More Talent Management Facts #17

Statistics are like bikinis.  What they reveal is suggestive, but what they conceal is vital. 

Aaron Levenstein

Another addition of leadership and talent management “facts” from all over the world.  Some intuitive and some not….what do you think?
1. A recent survey by Global One found that 89% of 1,043 Americans say that work/life balance is a problem and 31% reporting that the recession has upended balance affecting their lives.

2. A September 2010 CareerBuilder survey reported that 75% of U.S. workers are living paycheck to paycheck and 21% have reduced their 401(k) contributions or personal savings in the year (4,498 full-time employees).

3. A recent survey of 600 HR and recruiting professionals by Jobvite revealed that 73% of these individuals used social networks or media in recruiting in 2010.  They most used channels were: LinkedIn (78%), Facebook (25%), and Twitter (45%).  Overall, 46% planned to spend more on social networking in 2011 and 38% said they were going to use less third-party recruiters.

4. In a recent report, Global Firms in 2020: The Next Decade of Change for Organizations and Workers, 67% of the 479 senior executives agreed that they need to maintain a leaner organization using outsourcing rather than hiriing full time staff over the next 10 years. 

5. ManPower’s 2010 Talent Shortage survey found that employers in six of the world’s 10 biggest economies ranked skilled trades as their number 1 or 2 hiring challenge in 2011 (skill trades can not be geographically fixed and can’t be outsources or relocated off shore).  Examples included electricians, welders, plumbers, and carpenters.

6. According to Compdata’s Executive Compensation 2010/2011 survey, slightly more than 77% of organizations offered perks to their CEOs in 2010, down from 89.8% in 2009.  The most common perks included supplemental life insurance (31.7%), company cars (30.7%) and club memberships (26.1%).

7. According to Sibson Consulting’s 2009 Rewards of Work Study of 542 companies, 44% of 2,000 employees surveyed are not committed to perform on their jobs even though they know what to do.  No mention was made of those slackers who didn’t know what to do.

8. A recent study by Mercer found that although 70% of companies in the US are interested in increasing diversity of their workforce, 70% don’t have a clear strategy for developing female leaders, 43% don’t offer any programs aimed at women leaders, and only 19% track progress of female leaders.  The biggest obstacles for women seeking advancement were lack of an executive sponsor (43%), insufficient experience (36%) and work/life balance challenges (31%).

9. The 2010 National Survey of Employer Sponsored Health Plans (Mercer) indicated that the average cost of total health benefit cost per employee in the US rose 6.9% to $9,562.00 which is the biggest increase since 2004.

10. According to an international survey by LexisNexis of 1,700 white-collar workers (e.g., Australia, US, China, South Africa, UK) found that 62% of all workers report that the quality of their work suffers because they can’t sort through the information they need fast enough and 91% of US workers report deleting or discarding work information without even reading it.  Finally, 90% of US workers say they need to search for old e-mails at least once a week to find the right information they need to get their work done resulting in a large waste of time.

11. The 2010 Global Workforce Study (Towers Watson) asked more than 20,000 full-time employees from around the world “How much would receiving each of the following influence your decision to leave your current organization?”  The top five answers included: 1) Increase in pay; 2) Greater job security; 3) Pension; 4) Improved work/life balance; and 5) Better health benefits.

12. The American Psychological Association’s 2010 Stress in America Survey found that 44% of US respondents reported moderate to high levels of stress with the leading causes including: 1) Money (76%), 2) Work (70%), 3) Economy (65%), 4) Family responsibilities (58%), 5) Relationships (55%), 6) Personal health (52%), 7) Housing costs (52%), 8) Job stability (49%), 9) Health problems of family members (47%), and 10) Personal safety (31%).  The most common physical symptoms of stress included: Irritability/anger (45%), fatigue (41%), Lack of interest/motivation (38%), Anxiety ((36%), headache (36%), and feeling sad/depressed (34%).

Back to research some new talent development facts….Be well….

Ken Nowack

Kenneth Nowack, Ph.D. is a licensed psychologist (PSY13758) and President & Chief Research Officer/Co-Founder of Envisia Learning, is a member of the Consortium for Research on Emotional Intelligence in Organizations. Ken also serves as the Associate Editor of Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research. His recent book Clueless: Coaching People Who Just Don’t Get It is available for free for a limited time by signing up for free blog updates (Learn more at our website)