Thursday, February 25, 2010

Industries Hit Hardest by Job Losses and States With the Highest Taxes

Yesterday we talked about the hiring freeze thawing and the Wall Street bonuses growing, and today we have two more topics to discuss with you.

Investopedia via Yahoo! Finance has an interesting look at the three industries hardest hit by job losses and the job loss market as a whole (H/T Wendy). The amazing part is that since I started working in my current role in December of 2007, unemployment has almost doubled from 7.7 million Americans to 14.8 million. To make matters worse, the article says that the number of workers unemployed for 27 weeks or longer has soared to a record 6.3 million people. And 661,000 have just dropped out of the labor market entirely. These people don't count against the unemployment rate which means that even more people are not working than the unemployment percentage shows.

The three biggest industries hit by jobs losses are construction, transportation and warehousing, and manufacturing. There are only a few industries which have seen an increase in their employment. The temporary help services industry saw a bump as well as health care and the federal government (mostly due to the upcoming census). This proves that while jobs seem to continually be disappearing, looking in the right places shows that hiring is occurring.

Our second article, from The Guardian, looks at the actual tax rates of different US states (H/T Jay). It starts with the premise that many people are complaining at California taxes but California comes in 6th at an average of 10.5% on an average per capita income of $47,706 (2008). The real problem is in the Tri-State Area. New Jersey is #1 with 11.8% on $56,116, New York is #2 with 11.7% on $55,032. Connecticut is #3 with 11.1% on $63,160, with Maryland and Hawaii rounding out the top 5 (unfortunately I get taxed by both New York and Connecticut...eek!).

Massachusetts surprised the author of the post (and me) by coming in at 23rd. The South, while a lower tax rate in many states, also has a lower average per capita income. Wyoming seems to be the best bet to keep the most of your high salary with only 7% on $53,163. Some things to think about when relocating for a job!

Picture from Select Leaders

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Hiring Freeze Thawing and Wall Street Bonuses

It's a mega link week here at Astron's World of HR blog.

First, from The Journal of Commerce, an interesting article about the hiring freeze starting thaw (H/T Wendy). The article does point, out, however that the road to recovery is just beginning and overall the U.S. job market is pretty flat (with unemployment hovering at 9%-10%). (Picture also from this article).

Next, The Wall Street Journal came out with the numbers yesterday that Wall Street bonuses were up 17% to $20.3 billion in 2009. Now, while it's not surprising that bonuses are up after last year's bonus-busting recession and the tight regulation on Wall Street bonuses, it is still disconcerting to much of Main Street that their tax dollars went to Wall Street for this. The interactive graph that accompanies the article is a good view to show how crazy the bonuses have gotten on Wall Street. You have to figure that many of these bonuses were "making up" for last year. But while most of America is dealing with unemployment, hearing that the average bonus was $124,850 and the average compensation was $340,000 has to be upsetting to many.

Tomorrow we'll get more into the job losses that we talked about as well as looking at which states tax you the most.

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Astronology - The Electronic Workplace

Astron Website Top

Astronology

Volume X

Issue 26

 

February 23, 2009

Dear Andrew,

Astron Solutions provides high-quality, low-cost, innovative human resources consulting services to organizations like yours. Call us for advice, innovative program design, and user-friendly Web/PC based software.

 

The Astron Road Show

The weather's been frightful here in the Northeast, but that won't slow down the Astron Road Show! March 11th finds National Director Jennifer Loftus presenting to the Mid-Hudson Valley (New York) Chapter of the Society for Human Resource Management (MHVSHRM). Jennifer will speak on A + B + C = Wow! Using Total Rewards to Your Strategic Advantage. For more information or to register, please contact Katie Sens, MHVSHRM's VP of Programming.

We hope to see you on the road!

 

Fact or Fiction

The acid found in the stomach for digestion is strong enough to dissolve razor blades.

FACT!

Hydrochloric acid is the type of acid found in the stomach. This acid has the ability to not only dissolve the yummy food we eat, but also certain types of metals!

We hope that your workplace is a positive one, not generating too much Hydrochloric acid for you!

 

The Electronic Workplace

mobileBlackBerries, Iphones, laptop computers, Myspace, Facebook, and Twitter. These are just a handful of the everyday technology advances impacting most every avenue of life, including the workplace. Along with technological advances in hardware systems, the social networking boom is changing the productivity of the workplace. In today's issue, Astronology reviews some of the many advantages and disadvantages of a more electronic workplace....more

 

Have a Question?

If you have a topic you would like addressed in Astronology, or some feedback on a past article, don't hesitate to tell us!  Simply reply to this e-mail.  See your question answered, or comments addressed, in an upcoming issue of Astronology.

Looking for a top-notch presenter for your human resource organization's meeting?  Both Jennifer Loftus and Michael Maciekowich present highly-rated sessions on a variety of compensation and employee retention issues.  For more information, send an e-mail to info@astronsolutions.com.

 

The Fine Print

We hold your e-mail address in trust.  Astron Solutions promises never to share or rent your personal information.  We also promise never to send you frivolous e-mails and will allow you to leave our list, at your option, at any time.

To remove yourself from this list, please follow your personalized subscriber link at the bottom of your Astronology alert e-mail.

Copyright 2010, Astron Solutions, LLC

ISSN Number 1549-0467

Quick Links

 

World of HR Blog

Bringing you Human Resource news from around the globe...compliments of Astron Solutions.

More

 

Join Our Mailing List

 

Friday, February 19, 2010

Valentine's Day in The Office and in "The Office"

I'm just catching up on my DVR from last week after a fun trip down to New Orleans and one of the shows that I recently watched was "The Office" from last Thursday. It had a Valentine's Day theme which reminded me a lot of the Astronology from last week titled "Valentine's Day: Friend or Foe of the Workplace". Andy Bernard, a guy in Dunder Mifflin, likes Erin, a girl, but he doesn't want to make it that obvious by just giving her a Valentine's Day card and gives one to everyone in the office. Except he doesn't actually read the cards and confusion (and hilarity) ensues when some of his cards are a bit too "loving". In the fictional Dunder Mifflin, no one ever seems to get in trouble for violating Codes of Conduct, but in your real-life office, this could become a real problem:
While we look to the positive side of the holiday, there is always the concern about sexual harassment claims. The romantic nature of the holiday may encourage some employees to express their feelings for co-workers. Each year Vault.com runs an eye-opening study on office romance. Vault.com should be releasing the 2010 results shortly. Barbara Safani of Career Solvers also recently blogged on the prevalence of workplace romances and why people get involved with co-workers. While we can’t control everyone’s actions, as HR professionals, we need to ensure our employees know our organization’s policies regarding sexual harassment and hostile work environment to prevent legal claims.
I think the key is to revert to elementary school politics to prevent problems from occurring. As Astronology suggests, after what we all went through in 2009, Valentine's Day just gives workplaces another "excuse" to bring a "small injection of fun" into the office--but it needs to be fully inclusive of everyone. Games, candy, and even cheap gift cards all seem to work. Since it's Mardi Gras time, bringing in a King Cake for your group is a fun, sweet way to celebrate. The tradition is that whoever finds the tiny plastic baby has to buy the next King Cake. This allows some fun competition between office members and allows everyone to participate in a cheap fun way.

The Astronology concludes with some great advice: "Whatever options you implement, utilize this opportunity to reach out to your employees and let them know how much they mean to your organization!"

Photograph courtesy of NBC, Byron Cohen via Poptimal.

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Greetings From New Orleans

Greetings from New Orleans and Bourbon St., home of the Super Bowl champion Saints! I was on one of two flights to escape Newark in this direction yesterday and miracuously made it down here.

I am amazed at how well the city looks. After Hurricaine Katrina, I expected the city to still be in a state of reconstruction, but other than the infrastructure improvements in the roads, the place looks great. Actually, it looks better than ever.

It's a good lesson to companies recovering from the recession. Although things may look bleak and no company wants to go through such tough times, it does give you a chance to rebuild certain things and start from scratch.

And when money starts coming back to the the balance sheet, invest in improving the infrastructure to make sure it's in place the next time bad times come.

If you can take one lesson from down on lively Bourbon St, that is a really good one.


-Andrew

Tuesday, February 09, 2010

Astronology - Valentine's Day: Friend or Foe of the Workplace?

Astron Website Top

Astronology

Volume X

Issue 25

 

February 9, 2009

Dear Andrew,

Astron Solutions provides high-quality, low-cost, innovative human resources consulting services to organizations like yours. Call us for advice, innovative program design, and user-friendly Web/PC based software.

 

Fact or Fiction

Sweethearts receive the most Valentines on Valentine's Day.

Fiction!

Teachers receive the most Valentines, followed by children, mothers, wives, and finally, sweethearts. Who knew?

 

Valentine's Day: Friend or Foe of the Workplace?

valentinesCupid. Candy colored hearts. Cards. Every February 14th, many people in the United States look forward to Valentine's Day. In this issue of Astronology we offer you a smorgasbord of Valentine's goodies. We'll take a look at the history of the potentially amorous holiday, as well as explore some tips on office-safe ways to recognize the day....more

 

Have a Question?

If you have a topic you would like addressed in Astronology, or some feedback on a past article, don't hesitate to tell us!  Simply reply to this e-mail.  See your question answered, or comments addressed, in an upcoming issue of Astronology.

Looking for a top-notch presenter for your human resource organization's meeting?  Both Jennifer Loftus and Michael Maciekowich present highly-rated sessions on a variety of compensation and employee retention issues.  For more information, send an e-mail to info@astronsolutions.com.

 

The Fine Print

We hold your e-mail address in trust.  Astron Solutions promises never to share or rent your personal information.  We also promise never to send you frivolous e-mails and will allow you to leave our list, at your option, at any time.

To remove yourself from this list, please follow your personalized subscriber link at the bottom of your Astronology alert e-mail.

Copyright 2010, Astron Solutions, LLC

ISSN Number 1549-0467

Quick Links

 

World of HR Blog

Bringing you Human Resource news from around the globe...compliments of Astron Solutions.

More

 

Join Our Mailing List

 

Friday, February 05, 2010

Questions (Not) To Ask During an Interview

assertTrue( ) has a list of 9 question to ask during an interview on their website but I figured it would be a good idea to expand on their list of questions not to ask from the candidate and the interviewer. Here are 5 for each:

For the candidate:

1. Don't ask about time off. If you have a vacation planned after you're supposed to start the new position, there's a time and a place about it. But don't start your relationship with a hiring manager or human resource professional by talking about how much time you won't be spending in the office

2. Be careful about how you talk about your last/current employer. There are good reasons why you want to leave your job and then there are reasons that will send up huge red flags at your new company. Don't hide anything from them that they need to know...but don't start by talking about the body odor of your current boss.

3. Don't ask any question about the company you can find out on the website. There is a fine line between being interested about a company and finding out more and being lazy and just not searching the company's website before the interview. Actually, it isn't a fine line. Do your research before you step into the office.

4. Leave something non-essential off the resume. I feel that some question will come up that's best described by something that's not essential to be on the resume, but something which will describe you well. If you were president of an organization but that was years ago, you can talk about the initiative you took to climb up the ranks without having it as one line in a resume. Also, if there's something on your resume just to pad it, it may look like you're confused about your career path and/or using a generic resume. Don't do that.

5. Don't go in without any knowledge of who you'll be speaking with. Not everyone has a bio up on the website, but if they do, give it a little study. If they don't, ask the person who sets up the interview to tell you a little bit about who you'll be interviewing with. Eventually you'll get a chance to ask a question and you don't want to be totally stumped/totally unoriginal. If you've done the research into them, it'll pay off.


For the HR Professional/Hiring Manager

1. Don't be nervous. I guarantee the person sitting across from you is 100x more nervous that you are. If you're nervous, it'll make them nervous and make for a very awkward interview. Some people hate operating in this type of setting but you need to find a way to feel comfortable doing this.

2. Force the interviewee to go off script. Basically, don't ask only generic questions. Ask them something they will have to think about for a few seconds and show some creativity/problem solving skills in thinking. Maybe talk about a problem and see how they would solve it or ask them how they feel about something in current events relating to the job (or to something else). In one of my interviews for my current role, I spent more than half the time speaking about A-Rod opting out of his contract with the Yankees. It had nothing to do with the role, but it allowed me to show how I spoke, how I solved problems and my creative side. But most importantly, it forced me to go off script.

3. Read the resume before the interview. I've had way too many interviews where I could tell the person interviewing me had no clue anything about me. If you're expecting the candidate to be prepared and do research on the company, you should provide the same courtesy and do the minimal amount of research required to read their resume. It can also help you frame questions for #2.

4. Keep the interview moving. You're like the producer of a radio show. If the host or callers get off topic for too long, you're job is to move it along to the next step. Don't cut anyone off, but you can't allow an interviewer to just ramble. Part of any job is fitting what you need to say within a timeframe and this is great practice for it. Also, you don't want the interviewee veering into too many personal details, so keep it on track.

5. Know what the position requires. This seems like it should be above for "candidates" but I think this is just as important for interviewers. I had an interview where the job description, HR representative and hiring manager all gave me a different shpeel about what the position required. There's no easier way to confuse a candidate than not being all on the same page. I was asked about certain licenses that had nothing to do with the job and the HR rep thought I was wholly unqualified by the time she got done speaking with me, when, in fact, I had all the requirements listed on the job description. It's not considerate to the person being interviewed.

Hope those are some good hints. I figured it was a few non-obvious Dos and Do Nots for the interviewer and the interviewee.

Monday, February 01, 2010

The Onion Takes On Job Performance Reviews

Since we all need a little laugh for our Monday, The Onion takes on job performance reviews, goal setting, inspirational posters, company retreats and many more subjects. With end-of-the-year performance reviews just completed, this may hit too close to home for some, but at least you can get a laugh out of it. Enjoy (a NSFW word slips out right after the 2 minute mark so if you're watching this at work, you may want to stop it at 2 minutes):


Obama To Hold Job Performance Review With Every American Worker

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