Lionheart Group Scam Prevention Steps

(From swtimes.com) For the second consecutive year, The Chronicle of Higher Education has named the University of the Ozarks at Clarksville as one of the top U.S. universities for which to work. According to a U of O news release, it is one of 30 four-year colleges named to the 2010 “Great Colleges to Work For” honor roll, and was the only Arkansas university to make the list. The third annual survey recognizes colleges for specific best practices and policies, such as compensation and benefits, faculty-administration relations and confidence in senior leadership. U of O was recognized in the small university category – those with enrollments under 3,000. U of O was recognized among the top 10 small schools in nine of 12 categories: Collaborative governance, professional/career development programs, teaching environment, compensation and benefits, job satisfaction, work-life balance, confidence in senior leadership, supervisor or department chair relationship, and respect and appreciation. Read more.

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U Of O Lauded For Workplace

(From Forbes.com) Last month the U.S. Supreme Court issued a highly anticipated opinion, City of Ontario, California v. Quon, which sheds some light on an often overlooked, yet important, issue in many corporations today: technology and network use policies. The case highlights the importance of using these policies to address a company’s right to access information created and sent using work-issued technology in connection with an employee’s expectation of privacy in the workplace. Taking into account this important decision, companies must create, implement and enforce these policies, ensuring employees are aware that their actions may be monitored. Read more.

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Privacy Vs. Technology In The Workplace

(From ZDNet.com) University applications are going up, almost 12% this year in the UK alone and figures showing US applications on the increase though lagging behind other countries. But for every graduate level job, 70 graduates on average apply making the chances of post-graduate employment difficult. The economic downturn hasn’t helped things, with unemployment at record levels and an influx of graduate students adding to the numbers. But a controversy is brewing in the UK – and frankly worldwide as well – in regards to ‘modern’ degrees in computing, the digital age, and multimedia technology and the lack of actual workplace skills gained from such. Read more.

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Are digital degrees ‘useless’ without employment skills?

(From Harvard Business Review) — Tony Hayward’s expected departure as CEO of BP today won’t be the biggest surprise; the surprise is that it’s taken so long. (I called publicly for his resignation some time ago.) The Case of Tony Hayward and the Gulf Oil Spill will be fodder for business school discussions for years to come, as a how-not-to-do-it guide for leadership when disaster strikes. Mr. Hayward must have studied management in a parallel universe, where a set of anti-rules for bad leadership are taught. Here’s what I imagine are those anti-rules. Deny and minimize problems. Drop any mention of the high-minded principles you announced at the beginning of your term, such as safety and a culture that puts people first. Sweep them under the rug as you play down the significance of the crisis. Or better yet, find someone else to blame—a supplier, a business partner, a lowly employee or two. Emphasize your own power and importance. Keep yourself front and center all the time. Rarely bring forward the rest of the team, nor even indicate that it’s a team effort. Make the story all about you. Talk about your heavy burdens and the costs to your life. When forced to acknowledge the true victims, pay lip service. Never apologize, and don’t even pretend to learn from your mistakes. Brush off public disapproval, and persist in the same mindless behavior that provoked criticism in the first place. Hang onto your job even when it’s clear you should go, in order to negotiate the highest severance package, whether you deserve it or not. Don’t even consider a deferred resignation to allow for smooth suggestion. Cling to power, and keep everyone guessing to the very end. Just reverse these rules, and the outcome could have been different. Good leaders must face facts, prepare for the worst case scenario, draw on the whole team, show constant concern for stakeholders, acknowledge mistakes and not make the same ones twice, and do the honorable thing if getting in the way of company progress. BP, in fact, mobilized thousands of employees and former employees from around the world to work on the Gulf Oil spill; the saga of Mr. Hayward now seems peripheral to the main action. Read more.

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Leadership Tips from Tony Hayward (or Not)

(From Gradkin Blog) — With the current view that the generational gap in the workforce is as wide as ever, it’s spurred a recent push by companies to better understand the Gen-Y recruitment landscape. Many companies that had previously been satisfied with their talent management strategies, now realise that methods of old aren’t as applicable anymore. Graduate recruitment like other functions of a business needs to evolve with time. Human Resource professionals globally are in a constant state of incertitude as they try to figure out the answer to “How do we attract Gen-Y talent?”. The reason for the uncertainty really lies in a lack of understanding of today’s millennials. When you can get inside their head though and understand exactly what motivates them, tailoring your recruitment processes around it leads to a winning attraction strategy. The issue is complicated further with a War for Talent reemerging as the global economy recovers. Not only are employers desperate to attract the right talent, they do so in an increasingly competitive job market – start-ups, SMEs and MNCs are all fighting over the best talent and the companies with the most persuasive stories win. So, how exactly do companies ensure they stand out when attracting Gen-Y talent? Read more.

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4 Steps to Attracting Gen-Y Talent

Scams : a web of dirty tricks Ocala To be successful, scams almost always offer would-be victims a great deal, she said. And that was true with Estep's home scam . Comparable homes rented for … and more

(From Business Wire) — A consortium of the nation’s largest and smallest employers have joined forces to compile a job bank of one million immediate job openings across the country, in an effort to put Americans back to work. As of today, nearly 600,000 jobs have been listed in the job bank, with hundreds more added daily. “A Million Jobs for America™,” which launched today, is corporate America’s response to reversing the high unemployment rate. Employers include some of the largest corporations in America, as well as small and mid-sized firms, who have pledged financial support and, more importantly, their job openings in an effort to stimulate the job market. One unique element of the program is its focus on helping Americans who most need employment: Job openings are distributed directly to veterans groups, disabled individuals, non-profit organizations and state unemployment offices. In turn, employers who hire these qualified candidates may be eligible for federal tax credits, such as Restore Employment Act (HIRE) Credits and Work Opportunity Tax Credits. “Who better than American business to lead the job creation efforts and help get Americans back to work?” asked Mark S. Andrekovich, President of MAXIMUS Tax Credit and Employer Services, the sponsor leading this effort to bring businesses and community organizations together. “ ‘A Million Jobs for America’ is our way of helping reverse the staggering unemployment rate and get Americans back to work,” said Dennis Ratner, Founder and CEO of Ratner Companies, the parent company of Hair Cuttery. “CEOs across the country know that true economic recovery will happen when – and only when – our workforce is back to full capacity.” Read more.

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Corporate America Unites with Community Organizations to Launch “A Million Jobs for America”

(From NYTimes.com) HIROSHIMA, Japan — Six young Chinese women arrived in this historic city three summers ago, among the tens of thousands of apprentices brought to Japan each year on the promise of job training, good pay and a chance at a better life back home. Instead, the women say, they were subjected to 16-hour workdays assembling cellphones at below the minimum wage, with little training of any sort, all under the auspices of a government-approved “foreign trainee” program that critics call industrial Japan’s dirty secret. Read more.

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Japan Training Program Is Said to Exploit Workers

(From Dayton Business Journal) Solving the mismatch between available jobs in the Southwestern Ohio area and the skills of the region’s workforce was a main concern for a panel of five regional leaders at the Regional Development Forum in West Chester. Keynote speaker Lisa Patt-McDaniel, director of the Ohio Department of Development, stressed the importance of the success of the state on the people in Ohio. She told the 250 people gathered at the Savannah Center that companies are happy with the region’s work force and work ethic, but the firms need employees with more technical skills. Read more.

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Ohio: Need to match jobs with skills of region’s workforce

“300 million people use PowerPoint and most of them use it poorly,” says Ron Galloway, director of the new documentary Rethinking PowerPoint: Conversations About Slide Design & Presenting. The DVD of the film was released July 20, 2010. Learn more.

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New DVD: Rethinking PowerPoint

WASHINGTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–U.S. employers are reporting a 2.5% average salary budget increase across all employee categories for 2010, which means many employees may expect a base pay raise of around 2.5% before the year is over. However, the size of the raise changes when the employee’s performance is factored in. Low performers can expect to see minimal increases of up to 0.7% or nothing at all, middle performers might expect a nominal base pay raise of 2.4%, and high performers may expect an average of 3.7% (54% higher than a middle performer). Surveyed employers reported that roughly 24% of employees are rated as high performers, while most are classified as middle performers. Read more.

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Employers Still Giving Raises, Mostly to High Performers

NEWS.com.au Fast food job ' scam ' arrest Sydney Morning Herald A former Sydney fast-food manager has been charged with corruption for allegedly demanding up to $3500 from people looking for work . … Parklea Hungry Jacks Manager arrested over job bribes StreetCorner all 61 news articles

(From Business Wire) — More than half (54 percent) of large U.S. businesses that reduced staff in the past 12 months plan to rebuild their workforces to pre-recession levels within two years, according to a study released today by Accenture (NYSE: ACN). “The Accenture High Performance Workforce Study” found that among all U.S. companies surveyed, only 13 percent of executives said that they plan to reduce their employee base over the next 12 months. “The outlook is improving,” said David Smith, managing director of the Accenture Talent & Organization Performance practice. “But as companies grow their staff, it is more critical than ever that they understand their skills needs and approach the expansion of their workforces strategically.” The survey confirmed that companies are shifting their focus away from cost control and returning to growth. The percentage of U.S. companies focused primarily on cost control will decrease from 41 percent in mid-2009 to 18 percent in 2011, according to the study. And the percentage of U.S. companies focused primarily on investment in growth-oriented activities, such as hiring, will increase from 24 percent today to 37 percent within the next 12 months. However, as companies focus on growth, a shortage of high-quality skills may be cause for concern for many businesses. Only 15 percent of U.S. executives surveyed described the overall skill level of their workforces as industry-leading. “A lack of relevant skills may present a hurdle for companies as they position themselves for growth,” said Smith. “Companies need to rethink how they equip employees with the skills required to be competitive today. They must also consider new strategies for hiring and developing untapped talent currently available in the market.” Read more.

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More Than Half of Large, Downsized U.S. Businesses Plan to Rebuild Their Workforces to Pre-Recession Levels by 2012

(From PRNewswire) — Professional coaching is an interactive process that helps individuals and organizations improve their performances and achieve extraordinary results. But sometimes lines between coaching and other helping professions, like therapy or consulting, get blurred. To help educate potential coaching clients, the International Coach Federation (ICF) clears up what clients should and shouldn’t expect from a coaching partnership. It is coaching unless … … the coach tells you what to do. Many people may find it surprising that coaches do not tell their clients what they should do with their lives or careers. Coaching maintains that every client is creative, resourceful and whole. The coach’s responsibility is to discover, clarify and align with what the client wants to achieve and encourage client self-discovery. … the focus is on resolving difficulties from your past which impact your emotional functioning in the present. Therapy focuses on improving overall psychological functioning. The primary focus of coaching is on creating actionable strategies for achieving specific goals in one’s work or personal life. The emphasis in a coaching relationship is on action, accountability and follow-through. … the coach solves your problems. In general, coaching assumes that individuals or teams are capable of generating their own solutions, with the coach supplying supportive, discovery-based approaches and frameworks. … the coach focuses on improving on your less-than-desired behaviors or weaknesses. The focus of coaching is on identifying opportunity for development based on individual strengths and capabilities. Coaching incorporates an appreciative approach, grounded in what’s right, what’s working, what’s wanted, and what’s needed to get there. … the coach uses his/her own experiences to mentor or guide you. Mentoring, which can be thought of as guiding from one’s own experience or sharing of experience in a specific area of industry or career development, is sometimes confused with coaching. Although some coaches provide mentoring as part of their services, coaches are not typically mentors to those they coach. Remember, it is up to a client and a coach to decide the scope of their coaching agreement, which may include elements of consulting, mentoring or other services. In such cases, it is perfectly acceptable for a coach to use these approaches in addition to coaching. Learn more.

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Red Flags: It’s Coaching Unless …

(From Bloomberg Businessweek) — Australia’s resources industry faces the threat of a skills shortage by late 2011 to early 2012, especially in Western Australia and Queensland, a government- appointed labor task force said in a report. Australia has some 75 planned mining and energy projects with a combined value of about A$110 billion, as of April, the National Resources Sector Employment Taskforce said on its website. Resources projects may be short of 36,000 trades workers by 2015, the taskforce said. Read more.

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Australian Resources Industry Faces Skills Shortage by Late 2011

(From The Washington Post) Video Transcript — Tony Hsieh: I think maybe 50 years ago you had to choose between maximizing profits and making employees and customers happy. I think we are at the beginning of a very special time where, because everyone is so hyper connected, and because information travels so quickly through Twitter, blogs and so on, it is actually possible to have it all — to make employees happy, to make customers happy, drive profits and growth, and ultimately make the shareholders, the investors happy. Tom Heath: I’m Tom Heath, this is On Leadership, and today we have Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos.com and author of the new book, Delivering Happiness. Tony Hsieh: For us, the whole belief is that our culture should be our number one priority, and if we get the culture right then most of the other stuff — like great customer service, building a long term enduring brand — will just happen naturally on its own. We actually have ten core values, essentially a formalized definition of our culture. A lot of companies have what they call core values or guiding principles and so on. The problem is that they are usually very lofty sounding and they read like a press release the marketing department put out, and maybe you learn about it on day one of orientation but then it becomes just a plaque on the lobby wall. For us we wanted to come up with ‘committable’ core values, and by committable I mean we are willing to hire and fire people based on whether they are living up to those core values, independent of their actual job performance. When managers from other companies join us, we tell them we expect them to be spending 10 to 20 percent of their time outside the office, hanging out with their team, getting to know the people they work with. They are initially surprised and ask us, “That sounds fun, but is it really working?” Then we ask the people who have actually done it, ‘How much more productive and effective is your team because of the higher levels of trust?’ Communication is better; people are willing to do favors for each other because they are doing favors for friends not just co-workers. The answers we get back as far as increased productivity is anywhere from 20 percent to 100 percent. Read more or watch the interview.

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On Leadership: Zappos.com CEO Tony Hsieh on who he won’t hire

(From BusinessWire) — Grant Thornton LLP, the U.S. member firm of Grant Thornton International Ltd, one of the six global accounting organizations, today announced the release of a new report titled The Evolving Accounting Talent Profile: CFO strategies for attracting, training and retaining experienced accounting and finance professionals. The study presents key research findings distilled from interviews with chief financial officers at publicly traded and privately held companies on the state of the accounting employment market, including staff development and job turnover. Building upon Grant Thornton’s survey of more than 500 U.S. senior finance executives in 2009, the new analysis presents insights on a range of concerns facing CFOs in the hiring and retaining of experienced finance professionals involved in formulating accounting policy, financial reporting, internal controls and compliance. Grant Thornton’s survey revealed that skill sets beyond technical knowledge are critical when it comes to employing experienced accounting professionals most effectively. For example, 55% of respondents thought that the lack of employees with the necessary “soft skills” – communication, critical thinking and problem solving abilities – was the most significant challenge in recruiting seasoned accounting professionals. Workload and lifestyle were rated as the second most significant obstacles in hiring senior finance employees by 50% of respondents, followed by the dearth in technical skills among experienced accounting staffers. Read more.

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Grant Thornton LLP Study Finds ‘Soft Skills’ Biggest Challenge in Hiring Accounting Professionals

Menlo Park, CA, July 14, 2010 /PRNewswire/ — The more things change, the more different generations of workers become the same, suggests a new study (http://www.roberthalf.us/workplaceredefined) from Robert Half. The research shows that workers of all ages have a new appreciation for company stability when making career decisions. Yet, for many, getting to firmer ground may entail a career change: Four out of 10 professionals polled said they are more inclined to look for new opportunities outside their firms as a result of the recession. Other findings include:

At times a fire scene can seem like controlled chaos, from putting the fire out to directing dozens of emergency responders. Now there’s a new tool to keep firefighters even more focused. The Blue Card Command Certification Program teaches Incident Commanders and other fire officers how to standardize incident operations across their department, providing: Safer, more effective hazard zone procedures System-wide accountability among all personnel and response agencies A reduction in the number of firefighter injuries and deaths Simulation-based training to complement on-the-job learning. It’s the first interactive fire training facility in the region. Read more.

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Firefighters get state-of-the-art training

A survey by global Internet content security provider Trend Micro shows that more workers around the globe are using social networking sites while in the office, even as more companies are restricting access to such websites. The survey took a look at the habits of 1,600 full-time workers at various firms in the US, UK, Germany and Japan and found that social networking at workplaces globally has “steadily risen” to 24 per cent in 2010 from 19 per cent in 2008. Trend Micro’s 2010 survey said employees are finding ways around security roadblocks to make social networking an integral part of office-life around the world. The largest increase in social networking over corporate Internet connections during the last two years was among employees in Germany, which saw a more than 10 per cent jump, and the UK, with a six per cent rise. Read more.

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Social networking in the workplace is on the rise

(From latimes.com) Learning more than one language is a 21st century skill. It provides students with economic opportunities across the globe and at home. Many students enter our schools fluent in a language other than English. They speak Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Farsi, Arabic, Khmer and dozens of other languages important in international trade. They come with a resource. Ideally, these students — more than 1.5 million in California who enter school speaking a language other than English — would gain English proficiency while enhancing their home language skills. They would graduate from high school fully bilingual or multilingual and ready to compete in the global marketplace. Read more.

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Language: A skill, not a weakness— Commentary

(From Bradenton.com) MANATEE — Denise Kleiner, the founder of the Old Braden River Historical Society, has launched another nonprofit organization, this one to train people to clean parts of the Florida coast fouled by the Gulf oil spill. The new organization, Florida Coastline Organization Inc., has already raised money from private sponsors, and is planning to offer training sessions in places like Fort Myers Beach and the City of Apalachicola, according to Kleiner, who resides now in the Fort Myers area. Its directors, some of whom are well-known musicians, hope to recruit bands for an as-yet unscheduled concert in Miami to raise money for the new organization. Read more.

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New nonprofit hopes to give training for oil spill cleaning

South Bend man wonders if phone call is a scam or good fortune WSBT-TV For 77-year-old Seach — who fought in Korea and came home to work 46 years as a salesman for Sears, Roebuck and Co. — the news was sort of exciting. … and more

(newsroom.melbourne.edu) Only 38 per cent of Generation X, tertiary qualified women participating in a long-running University of Melbourne study work full-time, compared to 90 per cent of Generation X, tertiary qualified men. The findings are among the latest to emerge from Life Patterns, Australia’s longest running study of the lives of young people. Professor Johanna Wyn, Director of the Melbourne Graduate School of Education’s Youth Research Centre, leads the study. She says Australia’s lack of family-friendly workplace policies is toblame for the low participation rates of highly qualified women in the workforce. “When we started this study in the early 90s, young women who had gained tertiary qualifications were the most likely of any social group to put the highest priority on gaining a career position. “If we fast-forward to 2010, the majority of these same women are no longer participating in the workforce. Indeed, full-time employment for women, 13 years after leaving secondary school, is inversely related to level of educational qualifications. “We have a mis-match between educational and workplace policies. While our young women are encouraged to excel academically, when its time to start a family, there is very little support available from employers and more traditional attitudes to gender roles seem to prevail. So unfortunately, we find our workforce losing huge numbers of talented individuals.” The study shows workplace policies have also taken their toll on the health of Generation X. Comparisons with a similar Canadian study show Australians report much higher levels of poor mental and physical health. Read more.

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Study: 30-something women leave the workplace at an alarming rate

(From PRWEB) — RSR Research’s latest report, “The Customer-centric Store 2010: How Retailers Engage Technology-enabled Customers” finds the need for an improved customer experience to be a critical business challenge in 2010; the number one opportunity in the current market is to refine the customer’s in-store experience. The full report can be downloaded at http://www.retailsystemsresearch.com/_document/summary/1130 , and is sponsored by Manhattan Associates, NCR and Reflexis, with supporting sponsorship from Microsoft. “In the early days of ecommerce, retailers and web designers attempted to mimic the store experience online,” said Paula Rosenblum, Managing Partner at RSR Research and co-author of the report. “Now they are asking, ‘How can we make the store experience as satisfying as the web?’ The answer is not in mimicking non-store channels, but in creating a differentiated experience that harmonizes with non-store channels. And to do that requires store associates with much more access to technology than they have today.” “With the smartphone, never before has the customer/employee balance been so maligned,” adds RSR Managing Partner Steve Rowen, also co-author. “Yet the most well-informed customers still enjoy visiting stores, and it is imperative retailers understand this, nurture it, and rapidly consider new technologies that give employees a fighting chance of being helpful. The future of stores relies on the notion of eye-to-eye ‘assisted service’ – something that online video chats still can’t replicate.” Read more.

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Tech-Enabled Employees Critical to Much Needed In-Store Customer Experience Overhaul

(From PRWEB) — WORKetc founder, Daniel Barnett, reveals that smart business owners are setting up remote teams with the right tools and systems to benefit from increased productivity. “The research (O’Leary, M & Mortensen, M. 2008, Sloan Management Review) confirms what we have instinctively known for years and what smart business owners are already putting into practice,” Barnett said. “Take a person from your team, make them remote and productivity improves. But split that same team into different locations with multiple people at each location and you will see friction.” The recent paper from O’Leary and Mortensen studied 62 teams of 6 members, divided into various combinations of remote groups. When just one person was remote, the entire team was found to be more disciplined in how and when the group communicated. But switch around teams to include groups of remote workers and the team quickly becomes fractured with any gains in productivity quickly eroded. Read more.

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The Surprising Truth About Remote Teams

(From BusinessWire) — A new report from Brookfield Global Relocation Services concludes that the coming decade will be a critical one for companies with international workforces as they grapple with

(From BusinessWire) — Though workforces may be leaner following the recession, HR professionals across the U.S. and Canada are supporting the drive for peak employee performance by expanding their commitment to talent management and the technologies that support it. According to the13th annual survey by global professional services company Towers Watson on HR service delivery trends and practices, HR departments are more confident than ever in the value and efficiencies made possible through enhanced talent management systems. In fact, 42% of the more than 450 companies polled listed “talent/performance systems” as one of their top three HR service delivery issues for 2010. This was not only the most frequently selected issue among respondents, but it was also ranked as the top issue by the largest margin ever in the survey’s history. “Talent management technologies have unquestionably become one of the best ways for companies and HR departments to drive better employee performance and enterprise success following the recession,” said Tom Keebler, Global Practice Leader with Towers Watson’s HR Service Delivery and Technology practice. “In spite of the initial costs, organizations are increasingly deploying new or enhanced systems, recognizing that efficient and effective HR processes enable the flexibility and agility employers need in an uncertain but growth-oriented business environment.” Read more.

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Talent Management Systems Taking on "Must Have" Status in the Post-Recession Era

(From MyPlainView.com) Part 2 from Jose Serrano’s look at organizational culture’s impact. Read here.

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Central Concepts of Culture

(From Marketwatch) BLUE BELL, Pa., June 28, 2010 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ — New research sponsored by Unisys Corporation and conducted by International Data Corp. (IDC) reveals surprising gaps in readiness by global IT organizations to manage, support, secure and ultimately capitalize on the rapidly growing use of consumer technologies and tools in the workplace. The “Consumerization of IT” research was conducted in two phases. A Unisys-sponsored study of 2,820 workers in 10 countries found that tech-savvy information workers are blurring traditional lines between home and work in their use of readily available consumer devices and Web-based social media applications. These “iWorkers” report that they are investing their own time and money in advanced consumer devices and applications – technologies often more powerful than those provided by their employers – and are using them interchangeably for business and personal activities. Read more.

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Do You Know Where Your Employee’s Smartphone Is?

(From tipshub.net) Employers are responsible for removing barriers to work safely. Internal evaluations are the first way of knowing about risks in the workplace. Risk assessments easier for organizations to reduce risk, improve compliance with security standards in the workplace and create and maintain a healthy work environment. Organizations must focus on creating a safe working environment to maintain its brand image. When the image of a company is tarnished, it becomes more difficult to recruit large consumers refrain from buying goods or services. When employees complain of unsafe working conditions or an injury that occurs at work, the result can be very costly in social and legal costs are counted. Read more.

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Blogs: The importance of risk assessments in the workplace

(From citizen-times.com) WASHINGTON — At a recent White House forum of the U.S. Interagency Council of Homelessness, Labor Secretary Hilda L. Solis announced 97 grants, totaling more than $24 million, to provide approximately 14,000 veterans with job training to help them succeed in civilian careers.

(From guardian.co.uk) — Up to 2,000 women in business and finance have gathered to call for more action to stop gender inequality in the City and across the British economy as a whole. The conference came as a new poll showed that 79% of London-based female professionals said men and women were treated differently in the workplace. “There is gender asbestos – it’s in the walls and it will take a bit of time and more work to get it out,” said Avivah Wittenberg-Cox, chief executive of 20-first, a Paris-based gender consultancy. Just over half of women questioned believe their firm is committed to ensuring gender equality, but only a third say management has made any improvements in addressing the issue over the past five years, according to a YouGov survey of 610 women commissioned by Deutsche Bank. Read more.

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UK: Businesswomen call for end to workplace inequality

(From Business Wire) — A group of promising young college women will soon complete an intensive leadership program that connects them to some of the most successful women in American business today. The National Math + Science Young Leaders Program is designed to provide role models for students majoring in STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering, and math) and is a collaboration between FORTUNE magazine, NMSI and Exxon Mobil Corporation, a founding sponsor of NMSI. The goal is to help encourage the participating young women and address the gender gap issue in careers in these innovative fields. The competitive program has matched young women who are college juniors majoring in STEM subjects with female executives working in these fields at FORTUNE 500 companies. Twenty-two senior executives and students have participated in the 2010 leadership program. Throughout the year, the executive mentors have provided leadership coaching and have shown students the tangible impact of math and science in their work through a series web-based seminars and company site visits. The program also has underscored the critical need for more young women to specialize in math and science: Women currently constitute 46 percent of the U.S. workforce but hold just 26 percent of U.S. jobs in science, technology and engineering, and fewer than 10 percent of American engineers are women. “One of the key challenges we face is that young women who are interested in science or engineering careers often get discouraged or face barriers along the way,” said Margaret M. Mattix, vice president of global marketing for Exxon Mobil Chemical Company and a Young Leaders Program mentor. “This program helps young women see the world of possibilities that are open to them.” Read more.

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Young Leaders Program Recruits Fortune 500 Execs to Coach College Women

(From jsonline.com) Juana Gutierrez dropped out of school when she was in the third grade. She lived in Mexico, and her father didn’t believe girls needed an education, she said. As a teen, she went back to classes for a year, but couldn’t complete her education because of her father’s objections. Now 46 and married with six children, including a graduate of Marquette University and a student at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, she cleans houses and buildings for a living, while her husband works in a bakery. Read more.

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HIRE project helps Spanish-speakers learn technical skills

(From Lifehacker.com) We all make mistakes and most of us feel bad about our screw ups, miscalculations, and forays down the wrong rabbit holes. It turns out being wrong some of the time is the price we pay for having powerful cognitive abilities. Human thought process is driven almost entirely by inductive reasoning. We don’t search for the answer or solution that is most absolutely correct in a given situation we search for and provide the answer that has the highest probability of being correct. This leads to us being right most of the time—we’re the experts in the animal kingdom at “guessing” with a very high probability of being right—but inevitably leads to us being wrong some of the time. Kathryn Schulz, the author of Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margin of Error is intent on changing the way people view mistakes and embracing that errors are just part of the package when dealing with the brilliance of the human mind. Read more.

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Embrace the Inevitability of Being Wrong to Boost Workplace Productivity

(From The Financial) — Anticipating greater emphasis on talent management and competition for key talent, employers are planning to reshape their talent programs as the economy shifts out of the recessionary period, according to the new Future of Talent Management survey from Mercer. The survey, conducted in May, includes responses from HR and talent management leaders at more than 400 organizations throughout the US. The survey included a broad cross-section of industries, with durable manufacturing, for-profit services, health care, financial/banking and high-tech/telecommunications organizations representing the largest segments. According to Mercer’s survey, more than half of employers surveyed indicate their organization has emerged from the recession and is in growth mode (15%) or is emerging from the recession and preparing for growth (37%); another 22% said they were never out of growth mode as their organization was not significantly affected by the economic downturn. One-quarter (25%) said they are still in recession mode. Moreover, most organizations are planning changes to their talent programs in response to the downturn, although they are at different stages in terms of identifying and implementing these changes. The majority plan to make changes to leadership training (88%), workforce training (85%), employee engagement (85%), recruiting (80%), retention (80%), rewards (76%) and performance management (76%) programs. More than two-thirds (68%) are planning to make changes to their career programs and just more than half (51%) are planning to make changes to mobility programs. Read more.

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Employers reshaping talent management programs as economy shifts toward growth

(From PhillyInc.) — If Deloitte L.L.P.’s John Hagel III is right, your next key executive hire may be someone who has proved his mettle by becoming a top guild leader in World of Warcraft. Actually, the odds of that are pretty good, given that the massively multiplayer online role-playing game now has 11.5 million subscribers. But why would you want to hire from that group? Because, Hagel said, such games are developing new leaders. “World of Warcraft may be the most effective leadership-development method we have,” he told those gathered in Huntsman Hall on the University of Pennsylvania campus Wednesday for the 14th Wharton Leadership Conference. That was a bold statement, coming after an earlier presentation by General Electric Co. chief learning officer Susan Peters on the industrial giant’s $1 billion annual commitment to leadership development and training. I’ve never played World of Warcraft. But Hagel’s notion actually isn’t a new one. An International Business Machines Corp. study three years ago found a lot of parallels between the attributes of business leaders and online gamers. In fact, a survey of IBM’s own internal gaming community indicated that half said playing MMORPGs had improved their leadership skills in the real world. Read more.

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Online gamers, workplace gainers

(From PRWEB) — A new survey by WFD Consulting and Alliance for Work-Life Progress (AWLP) at WorldatWork, “The State of Work-Life 2010,” found a steady commitment to work-life initiatives among senior management in a wide range of industries. However, the survey also found a curious mismatch between the most serious workforce issues identified by companies and where they are investing their resources. When asked to identify the top two work-life issues facing their companies in 2010, employers most frequently cited stress/burnout, excessive workload, and employee engagement/commitment. While half of the companies in the study expect to address employee engagement/commitment, few seek to resolve the root causes of workload and stress/burnout, opting instead to address the symptoms of those problems with wellness/resilience/energy programs and flexibility policies. Interestingly, nearly half of the companies will address career management in 2010, yet only 15 percent viewed it as a serious issue. “Of particular concern,” notes Peter Linkow, president of WFD Consulting, “is that we seem to be committing the bulk of our resources in 2010 to areas we believe are less important.” “There are a variety of explanations for this mismatch between needs and plans,” said Kathie Lingle, executive director of Alliance for Work-Life Progress (AWLP). “One key possibility is that while many work-life professionals have a clear conception of the most serious organizational issues, they do not independently set the agenda for what actually gets addressed.” Read more.

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Mismatch Between Serious Work-Life Issues and 2010 Company Plans

Asen Marketing press reslease: Knoxville, Tenn., (June 15, 2010) “–At first glance these two training videos have nothing in common. One is for a restaurant chain looking to inspire its millennial generation employees to customer service greatness. The other is for a medical supply corporation instructing baby boomer generation medical staff on the use of their products, the age ranges, products, and content are different, but the results were the same. Both of these corporate training videos generated sales growth for their companies.

(From USA Today) WASHINGTON — The United States economy is in serious danger from a growing mismatch between the skills that will be needed for jobs being created and the educational backgrounds (or lack thereof) of would-be workers. That is the conclusion of a mammoth analysis of jobs data being released today by the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce. The new report says that the United States is “on a collision course with the future” since far too few Americans complete college. Specifically, the report says that by 2018, the economy will have jobs for 22 million new workers with colleges degrees, but, based on current projections, there will be a shortage of 3 million workers who have some postsecondary degree (associate or higher) and of 4.7 million workers who have a postsecondary certificate. “This shortfall will mean lost economic opportunity for millions of American workers,” the report says. Read more.

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Colleges not training students for careers that are growing

WASHINGTON, June 15, 2010 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ –Expanding the reach of mobile learning opportunities to a full range of the world’s most popular mobile platforms, Blackboard Inc. (Nasdaq: BBBB) today released native applications for Android(TM), BlackBerry(R) and iPhone(R) OS powered devices that give millions of students full access to their course information directly from their smartphones. Read more.

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Blackboard Mobile Learn App Now Available for iPad

(from blogs.wsj.com) A friend narrated the following episode to me recently: “My meetings in Mumbai ran past schedule and I was left with little time to reach the airport. I asked the taxi driver to rush. As luck would have it, he was new to the city and had been on the job with a start-up taxi company for just a couple of days—he didn’t know the way to the airport!

(From hreonline.com) According to a recent Forrester Research survey , more than four in five U.S. online adults use social media at least once a month. Moreover, another recently commissioned survey

The recent UN Climate Summit, and increasing numbers of high profile people taking an interest in the environment, has raised the awareness of green issues to an all time high. But is this awareness being practically applied? Are green practices an integrated part of your organisation’s culture? And, have you ever thought about what more you could do to help further your sustainability practices? Green-skilling has emerged as one of the top workplace trends for the coming year. The implementation of green workplace practices is not only good for the environment, but is increasingly becoming a powerful way of attracting potential employees, clients and investors. Sustainability is the way of the future and both individuals and businesses will have to start thinking – and acting – green. Read more.

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Blogs: Greening Your Workplace and Skills

(From Business Wire) — During the depths of the global economic crisis, containing corporate costs was the driving factor behind companies’ decisions about sending employees on overseas assignments. Now, with fresh statistics showing companies increasing assignments this year, they are refocusing their programs to ensure they clearly support strategic business objectives, according to a new report from Brookfield Global Relocation Services. During the first quarter of this year, Brookfield Global Relocation Services surveyed senior mobility managers from multinational firms to determine the direction and nature of mobility strategy within their companies. The report, aptly titled “What is Your Strategy for International Employee Mobility?”, found that one of the key outcomes of the global economic downturn has been the emergence of the international employee mobility practice as a strategic partner for international companies, impacting purpose, function and alignment of the international assignment program. “What we are seeing and our 2010 Global Relocation Trends Report indicates is that overseas assignments are staging a comeback: 44 percent of multinational firms expect to send more employees on assignment this year,” said Scott Sullivan, executive vice president of Brookfield Global Relocation Services. “Human resources executives are increasingly looking for ways to address the strategic elements of mobility programs in the most deliberate, efficient and meaningful ways,” he points out. Read more.

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What’s Your Strategy for International Employee Mobility?

(From PRWEB) — HealthcareSource

(From Globe Newswire) — Steelcase Inc., a global office environments manufacturer, today announced that the Steelcase family of companies won five Best of NeoCon Awards, including a Gold, two Silver and two Innovation Awards. Products recognized with a Best of NeoCon award include selections from Workplace Technologies, Furniture Systems, Education Solutions, Files & Storage and Occasional Table categories, all of which are on display at NeoCon 2010, the World’s Trade Fair for Interior Design and Facilities Management. Sponsored by Contract magazine, the Best of NeoCon awards recognize the top new products introduced at the show. Steelcase won a Gold award for RoomWizard, the first web-based scheduling system, in the Workplace Technologies category. The product was redesigned for a more mobile and connected workplace, with features that help schedule and manage meeting spaces to make better use of precious real estate and time. The first of two Silver awards went to FlexFrame(TM) workwall in the Files & Storage category. FlexFrame workwall is a wall-mounted, frame-based system that can be used in any space plan. The product “activates” vertical spaces for high-performance, tailored applications of storage, information display and technology integration. Read more.

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Steelcase Receives Five Best of NeoCon Awards at NeoCon 2010

(From the Vancouver Sun) OTTAWA — Just as Ontario is set to pass a new bill making workplace harassment illegal, new research from Queen’s University’s School of Business indicates that workplace bullying can be more damaging than racial or gender harassment. “While ethnic harassment and gender harassment can both be attributed to prejudice, general workplace harassment is a subtle form of mistreatment that masks underlying motives, and is not as easily attributed to bias,” say report authors Jana Raver of Queen’s School of Business and Lisa Nishii of Cornell University, Caucasians reported higher levels of general workplace harassment than minorities, and women were not more likely than men to experience either gender harassment or general workplace harassment. Read more.

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Report: Bullying at work worse than gender, racial harassment

When listing one’s strengths during an interview or on a resume, most of us include “excellent communication skills” because we know this is valuable to employers. But how many of us are really capable of communicating effectively? For that matter, how many employers are excellent communicators? I studied journalism in college, worked as a freelance writer for a while, and published some short fiction. Nevertheless, I still find writing to be one of the most challenging things I do. At times I also find it difficult to speak effectively with clients, friends and my own family members. So much can be misinterpreted or misunderstood due to a lack of clarity when I am talking or not being careful enough when I am listening. Ineffective communication skills in an organization can dramatically impact the bottom line. In fact, according to research by Watson Wyatt, Gallup Consulting and Towers Perrin, these costs can include: • increased employee turnover • increased absenteeism • dissatisfied customers from poor customer service • higher product defect rates • lack of focus on business objectives • stifled innovation Read more.

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Blog: 5 Tips for Workplace Communication