One in three employees disengaged

THIRTY-SIX PER CENT of employees have low levels of commitment and/or line of sight within their organisation

THIRTY-SIX PER CENT of employees have low levels of commitment and/or line of sight within their organisation. A recent survey of 14,000 employees across Europe revealed that disengaged employees are generally the lowest-performing employees. Divided into five categories the three most significant segments were:

Core contributors 51%

Disengaged 36%

Value creators 13%

Core contributors are employees who are either medium scorers for commitment but high scorers for line of sight, high scorers for line of sight but medium for commitment, or medium on both counts.

Source Watson Wyatt

457 visas needed

SIXTY-TWO PER CENT of recruitment, on-hire and IT employees would not be able to fulfil job requirements without 457 visas. A survey of 151 RCSA and ITCRA members found that 3,128 projected sponsorships will not go ahead unless the recent changes by the former Coalition government in October 2007 are amended. The survey also confirmed that 90 per cent of agencies would definitely employ Australian workers if they were able to find them, and a further 8 per cent probably would.

Source: RSCA

Dwindling popularity of holiday bonus

A STUDY OF more than 350 organisations revealed that 53 per cent have never offered a holiday bonus, while 10 per cent have discontinued their programs. Of those companies that never offered a holiday bonus program, 54 per cent said that all rewards are tied to performance, 34 per cent said it was due to cost, and 29 per cent never considered such a program.

Source: Hewitt Associates

New jobs wanted by half of UK line managers

ALMOST HALF of the UK's line managers are looking for a new job. A recent survey of 479 managers found that 47 per cent were considering a career move. Three in 10 managers are looking at moving to another organisation, 12 per cent within their current organisation and 5 per cent want to become self-employed. Career development was the most common reason given for considering a change, closely followed by lack of job security and not feeling valued.

Source: RoffeyPark

Jobseekers use internet more

NINE PER CENT of UK jobseekers rely solely on the internet to search for work – a figure that has increased by 50 per cent since last year. A recent poll of 40,000 online jobseekers revealed 76 per cent have applied for a job they found online and 65 per cent got a job. Furthermore, five years ago jobseekers looked at seven websites to find work, whereas now they look at four.

Source: National Online Recruitment Audience Survey

Working over the Christmas holiday

EIGHTY-FIVE PER CENT of Australians were accessible at work on their Christmas annual leave. A survey of close to 1,000 employees revealed that three out of four Australian workers (76 per cent) took holidays over Christmas. Of these, 63 per cent were available for work calls on their mobile phone, 13 per cent checked emails using a BlackBerry and 9 per cent used their laptop to work remotely.

Source: SEEK

Retirement not an option

ONE IN five baby boomers plan never to leave paid work. According to a recent survey it was revealed that that Australians have a positive attitude towards working well into their twilight years. The results of a survey of the baby boomer generation suggest that the incentives gained from enjoying their work and keeping an active mind far outweigh the costs of leaving the workforce.

Source: Australian Psychological Society

Discrimination common in interviews

EIGHTY-FIVE PER CENT of workers believe that tattoos and body piercings reduce the chance of getting employment. A survey of 468 employees across a range of industries across the US found that the reasons for appearance-based discrimination were:

Overall appearance 38%

Weight 31%

Hairstyle 14%

More than half of employees with tattoos and/or body piercings chose to cover them up when at work but only 16 per cent of employers had an official company policy in this respect.

Source: Vault.com

Future threats for executives

COMPETITION, THE health of the global economy and attracting and retaining the best talent top the list of threats to business success for senior executives at some of the world’s largest companies. According to a recent international survey of more than 850 C-suite executives perceive the top five threats to business success as: competition (73 per cent), the health of the global economy and the inability to attract and retain the best talent (67 per cent each), company reputation (62 per cent) and the inability to develop new products and services (51 per cent).

Source: Accenture

Australian jobseekers favour internet

AUSTRALIAN JOB seekers topped a list of countries in their use of the internet to find jobs. A recent global survey sought the views of more than 115,000 people in 33 countries including almost 19,000 in Australia, and it found that online recruitment eclipsed all other forms of recruitment including direct approaches, newspaper advertising and ‘word of mouth’according to the international survey. Of respondents that actually found a job online, Australia topped the list:

Australia 54%

Thailand 52%

Hong Kong 52%

Source: Kelly Services

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