As the business climate limps back to normalcy, how are employers faring in the eyes of their employees and customers?
Depends on what research study you read.
Balancing work and life. Could employers finally be understanding employees’ need to balance work and their personal lives?
When 1,400 chief financial officers were asked what employee benefits their employees value most, 30 percent cited flexible work scheduling. In the survey by the marketing staffing firm Corporate Project Resources of Chicago, 16 percent also selected “extra time off.”
Regardless, employees may be “pushing back” and creating their own brand of work-life balance whether employers like it or not.
While six out of 10 employees said they were satisfied with the number of hours they work, less than half (47 percent) were satisfied with the amount of work they are expected to handle, according to a survey by Randstad North America, an Atlanta-based staffing company.
Fully eight in 10 employees said companies expected too much work from too few workers. Interestingly, employers agreed; six in 10 employers said they were expecting too much work from too few workers, and 45 percent thought their employees were satisfied with their workload.
It’s party time. The good news is that the number of employers springing for some kind of winter holiday party is on the rise, according to two recent surveys.
Hewitt Associates, the Chicago-based human resources consultant, found 75 percent of surveyed companies said they would be hosting a holiday party, a 7 percent increase over 2003. The 270 U.S. companies surveyed said they would spend an average of $20,000 per bash.
Vault Inc., a career information and employee recruiting firm, found 62 percent of companies it surveyed planned holiday parties, up from 55 percent last year. Of the 484 companies responding, 4 in 10 said they were spending about the same for their parties, while 23 percent are spending less and 17 percent more.
Retirement, what retirement? Remember the hue and cry about the impending worker shortage once the baby boomers retire? There are growing indications that the shortage may not materialize, because the boomers aren’t into retiring anytime soon.
In its groundbreaking survey of boomers, the AARP found that 80 percent planned to continue working well into their so-called retirement years, or after 65. The 2003 survey showed the difference between boomers who wanted to continue working at least part-time for the enjoyment it brings and for those who needed the income almost negligible.
The AARP finding was bolstered last week by the Gallup organization’s workplace poll that found three of four (74 percent) of working U.S. investors planned to continue working after “retirement.”
Nearly half (46 percent) expect to continue working in their current job or profession as long as physically able, the survey by the Gallop Poll Tuesday Briefing found. Two in 10 hope to start their own businesses and 15 percent planned to look for a new job after collecting their gold watch. The rest were unsure of their specific post-retirement work plans.
More Americans expect good corporate citizenship. Americans are seriously and increasingly concerned with the depth and direction of corporate citizenship.
Forty-four percent of Americans believe corporate citizenship “is heading in the wrong direction,” a survey by Chicago-based public relations firm Golin-Harris found. Fewer than a quarter (24 percent) believe that business is headed the right direction. The findings represent an 8-point shift from last year’s findings (41 percent and 29 percent).
Over half (52 percent) said they planned to financially support only those companies they felt were good corporate citizens.
The survey also ranked 75 blue-chip companies and brands based on 12 corporate citizenship indicators. The top performers were (in order) McDonalds, Ben &Jerry’s, Johnson &Johnson, Target and United Parcel Service.
Write Eric Zoeckler at The Herald, P.O. Box 930, Everett, WA 98206 or e-mail mrscribe@aol.com
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