Even Google had to cut one of their most famous employee perks as their stock price has dropped almost 50%: click here
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Monday, October 27, 2008
Does a company’s culture affect organizational performance and effectiveness?
Interesting answer to this question "Does a company's culture affect organizational performance and effectiveness?": click here
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Why Talent Is Overrated
A good article from Fortune to read on why talent is overrated: click here
And some more from Geoff Colvin on a guest blog post: click here
And some more from Geoff Colvin on a guest blog post: click here
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Astronology: Halloween At Your Place of Employment
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October 31st will be here in a few short days. As it approaches, HR departments may be presented with an interesting challenge. Is it possible to celebrate Halloween at work without unintentionally upsetting some employees? Some may think the answer is no. However, with a look into the tradition and understanding why some employees may have concerns, it is possible to strike a balance between having a celebratory atmosphere with professionalism. Perhaps this year, your organization can come up with a creative way of meeting this challenge!...
Astron Solutions | 505 8th Avenue | Suite 2200 | NY | NY | 10018 |
Slashing OT and Hiring Freeze Hits Everything
A story about slashing overtime and a hiring freeze to meet a budget shortfall brought on by declining revenues and a spike in costs...but instead of a local business or a multinational corporation, this time it's about the city of Baltimore: click here
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Friday, October 17, 2008
What I’m Hearing…Your Hearing May Be in Danger
This morning on the radio I heard about a new study out of Britain. According to the research, someone who listens to their iPod or other music device for 1 hour a day for five years will go deaf.
Scary.
The study got me thinking. If someone listens for longer periods each day – like many of our Gen X and Gen Y colleagues in our offices – will he or she go deaf sooner?
Free will is an important part of life here in America. If someone wants to risk their hearing to listen to music, that’s his / her choice. However, as HR Professionals, what can we do to help our employees make informed choices? What should we do? I’m thinking about going beyond traditional policies that restrict the use of musical devices in the workplace. We currently provide opportunities to educate employees about wellness, financial planning, and other topics. Perhaps preserving one’s hearing should be included in that mix. If we don’t – and this study’s results turn out to be true – our workplaces and ways of doing business will radically change in the next 10 or so years. Being bilingual in American Sign Language is one aspect that comes to mind. What are your thoughts?
Scary.
The study got me thinking. If someone listens for longer periods each day – like many of our Gen X and Gen Y colleagues in our offices – will he or she go deaf sooner?
Free will is an important part of life here in America. If someone wants to risk their hearing to listen to music, that’s his / her choice. However, as HR Professionals, what can we do to help our employees make informed choices? What should we do? I’m thinking about going beyond traditional policies that restrict the use of musical devices in the workplace. We currently provide opportunities to educate employees about wellness, financial planning, and other topics. Perhaps preserving one’s hearing should be included in that mix. If we don’t – and this study’s results turn out to be true – our workplaces and ways of doing business will radically change in the next 10 or so years. Being bilingual in American Sign Language is one aspect that comes to mind. What are your thoughts?
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Social Security, GM Layoffs and More
We'll start off on this Thursday with news from the Associate Press that Social Security benefits are going to increase by 5.8% per month (the largest COLA increase in more than a quarter of a century): click here
Marketwatch continues by telling us that GM is set to lay off 1,500 workers in Michigan and Delaware: click here
The New York Times has a really interesting article about those who are certainly left out in the cold by this financial crisis and job market--finance students: click here
This is a huge dilemma for finance students...not only are they going up against a huge population of unemployed workers, but they're also the least experienced in that group. And with a hiring freeze and many of the big banks, these people are sitting with huge debt, without the huge payoff they expected at the end of the rainbow: click here
Lastly, a New York Times column that gives the advice that when job hunting, be your own salesperson (on the other side, this will have to make Human Resources more adept at picking through the sales pitches): click here
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Can green jobs save us?
It's a good question for this election cycle especially because both candidates seem to agree on a position:
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1008/14551.html
-Andrew
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Monday, October 13, 2008
NYT: Across the Country, Fear About Savings, Job Market and the Economy
A good article about the troubles of this economy, even for the retired...
Thursday, October 09, 2008
More Job Market Data
| Jobless claims drop from 7-year high but remain elevated due to weakening economy By CHRISTOPHER S. RUGABER AP Business Writer 547 words 09:26 am, 10/09/2008 Associated Press Newswires English (c) 2008. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. WASHINGTON (AP) - New applications for unemployment benefits dropped last week from a seven-year high, the Labor Department said Thursday, though they remain at elevated levels that indicate recession. Initial claims for jobless benefits dropped 20,000 to a seasonally adjusted 478,000, the department said, the same level that Wall Street economists expected. The department said Hurricanes Ike and Gustav were responsible for adding about 20,000 claims on a seasonally adjusted basis. That's down from approximately 45,000 the previous week. The four-week average, which smooths out fluctuations, rose to 482,500, the highest since October 2001. The number of Americans continuing to claim unemployment benefits rose to 3.66 million, above analysts' estimates of 3.6 million. That's the highest total in more than five years. Meanwhile, the financial markets are expected to rise in early trading in response to comments by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and other administration officials indicating the government is considering taking ownership stakes in troubled U.S. banks. The move would be intended to unclog the credit markets that have made all kinds of loans, from interbank lending to consumer loans, harder to get. Some economists have argued for such a step as a way to more directly provide capital to ailing banks, as opposed to the administration's initial bailout plan of buying bad mortgage-related assets from the banks. The housing slump and resulting credit crisis has hit the economy hard, causing consumers to cut spending and businesses to eliminate jobs. In response to what has become a global credit crisis, the Federal Reserve and six other central banks on Wednesday announced a coordinated interest rate cut. The Fed reduced its target interest rate to 1.5 percent from 2 percent. The Fed's cut means borrowing money becomes cheaper. Home equity loans, credit cards and other floating-rate loans all fluctuate depending on what the Fed does. Jobless claims have come in above 400,000, a level economists consider a sign of recession, for 12 straight weeks. Claims stood at 316,000 a year ago. The International Monetary Fund on Wednesday joined a chorus of private economists and predicted the U.S. economy will contract in the final quarter of this year and the first quarter of 2009, meeting one classic definition of a recession. Many economists expect that consumer spending, which accounts for two-thirds of economic activity, will decline in the July-September quarter. That would be the first quarterly decline in 17 years. Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke said on Tuesday that economic activity will likely remain "subdued" for the rest of this year and into next year. The Labor Department said in a separate report last week that the economy lost 159,000 jobs in September, the fastest pace of job cuts in five years. Employers have eliminated 760,000 jobs so far this year. The unemployment rate remained at 6.1 percent in September, up from 5.7 percent in July and 4.7 percent a year ago. Several companies announced job cuts in the past week, including eBay Inc., Kraft Foods Inc. and MetLife Inc. APRS000020081009e4a9004ve | ||
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What I’m Hearing…Take a Vacation, Get a New Career
Learning vacations are one of the hottest trends in time off. Instead of sitting poolside for a week, participants in learning vacations try their hand at a variety of activities, running the gamut from archaeology to yoga.
Vocationvacation.com takes the adult learning experience a step further by allowing participants to get a preview of what it’s like to have that “dream job.” Want to test drive being an alpaca rancher? How about a sword maker? Or a country music singer? Here’s your opportunity to try something new in a relatively risk free environment. According to vocationvacation.com, 20% of participants switched their careers as a result of their experiences.
I’ve always been a fan of learning new things, so the idea of a “working vacation” appeals to me. Reading about vocationvacation.com got me thinking about 2 broader possibilities for the HR space:
1. What can we as HR professionals offer through the vocationvacation.com process to others who might think of our organization as a dream job?
2. How can we capture the excitement a learning vacation offers in our own organizations? Mentoring is a start as we look to even broader experiences.
Given the choices on vocationvacation.com, it’s a tossup between Forensics and Meteorology for me. Something to think about for starting that second career after retirement.
Vocationvacation.com takes the adult learning experience a step further by allowing participants to get a preview of what it’s like to have that “dream job.” Want to test drive being an alpaca rancher? How about a sword maker? Or a country music singer? Here’s your opportunity to try something new in a relatively risk free environment. According to vocationvacation.com, 20% of participants switched their careers as a result of their experiences.
I’ve always been a fan of learning new things, so the idea of a “working vacation” appeals to me. Reading about vocationvacation.com got me thinking about 2 broader possibilities for the HR space:
1. What can we as HR professionals offer through the vocationvacation.com process to others who might think of our organization as a dream job?
2. How can we capture the excitement a learning vacation offers in our own organizations? Mentoring is a start as we look to even broader experiences.
Given the choices on vocationvacation.com, it’s a tossup between Forensics and Meteorology for me. Something to think about for starting that second career after retirement.
Tuesday, October 07, 2008
Astronology: Democrat/Republican HR Positions - Election Preview
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Earlier this year, Monday, October 06, 2008
Hiring and Firing
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution starts us off with an article about whether you should dress business casual for an interview: click here
A Human Resource Management Solutions article following up on a HR World article for our next entry on five quick hiring tips: click here
The Houston Business Daily has next for us a Human Resources Guide to employment issues resulting from Hurricane Ike: click here
The Gazette of Colorado Springs says that everyone, especially the employer, benefits by handling layoffs fairly and honestly: click here
Lastly, the Orlando Business Journal cites a study that says that most workers are puzzled about their benefits: click here
A Human Resource Management Solutions article following up on a HR World article for our next entry on five quick hiring tips: click here
The Houston Business Daily has next for us a Human Resources Guide to employment issues resulting from Hurricane Ike: click here
The Gazette of Colorado Springs says that everyone, especially the employer, benefits by handling layoffs fairly and honestly: click here
Lastly, the Orlando Business Journal cites a study that says that most workers are puzzled about their benefits: click here
Friday, October 03, 2008
Some More Financial Jobs News
UBS to cut 2,000 more jobs, scale back investment-banking arm
Last Update: 10:02 AM ET Oct 3, 2008 |
Thursday, October 02, 2008
Job Data continued...
And maybe some of that data has to do with the effect on the job market of the hurricanes: click here
Job Data
By CHRISTOPHER S. RUGABER
AP Business Writer
430 words
09:08 am, 10/02/2008
Associated Press Newswires
English
(c) 2008. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
WASHINGTON (AP) - New applications for unemployment benefits rose slightly last week to a seven-year high due to a weakening U.S. economy and the impact of Hurricanes Ike and Gustav, the Labor Department said Thursday.
The department reported that initial claims for jobless benefits increased by 1,000 to a seasonally adjusted 497,000. That's significantly above analysts' estimate of 475,000. The total is the highest since just after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
The hurricanes, which hit Texas and Louisiana earlier this month, added about 45,000 claims from the two states for the week ending Sept. 27, the department said.
The hurricanes have led to higher claims for several weeks. As a result, the four-week average of claims, which smooths out fluctuations, jumped to 474,000, up 11,500 from the previous week.
In the week ending Sept. 20, Texas reported a 22,235 jump in claims, while Louisiana said claims rose by 9,671.
The number of people continuing to receive benefits increased to 3.59 million, up 48,000 and higher than analysts' estimates. That's the highest total in five years.
Jobless claims are at elevated levels even excluding the hurricanes. Weekly claims have now topped 400,000 for 11 straight weeks, a level economists consider a sign of recession. A year ago, claims stood at 324,000.
The economy is struggling with the financial crisis and slowing consumer spending, leading to increased layoffs by the nation's employers.
Economists expect a separate Labor Department report Friday on payrolls to reflect further weakness in the labor market. They predict the report will show that the nation's employers cut 100,000 jobs last month. That's on top of 605,000 jobs that were eliminated in the first eight months of this year.
The report is expected to show that the jobless rate remains at 6.1 percent. The rate jumped above 6 percent for the first time in five years in August.
The financial crisis will likely cause greater job cuts in the coming months. Several large, troubled banks have been bought by competitors and layoffs are likely.
Citigroup Inc. on Monday purchased Wachovia Corp., which had about 120,000 employees. JPMorgan Chase & Co. last week bought Seattle-based Washington Mutual, which employed roughly 43,000.
Several companies have announced layoffs in the past week, including aluminum company Alcoa Inc., auto retailer CarMax, Inc. and chicken producer Pilgrim's Pride Corp.
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