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<b style="color: blue">Human Resource Associates</b>
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<h2>HR - On The Job</h2>
<hgroup>
<h3>I Was Looking For A New Job When I Found This One</h3>
<h4>And I can do that again</h4>
</hgroup>
<p>It may be a long time before we get back to the days when there were more jobs than people who wanted them. Economists and labor experts are predicting a three to 10 year period before we get back to the 5.4 percent unemployment averages before the economic downturn. So we know that working employees are holding tight to the jobs they have and working extra hard to keep them. Productivity is high and people are taking on more responsibility and that's helping the bottom line. This is typical in most downturns. In good times companies tend to over-hire and yes, sometimes even over-pay. When hard times come around employee cutbacks and pay freezes begin. The survivors, concerned for their jobs, work much harder. Productivity rises and profit margins can begin to look good. What company doesn't like that? Most companies are sorely tempted to keep that pony running for a while. But one of Isaac Newton's basic laws told us that for every action there is an opposite and equal re-action. That re-action is beginning and it may not seem so equal to many of us. Employees are burning out and they're speaking out about it.</p>
<p>A study by MarketTools, Inc for Globalforce found 38 percent of working Americans say they are hoping to leave their company primarily because of a lack of recognition for their efforts.</p>
<p>A Corporate Executive Board survey of 4,000 employees said that “the disgruntled employees is the new norm”. 75 percent said they would not recommend their former employer to a potential applicant. That may not seem surprising, but when you compare that to the 42 percent who said that in 2008 you can see a major increase today. CEB says that that historic increase is the result of perceived poor treatment of employees.</p>
<p>A survey by ComPsych showed that 30 percent of surveyed employees say their productivity is declining as they often feel they are “too stressed to be effective”. 66 percent report high stress levels and a feeling of “loss of control” over what happens in the workplace. It's a condition, they said, of doing more work (40 percent), working longer hours (33 percent) and concern for losing their jobs (18 percent).</p>
<p>A Mercer “What's Working (TM trademark) survey shows that compared to five years ago, U.S. employees are less committed to their employers and the overall work experience.</p>
<p><b>Who's Leaving:</b></p>
<p>A Price Waterhouse 2011-2012 Human Capital Effectiveness report showed that overall resignations have dropped almost 30 percent among all employees since the downturn. But <em>resignations among employees ranked as high performers have increased about 10 percent and climbing</em>. This says that we're keeping our average and low performing employees longer but losing our best performers faster.</p>
<p>The typical employee who is seriously intending to leave is a male, aged 18 to 44, with 1 to 4 years tenure and is in management. (34 percent male-30 percent female).</p>
<p><b>Why they're leaving:</b></p>
<table>
<tr><td>People I work with</td><td>68%</td></tr>
<tr><td>Type of work I do</td><td>67%</td></tr>
<tr><td>Learning/training opportunities</td><td>48%</td></tr>
<tr><td>Base pay</td><td>46%</td></tr>
<tr><td>Total compensation</td><td>45%</td></tr>
</table>
<p>Okay, so their unhappy and have itchy feet. But there's no place for them to go in this economy…right? While that may be true for most employees but as the Price Waterhouse survey indicates, employees rated as above average are in high demand. We can see this happening now. The Federal government is hiring thousands of new employees in a broad spectrum of job levels and Caterpillar, Inc, the Illinois based heavy-equipment maker, is hiring over 7,000 employees this year. The Washington Post, recently ran a front page article bannered “Skilled Jobs Are going Begging” and described how the demand for skills and high performers is increasing. A recent survey from Deloitte Consulting showed that 83 percent of all manufacturers are faced with a severe shortage of skilled workers. The resurging railroad industry is in need of thousands of new employees. They are focusing on recruiting lower income workers who have never experienced career development, good health coverage, sick leave or pensions by offering precisely those benefits. Increased demand for workers in the industries of oil, natural gas and medical are prompting them to search wider, dig deeper and find good workers with skills or with the ability an eagerness to learn them. Even in the green industry, successful, growing companies are looking for good people who aren't happy where they're at. And while average pay increases across the country have ranged from one percent to two percent over the last few years, pay increases for skilled workers have increased 6.4 percent and for mechanics and electrical technicians it was 15 percent!</p>
<p>The economy may be a long way off from recovery, but companies are always looking for good people who know how to get things done. And right now employees are in a mood to listen. If your company isn't nurturing and developing your employees, your top performers may be the first to go.</p>
<p>What can you be doing to keep your team together? Whole forests have been cut down to write books on this subject. How do I keep good people, build teams and motivate my employees? We won't get all the answers in here, but the obvious first steps are to acknowledge what employee are telling us in these surveys:</p>
<ul>
<li>Recognize employees for their efforts, establish formal, regular recognition programs</li>
<li>Seek out and identify perceived poor treatment</li>
<li>Let up on the permanent demands for longer, harder hours</li>
<li>Resolve people problems between employees</li>
<li>Develop and train employees in broader and advanced skills</li>
<li>Pay people competitive wages equal to their value</li>
<li>Recognize burnout and deal with it</li>
<li>Identify ways to provide better benefits</li>
<li>Identify factually who your best performers are and focus a little more on them</li>
</ul>
<p>And you can do your own in-house surveys to better understand the views, problems, concerns and desires of your teams.</p>
<p>Beyond that rely on the basic; communicate openly and often with your employees. Bring them into the problems and planning process with you. There are more of them than there are of you, so shouldn't they have a say on how things get done? Don't wait until after they're gone to deal with the problem.</p>
<hr />
<p align="center"><b><i>Have an employment question?</i></b></p>
<p align="center">Send it to <a href="mailto:[email protected]?subject=From HR On The Job">[email protected]</a>.</p>
<p align="center">Please include Company Name and Association in your e-mail. Company identification will be kept confidential.</p>
<hr />
<h2>Hitchhiking on the Information Highway</h2>
<h3>Hitchhiking on the Unemployment Highway</h3>
<h4>Part 1: The Battle of the Unemployed Sexes</h4>
<p>During the first three years of the economic downturn the majority of job losses were among men. That's because the first jobs hit in most recessions are in industries like construction, manufacturing and transportation which are considered primarily male occupations. Many economists dubbed this event the “Mancession”. And as some new jobs began popping up more men were hired back than women. However, that hire-back process is now leveling out as an equal number of women were rehired during the last quarter as men.</p>
<p>Sometime during 2012 women will become the average American worker as their numbers will surpass men in the labor force. Among the reasons for this phenomenon:</p>
<ul>
<li>Even as more men enter female dominated occupations such as education, social services and government, far more women are entering male dominated occupations such as those mentioned above.</li>
<li>Women now make up 52% of all managerial and professional jobs (compared to 26% in 1980), 60% of all accountants, 32% of all physicians and 31% of all lawyers.</li>
<li>Fewer men are graduating from college as their drop out numbers soar, while women earned 60% of all bachelor's and master's degrees. Moreover, 48% of all medical school grads and 47% of all law school grads are female.</li>
</ul>
<p class="quote">
“I didn't get the memo, but did I get the message.”<br />
– Anon
</p>
<h4>Part 2: Unemployment As Calculated By Government Accountants</h4>
<p>The current unemployment rate is 8.5%. The unemployment rate is a pretty simple matter. The government needs two numbers:</p>
<ol>
<li>The number of people in the workforce</li>
<li>The number of people who are unemployed</li>
</ol>
<p>They then divide the number of unemployed people by the number of people in the workforce. That gives them the percentage or rate of unemployment.</p>
<p>But these are not the accountants or bookkeepers you use in your business. No, these are government accountants working under the standards set up by government economists so get your boots on.</p>
<p><i>The number of people in the workforce</i> – To be logical they will not count those in the military, prisons or institutions. And they will take out those under 16 years of age and those who are in school. But when summer vacations start students over 16 will then be counted as part of the labor force. Oh and also during the holidays, but not at spring break. Are you following all this? Also, the numbers of people who have used up all their unemployment benefits are no longer counted as part of the workforce. That lowers the number of people who have to be employed. If we counted all the people who were in the workforce at the start of the recession our unemployment rate would be 11.5%.</p>
<p class="quote">
“He sees the stars but he still doesn't see the light.”<br />
– Country Western Song
</p>
<h4>Part 3: 2012 Employment Forecasts</h4>
<p>In December the economy added 120,000 new jobs. But 315,000 people dropped out of the workforce. It's estimated that over half of the added jobs will be cut back in January as the number of retail and delivery workers are let go.</p>
<p><i>The Kiplinger Letter</i> (forecasts for management) is forecasting that only half of the jobs lost since 2008 will be restored in 2012 producing an unemployment rate of 8.4%. The primary industry that will provide those jobs is health care, followed by restaurant and bar workers, IT specialists, accountants, engineers and temporary workers.</p>
<p>The U.S. has 65 million fewer jobs than it did in 2007. At the current rate of growth it will take until 2016 to get back to that level of employment.</p>
<p>Many states are tightening up the eligibility requirements for unemployment benefits as well as reducing the number of weeks you can draw those benefits. Isn't that a little hard hearted? Well the money is running out. Here are some of the reasons:</p>
<ul>
<li>The federal government gave stimulus funds to the states so that they could provide better and longer benefits for the unemployed. In many areas benefits were over $500 per week for 99 weeks. That's almost two years and can be over $52,000! But it came with conditions. One condition was that when the government funds ran out after one year, the states must continue to provide the same benefits from state funds. The stimulus money has been used up. And those states that took it are now paying the bills and their running out of money.</li>
<li>Reports from around the country indicate that people are refusing work until their benefits run out. They apply for jobs because they are required to do so, but they don't show up for them. Using up all those 99 weeks of benefits is draining the funds.</li>
<li>In previous recessions (1980s and late 1990s) it was primarily younger workers who were unemployed while older workers were well entrenched in their jobs. Those younger workers were not yet eligible for unemployment benefits so the funds were somewhat less needed. In addition unemployment benefits in most states back then maxed out at about $250 per week for 26 weeks. In this recession many more young people are in school and it's the older workers who are being laid off in large numbers. And they are eligible for benefits and because of their higher earnings are eligible for the higher benefits.</li>
</ul>
<p class="quote">
“When there is no penalty for failure, failure will proliferate.”<br />
– George Will
</p>
<h3>The U.S. National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Wants You To Be Union</h3>
<h4>Union Promotional Poster Stopped Again</h4>
<p>In early 2011 the NLRB ruled that every employer in the country must display a new job-site poster advocating the benefits of union membership. The 11” X 17” poster advises employees who to call if they want to join or start a union, how to bring charges against your employer, how to bring in the NLRB to assist you and who to call if your employer resist any of these actions.</p>
<p>The poster was to be placed on job-sites by November 14, 2011. But business and political opponents fought the rule and it was postponed to January 31, 2012. Further resistance has now rescheduled it for April 30, 2012.</p>
<p class="quote">
“My grandmother is a very tough person. She's buried three husbands. Two of them were only napping.”<br/ >
– Rita Rudner
</p>
<h3>Minimum Wage Going Up In Nine States</h3>
<p>The Federal minimum wage laws set a minimum hourly pay rate for all workers. That rate is currently $7.25 per hour. With very few exceptions (apprentices, family members etc) No worker may be paid less than this amount. However, individual states have the right to set a higher wage rate if they choose. Altogether eighteen states have minimum wage rates that are higher than the federal rate. This year nine of those states are raising their rates even higher:</p>
<table>
<tr><td>Arizona</td><td>$7.65</td></tr>
<tr><td>Colorado</td><td>$7.64</td></tr>
<tr><td>Florida</td><td>$7.67</td></tr>
<tr><td>Nevada</td><td>To be determined by July 1</td></tr>
<tr><td>Ohio</td><td>$7.70</td></tr>
<tr><td>Oregon</td><td>$8.80</td></tr>
<tr><td>Vermont</td><td>$8.46</td></tr>
<tr><td>Washington</td><td>$9.04</td></tr>
</table>
<p>Although few will disagree with a raise in the minimum wage many business people claim that thousands of jobs are lost or not filled whenever the minimum wage rate is increased. Small businesses that have low skilled jobs also have a very limited budget for such work. As the cost of that labor increases many companies have no choice but to cut the staff size to meet that budget.</p>
<p class="quote">
“There is no inherent criminal class… save Congress.”<br />
– Mark Twain
</p>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: center"><sub>© William J. Cook</sub></p>
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<span class="heading">Labor Stats</span>
<hr />
<b>Federal Minimum Wage</b>
<hr />
<p align="center">
<b>$7.25</b>/hour<br />
</p>
<hr />
<b>Average Income</b>
<hr />
<table>
<tr><td /><td class="u">January 2012</td><td class="u">January 2011<td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">Hourly</td><td class="b">$19.62</td><td class="b">$19.33</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">Weekly</td><td class="b">$663.16</td><td class="b">$645.62</td></tr>
</table>
<hr />
<b>Federal Povery Level</b>
<hr />
<table>
<tr><td class="i">one person</td><td class="b">$10,956</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">family of four</td><td class="b">$21,954</td></tr>
</table>
<hr />
<b>IRS Mileage Allowance</b>
<hr />
<p>July 1, 2011 through December 31, 2012</p>
<table>
<tr><td class="i">business</td><td><b>55.5</b> cents/mile</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">medical or moving</td><td class="b">23.5</b></td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">charitable</td><td class="b">14.0</td></tr>
</table>
<hr />
<b>Postage</b>
<hr />
<table>
<tr><td class="i">1 oz</td><td><b>44</b> cents</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">postcard</td><td class="b">29</td></tr>
</table>
<hr />
<b>Population</b>
<hr />
<table>
<tr><td class="i">world</td><td class="b">7 billion</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">U.S.</td><td class="b">312.5 million</td></tr>
</table>
<p align="center">
<i>one birth every </i><b>8</b><i> seconds;</i><br />
<i>one death every </i><b>11</b><i> seconds;</i><br />
<i>one new immigrant every </i><b>45</b><i> seconds;</i><br />
<i>net gain of one person every </i><b>15</b><i> seconds.</i>
</p>
<hr />
<b>U.S. Civilian Workforce</b>
<hr />
<table>
<tr><td /><td class="u">January 2012</td><td class="u">January 2011</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">Total</td><td class="b">154,395,000</td><td class="b">153,250,000</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">Employed</td><td class="b">141,637,000</td><td class="b">139,330,000</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">Unemployed</td><td class="b">12,758,000</td><td class="b">13,919,000</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">Want A Job</td><td class="b">6,319,000</td><td class="b">6,412,000</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">Unemployment Rate</td><td class="b">8.3%</td><td class="b">9.1%</td></tr>
</table>
<br /><hr />
<b>U.S. Workforce Productivity</b><br />
<sub><i>(The amount of goods produced, divided by the number of work hours it took to produce it)</i></sub>
<hr />
<table>
<tr><td class="i">1992</td><td class="b">3.7%</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">1993</td><td class="b">0.5%</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">1994</td><td class="b">1.3%</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">1995</td><td class="b">0.9%</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">1996</td><td class="b">2.5%</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">1997</td><td class="b">2.0%</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">1998</td><td class="b">2.6%</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">1999</td><td class="b">3.3%</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">2000</td><td class="b">3.4%</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">2001</td><td class="b">2.9%</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">2002</td><td class="b">4.6%</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">2003</td><td class="b">3.7%</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">2004</td><td class="b">2.8%</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">2005</td><td class="b">1.7%</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">2006</td><td class="b">0.9%</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">2007</td><td class="b">1.9%</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">2008</td><td class="b">1.8%</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">2009</td><td class="b">+5.8%</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">2010</td><td class="b">+3.6%</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">2011</td><td class="b">+0.7%</td></tr>
</table>
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