2006 Archive

Sydney workers obsessed with email

One in five Sydney businesses have employees who spend more than four hours a week sending and replying to work-related emails during their own personal time. The survey of 280 companies also found that 74% of businesses contacted employees while they were off duty or on leave.

Source: Sydney Chamber of Commerce (December 2006)

Gen Y motivated more by flexibility

82% of Generation Y employees are motivated by flexible working arrangements compared to only between 58% and 69% of Gen Xs and Baby Boomers.

Source: Mercer (December 2006)

Generation Y expectations

• 86% of Gen Ys expect a promotion within 2 years as opposed to 70% of Baby Boomers.
• 42% of Gen Y employees say their "relationship with peers" is one of the Top 3 reasons for getting or keeping their job.
• 37% placed "opportunity for advancement" in the Top 3 as well.
• 79% stated that career development through additional training was "very important".
• 90% said that regular training is an incentive for them to stay longer with an organisation.

Source: McCrindle Research (December 2006)

Innovation increases revenue

Companies that reward their employees for being innovative increase their revenues by 2.5% and their profit margins by 2%.

Source: IBM Global Business Consulting 2006 CEO Survey (December 2006)

Australian workers battling depression

A survey of 90,000 employees in 58 of Australia's largest companies has found that 6.7% had symptoms of depression. Two-thirds of these employees had not sought treatment or advice. These workers were on average $9,660 less productive than their colleagues and had higher levels of absenteeism. It's estimated that workers who seek help from depression end up recouping $7,600 for their employer each year in improved performance.

Source: University of Queensland and Harvard University (December 2006)

Staff autonomy results in business growth

A study of 323 small businesses has revealed that employers who grant workers more autonomy grow at four times the rate than their more controlling competitors.

Source: Grevity Institute and Cornell University (December 2006)

UK employees suffer in Summer

78% of British workers say their work environments stifle their creativity and hinder their ability to get their job done, with 35% of employees saying their offices don't have air conditioning. Meanwhile, 18% of employees say that heating dilemmas have caused conflict in the office, with colleagues unable to agree on how hot or cold the temperature should be.

Source: Office Angels (December 2006)

What Gen Y want

A nationwide survey has found that the three main things that Generation Y employees want in the workplace are: meaning (they want to believe in something that has a bigger purpose), control (they want to be able to make decisions and have the resources to finish tasks), and connectedness (involvement in teamwork).

Source: Foundation for Young Australians (November 2006)

Companies aren't training their employees enough

Each Australian employee only spends an average of 16.5 hours in employer-paid training every year.

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics (November 2006)

Employees hate management

60% of employees say that "management" is the main reason why they hate their jobs.

Source: Seek (November 2006)

Lack of opportunities cause of dissatisfaction

A study of 28,000 call centre employees has revealed that 64% of employees say that "career opportunities" is the number 1 cause of job dissatisfaction, whilst only 24% of these employees say that pay is the main reason why they resign from their jobs. Another 44% said that the boring and repetitive nature of their work is another main reason for wanting to leave.

Source: Genesys (November 2006)

How the Top 100 Best Employers reward and recognise employees

A study of the UK's Top 100 Best Employers has found they do the following:

• 89% offer flexible working arrangements
• 86% have formal recognition schemes such as awards
• 79% run ad-hoc events like Christmas parties
• 78% have performance-related bonuses
• 74% offer extra holidays
• 95% encourage their employees to have fun at work
• 75% of bosses enjoyed a social drink with their staff
• 92% trust their employees to do things without authorisation

Source: Grant Thornton (November 2006)

Most popular employee retention benefits

A survey of 22,480 employees in the UK has found that in order to stem the flow of employee resignations, employers are adopting the following benefits:

• 72% of organisations provide private medical cover
• 67% offer child-care vouchers
• 63% provide a life assurance benefit of four times an employee's salary

Source: Chartered Management Institute and Remuneration Economics (November 2006)

Recruitment becoming longer and more complicated

60% of companies are using more assessments during the recruitment process, while 51% have increased their use of prescreening tools. 42% of companies say that their hiring managers are interviewing too many people for each vacant position, averaging at 8 candidates per position.

Source: Spherion Corp (November 2006)

Executives unhappy with Training and HR departments

A survey of 250 senior executives in Australia, the United States, and Europe has found that only 14% of executives feel that their employees' skill level is industry leading, and only 20% said that their employees understand the organisational strategy.

Only 10% of the executives were happy with the way in which their Training and HR departments were performing. This was mostly due to inadequate knowledge-sharing capabilities, and a failure to measure the business impact of HR and Training initiatives.

Over 40% of executives cited the looming talent shortage as a major concern, saying that it's already having an impact.

Source: Accenture (November 2006)

Intranets a driver of engagement

90% of managers agree that intranets and other similar employee engagement schemes increase employees' awareness of the company, with 50% of respondents saying that they've experienced improvement in retention as a result.

Source: Melcrum (November 2006)

Engaged companies perform 50% better than their competitors

A study of over 664,000 employees has found a 52% difference in the 1-year performance improvement in operating income between companies with highly engaged employees and others with low levels of engagement.

Other findings included: Net income growth for highly engaged companies over a 1-year period was 13.2% as opposed to a decline of 3.8% for lowly engaged companies. Highly engaged companies even had an EPS (earnings per share) growth of 27.8% while their competitors reported a staggering decrease of 11.2%.

Source: ISR (November 2006)

Organisational strategy not sinking in

Only 41% of employees feel that their organisation's strategy is well communicated, while only 19% believe that daily tasks and priorities are linked to a clearly communicated strategy.

Source: BlessingWhite (November 2006)

Aussies missing work due to hangovers

Australian workers miss 2.7 million days of work every year as a result of a hangover. The survey of 10,000 people found that 1 in 25 workers admitted to taking a day off work in the past 3 months solely due to a hangover.

Source: National Centre for Education and Training on Addiction (November 2006)

Baby Boomers to continue working past retirement

Over three quarters of Baby Boomers plan to continue working even past their retirement. However, this won't be enough to prevent the skills shortage as a result of the Baby Boomer exodus. Concerningly, only 25% of companies are preparing for the Boomers' retirement with a third of companies saying that "there has not been much thought about it".

Source: Merrill Lynch (November 2006)

HR spending on the up and up

Spending on HR services in 2005 increased by 10% and is expected to continue to grow by 9% every year until 2010. Reasons for this increase include the war for talent, recruitment costs, and outsourcing.

Source: IDC (November 2006)

Top motivators for call centre employees

A survey of call centre workers has found that the following are the six biggest motivators at work in order of importance: culture, team, management style, flexibility, conditions, and salary.

Source: Manpower Australia (November 2006)

Dads want employers' help when managing work and fatherhood

Over half of fathers feel that their employer is very supportive of their parental responsibilities, with 60% of dads saying that their employer is flexible with the demands that come with being a father. 8 out of 10 fathers said that their employers are understanding in relation to changing work schedules so that school and doctor's appointments can be attended to.

One in five dads were interested in paternity leave, and 60% believed that their employer would be happy if they brought their child to work in the case of an emergency. On-site child care is the preferred form of benefit that dads want to see in the workplace.

Source: PayScale.com (October 2006)

Graduates and employers not seeing eye to eye

Even though 90% of graduates say they are ready for the workplace, only half of employers agree, with a lack of communication skills and problem-solving abilities being the main reason. When asked to state the most important skills in ten years' time, employers said that creativity and innovation was at the top of the list, as opposed to graduates who ranked these as eighth most important.

40% of employers also said that graduates are having problems fitting into the organisational hierarchy. 4 out of 10 employees stated that work/life balance is a problem in their new job. And concerningly for employers, only 25% of employees expect to still be working for the same organisation in five years' time.

Source: PayScale.com (October 2006)

Homicide a leading cause of workplace harm

In the US, the fourth leading cause of workplace fatalities amongst men in the workplace is homicide. Amongst women, it is the second leading cause of workplace death.

Source: Occupational Safety & Health Administration (October 2006)

Characteristics of highly engaged employees

A study of over 3,800 employees from seven countries (including the US), has found that employees with six specific characteristics are fourteen times more likely to be highly engaged. Thee characteristics are: adaptability, passion for work, emotional maturity, positive disposition, self-efficacy, and achivement orientation.

Source: Development Dimensions International (October 2006)

Most training goes to waste

87 cents out of every leadership training dollar is wasted.

Source: Dan Johnson (October 2006)

Employee turnover costing millions of dollars

A reduction in employee turnover by just 2% is enough to result in annual savings of $3 million. Depending on the number and type of employees, this figure can rise to up to $40 million annually. In addition,

Source: Best Practices LLC (October 2006)

Disengaged employees make more errors

A study of America's leading companies has found a 1000% increase in errors amongst disengaged employees than their engaged counterparts.

Source: Development Dimensions International (October 2006)

Employees leave managers, not jobs

The number one reason why employees resign from their jobs is not because of job disatisfaction or pay - it's because of their supervisor.

Source: Flex Executives (October 2006)

Close friendships a driver of engagement

In a poll of over 1000 employees, engaged employees were five times more likely than actively disengaged employees to say that their organisation "encourages close friendships at work."

Source: Gallup (October 2006)

Violence at work

In Spain, over 20% of officials in public administration are victims of psychological harassment; In South Africa, over a 12-month period, 9% of employees in the private sector and 17% of those in the public sector experience physical violence; In the United States, homicide is the third leading cause of death at work; Women represent approximately 6 out of 10 of all victimised employees.

Source: Vittorio Di Martino and Duncan Chappell (October 2006)

Employees afraid to ask for flexibility

60% of Britons feel that asking their employers for extra flexibility at work will damage their career prospects. 40% of workers felt that their employers don't trust them to work from home.

Source: Inter-Tel (October 2006)

Managers uncomfortable in dealing with conflict

The cost of business disputes in the United Kingdom alone each year costs corporations 33 billion pounds. In addition to this economic cost, 80% of disputes have a negative impact on the smooth running of a business, and less than 40% of managers feel trained to deal with conflict when it arises in the workplace. This same study also found that a third of managers would prefer to jump out of an aeroplane for the first time rather than deal with a team-related problem at work.

Source: Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (September 2006)

Performance linked to formal evaluations

Employees who have their performance measured using a formal process, are more likely to be engaged. 33% of workers measured by a formal process are engaged and miss an average of 9 workdays a year. Out of those whose performance is measured without a formal process, only 21% are engaged, and they miss out on an average of 14 workdays a year. 37% of workers who had their salary based on performance were engaged as opposed to the 27% who had a manager use an alternative standard.

Source: Gallup (September 2006)

Remote workers more likely to be engaged

28% of people who work from home, 35% of workers who travel a lot, and 39% of salesmen are engaged. When compared to the 25% engagement level of people who work mostly in an office, remote workers have a higher rate of engagement.

Source: Gallup (September 2006)

Discrimination still a major problem

47% of Americans say that discrimination among the disabled is a problem with two thirds perceiving discrimination against older workers to be a problem as well. 45% of respondents even said they 'strongly agree' that older workers are forced to retire before they're ready to do so.

Source: Gallup (September 2006)

Disengagement increases unplanned absenteeism

Disengagement in a 10,000 person company represents approximately 5,000 of unexcused days off and $600,000 in lost salaries. In a call centre environment, it's been found that an increase in employee engagement of between 5% and 10% can result in up to 2,400 more available minutes per phone consultant each year.

Source: Gallup (September 2006)

Employees don't understand the business strategy

Two-thirds of employees say they don't know or understand their company's business strategy. Further to this, only about one third of employees are engaged in the workplace. The study of 336 organisations found that the result was lower productivity and quality, a greater number of customer complaints, and higher employee turnover. The survey also revealed that employees are disengaged to a large extent because their employers have not communicated the business's strategy.

Source: Right Management Consultants (September 2006)

Most managers take fake sickies too

Most managers are taking sick days off work when they're not really sick. A study of 239 managers has revealed that 21% of managers take a fake sickie once every couple of years; 15% take one every year; 18% take one every few months; and 2% of managers take a fake sickie every month. 43% of managers said they never take a fake sickie.

Source: James Adonis (September 2006)

Half of managers the victims of workplace bullies

A study has found that 67% of managers admit to having resigned from a job solely due to poor leadership from their own manager. The study also investigated workplace bullying and found that 49% of managers have been the victims of workplace bullies.

Source: James Adonis (September 2006)

Office professionals don't expect rewards

Over 90% of office professionals say that they feel appreciated by their boss, and yet 88% of them say they don't expect a reward from their manager.

Source: DHL/The Australian Institute of Office Professionals (September 2006)

"Us versus them" mentality prominent in the workplace

Almost 50% of Australian workers believe that an "us and them" culture exists between employees and managers in the workplace. The study of 717 people also found that over three quarters of CEOs and Managing Directors believe that such a mentality does not exist in their organisations. The same study revealed that Gen X and Y employees saw relationships as a greater priority than Baby Boomers.

Source: Talent 2 (September 2006)

Morale crashes when employees hit the 6-month mark

In 85% of companies, morale amongst new employees drops significantly once they hit the 6-month mark. From this point on, it generally continues to decline. The study surveyed 1.2 million employees.

Source: Harvard Business School (September 2006)

Half of employees don't trust their managers

49% of employees say they don't trust their senior managers. The good news is that this is an improvement from the same survey in 2002 which showed that 56% of employees don't have trust or confidence in their managers.

Source: Watson Wyatt (September 2006)

Commitment not a two-way street

67% of employees believe that they're committed to their employers. However, only 38% of the respondents felt that this commitment was reciprocated by their employers.

Source: Gannett News Service (September 2006)

Wage increases more important than charity donations

Over three quarters of Americans believe that organisations should make employee salary and wage increases a higher priority than charitable donations. The same survey found that 80% of consumers say that how well a company treats its employees is a major determining factor in their purchasing decisions.

Source: National Consumers League (September 2006)

Workplace bullying a big European problem

Two-thirds of British employees claim to have been bullied at work. It's worse in Hungary where three-quarters of employees say they've been the victims of workplace bullies. Conversely, the Netherlands has the lowest rate of bullying, with only one-quarter of respondents admitting to being bullied. It's believed that up to 2 million Britons have been bullied at work over the past six months and that UK businesses lose up to 18 million work days each year as a result of workplace bullying.

Source: Monster.com (September 2006)

Baby Boomers feel victimised

64% of Baby Boomers in the UK feel that it's impossible to find a new job within 10 years of retirement. This is due to organisations failing to acknowledge the Boomers' experience, knowledge, and aspirations.

Source: Heyday (September 2006)

Turnover caused by bad hiring

Over 80% of employee turnover is caused by bad hiring decisions.

Source: Harvard Business Review (August 2006)

Lawyers resign more than any other profession

Over 40% of lawyers say they've walked out of a new job. This represents more than double the national average. 20% of these lawyers say the main reason for this was unreasonable unexpectations from their manager while a further 20% said that terrible office conditions were to blame.

Source: Talent 2 (August 2006)

Companies are not investing in training

A national survey of over 900 large companies has found that only 51% of them have a training budget. Further to this, less than half of the companies with a training budget expect their budget for training to increase over the next 12 months.

Source: Australian Institute of Management (August 2006)

New challenges the key to employee retention

A survey of 720 Australians has found that over 70% of respondents believe that employees become stale if they remain in the same role for over 10 years. Almost one third of people believed that employees should change jobs every two years so that they remain fresh. The most popular initiative for retention was new challenges, chosen by 81% of respondents. The survey also found that three quarters of Gen Y say they need new challenges, in addition to training, in order to remain fresh in their jobs.

Source: Talent 2 (August 2006)

Salaries a cause for disloyalty

Almost half of employees say they would leave their company without any hesitation if they were offered a substantially higher salary with another organisation. They'd do so even if they were totally happy in their job. A third of employees say they'd change jobs if it meant their skills would be put to better use and 11% would move for greater levels of flexibility.

Source: Link Me (August 2006)

Females still discriminated against in the workplace

Over 80% of women believe that their gender is a major reason why they having missed out on executive-level promotions. Only 15% of the 200 respondents felt that their gender had no relevance to their opportunities at work.

Source: Heat Group (August 2006)

Bad hiring to blame for low morale

A survey of 444 American organisations has found that bad hiring and promotional decisions has resulted in lower employee morale (68%), decreased employee productivity (66%), lost customers and market share (54%), higher training costs (51%), higher recruitment costs (44%), and higher severance costs (40%). The study also revealed that it costs an average of 250% of an employee's salary to replace an employee who doesn't work out, with some organisations saying it costs them up to five times an individual's salary.

Source: Right Management (August 2006)

Engaged employees = higher revenues

Offices with higher levels of employee engagement consistently outperform offices with low levels of employee engagement. A recent study has shown that engaged offices have revenues that are on average 40% higher than their low-engagement competitors.

Source: Hay Group (August 2006)

Close friendships foster engagement

According to a survey of over 1,000 employees, engaged employees are up to five times more likely than their actively disengaged peers to say that their company "encourages close friendships at work."

Source: Gallup (August 2006)

Managers prefer email communication

A whopping 71% of managers say that email is their primary means of communicating with their employees. Only 14% of managers said that face-to-face is their preferred method of communication.

Source: OfficeTeam (August 2006)

Employee retention the biggest concern

73% of CEOs in small and medium sized business say that employee retention is the single most critical factor that impacts on their business success.

Source: Entrepreneur Magazine (August 2006)

20% of employees to resign due to work/life balance

Almost one in five employees say they plan to resign this year solely due to a desire to improve their work/life balance.

Source: MMc Marketing Research and Consulting (August 2006)

American workers drink alcohol on the job

Over 7% of American employees admit to drink alcohol while at work.

Source: University of Buffalo (August 2006)

Praise preferred over money

A survey of over 2,000 workers has found that 69% prefer to receive praise and recognition from their managers - over and above money. 80% of employees said that praise and recognition motivates them to do a better job.

Source: Gallup (August 2006)

Over 40% of resumes contain lies

Nearly 43% of people lie in their resumes, with many people intentionally falsifying information such as dates of employment, educational and professional credentials, and even job titles. In this study by a Canadian company, 12.6% of resumes contained at least two or more inaccuracies.

Source: Resume Doctor.com (July 2006)

Referrals the key to recruitment

A study of the top HR executives in the United States has found that 58% of them believe that referrals are the best way of recruiting top talent. However, 65% of employees say that their company doesn't provide them with any incentives or bonuses to refer their friends and relatives.

Source: Spherion Emerging Workforce Study (July 2006)

Union employees are less engaged

A study of over 200,000 employees has found that union employees are less engaged than non-union employees. Non-union employees scored an engagement factor of 8 percentage points greater than their union counterparts.

Source: Gallup (July 2006)

Do men make better bosses?

A study of 1,500 employees in Britain has revealed that two thirds of Britons believe that men make better bosses - with even a majority of women feeling this way. The study also found that 90% of employees say they've worked for a bad manager with half admitting they've worked for a bully. 25% of respondents felt that management styles have become harsher over the past twelve months, and an overwhelming 97% of employees would like their managers to communicate more clearly and directly. Further to this, over one third of employees have a negative perception of their current manager.

Source: Eversheds (July 2006)

Mothers happy taking a pay cut for work/life balance

Over half of American mothers say that their lives are so far out of balance that they would be happy taking a pay cut if it meant they'd have more flexibility in their lives. This is a big jump from last year's study when only 38% of mothers felt this way. About 1 in 10 said they'd even take a pay cut of 10% or more. The survey polled more than 600 women and found that 10% of mums bring work home up to five days a week, and alarmingly, 40% say they've missed at least two significant events in their children's lives over the past 12 months because of work, whilst 10% of mothers say they've missed out on at least five events.

Source: Career Builder (July 2006)

Obesity the number 1 cause of productivity loss

43% of US health care spending for the treatment of serious diseases is a result of the obesity epidemic. Medical costs for obese workers is 77% higher than other employees who are of a healthy weight. This particular study has found that 7% of obese workers experience some sort of "work limitation", as opposed to only 3% of other employees.

Source: Leade Health (July 2006)

Job satisfaction more important than pay

84% of employees who stay in their jobs for at least five years claim that they are satisfied with the type of work they do. They survey of over 229,000 workers found that this satisfaction is also derived by how the employees are able to apply their skills in their jobs. The survey also revealed that job satisfaction ranked higher than pay or career advancement in terms of why employees decide to remain with the company.

Source: Sirota Survey Intelligence (June 2006)

Absenteeism rampant in Australia

Absenteeism is costing the Australian economy $7 billion every year, with the average Australian employee taking 8.5 sick days each year. This amounts to a cost of approximately $2,500 per employee.

Source: Sydney Morning Herald (June 2006)

Online hiring the preferred recruitment method

The Internet has surpassed all other forms of recruitment advertising, now accounting for over half of all new hires. 1 in 5 employees are recruited through corporate web sites, another 1 in 5 via job boards, and only 5% from classifieds. Three quarters of employers say they will increase their levels of online recruitment spending whilst 68% say they will invest greater amounts of money on employee referral programs.

Source: Booze Allen Hamilton(June 2006)

Promotions are based on how well a person is liked

A study of over 10,000 workplace relationships has found that employees are more willing to work with a worker who doesn't know very much - so long as that person is nice. The study wanted to find out whether competence was a key factor in whether someone got hired or promoted - or whether it was how well they are liked. The study found that it was indeed how well someone is liked that has the greatest influence over these decisions. Workers were placed into one of four categories: the competent jerk, the incompetent jerk, the lovable fool, and the lovable star. Most respondents preferred working with the lovable fool over the competent jerk.

Source: Harvard Business School (June 2006)

Dog lovers happy to work longer hours - on one condition...

66% of dog lovers say they would gladly work longer hours if they were allowed to bring their dog in to work. A further 32% say they'd even be happy taking a cut in pay.

Source: Dogstar Inc and Simply Hired (June 2006)

Younger employees prefer smaller companies

The name recognition of an employee is not as attractive to young employees as it used to be. What's more important is an opportunity for career development and growth. As such, 70% of young job seekers say they'd rather work for a small company that offers competitive benefits and a work/life balance, whereas larger companies were favoured by only a third of potential workers.

Source: CollegeGrad.com (June 2006)

Work / life imbalances result in widespread resignations

18% of workers in the United States say that they will be looking for a new job this year solely due to a desire for work/life balance. Likewise in Canada, 44% of employees rank their family as their highest priority.

Source: Key Group and Workopolis (June 2006)

Generation Y require unique recruiting

32% of Australian managers say they use the internet to recruit Gen Y employees as opposed to only 22% of UK managers and 28% of managers from other parts of the world. However, 46% of managers admit to not using any different kinds of recruiting methods to attract these younger employees.

Source: Robert Half Finance & Accounting (June 2006)

Recognition extremely important

74% of employees say that being recognised by their managers for doing good work is very or extremely important.

Source: Nelson (June 2006)

Stress a major driver of reduced productivity

In the past, many managers have assumed that poorly designed facilities such as poor ventilation and air circulation have been the main causes of physical symptoms suffered by sick employees. However, a study has found that the major driver is workplace stress. This is especially so for employees with demanding jobs, little levels of support, and limited influence over decisions.

Source: Occupational and Environmental Medicine (June 2006)

Candidates unsure about their benefits

Over 55% of Human Resources Managers have admitted that they don't believe that potential candidates clearly understand what their organisation was offering them as an employer.

Source: Hudson (June 2006)

Meetings are a big waste of time

There are over 11 million workplace meetings in the United States every single day. During these meetings, 91% of professionals have confessed that they daydream, while 39% have admitted to falling asleep. Most professionals attend 62 meetings a month with more than 53% saying that these meetings are a waste of time. The study of almost 1,000 employees included employees from Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Source: Journal of Applied Psychology (June 2006)

High morale equates to higher stock prices

The stock prices of 11 companies with high morale increased on average by 19.4% in 2005 - as opposed to the stock price growth of only 8% experienced by their competitors. Organisations with low or medium levels of morale found that their stock prices increased on average by only 10%.

Source: Sirota Survey Intelligence (June 2006)

Remote workers don't shower - nor do they wear clothes

In a study of over 900 remote and mobile workers, 12% of men and 7% of women employees say they do not wear any clothing while they work. The study also found that 46% of women and 70% of men don't shower on the days they work from home. Regardless, 76% of these employees believe they are happier and more productive because they telecommute.

Source: Insight Express (June 2006)

Avoidance leadership rife in Australia

Australian leaders have the highest rate of "avoidance leadership" in the Western world. This means that they sometimes shy away from giving negative feedback because they don't want to offend or upset the employee.

Source: Human Synergistics (June 2006)

Coaching is not working

The use of coaching is growing as a training tool with 91% of managers either liking it or loving it. However, a recent study has found that only 43% of employees say they receive enough coaching with only 2% admitting that they get more coaching than they need or want.

Source: Blessing White (June 2006)

Age discrimination rampant in Great Britain

74% of human resources professionals in the UK acknowledge that their organisations discriminate against job applicants based on their age. Whilst some of this may be done unconsciously, it still exists. Only 14% of respondents felt that their management teams were aware and capable of age discrimination issues.

Source: Thomas Egger (June 2006)

Employees' health significantly affected by unfair bosses

Employees who are treated fairly by their bosses are 30% less likely to suffer from heart disease or high levels of stress. The 19-year study of more than 6000 employees in Finland found that even high workloads or dissatisfaction with pay didn't have as much of an impact on employee health levels as that which occurs with an unfair boss.

Source: The Press (May 2006)

Employee turnover in the Asia Pacific

The Philippines has the highest rate of employee turnover in the Asia Pacific with a turnover rate of 18.1%. Taiwan was a close second with 17.7%, China had 14.4%, India was 13.1%, and Singapore's rate of turnover was at 13%. Australia's turnover rate in the study was at 13.3% - down from 15.1% in 2004.

Source: Hewitt Associates (May 2006)

Characteristics of the most annoying colleagues

An Auustralian study has examined the most annoying and irritating characteristics that employees find in their colleagues. Topping the list was being inconsiderate (51%), sucking up to the boss (41%), gossiping (37%), and lateness (30%).

Source: Link Me (May 2006)

Racism in the workplace

77% of Australian workers feel that there is some level of racial disharmony within the workplace, with 54% revealing that they don't get time off to celebrate religious holidays.

Source: Talent 2 (May 2006)

Cost of absenteeism skyrockets

Absenteeism is now costing organisations up to 15% of their payroll every year, highlighting the need for managers to implement solutions to combat unplanned absenteeism.

Source: Convergys (May 2006)

Organisations spending more money on ex-employees

Organisations are increasingly spending greater amounts of money to help retrenched employees find another job by offering career transition services. A study by Right Management has found that there are four main reasons why employers are doing this: to prove to remaining employees that they're a committed employer, to minimise the effect on morale and productivity in the workplace, to maintain a healthy perception of the organisation amongst former employees, and to make sure the organisation's reputation in the community is upheld.

Source: Management Magazine (April 2006)

A third of Europeans to leave their employers within 12 months

Over 35% of Europeans are considering leaving their employer within the next 12 months. The alarming figure from the European Total Reward Survey conducted by Watson Wyatt, also found that the two main reasons employees are looking to leave is due to the poor relationship with their manager and job dissatisfaction.

The research concluded that career development, opportunities for promotion, flexibility in the workplace, and a 'pay-for-performance' culture, all had the greatest influence on building commitment levels amongst employees.

Source: Management Issues News (March 2006)

Cost and degree of disengagement

The Gallup Organisation has calculated that disengagement costs the American economy about $300 billion each year. With only 18% of Australians engaged in the workplace, the cost of disengagement to the Australian market is huge as well.

Source: Gallup (February 2006)

One in five employees admits faking illness

A survey of British workers by BUPA has found that 20% of British workers admit to faking an illness in order to get a day off work. According to the study, absenteeism costs the UK economy £1.7billion each year. What's concerning is that many British employers are not tracking the cost of absenteeism within their organisations nor are they aware of their annual absenteeism rates.

Source: Management Issues News (January 2006)

US and Brazilian employees the most engaged

A survey of almost 160,000 employees in 10 countries has placed the United States and Brazil as the leaders in employee engagement, with the United Kingdom coming 7th and France coming 10th. The survey, conducted by ISR Surveys, revealed that 75% of US and Brazilian employees are engaged as opposed to only 59% of the French. The study also highlighted the close correlation between employee engagement and corporate profits.

Source: Daily Research News Online (December 2005)

Engaging remote employees

Employee engagement is especially a challenge for employers who have employees in remote locations. Employees who are quite distant from their employer can lose their connection with them. Strategies used by some organisations to combat this include regular meetings, even by phone, where the organisation's goals, progress, direction, and strategy is communicated to these employees. These meetings are also used as an opportunity to obtain the employees' feedback and opinions. An alternate unique method of communicating is via an online blog which employees can access at their leisure.

Source: The Financial Express (November 2005)

Employee engagement and customer loyalty

Organisations are increasingly noticing the strong link between engaged employees and customer loyalty. By implementing measures that aid in employee retention, employers are finding that a flow-on benefit is that customers are also being retained as a result. Active reward and recognition programs, strong communication channels, and a solid career development program are seen to be of greater benefit to employees than increases in salary, additional training, and bonuses.

Source: Yahoo Finance (October 2005)

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