Companies restructure faster by firing and hiring, not retraining

As many of the country’s largest employers eliminate thousands of jobs, they’re simultaneously hiring workers for new positions to adapt to the market’s changing needs, according to a Wall Street Journal article published yesterday.

U.S. employers eliminated 539,000 jobs in April alone, said the Labor Department on Friday. However, the government also estimates that employers hired roughly 4.4 million workers in February, the most recent numbers available.

"It's not just routine turnover," says Lori Kletzer, an economics professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz. "Quite often the people being laid off don't have the requisite set of skills or experience to move into the growth areas."

Some experts say the churn also shows changes in workplace policies. In past decades, many employers retrained and relocated underused workers, says Peter Cappelli, director of the Center for Human Resources at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School. “Now they've discovered that you can restructure even faster by laying off and hiring.” (WSJ)

Microsoft, IBM, AT&T, Yahoo and Time Warner are among the companies laying off thousands, while hiring new workers to fill positions in different business units, other places or to fill a need for new skills.

These latest employment numbers support a belief that many Americans currently share -- without continued training and skills development, their current workplace skills will be outdated within the next few years.

Workers across all generations depend on training and development to stay competitive in the changing labor market, but more than three-quarters of Americans believe the training provided by their employers will fail to meet their future career needs.

Has your company decided to fire and hire, instead of training existing employees for new positions? Is it the employer’s responsibility to develop workers’ skills for their future career needs?

Leave a comment and let us know what you think.

Summer teen safety issues on the horizon

Memorial Day, the unofficial summer kick off, is only weeks away and has many businesses looking to hire some extra help from the pool of eager students wanting to turn their free time into cash.

As businesses welcome the added help and teens look forward to the extra money in their pockets, there are some serious issues for every organization to consider before hiring anyone under the age of 18.

An estimated 200,000 teenagers are injured on the job every year and nearly 70 die from work-related injuries, according to federal statistics. Teens have a significantly higher rate of workplace injuries than that of adults, despite child labor laws restricting young workers from hazardous jobs and the penalties employers face if found negligent.

Last year’s changes to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) that increased penalties for child labor violations have made teen safety more important than ever. Employers may be penalized up to $50,000 for the death or serious injury of an employee under the age of 18, with the possibility of up to $100,000 in penalties for repeated or willful violations.

With the summer job season right around the corner, businesses must be aware of the laws protecting teen workers and prepared to provide young workers with the most comprehensive on-the-job safety training.

Start getting your teen safety training program up to par with these online resources:

• Youth Job Safety - Developed by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), the Youth Job Safety campaign is a one-stop shop for employers, teen workers, educators and parents to find valuable information on keeping teens safe at work.


• Youth@Work: Talking Safety - The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) put together the Youth@Work program to provide a foundation curriculum in on-the-job safety and health for young workers. The site lists customized state guides, addressing state-specific rules and regulations, that can be used to supplement any teen safety training program.
  


• YouthRules! - The DOL’s online resource providing information on federal and state labor laws that apply to young workers, including the hours young employees can work, the jobs they can legally do, and tips to prevent teen workplace injuries.

(NIOSH) put together the Youth@Work program to provide a foundation curriculum in on-the-job safety and health for young workers. The site lists customized state guides, addressing state-specific rules and regulations, that can be used to supplement any teen safety training program.

Always prepare early for seasonal help and have a safety training program in place well before your organization hires teens for summer work. Ensure that your business stays protected by training teen workers on the importance of safety in the workplace from the first day they walk through your doors.

To help your business avoid costly child labor violation fines and provide a safe working environment for young workers, take a look at the ComplyRight Now E-Guide: Teen Safety in the Workplace. The downloadable guide provides concise, legally sound advice to help your business navigate and comply with the latest changes to federal child labor laws and regulations.

Top rewards of hiring veterans

The training and long hours spent preparing for the battlefield has proven to pay off for veterans when leaving the military and entering the civilian workforce. In hiring veterans, employers report added rewards after onboarding these employees including responsibility, teamwork and the ability to work under pressure.

Almost four in 10 (38%) of human resource professionals nationwide have hired a war veteran in the past three years, according to a study by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM).

The study also found that hiring veterans is even more popular in government entities, with 67% hiring a veteran. Half of publicly owned, for-profit companies report hiring a returning combat veteran.

Among employers who reported hiring veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars:

• 95% said the benefit of hiring vets is they have a “strong sense of responsibility.”
• 94% said they have the ability to “work as part of a team.”
• 93% said they “see a task through to completion.”
• 92% said veterans have the ability to “work under pressure.”

The situations soldiers are put in during training and deployment required them to “grow up fast,” according to Bryan Zawikowski, vice president of the military transition division at the Lucas Group, in a recent Human Resource Executive Online article.

As they complete their enlistment time, "a young officer at the age of 30 can have responsibilities greater than most [workers] in the private sector," said Zawikowski.

While veterans entering the workforce may need help transitioning and will have to adapt their skills to new tasks, their active-duty experiences have equipped them to meet those challenges, he added.

"By the time they come out of the military, they are used to learning new things, used to training and used to being held accountable for their performance and the performance of their team," said Zawikowski.

For employers looking to hire veterans and advice for transitioning soldiers, check out the following online resources:

• RecruitMilitary.com
• HireVetsFirst.gov
• VetJobs.com
• MilitaryHire.com
• Military.com
• TAOnline.com

Friday office humor: Dodgeball at work

Apart from paying new hires to quit, encouraging employees to Tweet and extending their product line to include much more than shoes, there's still another reason why Zappos is one of the most exciting companies to work for - dodgeball.

The popular online shoe company has organized daily dodgeball games to relieve workplace stress and get employees moving during the afternoon. Following strict rules to keep the game "fair, friendly, and safe," employees still have fun interacting with each other through the popular childhood game.

From the Inside Zappos blog:

"As a stress reliever from planning warehouse budgets, making purchases, hiring and handling all benefits paperwork, writing scripts to run site manager, and becoming friends with OSHA; the admin team wants to throw something!!!

They decided to start a friendly game of dodge ball, the all time favorite recess sport! Dodge ball is played daily at 3pm in the upstairs office. What a great work out and stress reliever! Kudos, my friends, and remember... safety first!"

Some first-hand video footage of recess time at Zappos:




Happy Friday!

Employee engagement drives loyalty, retention

Employers that focus on employee engagement and encourage creativity will attract high-performing job candidates and retain loyal employees, giving their company the competitive advantage, according to a new survey by IMR Research Group.

“Business leaders are now recognizing the role employee engagement and loyalty plays in the financial health of a company,” Stacey Randall, IMR’s workplace futurist, said in an IMR story.

“Employee engagement directly impacts profitability and you are wasting resources – human and financial – unless you are focusing on the policies and practices that are going to give you the most bang for your buck.”

Survey results revealed that the workplace attributes with the greatest impact on employee loyalty and retention are:

• Trust between managers and employees
• Influence on goals and strategy as they relate to the job
• Opportunities for professional development
• Employee empowerment for decisions
• Encouragement of creativity
• Passionate and motivated employees
  

Keeping employees engaged and management focused on the key factors affecting loyalty, will increase job satisfaction and decrease the number of employees searching for opportunities elsewhere.

“The future of the American company rests on our ability to innovate, and workers understand how brainstorming and other creative thinking sessions can contribute to the company’s bottom line as well as make employees feel their input is valued,” Randall said.

“This study indicates that these attributes are not standouts in employees’ minds, but efforts to improve in these areas can lead to great results.”

Teens find early career training at business summer camp

Business summer camp ... sounds like every teen’s dream of an awesome summer vacation, right?

At least one group of kids in Silicon Valley seem to think so. Whether it’s the nature of the area they live in or an inherited drive to succeed, teens from the high-tech hub are opting-out of a lazy summer at the beach for one spent learning how to run a business.

At Camp BizSmart, parents pay $750 to send their kids to a two-week summer camp that focuses on market analysis, branding and discussions on ROI. The day camp covers all the businesses basics any success-driven, miniature Bill Gates would love to spend their summer learning.

With national teen employment at the lowest level in the past 60 years, maybe starting kids out early with business summer camp isn’t such a bad idea. Research shows that teens who work more in high school have an easier transition into the labor market after graduation.

Similar state-funded teen work programs across the country may not be as structured as camp, but work to develop teen job skills. Programs like Pennsylvania’s Technology Work Experience Internship Program and Boston’s Hope Line give teens the training and resources to help them get hired.

Our country’s next batch of successful CEOs have started training today, and they’ve started early. Many of today’s teens work hard in school and study for the SATs until the point of burnout, don’t they have the right to slack off during the summer? Do you think business summer camp is giving kids a head start in the corporate world, or should we just let kids be kids?

To train or not to train

With more people, especially Gen Y, job hopping their way around the corporate world we may see employee training go "the way of the 8 track," according to a recent prediction by YourHRGuy.

HRGuy says - With more employees job hopping, spending less time at each job, it's smarter for companies to put money into recruiting qualified candidates rather than develop current employees.

A Training Time post from earlier this year focused a panel discussion at Fortune's Global Forum where the moderator asked: "Why invest in training people when you know that a lot of them are going to leave you pretty soon?"

Panelist Anand Pillai, Vice President & Global Head of Talent Transformation & Intrapreneurship, looks at the dilemma much differently than HRGuy.

Pillai says - What happens if you don't train them and they stay? The most effective way to retain empoyees is to provide training and keep them engaged with the company.

It's an interesting argument that only starting to develop as more job-hopping Gen Yers move around the workforce.

We want to hear your opinion - Should companies continue to sponsor employee training even though there's a chance many will leave?

Interview etiquette: Have we all lost it?

Vault recently released results from an employer/employee survey about interview etiquette. Some of their results show that in some cases we may have lost some of our interview etiquette, while other findings hint that interview norms may be changing.

Some interesting survey results:

• 26% of job candidates have answered their cell phone during an interview
• 87% of job candidates were dressed inappropriately for an interview
• 98% of employers say it is acceptable to send a thank you note via email
• 59% of employers say job candidates’ manners during interviews have deteriorated over the years

You can find the full list of results at Vault, along with the results of how interviewees answered the same questions.

What do you think, have we all lost it? Has interview etiquette deteriorated over the years and in what ways?

Video games at work increase employee productivity

Video games are making their way out of living rooms and into the office, but don’t be nervous. New evidence suggests gaming at work may benefit the workplace by decreasing worker stress and increasing productivity.

Rather than forbidding gaming, some U.S. companies are embracing gaming by replacing traditional coffee-fueled break rooms with areas specifically created for employees to play video games, according to a recent article from Entrepreneur.com. Companies that have created such rooms have seen a boost in employee morale and productivity, and gaming in the office has also helped attract younger employees.

“According to a recent survey by WorldWinner, a subsidiary of FUN Technologies Inc., more than 80 percent of online gamers who play on and off throughout the workday said they are able to better focus on work after playing. A reported 72 percent actually rely on game breaks to help them deal with job-related stress.”

Of the companies interviewed for the Entrepreneur.com article, none have had to set up rules or regulations for the game rooms. Some employees who have trouble regulating themselves may take advantage of the environment, but the companies agree that the positive results far outweigh any negatives.

While many companies have not embraced gaming as a positive way to reduce stress at work, it turns out employees will play anyway. Whether it’s on their phone or company computer, almost one in four workers game on the job.

Its estimated that as many as 80 million “white collar” workers in the U.S. play casual games, according to a survey by PopCap, the leading developer and publisher of casual games. Of those white collar workers surveyed, almost a quarter (24%) said they play at work along with 35% of CEOs, CFOs and other senior executives.

“It's natural that some business executives would also look to casual video games that they can play on their PC, mobile phone or BlackBerry during a work break, as a way to quickly relax and recharge their batteries,” said Carla Drum, a recognized expert on workplace issues, in a PopCap press release.

Those who play casual games at work acknowledged the following effects after taking a short game break at work:

• 84% said they felt "more relaxed and less stressed out."
• 52% said they felt more confident, more energetic, more productive and/or more mentally focused.

When asked to choose the single most important reason for playing casual games, 72% chose a reason related to improving their mental state.

Whether it’s taking a short break to chat on the phone or grab a cup of coffee, we all need to unwind every once in a while to refresh and regroup. Loading up a quick game may have the same effect, and without all the caffeine-jitters.

Six reasons why employees hate their first day and how you can make it better

First day at the new job - You show up, wait in the lobby until someone recognizes you’re the “newbie,” human resources walks you through a presentation on the company, helps you fill out the necessary forms, gives you a tour of the building, and drops you off at your desk just in time for lunch, which will most likely be alone. The first task on your to-do list is finding the bathroom that was somehow left out of that extensive company tour.

It’s no wonder why many new hires hate their first day on the job. After such an awkward and stressful day, it may take all they have not to run for the door to never be seen or heard from again.

Remember that first impressions go both ways and your company should be making the same effort to welcome a new hire, as they try to show you that hiring them was a good decision.

Here are the top reasons why people usually hate their first day on the job and some ways you can make it a better experience.

1. The company tour skipped a room or two. It may seem like a small thing for someone who has been working in the same building for five years, but the bathroom may be a tough find for a newbie. Don’t forget to show new employees where little, but important things are such as the supply closet, break rooms and bathrooms.

2. Their manager was missing in action all day. Busy days and deadlines are inevitable. As a manager, do your best to block out time to spend with the new hire. If that can’t happen, pair the new employee up with someone who can. It can help ease any first day anxiety and possibly kick start a new office friendship.

3. They were overloaded with lists of rules. Signing the employee handbook is an important step during any onboarding process, but telling someone all the reasons they could be fired may not be the best introduction to the company. Give an employee some time to get a feel for the office culture before throwing the rulebook in front of them.

4. They’re confused as to what their job is and how they’ll be doing it. Sometimes a first day is so full of paperwork and legalities that no one seems to mention why the employee was hired. Talk about the new employee’s responsibilities, show them a little of what they’ll be working on and the tools they’ll be using to get their job done.

5. They were starving all day. Even when it’s not your first day, eating lunch alone is sad. Look at an employee’s first day as an excuse for everyone to go out to lunch. It will help the new employee get a feel for the company culture and turn strangers in the hall into friendly faces.

6. They had a serious case of information overload by the end of the day. The first day at a new job can be a nerve-wracking experience for anyone. Don’t overwhelm a new person with too much information, or too many people to remember. Try to spread out the information and introductions over the first few weeks.

The best way to know how to handle onboarding new employees is to look back at your personal experiences. Try to remember all of the things you didn’t like about your first day and make an effort to change that for the new employee.

If you’re one of the extremely lucky ones and can’t remember any bad moments, do a quick survey of your coworkers to find out what they hated about their first day and what could have been done to fix it.

Employees want to know they made the right decision by taking the new job. Don’t let a bad first day have the new hire rethinking their decision. Do your best to make them feel like a part of the team as soon as possible.

Gen Y is changing new hire orientation

The typical new employee orientation process - HR gives you a new name badge, hands you a copy of the benefits package, helps you fill out some tax forms, gives you a PowerPoint overview of the company and makes sure you’re settled in your new cube just in time for lunch.

New hires, especially those from Generation Y, are demanding much more than that if you’re planning on keeping them around for more than a few months.

Millenials and Gen Y employees have a desire to feel welcomed and want to know more about their jobs even before they show up for work, according to a recent article in Minnesota’s StarTribune.

The article, noting that “your grandfather’s orientation program won’t cut it anymore,” outlines a new process companies are using with new hires called ‘onboarding.’

Onboarding: the process companies use to introduce, train, integrate and coach new hires on the company’s culture and method.

Gen Y and Millenial employees entering the workforce have sparked the onboarding trend, because of their special needs in the workplace. This new process involves a more complete welcoming process than companies have practiced before.

With younger employees, companies need to reinforce that the new employee has made the best decision by sharing how valuable their skills are to the company, the assignments they will be working on, and what developmental steps they should expect within the year.

Gen Y expects that everything should be ready when they arrive to work on their first day. This means having a computer ready to go at their desk, completely set up with an email account and all of the programs they will be using.

They also expect constant feedback from their managers. Managers should set up a system with the new hire for regular check-in times on work progress. New Gen Y employees should also be given an office mentor to help ease the transition into the new company culture.

Remember that any new hire orientation won’t fit into the four hours from the time they arrive until lunchtime. Make employee onboarding an ongoing process.

Acclimating a new employee isn’t always an easy process. Some employees, especially members of younger generations, need a little more help than older employees. With a little time and effort, new employee orientation can be a rewarding experience for both employee and company.

Employee safety training: Teens on-the-job

If you’re planning on hiring teens to fill summer job positions, be sure that you have the proper structure and employee safety training programs set up to keep these young employees safe at work.

Last week, the Department of Labor (DOL) kicked off the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) national 2008 Teen Summer Job Safety Campaign in downtown New York city.

The campaign is part of a large effort to reduce work-related injuries among teens by teaching proper on-the-job safety, with a goal to reach more than three million teens. By reaching out to workers at a young age, OSHA hopes these teens will carry important safety lessons through as they grow older.

Before considering bringing teens into your workplace, first educate yourself on the laws protecting young workers:

OSHA. Depending on where you do business, employers must comply with certain hazard-specific job safety and health standards. Federal or state OSHA offices can help with regulations and standards. Visit osha.gov for more information.

Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The FLSA protects minors by restricting the amount of hours they are able to work and the types of jobs they can work. Your local Employment Standards Administration office can help with questions, or visit the OSHA site for more information.


If you decide to employ teens, be sure your workplace is ready:

Make employee safety training a top priority.

Review work sites to spot and eliminate potential hazards, ensuring employees are working in a safe environment.

Train adolescent and teen employees how to recognize workplace dangers and how to perform their jobs safely.

Training should include, but is not limited to topics such as fire and accident prevention, workplace accidents, violent situations and what to do if someone is injured on the job.

Educate teen employees on their rights, in the case they are injured on the job, including how to file a claim to cover medical benefits and lost work time.

Choose well trained supervisors who know how to spot workplace hazards and follow safe work practices to monitor new, young employees.

Supervise teens to be sure they are following safe work practices and know how to spot hazards on their own.

Implement a shadowing program where teen employees follow older, experienced employees to teach them valuable safety skills.

Promote an open-door policy and encourage young workers to always ask questions about anything that is unclear.


Keep your teen employees safe this summer while employed with your company. Be sure you know the rules when hiring teens and train your workforce regularly on safety. A safe and healthy work environment will create a rewarding work experience for teen workers and your business.

Should training stop at competence?

You hire a new employee, train the new employee how to do a job and they become competent at the job. Does the training stop there?

In a recent article on TrainingTime.com, “Author & Attitude Adjuster” Kevin Burns, answers “yes” and explains why.

Burns states that an employer’s responsibility to improve its employees ends once they become competent at the job. It is then the employee’s responsibility to make themselves more valuable to the company.

“In order to better one's position in life, they have to become more valuable. It's not the company's job to make the individual better. Sure, the company can provide an environment where self-improvement is encouraged but ultimately it's not the company's responsibility to improve the individual beyond the expectations of being able to do the job. That's it.”

Burns divides employees into three categories: competent, high-performer and under-achiever. The company will do anything to keep high-performers, keep competent employes where they’re at, and get rid of the under-achievers.

It is not the company’s fault if an employee is upset that they didn’t get the promotion they wanted or if they’re being paid less than they want. The employee should be self-motivated enough to seek out further training, learn new aspects of the business and become better at their job.

What do you think? What’s your opinion on training employees past the point of competency?

Jobs- supply, demand & unemployment rates

How long did it take you to land your current job? Are you currently looking to get a job, sending out hundreds of resumes, searching all the job posting sites and asking around and still can’t find anything? Well, don’t blame yourself because you might not be the problem.

State Unemployment Factors

Check the unemployment rate in your state ---that rate is directly related to the length of time it takes an employee to land a job.

A recent article from CNN.com listed the top ten worst states to find a job, ranked by their unemployment rate. If you're are in one of those states you can expect to spend more time on your job hunting efforts in order to land a job.

You may have the right skills and experience but the jobs are just not there. And if they are, there are too many qualified applicants, so your odds getting that job significantly decrease because there are many competitors competing for that position.

As a job hunter, this situation obviously works against you.

What does it mean for HR mangers?

From the recruiter and HR manager side, this situation is better.

For every job opening in these states, you will probably receive piles of resumes from qualified candidates.

The results are twofold:

A better selection of applicants

High unemployment means you can afford to be very picky about whom you choose to fill out a position.

Lower salary expectations

You may be able to offer a lower pay for the position, knowing that someone qualified will be willing to take it. But be careful. Employees who feel they are seriously underpaid tend to have lower performance, despite the dire job situation.

The plus for recruiters in better job markets

If low unemployment in your state is making qualified applicants difficult to find, consider focusing your advertising and recruitment in states on CNN's list. With or without relocation benefits, you might find the perfect candidate for those hard to fill positions.

The other side of the coin

If you are a job seeker, check out this article about the top 15 great cities for job seekers. You may want to relocate!