The Hiring Site
Women think men earn more than they do — and they’re right
Many organizations have a policy prohibiting their employees from discussing salaries with each other. We can safely assume that employees disregard plenty company policies on a regular basis. Sneaking in a few minutes late. Checking Facebook every once in a while – or maybe all the time. You might think salary discussions are another example of employees ignoring their bosses, but that might not be the case. A recent survey from CareerBuilder suggests that men and women have starkly different views of gender inequality in the workplace – especially when it comes to income.
Here’s what the survey found:
From the women’s perspective:
-38 percent feel they earn less than their male counterparts
-39 percent believe men have more opportunities to advance their career
-36 percent believe men receive more recognition for accomplishments
-35 percent believe their decision not to rub elbows with upper management (while the men are doing it) is the reason for the pay and advancement disparity
-22 percent cited favoritism toward men as the reason for the income and advancement differences
Stop Hiring Employees and Start Hiring Entrepreneurs.
“There’s an evolution going on,” says Jennifer Prosek, author of the new book Army of Entrepreneurs: Create an Engaged and Empowered Workforce for Exceptional Business Growth, in reference to today’s workforce. “If you look at what new entrants into the workforce are looking for in terms of jobs, lives, careers and what we’re taught about the world of work have changed.”
As the CEO of public relations and financial communications consultancy CJP Communications, Prosek has noticed that today’s workers want more responsibility, and today’s employers should be receptive to that desire.
Her philosophy is that deciding who to hire is less about finding a great employee and more about finding a great business partner – or, rather, a fellow entrepreneur. “The new generation of workers expects more responsibility early on,” Prosek told me. “They’re fearless and aren’t as willing to stick things out and do things just because their bosses say they should.”
While Prosek drew on her own experiences to write Army of Entrepreneurs, her observations are not limited to what she sees going on at her organization: a recently released Career Advisory Board study indicates that there’s an overall discrepancy between what hiring managers think Millennials value most as they enter the workforce (higher pay) and what Millennials actually say they value most (meaningful work).
It is crucial that hiring managers today understand the shift that has taken place in workers’ attitudes, especially if they expect to build their army of entrepreneurs.
Recruit now. Hire later.
10 Global Labor Trends for 2011 and How to Manage Them
While at HRPA 2011, Canada’s conference and trade show focusing on HR issues and trends, I stopped in to check out Howard Wallack’s session, 10 Global Labor Trends for 2011 and What You Need to Know to Manage Them. Wallack is the Director of Global Member Programs for Society for Human Resource Management, and in his discussion at HRPA 2011, he drew from several studies and surveys (EIU’s Global Firms in 2020, IBM’s Working Beyond Borders, BCG/WFPMA’s Creating People Advantage 2010, and more) and gathered input from SHRM’s Global Expertise panel to determine the 10 most prevalent global labor trends for the rest of 2011.
The business world is becoming increasingly global, yet as Wallack mentioned in his presentation, there aren’t HR standards across the globe right now. Inconsistent economies and policies add complications to an already complex mix; for example, while low job growth is an issue in the U.S. and Canada, it’s not an issue in Asia, where places like Thailand are currently experiencing 9 – 10 percent growth. The U.S. is less friendly than Canada when it comes to immigration, which can present a challenge. In addition, employee engagement is driven by very different factors around the globe: In Asia, employees want titles and learning opportunities, compensation and benefits comes down the chain; in the U.S., health care coverage is most important, then compensation, then responsibility. With that said, let’s take a look at what Wallack says are the most noticeable trends for the rest of this year:
10 Global Labor Trends for 2011
- The importance of globalization and integrating markets: Companies will become larger and more global in the next 10 years, handling operations in more countries than they do today.
—We’re living in an increasingly border-less world.
Should management training be standard for first-time leaders?
If you’ve been in the human resources profession for more than, well, a day or two, you’re probably familiar with the following employee complaints:
- My boss plays favorites
- My boss doesn’t follow through on what he/she promises
- My boss doesn’t listen to concerns
- My boss doesn’t provide regular feedback
- My boss doesn’t keep me motivated
- My boss doesn’t help me develop
- My boss only provides negative feedback
That’s because these, according to a new CareerBuilder survey on management, are the most common gripes that employees have about their bosses.
Although these complaints can often be attributed to a clash of personality types or poor communication between workers and their supervisors, these leadership issues may also arise when an employee feels ill-prepared for a management position, which, according to the survey results, is pretty often. One-in-four managers polled said they weren’t ready to become a leader when they started managing others.
Recruiting for Tomorrow Today: 4 Key Reasons You Need a Talent Pipeline
As any good employer knows, the key to running a successful business is people. People are what got your business where it is today, and they are the determinant of your future success. As you begin to think about how you plan to rebuild and grow your organization following this time of economic uncertainty, the people you bring in to your organization will inevitably play a crucial role in that strategy.
What you have to keep in mind, however, is that today’s market has drastically changed – thanks in part to things like advances in technology and changing job seeker demographics. The harsh truth is that if you want to remain competitive in this market, you can no longer rely on “business as usual” when it comes to your recruitment efforts. What you need is a more proactive approach to recruitment. You need a strategy that not only brings in qualified applicants, but keeps them engaged and interested in opportunities with your organization. You need a strategy that keeps you top of mind with top talent. In short, you need talent pipelining.
A talent pipeline is a community of qualified, interested candidates with the skills and experience that meet your organization’s unique needs. With a talent pipeline in place, you get to take control of the recruitment process. You don’t have to go back to square one and wait for applicants to come in every time you have a hiring need – you already have an existing database of relevant applicants at your fingertips.
Is Techno-Despair Disrupting Your Workplace?
“The world is in midst of an emotional meltdown,” according to Dr. Judith Orloff, author of the New York Times bestseller Emotional Freedom: Liberate Yourself from Negative Emotions and Transform Your Life.
Citing recent reports that levels of anxiety, insomnia and stress are on the rise among workers worldwide, Dr. Orloff told me in a recent phone interview that she believes we can attribute many of these troubles to technology. People are so overwhelmed with the variety and quantity of technology available today, says the Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at UCLA, that they’re suffering from “techno-despair.”
Techno-despair refers to the feelings of depression, insomnia and anxiety that stem from an ever-increasing reliance on technology. While Dr. Orloff doesn’t deny that technology offers a lot of benefits – from enabling us to “catch up with 100 friends on Facebook” instantly to providing us real-time news and information – it can also lead to many problems when that technology breaks down (or simply doesn’t work the way we expect it to).
Smart Recruiting: Doing More With Less Through Talent Pipelining
Coca-Cola doesn’t do it. Neither does McDonald’s, for that matter. Or AT&T. In fact, none of today’s most recognizable – and successful – brands wait until their sales are down to increase their marketing efforts. They know that the key to creating long-term customer loyalty – through good times and not-so-good times – is staying top-of-mind with consumers and standing out among the competition.
This concept is no different from recruiting.
Smart companies do not wait until they have a need to hire to begin recruiting talent. For them, building a talent pipeline – a database of qualified candidates upon whom they can quickly and easily call upon when hiring needs do arise – is a constant, high priority effort.
Today, human resources departments and staffing organizations are faced with the unenviable challenge to deliver high quality candidates with fewer resources at their fingertips to assist them. The need to “do more with less” has become today’s business mantra.
Fortunately, talent pipelining provides the perfect opportunity for companies that want to get more return out of their recruitment efforts using the fewest resources. Talent pipelining is a more proactive approach to recruiting, requiring companies to think about their future hiring needs and create a plan to recruit candidates based on those needs.
Is it Your Responsibility to Make Work/Life Balance Work for Your Employees?
If you’re asking author, advertising CEO and performance coach Nigel Marsh, the answer would be an enthusiastic (and Aussie-accented) “No.” In Marsh’s TED talk (you can watch the video at bottom of this post), in which he shares his thoughts on work/life balance and asks the oft-raised question, “What does a life well-lived look like?”, he argues that it’s not up to corporations or outside interests to determine employees’ work/life balance — it’s up to the employees themselves.
Work/life balance (or whatever phrase you want to use to refer to the idea) is often on the minds of employers and employees alike, and it’s an idea that continues to evolve as technology seeps into more and more aspects of our existence and workplace/personal lines are getting even blurrier. Marsh tells the story of his own transformation from a “classic corporate warrior” who was eating, drinking, and working too much and neglecting his family, to someone who turned 40 and decided to turn his life around and spend a year at home with his family — to a man who has, for the seven years since, spent his time struggling with studying and writing about striking a balance between “work” and “life.”
Marsh’s observations during the last seven years have led him to make four observations about work/life balance:
40 Percent of Employees Give New Meaning to the Term “Workplace Perks”
If there’s one thing American workers love, it’s each other…at least if a new survey on office romance is any indication.
According to CareerBuilder’s Annual Valentine’s Day Survey, nearly 40 percent of workers say they have dated someone they worked with over the course of their careers, and another 18 percent really get around have done so at least twice. Of those who have dated a colleague, 30 percent went on to marry that person.
The survey of more than 3,900 workers nationwide also found that, of those who have dated in the workplace, 10 percent have done so within the last year.
When it comes to gender breakdowns, more women than men report dating someone who was a superior. One in three women say they have dated someone who holds a higher position in their organization; one in five men report they have done the same. Of the 8 percent of workers who are currently crushing at the office, however, more men then women (11 percent of men versus 4 percent of women) say they currently work with someone they are interested in dating.
Going from colleagues to couples
So what is it that turns people into more than just co-workers? Is it stolen looks across the cubicle aisle? The brushing of hands when reaching for the community stapler? Coy flirtations in the copy room?
Before Selling Candidates On the Job, Sell Them Out of the Job First
Such is the advice of Garrett Miller, author of the new book Hire On A WHIM: Four Qualities That Make for Great Employees. As the president and CEO of workplace management company CoTria, Miller frequently coaches companies and gives keynotes on the subject of workplace productivity.
Shortly after starting CoTria, Miller says he started to reflect on the things that made him successful in his previous career, and one thing he always came back to, he say, was hiring.
“I started to wonder, ‘Why did I have so much success hiring?’ As I wrote down qualities that made them [great hires] great, I began to see these four threads that wove them all together. And suddenly, the word ‘WHIM’ popped up,” he told me in a phone interview recently. Thus, the inspiration behind his new book.
“No matter how good you are as a manager, you can’t teach someone integrity.”
WHIM, as the book’s title implies, is an acronym for the four qualities Miller believes are the foundation for a great hire: work ethic, humility, integrity and maturity.
Why these four qualities? “What makes these qualities so unique is that you can’t teach them,” Miller says. ”No matter how talented a manager you are, you can’t teach someone to have more integrity. That’s something life teaches you. And, yes, you certainly can learn these qualities, and you can grow in these qualities, but as a hiring manager, I can’t adopt you without these qualities.”
Four Things Great Companies Do To Develop Their Leaders
For the sixth year in a row, Hay Group released the results of its Best Companies for Leadership study, naming General Electric the top company for leadership worldwide. Proctor & Gamble, Intel, Siemens, Banco Santander, Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, Accenture, Walmart and Southwest rounded out the top 10.
What exactly does ‘great for leadership’ mean? In a nutshell, the companies on this list actively promote and support leadership development throughout all levels of the organization, providing extensive training, education and mentoring programs – as well as viable work/life options.
Notice how the top companies for leadership also happen to be leaders in their industries as well? That’s no coincidence – their leadership and development initiatives benefit the bottom line just as much as they benefit the individual employees. Hay Group’s research finds that these companies owe much of their long-time success and sustainability to “attracting and developing leaders who can collaborate, inspire and lead,” according to the group’s website.
Leading the Way: Four Characteristics that Define a Great Company for Leadership
For more specific examples of what defines a company that’s great for leadership, check out the list below of the characteristics that define these companies – according to Hay Group’s official study – and how various companies on the list embody these characteristics:
1. Diversity is Valued as a Business Asset.
Fewer Employees Postponing Their Retirements
It seems like just a year ago we were telling you that 72 percent of workers 60 and older were postponing retirement due to financial reasons. Turns out, it was. Where does the time go?
Who knows, but apparently in that year, the situation for mature workers began to improve. According to this year’s survey, 60 percent of mature workers are postponing retirement because of finances. Hopefully this is a sign that nest eggs are improving in a post-financial meltdown world.
For employers, it’s a definite sign that mature workers aren’t following any template when it comes to retirement. Financial concerns are still keeping workers tied to their jobs, but many other factors are playing a role, too. For example, 47 percent of workers intend to find freelance or part-time opportunities after retirement because they want to stay active as well as earn some extra money.
Additionally, 20 percent of surveyed mature workers have already asked their bosses about staying with the company longer. Meanwhile, 29 percent of employers are open to keeping these workers on board. These results suggest you have a good chance of retaining your most seasoned employees on either a full-time or part-time basis if you’re interested. That said, would-be retirees clearly have their retirement plans mapped out, so you should have a clear idea of where mature workers fit into your plan.
Looking ahead
Why Recognition Matters: An Interview with the Author of “Winning with a Culture of Recognition”
“Engaged employees are the competitive advantage of today,” Eric Mosley and Derek Irvine argue in their new book, Winning with a Culture of Recognition. If they’re to be believed, that means bad news for employers: Employee engagement is at its lowest level in 15 years, according to a recent Hewitt survey. From that standpoint, it’s no wonder the number employers are struggling to hold on to top employees, despite a still-slim job market.
If anyone can speak to the important role engagement has in an organization’s success, it’s Mosley and Irvine. Through their work at Globoforce®, they have helped companies of all sizes – including such recognized corporations as Dow Chemical, Intuit and Fairmont Hotels – develop strategic recognition programs to increase employee engagement levels and ultimately drive bottom line results. Winning with a Culture of Recognition is their effort to bring those same strategies and solutions to a broader audience.
I recently had the pleasure of speaking with Irvine, who heads Globoforce’s strategy and marketing team, via e-mail to discuss how the book addresses today’s key employer challenges, including what is causing the drop in engagement levels, the impact it is having on U.S. businesses, and what leaders can do to not only stop – but reverse – these effects. Below is the edited version of our conversation.
What sets “Winning with a Culture of Recognition” apart from other management books? Winning with a Culture of Recognition gives practical step-by-step guidance, proven stories of success, and the research behind the power of recognition to create a culture of appreciation that increases employee engagement for dramatic bottom line results. This isn’t a soft-skills “1,000 ways to thank your employees” book. This is a hard management practice with proven results. We bust the myths around old-school recognition and incentives, making strategic recognition attainable for companies of any size.
FORTUNE’s 100 Best Companies to Work For: What’s Their Secret, Anyway?
Yesterday, FORTUNE released its annual list of the Best Companies to Work For.
Simply looking at the profiles FORTUNE provides for each company, which includes such big names as Google, Whole Foods Market and Goldman Sachs, you might be thinking, Well, sure, if my company had an annual revenue of $23.6 billion, we could afford to give our employees on-site dry-cleaning and free gourmet lunches, too. But it’s important to remember that the perks FORTUNE highlights in its profiles of these companies are just that – perks.
Sure, things like Google’s free laundry services, Zappos’ no-charge vending machines, or the state-of-the-art gym at SAS are nice – very nice, in fact – but those things don’t even scratch the surface of what makes these companies great workplaces. In other words, it’s not the benefits themselves, but rather the implication that employees and their work are valued that keep employees happy, engaged and productive.
Building a Great Workplace: Think ‘How,’ Not ‘What’
Last month, I had the pleasure of speaking with Michael Burchell and Jennifer Robin, researchers at the company behind FORTUNE’s list, The Great Place to Work® Institute, to discuss what differentiates great places to work from other companies.
Is “Presenteeism” Infecting Your Workplace?
Missing out on the opportunity to catch up on the always-entertaining-for-one-reason-or-another The View, 72 percent of workers go to work when they are sick, according to a new survey released today by CareerBuilder. Evidently, “presenteeism” and workplace pressures outweigh the desire to see the ridiculous charming banter between Elisabeth Hasselbeck and Whoopi Goldberg, as more than half of those workers (55 percent) say they feel guilty if they call in sick.
(Side note: I can’t help but notice that this 72 percent overlaps slightly with the 29 percent of workers who admitted they have faked an excuse to call in sick in a previous CareerBuilder survey. I’d love to get a peek inside the minds of those who show no remorse at calling in sick when they aren’t, but just don’t feel right about it when they are.)
While I understand feeling too guilty to take a sick day, is there no shame when it comes to putting your co-workers at risk of getting sick? (Did anyone else not see Outbreak?!) More than half of workers surveyed (53 percent) said they have gotten sick from a co-worker who came to the office sick.
