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Get a Life!
Fortune (11/28/05) , P. 108; Miller, Jody; Miller, Matt; Zappone, Chris

A recent survey of senior male executives of Fortune 500 firms by Fortune magazine shows that 84 percent of respondents want job options that enable them to realize professional goals while providing more time for things other than work. Fifty-five percent said they were willing to give up income if it meant more time available for extra-vocational pursuits. Half said they were not convinced that the sacrifices made for their careers were worth it and nearly three quarters said it was possible to restructure upper management positions to both increase productivity and make more time available for outside pursuits. Eighty-seven percent said that doing this will give companies a competitive advantage in drawing top talent. Experts say that top executives are increasingly finding themselves pushed to their limits, having to work up to 80-hour weeks, to the detriment of families and even sanity. If this keeps up, the United States will pay in the form of slowed productivity, this at a time when global competition has never been keener.

Global Workers Shy Away From CEO Post, Poll Finds
PRWeek (11/21/05) , P. 2; Iacono, Erica

An international study by Burson-Marsteller in partnership with the Economist Intelligence Unit shows that many corporate executives do not want to become CEOs because it offers a low work/life balance. Participants in the study of 685 worldwide business executives also cited excess focus on quarterly earnings, stress, public scrutiny, and rules such as Sarbanes-Oxley as reasons for rejecting the CEO position. In North America and Europe, 64 percent and 60 percent of respondents respectively said they would turn down a CEO offer. Burson researcher Leslie Gaines-Ross said this trend of disliking the top position needs to be counter-balanced with better leadership training, especially help on coping with the work/life balance. "Companies that are very good at grooming their leaders are the ones that really will have more executives interested in taking that top slot," she explained. Reasons for wanting to be a CEO include a desire to solve problems, have an impact on business, and execute ideas.

No Thanks to the Corporate World
Hartford Courant (CT) (11/04/05) ; Kalra, Ritu

Researchers and corporate executives are seeking new ways to get more women into leadership positions, but the latest studies indicate that younger generations of women are uninterested in the corporate world—many see it as boring and driven by greed. Young women recently indicated that they are more interested in flexible schedules, opportunities to make strategic decisions, strong relationships with supervisors, endless learning opportunities, and making a difference in society and the world, which many do not equate with the corporate world. Simmons College School of Management Professor and former Oglivy & Mather executive Fiona Wilson noted that money is a priority, but is not the top priority for young women. Critics note that in order to recruit more women into boardrooms and executive suites, corporate culture will have to change, which could lead to a reinvention of capitalism. Short-term earnings' focus is limiting the growth of many firms and in some cases causing them to fail. In a recent survey conducted by Simmons College, only 15 percent of boys and 9 percent of girls between seventh and 12th grades listed business-related fields as their top choices. More disturbing to analysts is that more and more women with young children are dropping out of the workforce to care for their families, even those women in professional careers with high incomes. In fact, a recent nationwide survey indicated that Generation X women cited motherhood as a reason to leave office environments that were unsatisfactory

Employee Productivity

U.S. workers are only productive three days per week, found a recent survey by Microsoft.

On average, workers in the United States put in 45 hours per week, 16 of which are considered unproductive. Top time wasters include unclear objectives, lack of team communication, and ineffective meetings.

Source: HR Management Daily Document Update

Top Ten Things That Keep HR Up At Night

1. Health-care costs
2. Leadership development
3. Performance management
4. Retention
5. Strategic HR
6. Succession planning
7. Benchmarketing and metrics
8. Future employee shortage
9. Best practices in recruitment
10. Effective use of technology

Source: HR.com

When Are You Coming Home? Five Practical Tips to Realizing Work/Life Balance—10/04/2005

As safety and health managers take on more responsibilities, they face a growing workplace health threat—stress. This article offers a strategy for coping.

New Survey and Web Site From Beringer Founders' Estate Wines Prepares for October's National Take Back Your Time Day

According to this new survey work/life balance is a myth for many American workers. Interesting insight into an age- old dilemma.

AberdeenGroup

According to the latest human capital research by AberdeenGroup, a high tech research organization, talent management is indeed in the HR spotlight in the years to come.

Their findings point to competing for talent the highest priority both long-term and short-term for Human Capital Management (HCM) executives across all industries. According to the attached report, "The single greatest challenge in workforce management HR executives reported is creating or maintaining the companies' ability to compete for top talent. And getting those "A" players is not enough; companies want to ensure they can retain them once they find and hire them."

Focus on growing internal talent, establishing career paths, and succession planning (96%), and building a brand that attracts new employees (89%) are also on their 12-month agenda. Yet best-in-class companies are less concerned about recruiting tomorrow's talent, instead focusing on defining the balance between the level of service and cost of benefits, as well as planning and managing a global workforce.

The top four challenges reportedly being faced by "best in class" HR executives include:

1.  ability to compete for top talent in hiring and retention (85%)
2.  addressing benefits costs (54%)
3.  balance service level and cost of benefits (46%)
4.  lowering the human capital operating budget (46%)

And the top metrics used by "best in class" companies to measure the success of their human capital initiatives include:

—employee satisfaction (92%)

—employee turnover (77%)

—employee productivity benchmarks (54%)

—compensation benchmarks with like companies (31%)

—external recognition as a good place to work (23%)

—adhering to budget requirements (23%)

Talent Hold Em
Washington SmartCEO (09/05) Vol. 1, P. 34; Allerton, Haidee

Companies tend to view talent retention as contingent upon high salaries and good benefits, but experts say good management is more important. "You can have the best benefits and salaries in the world, but it's really the work and people feeling a sense of pride and looking forward to going to work," says multimedia and Internet development firm Redmon Group principal John Redmon. "The job should be a means to an end, which is your priority in life whether family, religion, gold, whatever. As long as the job is contributing to [that], then you have a good match." Whatever the deciding factor, experts say that the need for developing good retention approaches is now more important than ever as the skilled and talented worker pool diminishes with the tightening labor market. Employee exit surveys conducted by retention firm TalentKeepers of Maitland, Fla., reveal that leaders' ability, or lack there of, to create a culture of retention is the key factor in whether a worker decides to stay or go. TalentKeepers has identified 10 Retention Leadership Talents that a CEO must possess to keep the right people on board. The talents, in an abbreviated version, are trust builder, climate builder, esteem builder, flexibility expert, communicator, talent developer and coach, high-performance builder, retention expert, retention monitor, and talent finder.

Leadership Needs the X and Y Factors
Human Resources (09/05) ; Finch, Melinda

Speaking at a business breakfast hosted by Robert Half International in Sydney, Australia, AH Revelations executive director Avril Henry said that organizations needed to invest in training and development for managers to assure they are attuned to the needs of Generation X and Y employees, who, according to Henry, are driven by a different set of priorities than their predecessors when it came to careers. "Generations X and Y are firstly loyal to their career path, and secondly to a great manager or team," Henry says. "'Gen X' responds well to 'effective' leadership and 'Gen Y' craves 'inspirational' leadership. Both want leaders who listen and involve them." Finding such managers poses a challenge to many companies who still rely on leadership from the "veteran" demographic, or those born before 1946, who are often resistant to change. "Organizations need to invest in training and development for managers, placing particular emphasis on 'soft' skills, such as performance management and conflict resolution," says Henry.

Team Building Is Not What it Used to Be
London Guardian (05/28/05) , P. 19; Paton, Nic

Team-building courses along with individual coaching, such as mentoring and e-learning, are still key to employers wishing to develop a successful team of employees. Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) adviser Jessica Jarvis explains that team-building activities are no longer "frivolous" but are meant to help employees bring value back to the workplace. According to a recent CIPD survey, 95 percent of firms sent staff to external conferences, workshops, and events, 88 percent offer coaching, and 72 percent use mentoring. These percentages, according to CIPD, are expected to rise in the next five years. The key is selecting learning events that benefit the company and also every employee. However, not only do companies want to build leadership skills and create a sense of team among employees, but it is also about thanking employees for their hard work by having a little fun, says Sega employee Stefan McGarry who recent participated in a company- sponsored treasure hunt.

The World of Team-Building
The Independent (05/26/05) ; Wren, Andrea

Experts agree that team-building forges close relationships and teaches employees how to work together for the sake of the organization. David Evans, chief executive of The Grass Roots Group, says team-building events have earned a bad reputation because of the emphasis given to the social side of the affair. But in reality, Evans says team away days are an effective tool to foster company loyalty. To reap the maximum benefit from a team-building event, experts say it is vital that it is well planned. Nick Porter, director of corporate team building events recommends that organizers decide in advance what their goals are and what lessons the participants should walk away with.

Visit my case studies page where you will see my facilitation  work creates exactly the needed results.

Sabbaticals, Training, Secondments and Other Carrots
Financial Times, P. 4;
Murray, Sarah

Companies are implementing a number of strategies to help them retain good employees. "Experienced employees carry within them the history of the company," notes Mercer Delta Consulting partner Elizabeth Coffey. Offering employees increased flexibility, both in working patterns and reward systems is helpful in holding on to employees. Training is a vital means of keeping employees motivated. In addition, development programs help draw and keep executive, who realize that such programs help them perform well within the company and enables them to obtain skills that will prove crucial if they eventually have to take another position. Most importantly, employees need to be provided with a wide range of experiences in their work to keep them interested and involved. For big firms with operations in multiple nations or locations, it is fairly simple to give employees a broad range of positions in various part of the company. Even smaller firms, though, possess management tools that can keep staff motivated for longer working periods; Chartered management Institute, for example, offers employees project management roles during events such as proposing of a technology system or the devising of a product.

Wall Street Journal

Resilient CEO's SPEAK OUT

Booz Allen's web-based survey of more than 14,000 respondents rated their own organizations against key measures of resilience. Only 15% qualified as resilient.

Here's what a gathering of CEOs had to say about resiliency skills:

"Resilient organizations are "flexible and adaptable enough to respond to external changes when they occur. They align key systems in their organizations, including people and how you motivate them, the structure, the processes, and how decisions are made." Bruce Pasternack, senior VP Booz Allen Hamilton

"In the end, I think that business resiliency comes back to the people, the leadership and how you approach the people-nothing else. That is all there is." Donna Dubinsky, Director palmOne and former CEO, Handspring.

"If you're going to make significant change, it's important to be extreme in your energy, in your leadership-in reinforcing the change that you're going to make. And always avoid , to the best of your ability, conflicting objectives because that confuses people and takes away from being extreme." Richard Bellusso, Chairman and CEO, Quantum Corporation.

The Maryland Gazette

Staying in the game

by Amy Limbert
Staff Writer

Even when money is tight, businesses see employee training as way to maintain their competitive edge

It's a tough decision for any company: Revenues are down, and costs have to be cut somewhere. The training budget—with its focus on "soft" skills, such as customer relations and office communications— is an easy target.

Employee training and education can take a multimillion-dollar bite out of a company's annual budget, and when the economy falters or the bottom line just isn't meeting projections, cost- conscious executives are tempted to see these programs as mere perks and cut them.

But experts say business leaders should ignore that gut reaction and look for other cost-saving options. Investing in employee training and development can actually boost the bottom line through increased productivity, better client services and more loyal employees, they say.

Officials at Lockheed Martin Corp., the aerospace and defense giant in Bethesda, say the investment is a no-brainer.

"With $70 billion worth of work in backlog in business in the corporation, we know in the future that to carry out that work at the same level we're carrying out today, we need to invest in [employees] and in their future," said Marilyn Figlar, vice president of leadership and organizational development for Lockheed Martin.

Workplace Update:

Top Training Priorities for 2004:

Training Magazine reports that softskills trainings ranks near the top of priorities. In short, such topics as leadership, management and interpersonal skills are not just "nice-to-have" but are fundamental business goals. Duke Energy which employs 23,000, views softskills training as one of the primary components of the organization's overall ability to succeed in a competitive, rapidly changing environment.

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