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Posted on December 15, 2006July 10, 2018

Quick Takes December 19, 2006

Body Art: Some HR organizations are grappling with updating their dress codes to accommodate younger workers who adorn their bodies with tattoos or piercings.
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Happy Old Year: It’s good to be a banker. Compensation analyst Johnson Associates Inc. said Wall Street investment bankers will earn incentives as much as 20 percent higher than a year ago.
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New Year’s Resolution: Almost half of U.S. employers plan to spend more time and money on training and developing supervisors and executives in 2007, according to a recent survey.
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Single and On the Move: Texas’ capital is deemed the best city for young professionals who are relocating because of their jobs.
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Train & Retain: Employees at multinational companies in Europe shouldn’t expect big pay raises in 2007. Instead they’ll get training.
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Just in Time for Tax Season: ADP closes its purchase of Taxware from First Data Corp. for $125 million in cash.
Click to read more. >>>

Vendor News: Right Management has completed its acquisition of Grow Talent Company Limited.
Click to read more. >>>


Posted on December 15, 2006July 10, 2018

Half of Employers Will Spend More on Training

New Year’s Resolution: Almost half of U.S. employers plan to spend more time and money on training and developing supervisors and executives next year, according to a recent survey by Novations Group, a Boston-based consultancy. The survey, which was based on responses from 2,046 HR executives, found that among 11 categories of training, supervisory/management skills and leadership/executive development ranked as the first and second most important, respectively. The survey results indicate that companies are increasingly concerned about senior-level turnover and the loss of retirement-ready baby boomers, Novations president and CEO Mike Hyter says. As a result, Novations expects more organizations to tap external trainers and training organizations to help them with these issues.

Posted on December 15, 2006July 10, 2018

Time-Clock Fraud Liability for Employers

In a class-action suit, 170,000 Wal-Mart employees took the retailer to court, alleging they were entitled to compensation because they were routinely asked by management to work through their breaks and to perform work after they were off the clock.


Wal-Mart’s policy provided for a 15-minute paid rest break during any three-hour work period for all employees, as well as two 15-minute paid rest breaks and a 30-minute unpaid meal break in a six-hour work period.


Wal-Mart argued that it should not be held liable because several employees testified that they skipped breaks or cut their breaks short by their own choice. Wal-Mart contended that it strongly discouraged this practice and employees merely chose to do this on their own. Additionally, the company argued it had improved its systems to ensure all employees receive scheduled breaks.


A Pennsylvania state court jury found that Wal-Mart had failed to pay employees for off-the-clock work. The jury found that Wal-Mart had violated state wage and rest break regulations by requiring the employees to work through their breaks while off the clock. The jury awarded the class of employees $78.47 million. Braun v. Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Pa. Ct., No. 020303127 (October 13, 2006).



Impact: Employers are cautioned to train their managers on applicable regulatory standards dealing with meal and break times.


Workforce Management, December 11, 2006, p. 16 — Subscribe

Posted on December 15, 2006July 10, 2018

ADP Employer Services Completes Acquisition of Taxware

Just in Time for Tax Season: ADP Employer Services has completed its acquisition of Taxware from First Data Corp. for $125 million in cash. The purchase will broaden ADP’s services to employers to by providing them with tools to automate much of the tax return filing process. The tools can calculate taxes for employers, assign taxing jurisdictions and help companies navigate through the ever-changing tax laws. The move marks the second tax-related acquisition that the Roseland, New Jersey-based payroll and benefits administration provider has made in the past there months. In August, ADP announced that it was purchasing Mintax, which secures tax credits and economic incentives for employers.

Posted on December 14, 2006June 29, 2023

C-Suite November, 2006

People moving into key executive positions


Robert Price has joined TheLadders.com. as CFO Prior to joining TheLadders.com, Price was CFO at Buy.com. He also spent five years in several roles at PairGain Technologies, ultimately serving as senior vice president and CFO.
 
Laura Cha has joined the board of directors at Tata Consultancy Services. Cha is a member of the executive council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and nonexecutive chairman of HSBC Investment Asia Holdings Ltd.
 
Beatriz Prudden has been named director of operations for Primacy Relocation’s Chicago office. She has been with Primacy for seven years as a human resources generalist.
 
Patrick Wadlington has joined Birkman International as senior psychometrician. Before joining Birkman, Wadlington was senior psychometrician at Hogan Assessments and conducted research for the Department of Defense and Office of Naval Research.
 
Richard Carroll has been named vice president of U.S. operations for Primacy Relocation. Carroll has spent more than 18 years in the employee relocation field, eight of those with Primacy.
 
Travis Unwin has been promoted to vice president at Blue Ribbon Digital. Unwin joined Blue Ribbon in 2004 as managing director.
 
Daniel R. Gattis has joined the Jacobson Group as senior
president. Gattis has 30 years of insurance experience and has worked at the Life Office Management Association, KPMG International, Chalke Consulting and ARM Financial Group in various senior executive positions.

Chris Davis-Pipe has been named group vice president of
information technology at Crown Worldwide. Davis-Pipe joined Crown in 1997.

Kathryn Marinello has been appointed president and CEO of the Ceridian. Marinello previously was president and CEO of GE Fleet Services. She has also held positions at First Data Corp., First Bank System, Chemical Bank and Citibank.

Chuck Armstrong has been named division vice president of operations at Hiring Management Systems, a division of First Advantage Corp. Armstrong has 15 years of experience in the software industry.

Phillip D. Suiter has been named president and CEO of Gordian Health Solutions. Suiter most recently assisted Vanderbilt University Medical Center and the university’s Office of Technology Transfer on a software commercialization effort. In 2005, he served as president and CEO of Stinger Medical. His other positions have included director of development at Vanderbilt’s Center for Better Health, president and COO of NotifyMD and founder and executive vice president of Medical
Properties of America.

Jeffrey Campbell has joined Morton’s, the Steakhouse as vice president of chief people officer. From 1977 to 2003,Campbell has held a number of human resources positions with Darden Restaurant Cos., including director of employee relations for Red Lobster and the Olive Garden.

Marva Smalls has been appointed executive vice president of global inclusion strategy at MTV Networks.
 
Daniel K. Atler has been named interim CEO at Ikanos
Communications. Atler joined Ikanos as CFO in 2003. Before that, he was executive vice president of strategic business development at Silicon Image.
 
Neil L. Hazard has been named executive vice president, CFO and treasurer at Motient. Prior to joining Motient, Hazard was COO and CFO of Primus Telecommunications Group.

Jeffrey W. Epstein has been named general counsel and secretary at Motient. He previously was director, assistant general counsel for Capital One Financial Corp.

Gerry Davis has become regional managing partner for the Asia-Pacific division at Heidrick & Struggles. He joined Heidrick & Struggles in 1998.

William L. McComb has been appointed CEO of Liz Claiborne Inc. He previously was company group chairman at Johnson & Johnson.

Judith Vance has been appointed senior vice president and chief human resources officer at New York Life Insurance Co. Vance began her career at Aetna, where she served as in various human resources function. After more than two decades with Aetna, she moved to Prudential Financial, where she served in various human resource positions for seven years.

Larry Stanczak has been named COO of Yoh. Prior to joining Yoh, Stanczak led the sales and business development efforts for MarineMax. Before that, he was COO of Kforce.

Nate Segall has been named president-elect for the National Association of Information Destruction. Segall is currently vice president and COO of AccuShred. He previously served on the NAID board of directors, where he was chair of the public relations committee.

Richard N. Marshall has been named senior vice president and CFO of Southern Union. Marshall has been treasurer for Southern Union since 2001. Prior to that he served in various financial and regulatory roles for Pennsylvania Enterprise Inc.

John Kennedy has been promoted to vice president of operations support for Unicco. He joined Allied Services in 1978, and that company was later bought by Ogden Allied Services, which was then acquired by Unicco in 1996.

Marie Augsberger has joined MassMutual Retirement Services as COO. Augsberger comes from ING, where she most recently was head of customer service and operations for ING U.S. Retirement Services. Before ING, she held various leadership positions with Aetna.

Christopher B. Burnham has joined Deutsche Bank’s Deutsche Asset Management as managing director and vice chairman. Burnham was previously undersecretary-general of the United Nations. He joined the U.N. after four years with the U.S. Department of State, where he was acting undersecretary of state for management for Condoleezza Rice and assistant secretary of state for resource management and CFO of the State Department for Colin Powell.

Neil Glass has been appointed vice president of finance and operations for Ziff Davis’ consumer/small business group. He was previously director of finance for the group.

Lara Cunningham has been appointed managing director of
Waldron & Co.’s Portland, Oregon, office. Cunningham has more
than 15 years of human resources experience. Eleven of those
years have been with Waldron. Prior to her promotion, she was
the vice president and leadership team member for Waldron’s
Seattle headquarters.

Rebecca Maddox has joined the board of directors at Kenexa.
Maddox has held such positions as CEO of Capital Rose Inc.,
senior vice president of marketing with Capital Holding and
senior vice president of marketing with Citicorp.

Shirley David has been appointed director of diversity
initiatives at the Society for Human Resource Management. She
has 15 years of human resource experience. She most recently
was director of diversity at Constellation Energy.

Michael Gizzo has joined ORC Worldwide as CFO and chief
administrative officer. Most recently, Gizzo was managing
director for the Johnsson Group’s New York office.

Patrick Moneymaker has been appointed CEO of Kforce
Government Holdings Inc. Moneymaker is a retired U.S. Navy
rear admiral. He has also served as CEO of Ocean Systems
Engineering Corp.

Robert H. Brumley has been named president and CEO of
Motient. He previously was president and CEO of Pegasus
Global.

Robert Hanson has been promoted to president of North America
and the Asia-Pacific region at Levi-Strauss & Co. Hanson will
continue to lead the U.S. Levi’s brand as its president and
general manager, a position he has held since 2001.

Submit your move


Posted on December 13, 2006July 10, 2018

Insurance Firms Push Own Digital Health Record Plan

The nation’s health insurance companies, representing 200 million Americans, announced a plan December 13 to create a standardized digital health record that can be owned by members even if they switch insurance carriers.

The announcement comes amid a series of high-profile developments in the effort to reduce health care costs paid by employers and to create products focused on the needs of individual health care consumers.


Washington, D.C., on the subject of digital health records.


But health care experts caution that these initial milestones and spikes in public awareness are baby steps. The industry is far from being able to deliver the improved quality of care and cost savings that is promised with personal health records.


“This might be a first step to get us there, but as a stand-alone activity it has little value,” says Gerard Anderson, director of the Center for Hospital Finance and Management at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.


That first step, announced jointly by America’s Health Insurance Plans and the Blue Cross Blue Shield Associations, would create a standard personal health record that could be used by all health plans. At a minimum, the group says, the standards would include: patient information, doctors visits, medications, lab results, providers, facilities, subscriber information, benefit information, family history, physiological information, immunizations, health risk factors, advance directives, alerts (including allergies) and plan of care.


“We felt that because so much of the information for people to have a health record is based on claims filed, we were able to make this available in the short term,” AHIP spokeswoman Susan Pisano says. The plan was also supported by the National Health Council, a nonprofit whose members include health associations such as the American Cancer Society and the Lance Armstrong Foundation.


Pisano says that because of their size, health insurance companies are better equipped than employers to lead the development of personal health records.


“We also realize that more than 200 million people get their coverage through BCBS or AHIP,” Pisano says. “That gives us substantial reach; that gives us two-thirds of America.”


But unless that information can include the kinds of diagnostic detail doctors use to treat patients, the record will not improve health care quality or avoid unnecessary or redundant procedures, Anderson says.


Still, it makes sense to have health insurance companies and employers pay for the effort to develop personal health records, as they will benefit from the cost savings and improved health of insured employees, says Keith Strier, a senior manager in the life sciences and health care practice at Deloitte. And no one else is likely to foot the bill. Anderson says $156 billion in capital investments will be needed over a five-year period to create a national health IT network, of which personal health records would be a component.


Strier sees the decision to create an interoperable health record as a sign of positive cooperation among health insurance companies. The companies, he says, are in a better position than employers to use their product design capabilities to create an interoperable personal health record and bring it to market.


But whether the product comes from employers or health insurers, the goal is the same: to improve the health care of individuals and reduce costs for the employers footing the bill. Health IT experts say the personal health record is at the center of that kind of transformation.


“The proactivity of large employers and major payers signifies the kind of momentum we need in order to drive better outcomes in health care,” Strier says. “And that is not going to happen until [consumers] get more involved, and the personal health record is a main way to make that happen.”


—Jeremy Smerd

Posted on December 13, 2006July 10, 2018

Going Beyond H-1B Visas to Import Top Overseas Talent

U.S. employers exhausted the supply of 65,000 H-1B visas available for 2007 on May 26, 2006, a full 17 months before new visas would be issued. Although experts are cautiously optimistic that Congress will raise the cap in 2007, recruiters still face a full year of inadequate supplies of engineering and IT candidates.


    Recruiters should explore all possibilities before they conclude that tapping foreign labor markets for U.S. positions is simply not feasible. Alternative visas may offer some limited relief from the recruiting nightmare created by the closing of the H-1B door.


    Free trade visas, training visas and intra-company transfer visas apply only to narrow categories of workers, but may provide recruiters with options for global recruiting until Congress creates a more permanent solution.


Free trade visas
   
The H-1B visa quota has a carve-out of 1,400 free trade H-1B visas for Chilean nationals and 6,100 H-1B visas for Singaporean nationals.


    “These visas are the product of free trade agreements between the United States and these countries, and we have not reached the quota on them,” says Susan Cohen, manager of the immigration section at law firm Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky and Popeo in Boston.


    Unlike traditional H-1B visas, which are valid for three years initially, with extensions up to six years, these free trade visas are good for only one year at a time.


    “Despite these limitations, the free trade H-1B visas are a welcome option when no other H-1B visas are available,” Cohen notes. “Indeed, some employers have decided to focus their recruiting efforts on these countries since visas are available for these nationals if they meet the ‘professional worker’ criteria.”


    Another relatively new work visa created as a result of a trade agreement is the E-3 visa for Australian nationals. The criteria for this visa are similar to those for the H-1B. As with all types of H-1B visas, the employer must make certain attestations to the Labor Department about the wages and working conditions for the position.


    “But the application process is streamlined so the visa can be obtained quickly,” Cohen reports.


    “Not only are Australians who come to work on E-3 visas admitted for two years, they can continually extend their visa status as long as they still qualify for the visa,” Cohen says. “Also, the E-3 spouse is allowed to work in the United States, which is not the case for H-1B spouses who arrive with H-4 dependent visas.”


    With the E-3 visas now available, Australia may prove to be a fertile recruiting site for scientific and engineering talent in short supply in the U.S.


    Another alternative to the H-1B visa is the TN visa created for Mexican and Canadian professional workers under the North American Free Trade Agreement.


    “These visas are only for certain occupations listed in NAFTA, but if the potential employee is Canadian or Mexican and the job is on the NAFTA list, it is a straightforward matter to obtain this visa, which is valid for one year at a time,” Cohen explains.


    About 65,000 TN visa holders currently work in the U.S.


Training, foreign firm and transfer visas
   Visas are available for employees brought into the U.S. for training purposes, but employers face strict limitations.


    “Employers may be able to fit candidates into H-2, H-3 or other visa categories, but they are very narrow,” says Elena Park, head of the immigration practice at Cozen O’Connor in Philadelphia.


    There is no cap on H-3 visas, but they carry a two-year time limit.

   “The H-3 is not for work purposes; the employee must participate in an established training program,” Park notes. “But some employers have been able to create training programs under specific circumstances. In the initial petition stage for H-3 visas, immigration will look at the training program.”


    About 3,000 foreign nationals currently train in the U.S. under H-3 visas.


    The J-1 visa is similar to the H-3, but the definition of training is somewhat broader.


    “It can be used for an employee to shadow a senior worker, for example,” Parks says. “But the J-1 contemplates that the person is coming in with a lack of knowledge.”


    J-1 visas are issued for one year and can be extended, but the conditions for an extension are fairly strict, and the visas must be processed though approved sponsor agencies. About 350,000 foreign nationals hold J-1 visas in the U.S.


    “J-1 sponsors are regulated by the State Department, and these sponsors will not issue the paperwork if the employer is not above board,” Cohen warns. “Proposed changes for J-1 regulations in 2007 will subject employers to more scrutiny.”


    For entry-level employees, employers can try to use J-1 visas, but if the candidate has several years of experience, it’s difficult to prove the case that training is necessary, notes Ted Ruthizer, business immigration chair at Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel in New York City. Ruthizer suggests that recruiters may be able to hire abroad if candidates qualify for an O-1 visa, designed for employees with extraordinary ability in their field.


    “But for business purposes, the toughest standard of ‘pre-eminence’ in the field is applied,” he cautions. “O-1s require a track record of awards, published articles, media reports or other indications of recognition.”


    For example, a new MBA graduate, no matter how talented, is unlikely to obtain an O-1. Currently, about 30,000 O-1 workers are in the U.S., with only a few thousand new O-1 visas issued each year.


    Where a U.S. business is majority-owned by a foreign company that has made a substantial investment in the U.S. business or engages in trade with the home country overseas, recruiters for the U.S. business can use an E visa option to hire workers of the same nationality as the business’ majority ownership. The person applying for the visa must have essential skills necessary for the U.S. business or must be coming to fill a managerial type role within the company.


    “Once the employee has obtained the visa, he or she may enter the United States for two years at a time and may extend the visa indefinitely,” Cohen says. “Again, a big selling point is that the spouse can work in the United States.”


    L-1 visas are issued for intra-company transfers for up to five years for workers with specialized knowledge or seven years for managers or executives. The employee must have worked in the affiliated company for at least one year out of the past three. About 315,000 foreign workers in the U.S. hold L-1 visas.


    “Companies are hiring abroad for the purpose of establishing the one year of employment and the specialized knowledge required, but the employer must be careful that the knowledge is specialized, meaning that it is specific to the company,” Park cautions. “It doesn’t have to be proprietary knowledge or a trade secret, but it must be specific to the company.”


    The specialized-knowledge requirement under the L-1 is different from that of H-1B, which basically requires only that the employee has a bachelor’s degree.


    “The employer cannot use L-1s to bring in generic engineers or programmers,” Park warns.


    But a marketing manager or an IT professional with knowledge of the company’s clients and operations may meet the L-1 criteria.


“Creative” approach
   “Sometimes a candidate does not fit any visa category, and the employer is simply unable to hire,” Park says. “If you become overly creative with your use of alternative visas, you risk violating immigration laws.” Although enforcement of the regulations for non-H-1B visas is relatively lax, L-1 visas may be scrutinized and improper use of any visa opens an employer to legal risks.


    While recruiters may be able to piece together a sufficient talent pool using some combination of the non-H-1B visas, the best solution clearly lies in higher H-1B caps. Ruthizer is advising all of his clients to lobby for raising the H-1B cap in 2007.


    Park is hopeful that the H-1B cap will be raised.


    “The biggest obstacle is that all immigration issues, including the problem of illegal immigrants and porous borders, are lumped together, instead of segmenting the issues and addressing them separately,” she says.


    Legislation on the table would increase the H-1B cap from 65,000 per year to 115,000.


    “Also, it would provide a complete exemption from the cap for those individuals who have achieved a master’s degree or higher from a U.S. school in the fields of science, mathematics and/or technology,” notes Dave Ceccanecchio, an associate in the immigration services team at Wolf, Block, Schorr and Solis-Cohen in Philadelphia.


    The emergency exemption of 20,000 visas for foreign students who received an advanced degree from a U.S. university was exhausted before the fiscal year began. In 2005, U.S. companies needed but could not find an additional 50,000 master’s and Ph.D. graduates, according to a Duke University/Booz Allen Hamilton study.


    Raising the H-1B cap and exempting advanced-degree graduates will reduce the pressure on recruiters in the final quarter of 2007, but a more permanent solution for both temporary and permanent immigration will be necessary to resolve ongoing recruiting difficulties for critical positions in the U.S.

Posted on December 12, 2006July 10, 2018

Prudential Agrees to $19 Million Settlement in Commissions Probe

A unit of Prudential Financial Inc. has agreed to pay $19 million and stop paying contingent commissions on certain lines to settle allegations of fraud and anti-competitive practices leveled by New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer.

Under the settlement announced Tuesday, December 12, group life insurer Prudential Insurance Co. of America will cease paying contingent commissions to brokers on group insurance products, including disability, life and long-term care.


Prudential also agreed to provide full disclosure of broker compensation to employers and said it would pay restitution of $16.5 million to policyholders and pay civil penalties totaling $2.5 million.


The settlement ends regulatory probes into Prudential’s broker compensation practices launched by Spitzer in 2004.


The investigations found that between 1999 and 2005, the company paid almost $60 million in overrides to brokers on nearly $18 billion in insurance premiums, Spitzer’s office said.


Additionally, Prudential at times paid some brokers specific commissions—so-called “single case overrides”—to close a deal or promote future business.


“On certain occasions Prudential built the cost of these single case overrides into the premiums,” Spitzer’s office said in a statement.


Among the companies Prudential maintained override agreements with are: Aon Corp.; Marsh & McLennan Cos.; Universal Life Resources and Pacific Resources; and USI Holdings Corp., Spitzer said.


In a statement, Newark, New Jersey-based Prudential said, “This settlement resolves the investigation and is in the best interest of Prudential and its policyholders.”


—Rupal Parekh, Business Insurance

Posted on December 12, 2006July 10, 2018

Job Growth Likely to Remain Steady in U.S. and Abroad

The employment outlook for the first quarter of 2007 reveals stability with expectations of a slight softening in the U.S. job market, while there is optimism for continued growth internationally, according to a report from Manpower.


Some 60 percent of the 14,000 domestic companies surveyed for the study, which was released Tuesday, December 12, say they don’t anticipate a change in the pace of hiring. However, there are subtle signs of a decline in confidence that have crept in during the last two quarters, the report finds.


Four of the 10 industry sectors that were surveyed for the report anticipate weaker hiring. Respondents in the sector of finance/insurance/real estate report the weakest hiring expectations for the first three months of next year— a shift from a strong performance throughout most of 2006.


On average, 23 percent of the respondents expect to add more jobs in the first quarter while 11 percent predict a reduction in staffing levels. Six percent of survey participants did not respond to hiring plans for next year.


“This is by no means a dramatic shift in employer sentiment, but it does indicate that companies are giving more thought to posting help wanted notices,” says Jonas Prising, president of Manpower North America.


He hesitates to categorize the slight softness as a trend, attributing the dip in employment outlook for certain industries as a symptom of coming off a high. “It is just the natural process of leveling off,” Prising says.


Respondents in the education, public administration and the mining industry anticipate a slight bump in hiring. Survey participants in nondurable goods manufacturing, wholesale/retail and services sectors foresee little change in their hiring.


The employment outlook outside of the United States is even more upbeat. Approximately 90 percent of the businesses in countries and territories surveyed anticipate an increase in their workforce during the first quarter of 2007. Some 50,000 public and private employers across 27 countries were interviewed for the survey.


The most optimistic hiring expectations were reported in Peru, Singapore, India, Argentina, South Africa, Costa Rica, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. Though the hiring prospects for Asia Pacific markets are slightly lower than when the survey was last taken three months ago, the general outlook is positive in the region.


Seven of eight countries that were queried in Asia Pacific expect an increase in hiring pace for the first quarter of 2007. Meteoric economic growth in countries like India, China and Thailand is making the outlook rosy.


—Gina Ruiz

Posted on December 8, 2006July 10, 2018

Reports Differ on Employee Satisfaction

Most American employees are happy with their work and give high marks to their bosses, according to a new survey from Kelly Services that goes against the conventional thinking.

U.S., participated in the Kelly Global Workforce Index report.

U.S. workers are among the happiest in the world, according to the survey, trailing Denmark, Mexico and Sweden. The prospects, however, are not as good for countries like Hungary, Russia and Turkey, where less than 50 percent of respondents say they are happy with their jobs.


Not only are U.S. workers happy with their jobs, but they also give high marks to their bosses. Managers were evaluated on their ability to communicate, delegate responsibilities, generate a team spirit and exert leadership. On a scale of 1 to 10, employees in the U.S. gave an average rating of 7.3 to their bosses. That mark is only second to the 7.6 that Mexican workers give to their supervisors.

But there is still room for improvement. The levels of happiness among workers varied according to industry. Only 37 percent of respondents who work in retail, for example, say they are happy with their job. There are other areas of concern as well. Almost 30 percent of workers say they are rarely or never rewarded for a job well done.


“The challenge is to continually provide interesting and meaningful work as well as opportunities for employees to learn and more fully develop their own skills,” says George Corona, senior vice president at Kelly.

The results of the Kelly survey provide a refreshing change from other studies, which depict a much more depressed, unhappy and unengaged workforce. Sibson, a human resources consulting firm, released a study last month indicating that workers are less satisfied and less engaged. According to the report, career satisfaction dropped from 61 percent in 2003 to 41 percent this year.

The Kelly and Sibson surveys don’t use the same yardstick to measure results, but the divergence in their findings could make it confusing for employers to trying to understand the psychology of their workforce. Regardless of whether a survey portrays a workforce that is happy or one that is not, what’s important is for employers to strive toward enhancing practices that are known to make a positive difference in the workplace, Corona says.


“Time and again, workers tell us that they want a workplace with good morale, stimulating work, a degree of autonomy and meaningful feedback from their bosses,” he says.


–Gina Ruiz   

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