says.

Having a diverse workforce can also help a company reach its existing customers by providing them with better service. "When someone older goes into a consumer electronics store, they’re sometimes made to feel clueless by the young staff," says Bruce Tulgan, founder of RainmakerThinking Inc., a management training firm based in New Haven, Conn. But that more-mature customer may have a better experience if he or she can talk to a more-mature salesperson who is in tune with the customer’s needs and concerns.

A number of companies recognize the need to find a better balance among their employees, according to Tulgan, an expert on young people in the workplace. "I visit between 50 and 100 organizations a year, and I find that a lot of organizations in the retail and restaurant business want to balance out the natural trend of having a young workforce," he says. As a result, these companies are always on the lookout for candidates "who are a little older and more experienced" to better reflect the diverse ages of their clientele.

Recognizing the business case for diversity is just the first step. You then need to set goals, build a good sourcing pipeline and demonstrate the company’s commitment.

Where to Focus

Creating a more-diverse workforce isn’t about filling quotas; it’s about expanding your efforts to reach untapped pools of appropriate candidates. The first step is to examine your workforce using an internal audit, which can identify areas where diversity is lacking and help your company better direct its search.

"Do a good internal check," says Dolores Scotto, an HR consultant in Woodbridge, N.J., who focuses on strategic staffing and recruitment. "The results sometimes do startle you."

At one company where Scotto was working, an audit revealed that the workforce was predominantly made up of people in their 30s and 40s. The company had a practice of hiring employees with MBAs, and these people tended to be in that age range—workers "who were still up-and-comers," she says. "That became the age group with the most cultural fit.

"The company wanted to open up to Baby Boomers and to [members of the] military. We wanted to work with hiring managers to bring in people who were a little older, who bring more to the table."

Scotto believes that even companies that want a diverse workforce and recognize its importance often become comfortable with the familiar. Committing to a diverse workforce means reaching beyond that comfort zone, she says. From there, compare all candidates, and if all things are equal, consider "which different mind-set might bring more to the table" to attract a wider pool of customers.

Two examples of companies that have focused on diversity recruiting efforts to better reach their customers are:

Last year, Minneapolis-based electronics retailer Best Buy announced a change in hiring strategy to create a workforce that is more representative of the changing demographics of its customers. For the last 20 years, "we have focused on males between the ages of 18 to 25," Lisa Martens, a senior analyst with Best Buy, told the Boston Herald in August 2008. Now "female spending is a huge piece of the pie in the consumer electronics world," so the company has stepped up its recruitment of women.
At Gallery Furniture in Houston, "We mirror and match the population," says founder and owner Jim McIngvale. "We hire roughly according to the percentage of customers who are females, males, African-Americans, Hispanics, Asians." As a result, "The staff knows the market. We rely heavily on the staff to know what the customer wants—what different customers want."
And McIngvale takes literally the old sales phrase "You have to speak their language."

"If someone who walks in speaks Spanish, we have a salesperson who is bilingual," he says.

Everyone’s a Teacher

While it pays to have a workforce that reflects the diversity of a company’s customer population, it doesn’t need to be a 1-1 ratio, says professor Stephen Brown, executive director of the Center for Services Leadership at the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University in Tempe.
Rather than saying “10 percent of our customers are Cuban-American, so 10 percent of front-line workers are Cuban-American,” Brown believes “you need to have your front-line employees coached” by other employees on the preferences of key ethnic groups. In that way, members of various groups can inform each other about areas that may be culturally sensitive.

For example, a company may wonder if Hispanic customers want to be spoken to in Spanish or English. In a focus group, Brown says, “women with Hispanic surnames said too often the company assumes that [they] want to be spoken to in Spanish.” If you have Hispanics in your workforce, these employees would be able to coach other workers on customer preferences, Brown explains. They could tell other employees to give a customer with a Hispanic-appearing name the option of speaking Spanish but not to assume it’s the preferred language.

Members of a diverse workforce also can coach each other about the level of formality that different customers may prefer. For example, “Anglos tend to be informal,” according to Brown, as do younger people.

Diversity Pool

There are simple ways to find a good pool of diverse candidates:

Hire your customers. Sporting goods giant Cabela’s believes that hiring shoppers is the best way to make sure its sales staff represents its customer base. To make it convenient for customers to apply for jobs, the company has set up employment kiosks in its stores. (For more on Cabela’s hiring strategy, see "Luring Shoppers as Employees" in the July-September 2007 issue of Staffing Management.)

Get the most from your employee referral program. Make sure your employee referral program can help accomplish your goal of diversity. Referrals often come from the same small group of employees, says Scotto. To increase participation and receive referrals for more-diverse candidates, provide plenty of publicity for the referral program so that all employees are aware it exists and know how it works, she advises. Incentives can help, too.

If your workforce is homogenous, however, an employee referral program can backfire, leading to a "like-me" phenomenon that hinders any diversity efforts, Scotto warns.

Tie in with affinity or focus groups. Sometimes finding a diverse pool of job candidates "takes a little digging," Scotto says. Search the Internet to find different types of affinity organizations, such as the National Society of Black Engineers and the Association of Latinos in Finance and Accounting, she suggests. "Look not only at local colleges but maybe to historically black colleges. … Think outside your own little radius."

Appearance Matters

Companies committed to hiring a diverse workforce must walk the talk to be attractive to candidates. Adwell stresses that credibility is key.

Candidates "should see a workforce that is reflective of what you’re saying. They should be able to see a true testament that [they] can grow with the organization," she says. Make sure the employee photographs on your company web site present the right image. And during the interview process, introduce potential hires to employees who can share their own stories of diversity.

If your company hasn’t had a good track record, Adwell recommends letting candidates know that your company is working to change that. Tell them that while your workforce may not look diverse today, you "have set the business case and communicate the importance of diversity from the top down. Everything is in alignment" to make improvements

SHRM LINE: Job Market Recovery Will Be Slow

2009-11-10T12:28:00.001-08:00

11/6/2009

By Theresa Minton-Eversole

Though the U.S. unemployment rate likely will continue to climb for the next few months, HR professionals in the manufacturing and service sectors expect hiring in November 2009 to surpass levels reached one year ago, according to the Society for Human Resource Management’s (SHRM) latest Leading Indicators of National Employment (LINE) survey.

Hiring is still not widespread, though November 2009 marks the fifth straight month that job additions were expected to outpace layoffs in manufacturing and services. But because the recession has been so long, “any improvements we see now are only improvements on what was already a weak job market one year ago,” cautions Jennifer Schramm, SHRM’s manager of workplace trends and forecasting.

The SHRM LINE data are collected through a monthly survey of human resource executives at more than 500 manufacturing and 500 service-sector firms and focus on four key areas: employers’ hiring expectations, new-hire compensation, difficulty in recruiting top-level talent and job vacancies. The net increasing index is calculated as the percentage increasing minus the percentage decreasing.

Employment Expectations	Manufacturing	Service
Hiring will surpass layoffs in November 2009 in manufacturing and services; the activity is also ahead of the November 2008 pace.	+15.3	+5.9
Recruiting Difficulty	Manufacturing	Service
In October 2009, both sectors reported increased recruiting difficulty during the same month for the first time since January 2007.	+2.8	+13.0
New-Hire Compensation	Manufacturing	Service
For the 13th straight month in October 2009, the rate of increase for new-hire compensation dropped in both sectors.	-3.0	-4.2

Source: SHRM Leading Indicators of National Employment (LINE), www.shrm.org/line.

Employment Expectations, Recruiting Difficulty

November 2009 is the first time that LINE data show that year-over-year hiring has increased in services since February 2008 and in manufacturing since August 2007. Still, says Schramm, “Net expectations are fairly low, indicating that any improvements are developing slowly.”

In the manufacturing sector, a net total of 17.8 percent of respondents reported they will add jobs in November 2009 (32.0 percent adding jobs vs. 14.2 percent eliminating jobs). In the service sector, a net total of 15.8 percent of companies will add jobs in November 2009 (26.1 percent hiring versus 10.3 percent cutting jobs)—the seventh straight month that the hiring rate will surpass the layoff rate in that sector.

LINE’s recruiting difficulty index measures how difficult it is for firms to recruit candidates to fill the positions of greatest strategic importance to their companies. Interestingly, despite the large number of people unemployed, members of both sectors report having slightly more difficulty in landing top-level talent compared with 2008.

For the eighth consecutive month of 2009, LINE recorded single-digit response levels for those reporting increased difficulty with recruiting. The low response totals can likely be attributed to two factors: fewer HR professionals being engaged in recruiting now and HR professionals’ heightened selection standards attributable to the large number of people looking for work.

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'Any improvements we see now are only improvements
on what was already a weak job market one year ago.’
— Jennifer Schramm, SHRM’s manager of workplace trends and forecasting
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However, the net total in both sectors showed a rise in recruiting difficulty compared with October 2008. In the manufacturing sector, a net of 6.8 percent of companies reported less difficulty with recruiting during October 2009. Still, it is the first time recruiting difficulty has increased on a year-over-year basis in manufacturing since October 2007. In the service sector, a net of 7.8 percent of companies had less difficulty recruiting in October 2009. This marks the first time that recruiting difficulty has increased on a year-over-year basis in the service sector since February 2008.

The results do not indicate a major reversal in recruiting difficulty but do reflect the notion that labor market conditions may be improving slightly from a year ago.

New-Hire Compensation

The rate of increase for new-hire compensation has been falling for more than a year, according to the LINE report, and employers reported that they continued to keep wages and benefits packages in check for new hires in October 2009. The continuing high rate of unemployment and large pool of jobseekers have given many companies the option to reduce the wages and benefits they are offering new hires in a continuing effort to control costs.

In the manufacturing sector, a net total of 0.1 percent of respondents said they would decrease new-hire compensation in October 2009 (2.4 percent increased, 2.5 percent decreased). That is the lowest October response total in five years for manufacturers reporting increases to new-hire compensation.

In the service sector, more companies actually raised new-hire compensation than reduced it in October 2009. A net total of 2.2 percent of companies increased wages and benefits packages for new hires (6.9 percent increased, 1.3 percent decreased). Still, it was a drop of 4.2 percentage points from October 2008, and perhaps an indication that those landing new jobs in October 2009 continue to accept lower wages and benefits during challenging economic times.

“The rate of increase for new-hire compensation continues to fall as it has for over a year,” said Schramm. “Employers are still able to find many willing job applicants even as they keep wages and benefits packages low—a sign that, despite some improvements, the job market overall remains weak.”

Exempt, Non-Exempt Vacancies

But indications that hiring conditions are improving slowly can be found in LINE’s vacancy data. Vacancies, defined as open positions that employers are trying to fill, increased from the previous year in October 2009 in all four job categories for manufacturing and services. Changes in the number of job vacancies can be one of the earliest indicators of a shift in the balance between labor supply and demand.

In the manufacturing sector, a net total of 6.2 percent of respondents reported increases in exempt vacancies in October 2009 (15.9 percent reported increases, 9.7 percent reported decreases). This is an increase of 4.1 percentage points from October 2008. In the service sector, a net total of 1.9 percent of respondents reported increases in exempt vacancies in October 2009 (11.9 percent reported increases, 10.0 percent reported decreases). This is the third consecutive month that exempt vacancies have risen in both the manufacturing and service sectors from the previous year.

Vacancies for hourly jobs also rose in both sectors in October 2009. A net total of 4.1 percent of manufacturing respondents reported that nonexempt vacancies increased in October 2009 (18.0 percent increased, 13.9 percent decreased). This increase of 3.9 percentage points from October 2008 suggests that work is being ramped up slowly at some companies. In addition, the Federal Reserve reported that industrial production rose 5.2 percent during the third quarter of 2009, the largest gain since the first quarter of 2005.

For nonexempt service positions, a net total of 15.6 percent reported increased vacancies in October 2009 (27.7 percent increased, 12.1 percent decreased). This marked a significant increase (17.5 percent) from October 2008, when a net total of 1.9 percent of service companies reported decreases in nonexempt vacancies.

“Wide-scale layoffs across the economy were just beginning to hit at around this time last year, so it is not necessarily surprising that compared to last October, vacancies are now increasing in all four job categories for manufacturing and services,” said Schramm. “However, this could be another indication that employment conditions may be slowly starting to improve.”

The responses in the LINE survey are weighted using the proportion of total employment represented by the respondent’s industry. These weights are calculated using the annual

Organizations Step Up Pandemic Plans, Fear Disruptions

2009-10-27T07:36:00.001-07:00

10/22/2009 By Steve Bates

U.S.-based and multinational organizations are taking steps to prepare for an H1N1 pandemic amid increasing fears that the virus will hurt their operations, according to a new Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) poll.

The poll report, The H1N1 Virus—How Prepared Is Your Workplace, compares the status of preparations among organizations in September 2009 with May 2009. Companies continue to be concerned about the virus, also known as swine flu, but their plans have shifted since the spring.

In May 2009, only 40 percent of organizations polled said they expected that the illness would have a moderate negative impact on them, while 57 percent said it would have no negative impact. In September 2009, however, 64 percent of respondents said the pandemic will have a moderate negative impact on their operations, while only 33 percent predicted that they will be spared negative impact. In each survey period, 3 percent expected a large negative impact on operations.

Small organizations (47 percent of those polled) are more likely than mid-sized (27 percent) and large ones (31 percent) to report that a pandemic will have no negative impact on their overall business operations. Mid-sized firms (71 percent of respondents) are more likely than small companies (52 percent) to forecast a moderate negative impact on operations.

From May to September 2009, the percentage of organizations reporting that they had a disaster preparedness plan for a major H1N1 virus outbreak declined slightly. Publicly owned for-profit and nonprofit organizations are more likely than privately owned for-profit organizations to have such a plan. Large companies are more likely than small ones to have a flu disaster plan.

The latest SHRM H1N1 poll, released Oct. 19, 2009, was fielded Sept. 15-28, 2009, building on similar questions asked of a randomly selected sample of SHRM members in May 2009.

Most companies that SHRM polled in September 2009 are not changing their paid leave policies during the flu season. Thirty-nine percent have modified their policies or plan to modify their policies to require a medical statement that an employee who has been sick can return to work. Twenty-seven percent of respondents have changed or plan to change their leave policies to accommodate persons in high-risk groups for H1N1 complications, such as pregnant women.

The new poll found that many organizations are planning to offer H1N1 vaccine to their employees, though the details vary significantly:

39 percent will offer it free to employees.
18 percent will offer it but will charge employees.
15 percent will offer vaccine to family members of employees, but employees will have to pay for it.
7 percent will offer it free to family members of employees.
7 percent will offer vaccine free only to at-risk employees.
6 percent will provide vaccine only to at-risk employees, and employees will have to pay for it.
Educating employees on flu prevention measures is the top strategy HR professionals are using to reduce the spread of the H1N1 virus in the workplace, with 89 percent of organizations providing such education. The next most common strategy is monitoring the situation by following guidance from governmental agencies and other organizations, used by 84 percent of SHRM poll respondents. An equal number are making available hand sanitizer, other disinfectants, masks and other flu prevention tools.

Three-fourths of companies say they have developed an employee communication strategy related to the virus. Almost that many organizations say they have informed employees not to come to work if they have flu and cold-like symptoms. More than 70 percent are disinfecting common areas of the workplace frequently.

Strategies that have not yet been implemented but are planned by organizations include:

Sending home those employees who come to work with flu and cold-like symptoms, planned by half of organizations polled.
Setting up telecommuting options for employees if there is an H1N1 virus outbreak in the employer’s area or region; 32 percent.
Informing employees not to come to work if they have flu and cold-like symptoms; 23 percent.
Securing anti-viral flu medication (e.g., Tamiflu) for employees (e.g., working with health care providers to ensure adequate medication supplies for employees); 16 percent.
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Most companies are not changing
their paid leave policies
during the flu season.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Organizations responding to the SHRM poll have made a variety of changes regarding employee travel since May 2009. More have implemented alternatives to business travel, such as use of video or audio conferencing. And more are restricting nonessential business travel in general. However, fewer companies say they are restricting employee business travel to and from regions where the H1N1 virus is confirmed; fewer are limiting business visitors from virus-affected regions; and fewer are curtailing product shipments to or from affected regions in the United States or elsewhere.

The proportion of organizations securing antiviral flu medication such as Tamiflu for employees dropped significantly from May 2009 to September 2009, from 52 percent of those polled to 25 percent.

Modest Hiring Gains for Manufacturing, Services Expected in October

2009-10-06T11:39:00.000-07:00

The U.S. job market should offer increased opportunities for workers in the manufacturing and service sectors in October 2009, according to the Society for Human Resource Management’s (SHRM) Leading Indicators of National Employment (LINE) survey report for October 2009.

Though hiring was down in September 2009 compared with September 2008, the latest LINE report marks the fourth straight month that job additions will outpace layoffs in both the manufacturing and service sectors. September 2009 vacancies increased from September 2008 in three out of four job categories for manufacturing and services.

“Though the labor market remains weak, the pace of layoffs does appear to have slowed, and job seekers may find increased opportunities in both the manufacturing and service sectors in October,” said Jennifer Schramm, manager, SHRM workplace trends and forecasting. “Exempt job vacancies rose in both sectors and in nonexempt service-sector jobs, another indication that labor market conditions might be improving slightly.”

Employment Expectations	Manufacturing	Service
Hiring will surpass layoffs in October 2009 in both the manufacturing and service sectors.	-2.5	-6.4
Recruiting Difficulty
Both sectors reported little difficulty in finding top-level talent in September 2009.	-9.9	-10.1
New-Hire Compensation
Wages and benefits packages in both sectors rose at the slowest rate in five years during September 2009.	-6.9	-4.9

Source: SHRM Leading Indicators of National Employment (LINE), www.shrm.org/line.

The LINE employment report examines four key areas: employers’ hiring expectations, new-hire compensation, difficulty in recruiting top-level talent and job vacancies. It is based on a monthly survey of private-sector human resource professionals at more than 500 manufacturing and 500 service-sector companies. These sectors employ more than 90 percent of the nation’s private-sector workers.

Employment, Vacancy Expectations

The LINE employment expectations index provides an early indication of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) numbers. The index has tracked in lockstep with national economic patterns since the recession began in December 2007. The last time the year-over-year change in this index was positive was November 2007. That will not change in October 2009, but for the fourth month in a row, more employers in the manufacturing and service sectors will add jobs rather than conduct layoffs.

In the manufacturing sector, a net total of 17.9 percent of respondents reported they will add jobs in October 2009 (33.3 percent will add jobs, 15.4 percent will eliminate jobs). That represents the highest net gain in hiring for manufacturing since October 2008. In the service sector, a net total of 13.4 percent of companies will add jobs in October 2009, the sixth straight month that the hiring rate will surpass the layoff rate in that sector.

LINE data cover exempt vacancies, or primarily salaried positions, and nonexempt vacancies, which are mostly hourly employees. Changes in the number of job vacancies can be one of the earliest indicators of a shift in the balance between labor supply and demand.

Vacancies, or open positions that employers are trying to fill, for salaried jobs inched up in both sectors in September 2009, according to the LINE report. In the manufacturing sector, a net total of 10.7 percent of respondents reported increases in exempt vacancies in September 2009 (19.3 percent reported increases, 8.6 percent reported decreases). This is an increase of 2.8 percent from September 2008, and the second consecutive month that exempt vacancies have increased from the previous year.

In the service sector, a net total of 0.4 percent of respondents reported increases in exempt vacancies in September 2009 (10.9 percent reported increases, 10.5 percent reported decreases). For the service sector, this is the second consecutive month that exempt vacancies have risen from the previous year.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
‘Many organizations may hold off on adding
to overall head count while they try
to gauge the strength of the economy.’

Jennifer Schramm, manager, SHRM workplace trends and forecasting
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Vacancies for nonexempt positions—or hourly jobs—also increased in the service sector in September 2009; however, they decreased in the manufacturing sector.

For nonexempt service positions, a net total of 6.9 percent reported increased vacancies in September 2009 (24.3 percent increased, 17.4 percent decreased). This marked a small jump from September 2008, when a net total of 0.8 percent of service companies reported increases in nonexempt vacancies.

A net total of 8.7 percent of manufacturing respondents reported that nonexempt vacancies increased in September (20.5 percent increased, 11.8 percent decreased). This is a net decline from September 2008, but the fact that more manufacturers had increased vacancies during the month suggests that work is being ramped up slowly at some companies.

In addition, the Federal Reserve reported that industrial production increased for the second straight month in August 2009.

“It is too soon to tell when demand might pick up,” said Schramm. “Many organizations may hold off on adding to overall head count while they try to gauge the strength of the economy. Instead they may try to make up for lost revenue by boosting the productivity of their existing staff or by taking on temporary workers.”

Recruiting Difficulty, New-Hire Compensation

Should companies choose to hire, however, there is skilled talent to be had. Both sectors reported little difficulty in landing top-level talent in September 2009, although the rate of increase in new-hire compensation falls behind the previous year for the 12th straight month.

LINE’s recruiting difficulty index measures how difficult it is for firms to recruit candidates to fill the positions of greatest strategic importance to their companies. For the seventh consecutive month, LINE recorded single-digit response levels for those reporting increased difficulty with recruiting in September 2009. The low response totals can likely be attributed to fewer HR professionals engaged in recruiting during the economic downturn. And with an increased number of people looking for work, HR professionals can afford to be selective.

In the manufacturing sector, a net of 10.8 percent of companies reported less difficulty with recruiting in September 2009 (3.2 percent had more difficulty, 14.0 percent had less). In the service sector, a net of 7.3 percent of companies had less difficulty recruiting (9.8 percent had more difficulty, 17.1 percent had less).

With millions of people already seeking work and many others expected to resume their job searches as the economy improves, this trend in the LINE recruiting difficulty index is not likely to reverse soon.

The rate of increase for new-hire compensation has been falling for a year as some companies have been reducing the wages and benefits they are offering new hires in an effort to control costs. For the 12th straight month, increases in wages and benefits packages in September 2009 will fall behind totals from the previous year.

In the manufacturing sector, a net total of 0.3 percent of respondents said they would decrease new-hire compensation in September 2009 (3.2 percent increased, 3.5 percent decreased). That is the lowest September response total in five years for manufacturers reporting increases to new-hire compensation.

But in the service sector, more companies raised new-hire compensation rather than reduced it in September 2009. A net total of 5.6 percent of companies increased wages and benefits packages for new hires (6.9 percent increased, 1.3 percent decreased).

Still, this was a drop of 4.9 percent from September 2008, when a net total of 10.5 percent of service companies increased new-hire compensation.

“Recruiting difficulty and new-hire compensation rates remain down, indicating that this is still a very tough market for job seekers,” said Schramm.

Workforce readiness credentials demonstrate to businesses that potential employees have the skills needed to succeed.

2009-09-08T10:40:00.001-07:00

By Diane Cadrain

At the crossroads where education meets employment, in community colleges and state one-stop centers, job seekers are flocking to work readiness certification programs. Employers value these work readiness or career readiness credentials because they document and verify that a job seeker has the skills and mind-set to perform either entry- or higher-level work. Job seekers want them because they prove that a person has the right academic and workplace competencies.

And money is available. The federal stimulus bill—the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009—has made more than $3.5 billion available for training. That money, says Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, will help dislocated workers "retool their skills and re-establish themselves in viable career paths."

Workforce readiness credentials provide jobless Americans with an opportunity to expand their skills and a demonstrable yardstick of their abilities and progress. For employers, many of whom say they can’t find enough qualified workers regardless of the nation’s economy, work readiness certifications help to bridge the gap between worker skill levels and the demand level for skills.

There are a number of programs where companies can look to find potential employees with the right skills, but a few programs dominate the field. Here’s a look at the most robust of them.

National Work Readiness Credential (NWRC)

This certification program, created by workforce development authorities in five jurisdictions (the District of Columbia, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island and Washington), describes itself as a universal, transferable, portable national standard for work readiness. The NWRC is in use in 24 states, at sites varying from state labor departments to school districts, regional workforce boards and community colleges.

"Participation is increasing. We’re getting a lot of inquiries," says Joe Mizereck, executive director of the National Work Readiness Council, the organization overseeing and managing the use of the credential. He notes that "we’ve added 15 to 20 [testing and evaluation] sites" over a two- to three-month period.

The credential is appropriate for those who are entering the workforce for the first time, those returning to the workforce after some time away and those transitioning from one industry to another. It’s designed to develop the skills needed for typical entry-level jobs, defined as non-supervisory, non-professional positions for which one doesn’t need technical education beyond on-the-job training.

"The four test areas are math, reading, oral language and situational judgment. We test for reading and math in the context of business situations," explains Mizereck.

In the retail world, where customer service is crucial, Mizereck says, retailers like drug chain CVS and discount chain Dollar General value the NWRC for its ability to test for soft skills such as situational judgment.

"Situational judgment stresses the value of working on a team, of calling in sick when you can’t come to work," Mizereck explains. "Employers say, ‘If you can give us people with soft skills, we’ll train them.’ So we help people develop the soft skills."

National Career Readiness Certificate (NCRC)

Not to be confused with the National Work Readiness Credential, this certification program is a product of national testing organization ACT—known for its college testing programs—and is based on ACT’s WorkKeys system. It tests for core employability skills in three areas: reading for information, locating information and applied math. It also tests for work habits such as carefulness, cooperation, discipline and drive.

"Over half the states use WorkKeys to power their career readiness certification programs," says Martin Scaglione, president and COO of the ACT Workforce Development Division.

The process starts with job profiling, which involves looking at jobs, identifying tasks and doing an analysis of skills required to be successful at those tasks. "The profiling is a key component," says Scaglione.

Employer input starts there, as a certified job profiler from a local technical college works with company employees who are subject-matter experts in each job. Together, the profiler and employee experts work to define the tasks and skills needed to perform each job successfully. Once the job profiles are completed, the company has a tool to accurately describe to educators, students and job applicants the specific job skills needed.

"At this point ACT has 16,000 profiles, identifying tasks on jobs from baker to zookeeper, and covering 85 percent of all jobs today," says Scaglione. The WorkKeys tests result from the profiling process.

"Some states have their own names for the certificate—for example, Georgia calls it Georgia Work Ready, and Florida calls it Florida Ready to Work," Scaglione adds.

States that use the NCRC under their own state-specific names include, in addition to Florida and Georgia, Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Montana, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia and Wyoming. States that use the NCRC under its own name include Alaska, Iowa, Louisiana, Michigan, New Mexico, Ohio and Oregon (pending). Regardless of what name is used, the programs are functional equivalents.

State workforce development agencies typically administer the certification programs. In Georgia, for example, the Georgia Work Ready program is the keystone of the Governor’s Office of Workforce Development.

Deborah Lyons, executive director of the Governor’s Office of Workforce Development, says business is booming at Georgia Work Ready. "We’re now giving out 5,000 certificates a month, compared to a more usual average of about 3,000. In the last 18 months, 53,000 were earned."

The program targets four groups: high school seniors, college and technical college students, the unemployed, and GED holders, says Lyons, and employers have a lot of input on the delivery of Georgia Work Ready training.

Applicant participation begins with administration of the Georgia Work Ready assessment, after which the test taker receives scores in applied mathematics, locating information and reading for information. Then a Georgia Work Ready administrator at a local technical college will administer "gap training"—a program that allows test takers to focus on the areas where they need to improve.

"On a regional level, we build strategies around particular industries," explains Lyons. "We get industry leaders to build the initiative. They identify high-demand jobs, identify the necessary training and build career pathways."

One example of Georgia Work Ready’s vigor is its bioscience initiative, a linking of education, workforce development and training to the needs of the bioscience industry, which, in a 13-county area of north central Georgia, includes entities such as the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Emory University, the University of Georgia, and a growing number of pharmaceutical and medical manufacturing companies. In that geographic area, Georgia Work Ready has produced specialized training programs to develop a skilled labor pool able to work in clinical, research and manufacturing jobs in the industry.

And the training and certification are transportable across state lines. "Everyone tested gets a number," says Lyons. "Employers go on the site, key in a number and get that person’s score. That person is in the national WorkKeys database."

In Michigan, which started using the credential through its local workforce agencies in July 2009, state workforce development officials are reaching out to employers to make sure that they understand the value of the credential.

"Employer involvement is a critical part of our strategy," says Keenan Wade, manager of the Business and Industry Training Section of the Michigan Department of Energy, Labor, and Economic Growth. "They have to value it."

Workforce Skills Certification System (WSCS)

The WSCS is a product of Comprehensive Adult Student Assessment Systems (CASAS), a California-based organization that is also the creator of a number of other assessment tools. Originally created by a consortium of schools and employers in the Sacramento area, the WSCS is currently in use at the Seattle/King’s County Workforce Board in Washington state and at the Hartford Workforce Board in Connecticut.

The WSCS assesses basic skills in people who are functioning at the lower end of the skills continuum. Those who receive the certification are considered capable of passing a GED. Its target population includes people new to the workforce, incumbent workers and dislocated workers.

CASAS Program Director Jane Eguez says the WSCS complements the ACT WorkKeys program. "They measure different types of skills," says Eguez. "WorkKeys measures skills at a higher level. The WSCS is the beginning of the continuum, and the ACT test is at the end."

Workforce Alliance for Growth
In the Economy (WAGE)

This program only operates in Arkansas, but participation there is booming. "We’ve served 8 percent more students from March 1 to May 17, 2009, than in the same period last year, which equates to 511 students," says WAGE Coordinator Paige Cox. "Last year, we opened two new WAGE centers, one in Camden and one in Little Rock."

The WAGE program, which other states have studied, targets people new to the workforce and incumbent workers whose skills range from a sixth-grade to a 12th-grade level.

As with the other certification programs, employers customize the training, individually and on the local level.

"Our instructors go out into business and industry and do a ‘literacy task analysis,’ analyzing the skills needed to be successful on a particular job," says Cox. "Then they test employees’ current skill levels and customize the training."

In fact, Cox says, WAGE is so successful in Arkansas that a number of businesses there require WAGE certification and give WAGE certificate holders preference in hiring. "We’re providing the skills that business finds useful," says Cox. "WAGE participants are getting jobs."

Gradual Improvement Expected for August Hiring

2009-08-12T05:54:00.001-07:00

8/7/2009 By Theresa Minton-Eversole

Layoffs continue to permeate the labor market, but more companies in the manufacturing and service sectors are hiring compared with the first few months of 2009, according to the Society for Human Resource Management’s (SHRM) Leading Indicators of National Employment (LINE) Report survey for August 2009.

Hiring expectations in August will lag from those of 2008. Though hiring is down in August 2009 compared with the same time in 2008, more companies in the manufacturing and service sectors will add jobs rather than conduct layoffs. In fact, August 2008 marks the highest level of hiring in the manufacturing sector since October 2008. In the service sector in August, the hiring rate will surpass the layoff rate for the fourth consecutive month.

This news builds on some recent evidence that the job market is gradually improving, albeit very slowly.

“Though year-over-year increases in the employment expectation index have not been positive since November 2007 and remain down in August, this is the second month in a row when more employers in both the manufacturing and service sectors expect to add jobs rather than conduct layoffs,” noted Jennifer Schramm, manager, SHRM workforce trends and forecasting.

Wages and benefits packages for new workers, however, continue to decline. New-hire compensation rose at the slowest rate in July 2009 in five years in the manufacturing and service sectors.

Employment Expectations	Manufacturing	Service
Employment expectations are at five-year lows for August in both manufacturing and service sectors.	-11.5	-2.8
Recruiting Difficulty
Recruiting difficulty in both sectors in July 2009 is down compared with a year ago.	-5.5	-29.7
New-Hire Compensation
The rate of increase for wages and benefits packages in July 2009 has fallen compared with a year ago in both sectors.	-0.7	-8.2
Source: SHRM Leading Indicators of National Employment (LINE), www.shrm.org/line.

The LINE Report examines four key areas: employers’ hiring expectations, new-hire compensation, difficulty in recruiting top-level talent and job vacancies. It is based on a monthly survey of private-sector human resource professionals at more than 500 manufacturing- and 500 service-sector companies. Together, these two sectors employ more than 90 percent of the nation’s private-sector workers. The SHRM LINE indices are not seasonally adjusted, however, so users are encouraged to take seasonality into consideration by comparing the LINE indices for the current month with the comparable LINE indices for the same month one year earlier.

Employment Expectations, Recruiting Difficulty

The LINE Report’s employment expectations index has tracked in lockstep with national economic patterns noted by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) since December 2007, when the nonprofit National Bureau of Economic Research said the recession began. The last time the year-over-year change in this index was positive was November 2007. That more employers in the manufacturing and service sectors will add jobs rather than conduct layoffs in August 2009 will not change that fact.

In the manufacturing sector, a net total of 11.0 percent of respondents reported they will add jobs in August 2009. In the service sector, a net total of 16.9 percent of companies will add jobs in August.

LINE’s recruiting difficulty index measures how difficult it is for firms to recruit candidates to fill the positions of greatest strategic importance to their companies.

“Recruiting difficulty continues to hover at record lows,” said Schramm. “For the first time in five years in July [2009] and for the fifth consecutive month this year, LINE recorded single-digit response levels for those reporting increased difficulty with recruiting.”

The low response totals can likely be attributed to fewer HR professionals engaging in recruiting coupled with an increased number of people looking for work. Under such circumstances, HR professionals can afford to be selective.

In the manufacturing sector, a net of 13.1 percent of companies reported less difficulty with recruiting in July 2009 (2.8 percent had more difficulty, 15.9 percent had less). This is the second year in a row in July that more manufacturers reported an easier time recruiting in July than those who reported having more difficulty.

In the service sector, a net of 19.9 percent of companies had less difficulty recruiting in July 2009 (3.0 percent had more difficulty, 22.9 percent had less). With millions of people seeking work and fewer opportunities that exist, this trend in the LINE recruiting difficulty index is not likely to reverse in the near future.

New-Hire Compensation

With hiring down during the recession and a large pool of job seekers in the market, some companies are reducing the wages and benefits they are offering new hires in an effort to control costs.

In the manufacturing sector, a net total of 0.3 percent of respondents said they would decrease new-hire compensation in July 2009 (3.1 percent increased, 3.4 percent decreased). That’s the lowest July response total in five years for manufacturers reporting increases to new-hire compensation.

In the service sector, the trend of reducing new-hire salaries and benefits was slightly more pronounced. A net total of 1.6 percent of companies reduced wages and benefits packages for new hires in July 2009 (2.4 percent increased, 4.0 percent decreased).

“Many companies are continuing to reduce the wages and benefits they are offering new hires,” Schramm said. “With so many job seekers out looking, employers are finding it much easier to shrink these new-hire pay packages in their efforts to control costs and still find a ready pool of qualified job candidates willing to work at these reduced rates.”

Exempt, Nonexempt Job Vacancies

LINE Report data cover exempt vacancies, or primarily salaried positions, and nonexempt vacancies, mostly hourly wage positions.

In the manufacturing sector, a net total of 3.0 percent of respondents reported increases in exempt vacancies in July 2009 (15.3 percent reported increases, 12.3 percent reported decreases). Among the major job sectors, manufacturing had the second-lowest number of job openings in May 2009, trailing only the construction industry, according to the BLS.

In the service sector, a net total of 10.3 percent of respondents reported declines in exempt vacancies in July 2009 (12.0 percent reported increases, 22.3 percent reported decreases). The tight hiring conditions detailed in LINE match other data. In May 2009, there were 2.6 million job openings in the U.S.—a decline of 1.5 million from May 2008, according to the BLS.

In contrast, nonexempt employment typically decreases by a greater percentage than exempt employment during economic downturns and increases by a larger percentage during economic expansions. Nonexempt vacancy levels did not change much in July 2009 from the same time in 2008 in either sector.

A net total of 6.9 percent of manufacturing respondents reported that nonexempt vacancies decreased in July 2009 (17.2 percent increased, 10.3 percent decreased). July’s data matches that of July 2008, when manufacturing respondents also reported a slight increase in nonexempt vacancies.

For nonexempt service positions, a net total of 6.1 percent reported increased vacancies in July 2009 (18.2 percent increased, 12.1 percent decreased).

Q3 Employment Outlook: More Market Optimism, Dismal Hiring Plans

2009-08-04T09:28:00.000-07:00

By Theresa Minton-Eversole

There are signs of increased faith in the U.S. job market for the third quarter of 2009, although many companies are still having difficulties projecting their hiring plans, according to the latest Labor Market Outlook (LMO) Survey by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM).

The survey examines recruiting and hiring trends across six months based on a quarterly survey of public- and private-sector human resource professionals at small, medium and large U.S. firms who have a direct role in the staffing decisions at their companies.

“The good news is that HR professionals are more optimistic about the third quarter than they were in the first half of the year,” said Jennifer Schramm, SHRM’s manager of workplace trends and forecasting. “But the bad news is that they continue to forecast fairly flat payrolls throughout the quarter.”

Thirty-five percent of the nearly 500 HR professionals who responded to an e-mail survey sent to SHRM members in February 2009 said they believe that the job market will improve somewhat during the third quarter of 2009. Another 29 percent said they were neither optimistic nor pessimistic about job growth during the quarter.

Thirty-seven percent of respondents said they were pessimistic about U.S. job growth and expect increased job losses. This, however, is a major reversal from the LMO survey for the second quarter of 2009, when 70 percent of respondents expressed pessimism and predicted deeper cuts in the job market.

The degree of optimism did not vary much by U.S. geographical region. Not surprisingly, respondents from the Midwest and Southeast regions expressed the highest degree of pessimism (39 percent), while those in the West expressed the greatest degree of optimism (41 percent).

Even with the boost in confidence, many respondents said their companies are planning to hold the line on hiring in the third quarter. A majority of respondents (56 percent) said they will remain at their current staffing levels in the third quarter. In every size category of company that responded to the survey, at least 72 percent of respondents plan to keep payrolls flat or eliminate jobs in the third quarter of 2009. The highest concentration of respondents who are maintaining or decreasing total staff (86 percent) came from large companies, those with more than 500 employees.

Twenty-one percent of companies expect to hire in the third quarter. Privately owned for-profit entities (29 percent) report adding the most jobs, followed by the government sector (24 percent), publicly owned for-profit companies (18 percent) and nonprofits (14 percent).

Government data support these findings, showing that hiring conditions are still difficult but are improving. In May 2009, for example, employers eliminated 345,000 jobs—a terrible month by many standards but only about half the average monthly decline for the prior six months, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

Risks of Wage Stagnation

Though less attention has been paid to the trend, many companies are increasing their use of wage freezes and salary cuts. The result: Wage growth has slowed to levels not seen in decades. If the trend continues, experts say, it could have a prolonged negative impact on the country’s economic recovery.

While little current data is available to suggest that wages have taken a downward spiral, there is evidence of corporate cutbacks used to control operating costs. For example, companies that intend to raise salaries in 2009 intend to increase workers’ wages only by a median 2.5 percent, according to SHRM’s 2009 Human Capital Benchmarking Survey. This is down from 3.5 percent in 2008 and the lowest increase in the survey’s five-year history.

Equally troubling, writes Joe Coombs, report author and specialist for SHRM workplace trends and forecasting, is that some of the largest U.S. job sectors are raising salaries below that median rate in 2009. Take durable goods: Manufacturers are planning a nominal 1.5 percent wage increase, while professional, scientific and technical services companies collectively expect to increase wages by only 1.9 percent, according to survey data. Further, government sector employers report they’ll raise salaries by just 2.1 percent in 2009.

Salary cuts, unlike freezes, are extremely rare during periods of slow economic growth, though many employers are not shying away from them during this recession. Compensation for new hires is being curbed at a rapid rate, according to data from SHRM’s Leading Indicators of National Employment (LINE) Report, which show that the rate of increase for new-hire compensation from November 2008 to June 2009 fell in the manufacturing and service sectors from the previous year.

Because new-hire compensation growth is a leading indicator of overall wage trends, this suggests that at this point in the recession, overall compensation rates for all workers might begin to be affected.

The BLS has tracked compensation costs for more than 30 years on a quarterly basis, and its employment cost index (ECI) numbers for the first quarter of 2009 caused many observers to do a double-take. For the January to March 2009 time frame, wages and salaries for private industry workers rose just 0.2 percent from the previous quarter—the lowest increase since the BLS began recording the data in 1975.

“There is a fair amount of information that shows things are particularly weak,” said BLS economist Wayne Shelly in the report. “You can clearly see the deceleration.”

Shelly noted, however, that for the past 10 years the index has remained relatively flat and has stayed ahead of the Consumer Price Index. And low inflation has made it harder for employees to get upset over small pay increases.

If unemployment remains elevated for years and is coupled with depressed wages, it will have a resounding effect on the economy’s ability to recover. For starters, low salary growth rates will impact consumer spending, which could lead to a significantly negative impact on the overall economy.

In addition, “the suppression of wage increases is clearly a potential morale killer for employees,” writes Coombs. “It could also lead to loss of loyalty from workers and, without adequate compensation, top-tier talent can quickly develop a roving eye for work elsewhere. [So] for some small employers, this may be a good opportunity to hire highly qualified job candidates.”

Minimum wage to rise Friday

2009-07-22T12:56:00.001-07:00

On Friday, the last of a three-phase increase in the federal minimum wage goes into effect. The base pay level of $7.25 an hour replaces Florida’s current minimum wage of $7.21 an hour.

While 4 cents may not seem like a lot to Florida workers, the hike is an 11 percent increase from the $6.55 an hour that was mandated by federal law.

The state’s minimum wage was raised to $7.21 in January from $6.79 in 2008.

The minimum wage applies to all employees who are eligible, and is different for employees who work off of tips.

Florida’s current rate for those in the latter category – $4.19 an hour plus tips – will increase to $4.23 on Friday.

State law requires the Florida Agency for Workforce Innovation to calculate a new minimum wage each year and publish it on Jan. 1.

Employees who are entitled to receive minimum wage, but are not paid the minimum wage, can sue their employers for violating Florida's minimum wage law.

Global Relocation Trends Favor Older Workers

2009-07-01T12:34:00.000-07:00

6/29/2009 By Bill Leonard

An uncertain global economy has reduced the number of international assignments for employees of multinational corporations, according to a recent report released by Brookfield Global Relocation Services (Brookfield GRS).

Two-thirds of survey respondents from 180 multinational companies reported that their organizations planned to send fewer employees on international assignments in 2009 or, at most, maintain their current levels of international assignments. Nearly 70 percent of the respondents also reported that they are cutting the costs of international assignments as a direct response to global economic conditions—compared to 58 percent of the respondents in 2008.

“This year’s survey makes clear that many multinational companies have adopted a cautious wait-and-see approach, as concerns over the global economy continue to cast a shadow over their business,” said Rick Schwartz, president of Brookfield GRS.

Respondents also reported that the employees assigned to work overseas tend to be older and more experienced workers. The survey results showed that approximately 9 percent of expatriate workers for the responding companies were between the ages of 20 and 29—the lowest percentage for that age group in the annual survey’s 14-year history. According to researchers with Brookfield GRS, employers favor older and more experienced employees because they have proven track records and reduce the risks for turnover and incomplete assignments.

The top challenges businesses face when relocating employees overseas, according to the survey results, were:

Controlling the overall cost of assignments.
Finding suitable candidates.
Controlling policy exceptions.
The survey did find that the number of women sent on international assignments has remained relatively stable for the past two years, and female expatriates represent approximately 20 percent of expatriate employees. The peak percentage for female expatriate employees was 23 percent in 2005, according to survey’s statistics.

Brookfield GRS researchers also examined some of the top reasons for assignment failures and reasons for refusing international assignments. Survey participants were asked to rank the top 10 reasons for assignment refusals. “Family concerns” topped the list of reasons followed by “spouse’s career concerns.”

China was ranked as the top relocation destination, followed by the U.S., the United Kingdom, Singapore and Switzerland. In addition, China topped the list for presenting the greatest challenges to international assignments due to the difficulty of locating suitable housing and schools and finding adequate medical care. Chinese immigration rules, tax laws and compliance to local regulations also pose significant challenges to expatriate relocations, the survey found.

Recruitment And Retention Best Practices Built Into Total Compensation Statement Software

2009-06-17T13:22:00.001-07:00

Total Rewards Software, Inc., the industry leader in on-demand total compensation statement software has developed a best practice methodology called Critical Success Factor 360. This program combines its on-demand software with all of its best practice modules into a systematic, 360-degree recruitment and retention, communication platform.

"Traditionally, employers have provided total rewards statements to their employees and hoped for the best. They had no visibility into whether employees viewed their statements, what improvements they would like to see, or even if they found value in the statements," said Char Ruppel, VP of Business Development at Total Rewards Software. "With our Critical Success Factor 360 best practice methodology, employers can now promote, educate, track, measure, survey and receive feedback about their total rewards' communication efforts. In addition, the HR department can provide current total compensation data analysis to upper management with our HR Executive Dashboard Module."

Besides the Dashboard Module, the Critical Success Factor 360 suite of modules also includes Candidate, Stock Option, Personalized FAQ, Analytics, and Survey/Feedback.

The on-demand total compensation statement software includes several versions -- Free, Professional and Enterprise Editions. A private-label version called the Agency Edition is also available and designed specifically for providers of employer services such as insurance brokers, third-party administrators and payroll providers.

Where the jobs are: location, location, location

2009-05-13T06:14:00.000-07:00

by Donna Rosato

The latest news on unemployment was as grim as expected: More than 5 million people have lost their jobs since the beginning of 2008 and the unemployment rate surged to 8.5% in March, the highest in 25 years, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday.

It may seem as if no place in the U.S. is untouched by job losses. But another report the BLS released last week reveals that the jobs market, like housing, is local. Every month, the BLS examines unemployment trends in 372 metropolitan regions (known as Metropolitan Statistical Areas or MSAs). The report lags the more well-known Employment Situation report by one month, so the data is from February. But it clearly shows that some places are weathering this recession better than others when it comes to jobs. According to the report, 14 areas posted jobless rates of at least 13%, including Detroit, Michigan and Fresno, California while 20 areas registered rates below 5% in February, including Ames, Iowa, Manhattan, Kansas, Lincoln, Nebraska , Lubbock, Texas and Lafayette, Louisiana.

Harvard economics professor Edward Glaeser says the disparity in unemployment in regions around the U.S. may seem random but it isn’t. According to Glaeser, some places are able to weather an economic downturn better because of specific characteristics of their local area. Not surprisingly, Glaeser’s research finds a strong correlation between a skilled workforce and lower unemployment. Currently, 15.1% of high school dropouts are unemployed while just 4.2% of college graduates are out of work. For people with a high school diploma, unemployment is around 9%. The higher the educational level of a metropolitan area, the lower the unemployment rate.

As in past recessions, there’s also a clear link between unemployment and manufacturing. Industries that have been declining for decades like textile, paper and car manufacturing are more likely to layoff masses of workers during a downturn. You can see that relationship at work in the MSA unemployment report, where old industrial cities like Detroit, Waterbury, Ct. and Youngstown, Ohio have double digit jobless rates.

Most interestingly, Glaeser finds that unemployment also is closely correlated with “job sprawl”. In MSAs where jobs are spread out and people have long commutes to work outside a city core, like Los Angeles and Detroit, unemployment is higher. Meanwhile, unemployment is lowest in areas where jobs are centralized. According to a Brookings Institute report released today more than 30% of jobs in utilities, finance, insurance and education are located within three miles of downtowns, while at least half of the jobs in manufacturing, construction, and retail are more than 10 miles away from central business districts.

Of course, you can’t always pick where you work. Family ties or a home purchase often keeps you in a particular geographic area. But if you are looking for work and have any flexibility to move, keep a close eye on the monthly MSA report if you want to know where the jobs are. – Donna Rosato

LINE: Employment Expectations at Four-Year Lows

2009-05-13T06:12:00.000-07:00

November 2007—18 months ago as of May 2009—was the last month the Leading Indicators of National Employment (LINE) hiring index was positive, according to the Society for Human Resource Management’s latest LINE data.

The LINE Report examines four key areas—employers’ hiring expectations, new-hire compensation, difficulty in recruiting top-level talent, and job vacancies.

Its findings are based on a monthly survey of HR professionals at more than 500 manufacturing and 500 private service-sector companies. Together, these sectors comprise more than 90 percent of America’s private-sector employment.

Employment expectations for May 2009 are at four-year lows for manufacturing and service sectors—down 34.8 percent for manufacturing and 18.1 percent for service—the report found.

“LINE’s employment expectations index has been negative since December 2007, which is the month when federal officials say the recession began,” observed Jennifer Schramm, SHRM’s manager of workplace trends and forecasting.

“While employment expectations for May 2009 are still showing a net annual decline, the numbers are not as devastating as they have been over the previous few months,” she told SHRM Online.

Hiring expectations for May 2009—while down—are not as severe as in previous months, according to the report.

Although the employment expectations index is still down compared to spring of 2008, Schramm added, “more members of the manufacturing and service sectors say they will add to their payrolls in May than have in the past several months, so we will be watching this index closely to see if this trend continues.”

April 2009 was the first April in four years that more manufacturers reported an easier time recruiting. There even was less difficulty in recruiting talent among the service sector.

“With millions of people seeking work and fewer opportunities that exist, the LINE recruiting difficulty index is not likely to reverse this trend in the near future,” the LINE report states.

New-Hire Compensation

Wages and benefits packages for new hires in April 2009 also dropped dramatically compared to April 2008 for both sectors.

“Although many companies have scuttled hiring plans during the recession and are cutting jobs, many are also turning to wage and benefit cuts in an ongoing effort to control costs,” the report says.

In April 2009, a net 2.3 percent of LINE respondents noted they would decrease new-hire compensation in the manufacturing sector—the lowest April response total in LINE’s four-year history.

As for the service sector, “the trend of slashing salaries and benefits was even more pronounced” during that same period, according to the LINE report. It found a net total of 12.2 percent of companies reporting reduced wages and benefits packages for new hires in April 2009.

The SHRM LINE Report is released at 9 a.m. Eastern time on the third Friday following the conclusion of the week containing the 12th of the month. The SHRM employment expectations index describes the same time period referenced approximately one month later in the Employment Situation Report issued by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Sanders: Recession Requires a Responsibility Revolution

2009-04-29T11:29:00.000-07:00

4/28/2009

By Theresa Minton-Eversole

LAS VEGAS—There’s only one way to shake off the recessionary doldrums that hold the country in an economic vise grip, according to Tim Sanders, best-selling author and former Yahoo! leadership coach and chief solutions officer.

“When times get tough, people go through their own personal recession. And when attitudes go negative, people and companies must get inspirational,” said Sanders on April 28, 2009, during the opening keynote session of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) Staffing Management Conference & Exposition, being held here through April 30. “The secret to turning the negativity around is to create an emotional compensation plan. You must make yourself emotionally attractive. Companies must make themselves emotionally attractive.”

Psychologists call it the “likeability factor,” Sanders explained. “People who have the likeability factor have the ability to consistently create positive emotional experiences in the lives of other people. And because they do it on such a consistent basis, they get into the positive feedback mode.” They make people feel good about themselves every day, and these folks in turn say, “You’re making a positive difference in the world,” which builds the likeable people back up so they can make that positive difference again the next day.

“Recessions are great equalizers,” he said. They bring out the best in the best people and the worst in the worst, contributing to a scarcity mind-set of defensiveness, negativity and lack of confidence that eventually alters one’s perception of the world.

The Mutterers

Perspective moves from thoughts to words to actions, negative or positive. “So if you want to get your mojo back, your positive perspective must be cultivated.” The way to do that, Sanders said, is to “change your diet and exercise.

“Clean up your diet by getting rid of all the negative reporting, negative people and bad influences in your life,” he said, adding that people can practice being a more positive influence on others by simply focusing more on their e-mail etiquette.

“E-mail is one of the greatest sources of frustration in the workplace, second only to change,” Sanders said, offering suggestions for how to clean it up:

RULE #1: Communicate no bad news through e-mail. “Remember when you used to have to wait for someone to leave the office before you left them a voice mail?”

RULE #2: Stop sending e-mails during nonbusiness hours. “Heavy weekend e-mailers [managers] have three times more regretful turnover than those managers who expect e-mails to stop after business hours. So how do you kick the habit? Just click on ‘File,’ then ‘Offline.’ ”

RULE #3: Think before you “forward.” “Only a third of the people scroll down through an entire e-mail before forwarding to others,” which he said could lead to embarrassment if not career sabotage. “The people who send the most e-mails are the most deleted and the least likely to be read or responded to. So stay relevant.”

RULE #4: Stamp out “Reply to All.” Enough said.

Sanders said there are several attributes that highly likeable people possess, noting that honing these attributes can lead not only to great personal success but also to professional success:

Friendliness: “The only way to sustain this is to be authentic. For example, when you show up for a meeting, show up! Leave the ‘CrackBerry,’ the PDA, the iPod in your office, and be attentive. Turn off your computer screen when someone enters your office in order to give them your undivided attention. And obsess over keeping your word on the little promises you make.” This will show people you truly care about them, he said. “And be grateful, not for things, but for experiences you’ve had, the people who are in your life and your capabilities. Have you ever seen an unhappy grateful person?”

Relevance: The ability to develop a sincere interest in just a few people’s lives will do more for one’s career and life than learning a minimal amount about a whole lot of people, he said.

Empathy: “Every human leaks emotions. Help people understand that their feelings are facts. If you ‘accurately’ determine and understand all the feelings of people in a room, then you’re the best leader in the room.”

And what can companies do to make themselves emotionally attractive to all their stakeholders? Sanders made these suggestions:

“Stop hiring jerks, particularly high-potential jerks. You’ve got time, particularly now, to hire folks who are a good cultural match with the organization.”

Regarding the onboarding process: “Skip the policies and procedures; share how things are done in the organization and the company culture.” And stay engaged even after the new employees’ first days or months. Also, make hiring managers responsible for the continued success of the onboarding process and employees’ training and development by adding these goals to their performance goals.

Companies should promote a culture of continuous learning, work/life balance and wellness, Sanders said, adding that recent research shows that smoking and obesity percentages are rising because of the stresses of the economic downturn on individuals. “Double down on wellness to show employees the company really does care about them.”

Finally, he said, “Institute social compensation. Have your employees make meaning, not just money, in the world. Encourage community service, so that if they go, they’ll not only have to leave their job, they’ll have to leave their life.”

Theresa Minton-Eversole is an editor/manager for SHRM Online.

Have Cutbacks Peaked?

2009-04-29T11:28:00.000-07:00

Study: Companies’ cost-cutting plans slow in anticipation of economic recovery

U.S. employers’ efforts to battle the recession through cost-cutting actions such as layoffs and salary freezes might have peaked, according to an April 2009 update to an ongoing series of surveys by consultancy Watson Wyatt. A key finding: While some companies are still adopting measures such as salary and workweek reductions, cost-cutting plans for the next 12 months have been scaled back across the board in anticipation of an eventual recovery. Only one in four employers plan to increase their cost-cutting initiatives over the next 12 months, a sharp decline from the 51 percent that were planning more cost-cutting measures in February 2009.

According to the report, Effect of the Economic Crisis on HR Programs-- Update: April 2009, many U.S. employers have adopted a wait-and-see attitude, allowing them to make decisions over the coming months as they get a better sense of how long their companies will continue to be affected by the downturn.

The survey, with responses from 141 broad-based U.S. companies, was conducted in April 2009. At that time, most surveyed companies said they were planning:

• No further salary reductions (89 percent).

• No further salary freezes (76 percent).

• No further hiring freezes (67 percent).

• No further organizational restructuring changes (65 percent).

• No further layoffs (53 percent).

Although the majority of respondents were not planning any further salary reductions or salary freezes in the next 12 months, the number that had already made these changes had risen sharply from February to April 2009.

Majority of companies not planning cost-cutting actions for the next 12 months (following April 2009):

Action	Planning change in next 12 months (%)		Not planning change (%)
Action	Have already made change and expect to do so again	Have not made change yet but expect to in next 12 months	Have already made change and do not expect to make further changes	No changes made or expected
Layoffs/reductions in force	41%	5%	31%	22%
Organization-wide restructuring	24%	10%	25%	40%
Salary freeze	17%	7%	43%	33%
Reduced workweek	16%	4%	6%	75%
Salary reductions	7%	4%	14%	75%
Reduce employer 401(k)/403(b) match	4%	8%	18%	70%

“Companies have started to move into the next stage of their cost-cutting actions but are also looking ahead to an eventual recovery,” says Laury Sejen, global director of strategic rewards consulting at Watson Wyatt. “There is a recognition that employers will need to be poised for a turnaround, and that continuing some cost-cutting measures such as reductions in force can put them at a disadvantage once the economy improves.”

Pay and Bonuses Down – for Now

Pay increases are bonuses were down across the board for 2009, with lower merit increases and short-term incentive (STI) funding. Yet, companies feel more optimistic about the future, the survey shows, projecting merit increase budgets to be closer to previous years' levels:

• Companies planned to fund their STI plans at 69 percent in April 2009, down from 71 percent in February 2009.

• Only 17 percent of organizations took cost-cutting measures to protect bonus pool funding.

• Planned merit pay increases are expected to remain at 2 percent in 2009 but will increase to 3 percent in 2010.

401(k) Matches Cut

The number of companies that reduced their 401(k) match jumped by 10 percentage points, from 12 percent in February 2009 to 22 percent in April 2009. There has been a slight jump in the number of hardship withdrawals taken from 401(k) plans – 44 percent of respondents in April 2009 noticed an increase in withdrawals, compared with 35 percent in February 2009.

“Even though companies are beginning to anticipate the end of the current downturn, they are still under great pressure to cut costs,” says Laurie Bienstock, U.S. strategic rewards leader at Watson Wyatt. “For employers forced to make difficult decisions such as reducing salaries, it would be beneficial to follow up with consistent communication to reassure employees through this last push.”

Other Key Findings

Among additional survey highlights:

• Companies continue to add or increase restrictions to travel policies and eliminate/ reduce training. Those implementing these measures have increased from 69 percent to 77 percent of respondents (travel policy) and from 35 percent to 42 percent of respondents (training).

• For companies that have already frozen salaries or plan to freeze salaries in the next 12 months, 58 percent will institute these changes across the board for employees, while 36 percent will institute it for only certain employee populations.

• 31 percent who have already reduced salaries plan to reinstate them by the end of 2009. For those that have already reduced salaries, 37 percent plan to reinstate and build off them at the next merit increase.

Do More With Less. Cal Poly Talks Efficiencies In HR/Payroll

2009-04-22T08:17:00.000-07:00

- Interesting article from hrhub.com

In today's economic climate, organizations are feeling the pressure to do more with less. California Polytechnic State University found a technology solution that allows it to get more from its existing technology, is easy to use, and delivers a rapid return on investment — ImageNow.

Join Chris Blackburn and Lori Serna from Cal Poly as they discuss how ImageNow enterprise document management, imaging and workflow from Perceptive Software, combined with PeopleSoft from Oracle, gives Cal Poly a complete HR and payroll solution. ImageNow helps Cal Poly capture, organize and process résumés, W-4s, I-9s, benefit enrollment forms, performance reviews, pay and leave usage requests and more — all with the combined power of ImageNow and PeopleSoft HR and payroll systems.

With ImageNow and PeopleSoft, Cal Poly's HR and Payroll staff members instantly access the documents they need and route them across campus electronically. Find out how ImageNow helps Cal Poly staff members:

Improve service to employees
Cut storage and supply costs
Boost productivity by eliminating manual tasks
Become a paperless office using workflow
Enhance information sharing with other departments

Find the rest fo the article here.

Spring Temperatures Don't Thaw Employment Deep Freeze

2009-04-07T11:18:00.001-07:00

By Theresa Minton-Eversole

With a dearth of good news on the economic front, manufacturing and service sector companies will keep a tight rein on payrolls in April, according to the latest Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) Leading Indicators of National Employment (LINE) survey.

The LINE report examines four key areas: employers’ hiring expectations, new-hire compensation, difficulty in recruiting top-level talent and job vacancies.

Continuing the trend of recent months, April 2009 hiring expectations will hit four-year lows, and recruiting difficulty was nearly nonexistent in March 2009. Likewise, wages and benefits packages for new hires are shrinking, with employers in both sectors reporting decreases in new-hire compensation, which was at the lowest March levels in four years in both sectors.

Employment Expectations	Manufacturing	Service
Employment expectations for April 2009 at four-year lows in both manufacturing and service sectors.	-53.5	-40.7
Recruiting Difficulty
Recruiting difficulty in both sectors in March 2009 was down sharply compared with March 2008.	-24.7	-32.3
New-Hire Compensation
Wages and benefits packages for new hires continued to shrink in March 2009 compared with March 2008.	-10.0	-7.0

Source: SHRM Leading Indicators of National Employment (LINE)

Manufacturing, Service Sectors Still Shedding Jobs

By nearly a two-to-one margin, manufacturing sector survey respondents plan to eliminate jobs in April 2009 (31.2 percent will decrease payrolls, 16.7 percent will be hiring). The number of manufacturing companies adding jobs in April will fall by more than two-thirds from April 2008. April has traditionally been a strong month for manufacturing job growth. In April 2007, more than 60 percent of companies added to their payrolls. But the number of hiring companies has dwindled to 16.7 percent in just two years. The manufacturing sector lost 1.3 million jobs from the start of the recession in December 2007 through February 2009, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

Hiring in the service sector, while still far behind 2008 levels, had shown some promise in February and March 2009. During each of those months, more companies conducted hiring than layoffs. In April, however, the sector has regressed: A net of 5.5 percent of companies will cut jobs during the month (21.7 percent will add to payrolls, 27.2 percent will conduct layoffs). April 2009’s negative net of 5.5 percent is a four-year low for LINE, down from a peak reached in April 2006, when 53 percent of service sector companies added jobs.

Abundance of Talent Available to Hiring Companies

For the first time in four years in March 2009, LINE recorded single-digit response levels for those reporting increased difficulty with recruiting. In the manufacturing sector, only 2.7 percent of respondents reported increased recruiting difficulty in March, compared with 24 percent who reported less difficulty.

The gap was even wider in the service sector. In March 2009, just 1.7 percent of those respondents reported increased recruiting difficulty, compared with 25.4 percent that had less difficulty.

“With millions of people seeking work and fewer opportunities that exist, a reverse to this trend in the LINE recruiting difficulty index is not likely in the near future,” according to Jennifer Schramm, SHRM’s manager of workplace trends and forecasting.

Exempt, Nonexempt Vacancies Dropping Steadily

HR professionals in the manufacturing and service sectors reported declines in exempt vacancies in March 2009 compared with March 2008. In the manufacturing sector, a net total of 8.3 percent of respondents reported decreases in exempt vacancies (8.7 percent reported increases, 17 percent reported decreases).

In the service sector, a net total of 11.3 percent of respondents reported declines in exempt vacancies in March (7.7 percent reported increases, 19.0 percent reported decreases). In January 2009, there were 3 million job openings in the United States. That represents a 35 percent drop from September 2007, when the number of job openings began a gradual monthly decline, according to the BLS.

A net total of 9.2 percent of manufacturing respondents reported that nonexempt vacancies declined in March 2009 as well (9.6 percent increased, 18.8 percent decreased).

In March 2008, manufacturing respondents were still reporting increases in vacancies (a net total of 10.5 percent), according to the LINE survey data, indicating that manufacturers were still hiring only 12 months ago and had yet to face the worst of the economic downturn.

For nonexempt service positions, a net total of 8.4 percent reported decreased vacancies in March 2009 (15.0 percent increased, 23.4 percent decreased).

With vacancy levels falling in both sectors, LINE data show that more employers are cutting jobs or imposing hiring freezes during the economic downturn. Likewise, the BLS reported in January 2008 that the national job openings rate was 2.2 percent—the lowest level in five years.

Increases for Wages, Benefits at Four-Year Low

Many companies have scuttled hiring plans during the recession, and wages and benefits are getting trimmed in the effort to control costs.

In the manufacturing sector, a net total of 1.3 percent of respondents said they would decrease new-hire compensation in March 2009 (1.3 percent increased, 2.6 percent decreased). That is the first time in four years that the net total for manufacturers ventured into negative territory.

The service sector is also showing a four-year low for March 2009 for net increases to new-hire compensation packages. A net total of 2.2 percent of companies reduced wages and benefits packages for new hires in March (1.2 percent increased, 3.4 percent decreased).

“The low response total in both sectors indicates that many companies are likely keeping wages and benefits packages flat for new hires,” Schramm said.

The LINE report is based on a monthly survey of private sector human resource professionals at more than 500 manufacturing and 500 service-sector companies. Together, these sectors employ more than 90 percent of the nation’s private sector workers.

THE AMERICAN RECOVERY AND REINVESTMENT ACT: WHAT EMPLOYERS NEED TO KNOW

2009-04-07T11:17:00.000-07:00

By Jennifer Brown Shaw and Becki D. Graham

On February 17, 2009, President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (“ARRA”) into law. The stated purpose of the ARRA, often referred to simply as the “stimulus bill,” is to improve our economy by, among other things, creating and saving jobs, improving affordable health care, providing tax relief, and improving the nation’s infrastructure.

The ARRA affects employers in a number of ways. Most notably, it significantly amends the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (“COBRA”), which provides workers and their families who lose their group health plan benefits the ability to continue benefits for a limited period of time. The ARRA also contains provisions relating to the employment of H1-B workers, executive compensation, unemployment compensation, HIPAA, whistleblower protections for employees of contractors that receive ARRA funds, and certain tax credits. We briefly summarize each of these provisions below.

COBRA Premium Subsidy and Related Employer Tax Credits

Congress passed COBRA in 1986 to provide employees and their dependents the ability to temporarily continue group health care coverage for up to 18 months after a “qualifying event,” such as termination or reduction in hours. Until the ARRA became law, the employee was responsible for paying the entire premium for continued coverage—generally up to 102% of the applicable premium while the employee was working.

The ARRA makes several temporary modifications to COBRA, the most significant of which is the implementation of a federal subsidy to reduce the cost to employees of COBRA premiums.

Eligibility and Coverage. Under the ARRA, individuals (and their qualifying beneficiaries) who are “involuntarily terminated” between September 1, 2008, and December 31, 2009, will be eligible for a 65% reduction in their COBRA premiums. There is an interesting debate among commentators about the definition of “involuntarily terminated,” particularly when there is a mutual decision to end the employment relationship.

Covered employers are responsible for subsidizing the premium and then taking an appropriate tax credit. Importantly, the subsidy requirement applies not only to employers subject to federal COBRA, but also to smaller employers covered under an equivalent state law, such as Cal-COBRA. As predicted, some employers have chosen to cancel health insurance coverage altogether rather than provide the subsidy. Similarly, certain employers that agreed in the past to pay COBRA benefits as part of a separation package have eliminated that aspect of the package. After all, the thought goes, if the government will pay, why should the employer?

Congress recognized that some individuals who became eligible for COBRA before the enactment of the ARRA may have declined coverage due to its cost. Accordingly, the ARRA provides for an extended COBRA election period for eligible individuals who did not initially elect coverage. These individuals have up to 60 days from notification of the extended period to elect COBRA continuation coverage.

Notably, certain “high income” individuals with adjusted gross incomes exceeding $125,000 ($250,000 if filing a joint tax return) will not be eligible for the COBRA subsidy.

Premium Reduction Period. Eligible individuals will receive a premium reduction for up to nine months, unless their COBRA coverage period expires or they become eligible for other types of health care coverage before the nine-month period ends.

Notice Requirements. Employers must comply with specific notice requirements under the new provisions. Any individuals eligible for COBRA coverage between September 1, 2008, and December 31, 2009, must receive a notice describing their rights. Any individuals who became eligible for COBRA before February 17, 2009, must receive the notice no later than April 18, 2009. Also, in certain circumstances, employers also must inform individuals of their right to enroll in a different health benefit plan.

The Secretary of Labor will provide sample notices by March 19, 2009.

Employer Tax Credits. Employers may recover subsidized COBRA premiums by either offsetting their payroll tax deposits or claiming the subsidy as an overpayment on the tax return at the end of each quarter. The Internal Revenue Service recently revised Form 941 for this purpose. Interestingly, employers may not claim a credit until they receive the 35% payment from the individual. Also, employers must report the number of individuals to whom they provided the subsidy. While employers are not required to submit any documentation to the IRS, they must retain the appropriate documentation to support any claimed credits.

Tips for Implementation. The new COBRA rules are extensive and complicated. As such, employers should partner with counsel experienced in benefits law regarding compliance questions. Employers must tend to a number of items, including amending their current COBRA forms, creating a retention policy for documents that support claimed tax credits, and assessing how the new rules apply to employees involuntarily terminated prior to the effective date of the ARRA.

Additional information regarding the changes to COBRA can be found on the Department of Labor’s website at http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/cobra.html and on the IRS’s website at http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=204708,00.html.

Restrictions on the Use of H1-B Workers

Under the ARRA, employers that receive funds from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (“TARP”) (a 2008 law passed to address the subprime mortgage crisis) will be limited in their ability to use H1-B workers. For the next two years, such employers must actively recruit U.S. workers before employing H1-B workers. That includes situations in which employers are seeking to replace workers previously laid off.

Limitations on Executive Compensation

The ARRA also limits executive compensation for employers that receive TARP funds. Among other things, the ARRA limits bonuses and certain “excessive” or “luxury” expenditures. Employers subject to this provision should become familiar with the new restrictions and modify their practices accordingly.

Increased Unemployment Compensation Benefits

With the enactment of the ARRA, individuals who receive benefits through regular unemployment compensation, Trade Readjustment Allowances, Disaster Unemployment Benefits, Emergency Unemployment Compensation, or Extended Benefits will receive $25 more a week until December 31, 2009. In addition, any federal income tax on the first $2,400 of federal unemployment benefits is suspended for 2009.

Changes to HIPAA

The ARRA expands the privacy and security measures required under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (“HIPPA”). Widely misunderstood by many employers, HIPPA generally seeks to protect individuals’ health information. Some of the most notable changes include expanding HIPAA coverage to the “business associates” of entities currently subject to HIPAA’s rules, requiring covered entities and business associates to report breaches of protected health information, creating a new enforcement authority to bring actions for damages or injunctions to enforce the HIPAA rules, and increasing the civil penalties for HIPAA violations.

While non-health care employers have relatively few obligations under HIPAA, all employers should consult with benefits counsel to ensure they are in full compliance with the new rules.

Whistleblower Protections for State and Local Government Contractors

To promote accountability, the ARRA protects “whistleblowers” who report alleged misuse of ARRA funds. Specifically, state and local government contractors (federal contractors are exempt) that receive ARRA funds are prohibited from discharging, demoting, or otherwise discriminating against an employee for reporting (a) instances of gross mismanagement of a contract or grant, (b) waste of agency funds, (c) public health or safety dangers, (d) abuse of authority related to the implementation or use of covered funds, or (e) a violation of any laws related to the contract or grant.

The federal Investigator General will review whistleblower complaints. If a compliant is substantiated, the appropriate federal agency director will order the contractor to take affirmative action to stop the retaliatory conduct, pay the subject employee an amount equal to the aggregate amount of all costs and expenses (including attorneys’ and expert witnesses’ fees) the employee incurred in connection with bringing the complaint, and/or, if applicable, reinstate the employee to his or her former position and provide the employee compensation and other employment benefits the employee would have received if the retaliatory conduct had not taken place.

If a complaint is not substantiated through the ARRA’s administrative process, the “whistleblower” may bring an action for damages in federal court. In addition, the agency director may file a civil action for enforcement of any issued order, subjecting the contractor to compensatory and punitive damages.

In addition, employers receiving ARRA funds must post a notice of “whistleblower” rights and remedies. As of the date of this article, there is no indication regarding where employers can obtain a copy of the notice.

Making Work Pay Tax Credit

The ARRA establishes a number of tax credits, including the Making Work Pay credit. This earned income tax credit is the lesser of 6.2% of an individual’s earned income or $400 ($800 for joint tax returns). The credit applies to the 2009 and 2010 tax year, and will be spread out over employee paychecks. The credit begins to phase out for individuals whose adjusted gross income is between $75,000 and $95,000 (between $150,000 and $190,000 for joint tax returns).

The IRS recently released new tax withholding tables that incorporate the new credit. According to the IRS, employers should begin using the new tables no later than April 1, 2009. The new tables can be found at http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/n1036.pdf. The IRS will also post instructions outlined in Publication 15-T on its website (www.irs.gov) during the week of March 9, 2009.

Employers should work with their payroll staff or vendors to ensure the new credit is properly applied.

Tax Credits for Hiring Unemployed Veterans and Disconnected Youth

Section 51 of the Internal Revenue Code permits employers to claim a work opportunity tax credit for wages paid to certain “target group” employees. The ARRA expands this credit for the 2009 and 2010 tax years to make it available to employers who hire unemployed veterans and “disconnected youth.”

A “disconnected youth” is an individual between the ages of 16 and 25 who lacks a sufficient number of basic skills, and has not attended school or been regularly employed within six months of being hired by the employer. An “unemployed veteran” is someone who was discharged five years prior to being hired and received unemployment benefits for more than four weeks in the prior year.

Employers should assess whether they have hired any individuals in these target groups to take advantage of the new credit.

Increased Commuter Benefits

The ARRA temporarily increases the mass transit and vanpool benefits employers may provide to their employees. Through December 31, 2010, employers may claim an increased tax deduction for paying certain employee commuting expenses. Alternatively, employees may fund their own commuting expenses as part of a qualified transportation fringe benefits plan and exclude such expenses from their gross income. For 2009, the maximum exclusion amount will increase from $120 to $230.

Employers who wish to offer the increased benefits should amend their plan documents accordingly and notify employees of the change.

Conclusion

Most of the ARRA’s provisions became effective on February 17, 2009. Therefore, employers should work quickly to evaluate how the ARRA will affect their operations and take the necessary steps to ensure compliance.

Using Behavioral Interviewing Techniques To Select the Right Employees

2009-04-07T11:16:00.000-07:00

By Libby Anderson, M.S., SPHR

Employee turnover is a costly fact of life. Hiring a replacement worker can cost companies anywhere from $10,000 to half an employee’s annual salary—that’s per each lost employee, according to some experts.

Turnover expenses can be avoided or reduced significantly, however, by selecting the right applicant for the position in the first place. Of course, employee selection success doesn’t always come naturally. Well-intentioned employers can be duped by applicants who might know all the right things to say in an interview but who don’t have the skills to do the job. But learning a few behavioral interviewing techniques can help recruiters, HR professionals and hiring managers gain added insight into how an applicant will perform on the job.

Traditional approaches to interviewing—such as asking open-ended questions, relying on “gut instincts” and asking the basic who, what, why, when and where questions—typically don’t garner all the information needed to make a smart hiring decision. Responses to these questions are often vague, future-oriented and entirely subjective.

Behavioral-based questions, however, follow the psychological premise that past behavior predicts future performance. In other words, if an applicant has done something in the past, he or she is likely to do it again in the future.

Focus on Job Criteria, Performance

Behavioral-based interviews incorporate questions that deal with specifics about an applicant’s past work performance. Knowing how an applicant has behaved in the past can help determine if that person will exhibit the company’s preferred workplace behavior. As a bonus, behavioral interviewing reduces liability because it involves questions that are strictly related to workplace behavior.

Begin the behavioral-interviewing process by determining the performance criteria for the job that needs to be filled. An easy way to achieve this is to use a job description. If a job description isn’t available, make a list of the things that are essential to performing the job effectively. For example, a customer service representative position might involve the following job-related criteria:

Energy: Consistently maintains high productivity or activity level.
Oral Communication Skills: Effective nonverbal and verbal expression.
Tolerance for Stress: Stability of performance under pressure.
Adaptability: Maintains effectiveness in varying situations.
Positive Customer Service Orientation: Makes proactive effort to listen to and understand the customer, anticipates customer needs, and gives high priority to customer satisfaction.
Team Player Attitude: Works effectively and willingly with team members.

Every position has different criteria. Other criteria that can be used include initiative, judgment, professionalism, tenacity, written communication skills, sales ability, practical learning, safety awareness, quality orientation, attention to detail, decisiveness, problem solving and goal setting.

Once the criteria for effective job performance have been determined, design questions that will garner the information needed to decide if the person being interviewed will meet the criteria for the position. Remember, what you are looking for are answers that relate to specific work performance from previous experience because they serve as predictors of how the applicant will perform in your work environment. The following are sample questions for a few of the criteria for the customer service representative job noted previously:

Energy: Describe a time when you had to work at a fast pace for a long period of time. What kind of work did you do? What did you do to maintain the pace?

Oral Communication Skills: Describe a time when you had difficulty communicating with a customer and what you did to overcome that challenge. What was the outcome of that adjustment?

Tolerance for Stress: Describe a situation in which you were faced with a large amount of customer requests at one time. How did you handle the situation, and what was the result?

The key to designing behavioral-based interview questions is to look at the business’s environment and performance requirements and to ask questions that will reveal whether applicants have worked in similar environments and exhibited preferred behaviors in those situations.

Behavioral interviewing does have its challenges, though. For example, most applicants are not used to giving specific examples of their performance and, therefore, will need some coaching. Nevertheless, it’s worth it. Blanket statements such as “I’m a people person” don’t fit into this method of interviewing. Instead of accepting an applicant’s word when he or she refers to being a people person, ask for a specific example of when working with people was a motivating experience.

Behavioral interview questions certainly do not replace traditional interview questions that serve to clarify specifics about experience, education and background. Rather they enhance the quality of information received during the interview process by providing examples of a person’s work-related behavioral patterns. In the long run, effective use of behavioral interviewing techniques can help companies reduce turnover costs and improve their selection process.

Libby Anderson, M.S., SPHR, is a human resource consultant and trainer with EDA Human Resource Services, and a member of the Society for Human Resource Management's Organizational Development Special Expertise Panel. She can be reached at edahrsvcs@aol.com.

Diversity Recruitment: How Now?

2009-03-31T12:24:00.001-07:00

By Lee Gardenswartz, Ph.D., and Anita Rowe, Ph.D., December 2006

Question: Despite progress, we continue to face challenges with recruiting a more diverse workforce, especially at higher levels. What strategies can we use to attract top talent from groups that are underrepresented in our organization?

Finding, attracting and keeping a diverse mix of talented employees can be a continuing challenge. Increasing the odds for success involves recognizing and addressing obstacles and expanding recruitment methods and opportunities.

Obstacles to Recruiting

The Community ImageRecruits evaluate more than a company; they consider whether a particular community is a good place to live. Individuals may be reluctant to move to an area if they believe that the schools are inadequate or that the real estate is overpriced or if they fear that they will not be welcomed.

Attitudes Within the OrganizationSome managers and employees may believe that diverse candidates are less qualified and that standards must, therefore, be lowered if they are hired. Diversity and quality must be seen as compatible, rather than mutually exclusive, to overcome this barrier.

An Emphasis on QuotasTalent, skills and qualifications need to be emphasized over numbers. Use of the word quota has a polarizing effect among staff and tends to create resistance. Focusing on numbers creates the perception that those who are hired are tokens rather than valuable employees with unique perspectives and experiences.

Lack of Understanding of the Strategic ImportanceDiverse employees need to be seen as a critical business advantage in order for managers and employees to support increased recruitment efforts. Explaining the connection between diversity and the goals and needs of the organization, such as increased market share, improved customer service or innovation is critical.

Time CommitmentIn the pressure to fill positions quickly, it is easy to succumb to time pressure. Finding new community pipelines, searching for a wider range of recruits and ensuring that candidate slates are diverse may take time. But using the same sources and schools and hiring the friends and relatives of existing employees, while faster, probably wont generally yield a diverse group of candidates. It is, therefore, important for organizations to commit additional time to access diversity.

Like Me BiasAnother obstacle is the human phenomenon of hiring those we perceive to be like us. Helping those who are in recruiting and hiring positions to recognize this potential for bias is one step. Another is getting multiple perspectives on candidates by making sure that hiring panels and recruiting teams are diverse.

Assimilation ModelA final barrier to recruiting and retaining diverse employees has to do with how the organization uses the differences people bring. If the culture requires people to adjust to existing methods and norms rather than using a variety of styles, perspectives and ideas to spark creativity and increase effectiveness, the benefit of diversity is lost. Whats more, forcing square pegs into round holes often causes people to leave, so turnover cancels out recruitment gains.

Strategies for Recruiting Diversity

Once obstacles are addressed, an organization can expand recruiting practices by adopting strategies, such as these, that have been used successfully by other organizations:

Partner Up. Have executives take an active role in assessing diverse talent by going with recruiters to conferences and job fairs. Seeing the talent available can help dispel the common myth that there isnt any out there.

Tap Insiders. Use the expertise and knowledge of members of employee affinity groups to help identify potential employees as well as sources and organizations from which to recruit. Individuals in these groups can suggest communication and outreach methods to reach a wider range of people.

Connect to the Community. Having leaders and managers participate in community events and organizations can build relationships and make inroads to targeted populations and enhance an organizations image as an attractive employer.

Involve Managers. Giving managers techniques to help recruit and holding them accountable for participating in recruiting activities increases commitment to diverse hires and widens an organizations reach through increased contacts.

Encourage Employee Participation. Satisfied employees are among the best assets. Build on this by rewarding employees for referring candidates.

Pay for Expertise. Offering compensation for expertise such as bilingual skills can help attract a wider array of employees.

Showcase the Community. Playing up the advantages that a community offers and giving information that corrects misconceptions about the community help attract candidates who may have been reluctant to relocate.

Review Language. Modifying the language in job ads, descriptions, titles and requirements to eliminate exclusionary language may widen a positions appeal.

Expand Communication Channels. Going beyond traditional media is another aid in reaching employees from communities where the word on the street might be relied upon more than the newspaper. Seek outlets in community and religious centers, local gathering spots and events that draw people from targeted groups.

Use the Talent Scout Approach. Some organizations have found that visiting the homes of targeted recruits, the way sports recruiters do, helps attract potential employees.

Identifying and then addressing the obstacles in your organization, and using a few new strategies, should help increase effectiveness in recruiting diverse candidates.

Lee Gardenswartz and Anita Rowe are partners in the management consulting firm of Gardenswartz & Rowe of Los Angeles.

CEOs and CFOs Register Record Pessimism on Economy

2009-03-31T12:11:00.001-07:00

3/19/2009

By Maria Williams

Two recent surveys from two different sources—one polling chief financial officers (CFOs) and the other chief executive officers (CEOs)—revealed record-breaking pessimism about the economy. In the most recent Duke University/CFO Magazine Global Business Outlook Survey, U.S. and foreign CFOs rated the economic outlook at a 40 on a scale of 1 to 100—a low in the history of the survey, which has been conducted for 52 consecutive quarters. Showing parallel grim results, the Chief Executive magazine's CEO Confidence Index reported that a stunning 95 percent of U.S. CEOs described current business and employment conditions as “bad,” which is the highest percentage of CEOs who have expressed such pessimism since polling began in October 2002.

The February 2009 CEO Index findings come from the most recent monthly e-mailed survey, to which 371 Chief Executive magazine subscribers responded.

The CFO findings, dated Feb. 27, 2009, asked 1,268 CFOs from a broad range of global public and private companies about their expectations for the economy.

Obama’s Honeymoon: Over Before It Began?

CEO findings. According to Chief Executive magazine's CEO Index, U.S. CEOs are already souring on President Barack Obama’s stimulus efforts.

CEOs expressed anger toward the finance executives receiving bailout money. Asked to weigh in on Obama's cap on executive compensation for the companies receiving Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) funds, 53 percent of CEOs favored caps on executive pay.

"You don't give the captain of the Titanic a bonus for hitting an iceberg and causing the ship to drown. CEOs receiving bailout money for their sinking ships should be held to the same standard," said John Chirikas, CEO of Horizon Steel Co., in a press statement. "The interference from government is alarming, but frankly, it is a direct result of the terrible mismanagement by the financial community and, sadly, will have severe ramifications for all of us."

Yet, despite favoring executive pay caps, 45 percent of CEOs polled said the executive caps would negatively affect or significantly negatively affect the performance of the companies receiving TARP funds, while only 20 percent of CEOs said the caps would have positive or significantly positive effects. Thirty-one percent of CEOs said the pay caps would have no effect on how well the companies performed.

CFO findings. The president’s stimulus plan hasn’t calmed CFOs' fears any more than it has reassured CEOs. Regarding the economy, their third largest external concern (after consumer demand and consumer markets/interest rates) is about the new administration and Congress. Roughly 32 percent of CFOs said that the economic stimulus actions taken to date have helped the economy, which matches the 32 percent who said the economy is worse off because of the stimulus actions. One-third said the stimulus efforts had no effect. More than half (53 percent) of CFOs said their companies would fare worse with a national health care system, compared to only 19 percent who said their businesses would benefit from such a system.

General Pessimism

CEO findings. With the exception of brief partial rebounds in August 2008 and January 2009, the CEO Confidence Index, which measures overall confidence in the market, has been hitting new “historic lows” since July 2008, when the index dipped to 92.6. (The index started at 100 points in 2002, when it was first tallied.) The CEO Confidence Index equals the average of its sub indexes: current confidence, future confidence, investment confidence and employment confidence.
Index.

Index	February 2009	January 2009	Monthly Change
CEO Confidence Index	39.2	51.2	-12
Current Confidence Index	49.1	62	-12.9
Future Confidence Index	15.9	27	-11.1
Investment Confidence Index	71.7	84.4	-12.7
Employment Confidence Index	23.1	35.3	-12.2

CFO findings. More than two-thirds of U.S. CFOs grew more pessimistic about the U.S. economy during the last quarter covered by the survey (December 2008¬¬-February 2009). On a scale of 0 to 100, U.S. CFOs placed the economic outlook at an all-time low of 40, and their European and Asian counterparts were likewise grim, rating their economies at 43 and 47, respectively.

“This is very troubling,” said Kate O’Sullivan, senior writer at CFO Magazine in a statement. “Throughout the history of our survey, CFOs have shown a remarkable ability to predict future economic conditions. They anticipated the current recession as far back as September 2007. Given the CFOs’ track record, the historic pessimism CFOs are currently expressing certainly indicates a tough road ahead in 2009.”

According with their overall pessimism, in all of their respective regions, U.S., European and Asian CFOs expect earnings, capital spending and tech spending to fall. Earnings are expected to drop by 22 percent at U.S. public companies, 11 percent in Europe and 9 percent in Asia. Capital spending is expected to decline 13 percent in the United States, 16 percent in Europe and 9 percent in Asia. Tech spending is expected to diminish by about 6 percent in all regions, and marketing and advertising spending is expected to drop by more than 7 percent in all regions.

The Outlook

CEO findings. Over the next quarter, 69 percent expect the economy to worsen, and 77 percent expect unemployment to rise. Each of these statistics on future confidence marks the second worst rating in its area since the CEO Index polling began. The worst rating for future confidence in the economy was set in December 2008, and the worst rating for future confidence in employment was set in November 2008.

"These low levels of confidence are unprecedented," said J.P. Donlon, editor-in-chief of Chief Executive magazine. "Not only are CEOs strongly bearish, they do not expect a turnaround anytime soon."

CFO findings. CFOs don’t anticipate things getting any better any time soon either: A mere 35 percent of CFOs expect the U.S. economic recovery to begin in 2009. Most U.S. CFOs expect recovery to begin in 14 months; most European CFOs expect 16 months until recovery begins; and most Asian CFOs expect 13 months.

Maria Williams is a staff writer for SHRM Online.

Staffing Industry Analysts Cites Top 20 Industries for Job Growth

2009-03-18T11:12:00.001-07:00

LOS ALTOS, Calif., March 3, 2009 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Federal Government, Coal Mining and Hospitals all have seen unprecedented growth in the last twelve months according to a new report being published this month by Staffing Industry Analysts, the premier provider of market intelligence about the contingent workforce.

Among the major highlights in Staffing Industry Analysts' Where Employment is Still Booming report is the fact that there is high demand for workers in a number of different industries, in spite of the economic downturn we are all experiencing.

"From our analysis, during the last 12 months approximately 600,000 jobs were added to the economy in these high growth sectors," stated Jon Osborne, Director of Research, Staffing Industry Analysts. "Staffing Industry Analysts does research and analysis on the temporary labor market, however we thought it was important to highlight the growth in the traditional employment market. Temporary staffing is the biggest loser in terms of employment. Temporary labor has lost more than 500,000 jobs in the last twelve-months," Osborne went on to say.

Industries with high demand include:

1. Federal Government

2. Coal Mining

3. Hospitals

4. Educational Services

5. Offices of Physicians

6. Home Health Care

7. Other Ambulatory Health Care

8. Pipeline Transportation

9. Other Social Assistance

10. Mental Health, Elderly Community and Other Residential Care Facilities

(source:marketwatch.com)

Staffing Industry Analysts Cites Top 20 Industries for Job Growth

2009-03-18T11:09:00.000-07:00

Industries with high demand include:

    1. Federal Government     2. Coal Mining     3. Hospitals     4. Educational Services     5. Offices of Physicians     6. Home Health Care     7. Other Ambulatory Health Care     8. Pipeline Transportation     9. Other Social Assistance     10. Mental Health, Elderly Community and Other Residential Care Facilities

(source:marketwatch.com)

About O'Donnell Staffing Research

2009-02-19T08:07:00.000-08:00

O'Donnell Staffing Research was founded on May 1, 1990. Our first location was the second floor of an 1888 renovated schoolhouse in Itasca, Illinois, a western suburb of Chicago, our services supported the efforts of other recruitment research and executive search companies.

Since then, we have served 52 of the Fortune 500 and numerous smaller public and privately-held companies. Our innovative management and executive search research capabilities give our clients the cost effective and expedient alternative to traditional staffing agencies.

Please visit our web site in depth and discover our resources, processes, capabilities and how we will be a positive asset to your recruitment strategy. Contact Us today!