Did You Know?
"For the first time in history, our workforce is comprised of four very unique generations. It consists of Traditionals 8%, Baby Boomers 39%, Generation X 34% and Millennials 19%. The health concerns, motivations, and preferred learning methods vary drastically among these individuals from different age groups. While our older workers often prefer more traditional learning methods, our younger workers are much more likely to interact with modern methods... companies are working to engage all members of their workforce."
Source: American Institute for Preventive Medicine
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Go Green!
"Give bottles, cans, and other containers a quick rinse before putting them in the recycling bin. This will help stop them from attracting flies both at home and at the recycling center. "
From:
By Joanna Yarrow
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Quote of the Month
"Learn to delegate responsibility. Transferring responsibility to other skilled and trained people enables you to devote your energy to other high-leverage activities. Delegation means growth, both for individuals and organizations."
-Stephen R. Covey
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Greetings!
GREETINGS! March is the month to celebrate National Sleep Awareness, which is an annual public education and awareness campaign to promote the importance of sleep. "Most adults require seven to nine hours of sleep a night. Some people might need four hours on the short end, up to 10 on the high end. We have absolutely no control over this.... $15.9 billion is added to national health care costs by sleep problems, according to the National Commission on Sleep Disorders." - Minneapolis Star Tribune If you have problems learn more about why you are losing your snoozing ability. We continue to help clients find the right talent, and help you find a job that you love. We hope you are finding the articles informative and useful. Feel free to it to anyone who may be interested. And, we invite you to 'Like' us on Facebook too. See coupon below for FREE feedback on your resume!
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Are Your Employees Happy?
As we continue to hear good news about the unemployment rate hitting 5.6% in Minnesota (the lowest since January of 2008), companies need to be concerned about the happiness of their employees. "The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index", which has been polling more than 1,000 adults every day since January of 2008, indicates that Americans now feel worse about their jobs and work environments. People of all ages and across all income levels are unhappy with their supervisors, apathetic about their organization and detached from what they do... A recent study completed by Gallup's James Harter estimated, "$300 billion is lost annually due to employee disengagement," a truly staggering amount of money.
Companies who have taken the time to invest in employee engagement will more than likely retain their star performers as the economy continues to get better. So what is employee engagement? The Conference Board, a prestigious, non-profit business membership and research organization located in the U.S., looked across this mass of data and came up with a blended definition and key themes that crossed all of the studies. They define employee engagement as "a heightened emotional connection that an employee feels for his or her organization, that influences him or her to exert greater discretionary effort to his or her work".
At least four of the studies agreed on these eight key drivers:
- Trust and integrity - How well managers communicate and 'walk the talk'.
- Nature of the job - Is it mentally stimulating day-to-day?
- Line of sight between employee performance and company performance - Does the employee understand how their work contributes to the company's performance?
- Career growth opportunities -Are there future opportunities for growth?
- Pride in the company - How much self-esteem does the employee feel by being associated with their company?
- Co-workers/team members - Significantly influence one's level of engagement
- Employee development - Is the company making an effort to develop the employee's skills?
- Relationship with one's manager - Does the employee value his or her relationship with his or her manager?
Other key findings include the fact that larger companies are more challenged to engage employees than are smaller companies, while employee age drives a clear difference in the importance of certain drivers. For example, employees under age 44 rank challenging environment/career growth opportunities much higher than do older employees, who value recognition and reward for their contributions. The bottom line is "Happy employees produce more than unhappy ones over the long term. They routinely show up at work, they're less likely to quit, they go above and beyond the call of duty, and they attract people who are just as committed to the job. Moreover, they're not sprinters; they're more like marathoner runners, in it for the long haul," according to Gretchen Spreitzer and Christine Porath in a recent article in the January-February issue of Harvard Business Review.
Employees, are you happy at work? Employers, are you doing everything you can to cultivate a positive work environment? If you would, please go to our Facebook Page and tell us if you liked this article. Thank you!
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It's Good News Week!
Yes! It's good news week due to the latest computer trend called "cloud computing," According to the research firm, IDC of Framingham, Mass., the more-efficient computing technology will spur 8.8 million new jobs worldwide between 2012 and 2015. An estimated 13,250 of those jobs will be in Minneapolis, MN. "Cloud computing, which is a rent-or-pay-as-you-go model for computer services, already has saved companies a lot of dollars because companies avoid the upfront costs for computer servers, private networks and ongoing maintenance." Cloud computing has already created 5 million jobs worldwide as of December 2011. According to John Gantz, Vice President of IDC, "the service will create a total of 13.8 million jobs and $1.1 trillion in new business revenue by 2015." Half of the jobs will sprout in small and medium-size firms and half in the fields of banking, communications, manufacturing and education. "Most of the job growth is not expected to be in IT but instead the jobs will come from other industries that benefit from the cloud technology.
Basically, "you only pay for what you are using as opposed to buying it all upfront according to Tim Floyd, Director of Microsoft Technology Center. The cloud lets you start up cheaply and, if you fail, it lets you fail inexpensively." Security and privacy issues will slow the trend of cloud computing. Health care, insurance, and banking are all tightly regulated and may end up with keeping all data within the company. "Public cloud computing stores information on third-party servers, which poses security concerns for some companies." On the brighter side, a software developer and co-owner of a small company went from a one-person to a five- person and soon to be a 10-person company by the end of 2012, mainly because they don't have to deal with the overhead of infrastructure.
Good news indicated from Chief Information Officers from around the country now look at cloud computing as a way of freeing up their existing staff with the opportunity to work on more innovative projects - not as a way to cut positions.
Email jlentner@coremanage.com and we can tell you how we can help.
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Sincerely,
Julie Lentner Core Management Search, LLC
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