Tags: california, job training, green jobs, government funding

Categories: News

Salesforce.com built a billion-dollar company by allowing companies to ditch their CRM software and bringing CRM to the cloud. Now it has its sights set on perhaps an even bigger feat: bringing social media to the enterprise.

Yesterday, the company announced that it will be launching a new service called Salesforce Chatter in 2010. Think of it as Facebook for the enterprise: a social networking service for companies with an application platform to boot.

Enterprise social networking is one of those 'no-brainer' concepts, and for that reason Salesforce.com isn't the first company to try cracking the enterprise social networking nut.

It's a tough nut to crack, however. For obvious reasons, many businesses are tepid when it comes to anything involving the two words 'social networking'. Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, et. al. may be employee favorites but most employees aren't using these popular social networks for work purposes when they log on at 10 am. Social networks have also created a number of risks for businesses, from the possibility that confidential information could be posted to the possibility that employee conduct could embarrass the company.

So while the application of social networking technology to the workplace seems like a no-brainer, consumer-facing social networks are often more likely to become a nuisance or threat to businesses than they are to serve as a viable hub for constructive employee interaction. That makes social networking in general a tough sell for many companies.

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Tags: social networking, technology, digital media, innovation

Categories: News

Each fiscal year, the agency allocates federal Workforce Investment Act funding to seven districts across the state to retrain jobless workers in other careers. Those funds have dried up early in three districts hit with a particularly high number of layoffs – the districts encompassing Beckley, Parkersburg and Wheeling.

Workforce West Virginia Director Russell Fry said it’s hard to estimate just how much the state needs for the remainder of the fiscal year.

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Tags: west virginia, job training, government funding, workforce investment act

Categories: News

New York (PRWEB) -- Improving productivity by keeping employees healthy and working is emerging as the top business objective for employer-sponsored wellness programs around the world. The two exceptions are the United States, where reducing health care cost increases overwhelmingly continues to be the top goal, and Asia, where the most important objective is improving workforce morale.

These are among the latest trends identified by Buck Consultants' third annual global wellness survey, "WORKING WELL: A Global Survey of Health Promotion and Workplace Wellness Strategies," released today. The survey analyzed responses from more than 1,100 organizations representing 10 million employees in 45 countries.

"The heightened global focus on improving productivity is a significant trend," said Barry Hall, a Buck principal who directed the survey. "Business leaders around the world are increasingly recognizing the financial value of healthier workers and the need to better engage employees in reducing their health risks."

Stress is consistently cited as the top health risk driving wellness programs in all areas of the world, except for the United States and Latin America, where lack of exercise and poor nutrition are of top concern.

"Employers in the United States and Latin America seem to lag behind the rest of the world in addressing stress and its related conditions such as depression, anxiety, and fatigue," said Hall. "These are among the most significant drivers of productivity loss and absenteeism, as well as increased health care costs."

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Tags: wellness, benefits, workplace, productivity, morale, health care

Categories: News | Research

Australia could face a shortfall of 1.4 million workers by 2025, according to a new report.

The Victorian Employers Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VECCI) is presenting its "Workplace Futures Report" to a summit in Melbourne today.

VECCI says the nation's ageing population will impact on skills and older Australians need to be encouraged into the work force.

Spokesman Andrew Rimington says older workers need more flexible options.

"We have seen, for instance, the level of work force participation rate of the aged 55 to 59 age group over the last year increase to a record level during a time of economic downturn," he said.

"The increase of older workers in the work force does create consideration of issues around job re-design and flexible practice, shorter working hours perhaps, part time arrangements."

The VECCI report says Victorian employers could face a shortfall of about 440,000.

The report says Victoria's population will reach to 6.7 million in 15 years, but work force growth will decline, because of the ageing population.

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Tags: australia, generations, older workers, retirement, retention

Categories: International | News | Research

When it comes to the workplace, Baby Boomers, Generation X and Generation Y populations may be more similar than previously thought, according to a Conference Board of Canada study released Monday.

The study, entitled "Winning the Generation Wars: Making the Most of Generational Differences and Similarities in the Workplace," suggests ways to beat negative and inaccurate stereotypes that can dominate the office environment and hinder team performance.

"This research shows each generation includes workers with similar personality types, workplace motivations, and social behaviours. Workers from all three generations want respect, flexibility, fairness, and the opportunity to do interesting and rewarding work," Tim Krywulak, senior research associate on the study, said.

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Tags: canada, workplace, generations, baby boomers, generation x, generation y, diversity

Categories: International | News | Research

With the nation's unemployment rate at a 26-year-high of 10.2%, more Americans are hunting for, and landing, work overseas, according to staffing companies and executive search firms.

Jeff Joerres, CEO of Manpower, the No. 1 U.S. staffing company, says about 500 clients are seeking jobs abroad, up from a few dozen six months ago.

"It suddenly looks like there may be better opportunities outside the U.S.," Joerres says. "It is a phenomenon we haven't had before."

While the number of globe-trotting job candidates is still relatively small, the trend reverses a longtime pattern of far more foreign workers seeking jobs in the U.S., Joerres says.

Fifty-four percent of executives said they'd be likely or highly likely to accept a foreign post, according to a survey of 114 executives Friday by talent management company Korn/Ferry. Just 37% of those surveyed in 2005 said they'd go abroad.

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Tags: global workplace, career development, relocation

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CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. (PRNewswire) -- With millions of Baby Boomers poised to age out of the workforce, U.S. companies remain unprepared for an imminent talent drain that threatens to alter the national economy, according to a new report by the Sloan Center on Aging & Work at Boston College.

Nearly 70 percent of the almost 700 organizations surveyed do not yet know how old their workers are or how many are likely to retire. Forty percent reported that the aging of the workforce will have a detrimental impact on their businesses by 2012.

"The out-migration of a generation of workers will upset the entire balance of the workplace," said co-author Marcie Pitt-Catsouphes, director of the Sloan Center on Aging & Work. "U.S. companies need to start planning strategically for workforce sustainability. The current abundance of older worker talent and experience is going to dry up, and businesses will very soon need to fill hundreds, if not thousands, of jobs."

The report -- The Pressures of Talent Management -- examined talent management practices at 696 organizations across the 10 leading sectors of the economy. The companies studied employ more than one million workers combined and represent businesses that account for roughly 85 percent of the jobs and payrolls in the U.S.

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Tags: baby boomers, generations, talent management, retention

Categories: News | Research

(The Wall Street Journal) -- Many employers and employees don't see eye to eye on what keeps workers happy, a disparity that could spell trouble for businesses as the economy recovers.

Employers consider management climate and workers' relationships with their bosses as most important, but employees cite pay and benefits, according to a survey last winter by Spherion Corp., a Fort Lauderdale, Fla., staffing firm. Respondents included 306 human-resources managers and 2,519 employees at firms of all sizes. Surveys conducted in 2007 and 2005 generated the same top results.

Tucker Callaway, a sales director at CA Inc., says compensation was a big factor in his decision to join the software maker in April. He also cites poor morale and a lack of leadership at his former employer, another technology company.

Mr. Callaway, 34, says CA gave him a 20% raise. "I have a mortgage and two kids, so pay is extremely important," he says.

Workplace experts say many workers have grown frustrated during the recession and might consider leaving as the labor market improves. Employees are less committed to their employers, according to an annual survey by consulting firm Watson Wyatt Worldwide Inc. and WorldatWork, an association of human-resource professionals. Results were based on responses by 1,300 workers at 235 large U.S. firms in May. Commitment dropped most among top performers, according to the survey.

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Tags: retention, morale, new economy, talent management

Categories: News | Research

(From the New York Times) "I care about my colleagues, but there are things I don’t need to know. I’ve also found that if people know that you don’t gossip and that you don’t tolerate it, they won’t gossip around you. It might be human nature to think an unkind thought about a co-worker, but it’s a choice whether or not to actually say it.

"There’s a mix of personalities in any company, and rarely does everyone in a workplace like one another. But I believe that half the battle is in how people communicate.

"When employees are hired here, they’re given a communications assessment, a commercial program that the company uses to pinpoint a person’s dominant communications style. The styles are linked to colors that identify how each employee likes to communicate."

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Tags: workplace, behavior, teams

Categories: News