December 31, 2006
Note to Queen Bees - It's time to buzz off
Posted by
Diane Danielson
at 12:49 PM
A new study out of London finds that Queen Bees may do as much or more to limit women's careers than the old boy's club.
FORGET “jobs for the boys”. Women bosses are significantly more likely than men to discriminate against female employees, research has suggested.
The study found that when presented with applications for promotion, women were more likely than men to assess the female candidate as less qualified than the male one.
They were also prone to mark down women’s prospects for promotion and to assess them as more controlling than men in their management style.
***
“Female and older participants showed more prejudice against the (idea of a) female leader than did male and younger participants,” said Rocio Garcia-Retamero, a psychologist at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin and lead author of the report
To any Queen Bees who may be reading this. It's time you realized that we're all in this together, and maybe you should get to know the phrase - Primum non nocere, or "First, do no harm."
...
December 25, 2006
When the C-Suite is not so sweet
Posted by
Diane Danielson
at 11:45 AM
It's the end of another year, and plus ca meme, plus c'est la meme chose when it comes to women on the Fortune 500 list. In case you missed it, the NY Times did a great article about women in power. While the original article is now archived, you can catch bits of it at 1-News.org. Some of the more intriguing tidbits include:
For decades, thе pat eхplanation wаs thаt women simply had not bеen in thе work force long enough; with patience, thе pipeline would fill.
A look at thе pipeline suggests othеrwise. While tоp business schools are churning out an increаsing numbеr оf female M.B.A.’s, only about 16 percent оf corporate оfficers at Fortune 500 companies are women, according tо Catalyst, an organization thаt studies women in thе workplace. thе numbеrs are even sparer at thе tоp оf thе pyramid: women fill only nine, or less than 2 percent, оf thе chief eхecutive jobs at Fortune 500 companies.
“thеre have bеen women in thе pipeline for 20 tо 25 years; progress hаs bеen slower than anybody thought it ever would bе,” laments Julie H. Daum, thе North American board practice leader for Spencer Stuart, thе eхecutive search firm.
***
Finding a work-life balance wаs also eаsier for hеr bеcause shе could afford good child care, Ms. Bartz notes. (Hеr husband is a retired Sun eхecutive.) “thе problem with balance is thаt it only works if you can buy some balance,” shе observes.
The article nicely spreads the "responsibility" for this dearth of female leaders around, listing factors including:
Women leaving the workplace (some by choice, some not by choice).
Lack of networking and mentoring opportunities.
Women being channeled into dead-end staff jobs like HR and Communications rather than operating responsibilities.
The layer of men in the boardrooms making decisions about who gets to join them.
Little consensus between women at the top as to whether to ignore or champion the issue.
...
December 20, 2006
Age-adjusted earnings
Posted by
Douglas Eisenhart
at 10:48 AM
From "Marketplace" on NPR comes this interesting segment on the age of America's workforce and its impact on healthcare and other employer-sponsored benefits:
These days, the drag on corporations of decent healthcare and pension coverage for an aging American workforce is real. But the idea that a firm's success could depend so much on the youth of its workers is also crazy.
A sane nation would look at how to separate business performance from some social sense of what makes for decent health and pension coverage for every citizen.
It's time to update America's social contract to fit the realities of a global age.
You can either read the entire piece
on this page or listen to the audio segment by clicking on the link shown at the top of the same page.
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December 18, 2006
Report calls Mass. a new-jobs laggard
Posted by
Douglas Eisenhart
at 4:49 PM
While the local economy is on the rebound, a new study from the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative's John Adams Innovation Institute, a state-chartered group focused on the knowledge economy, raises concerns about job creation in the state:
Massachusetts remains a magnet for research funds and venture capital, but it's become an underperformer in job creation.
And while the state continues to lead in many categories of research and development, other technology-oriented states are closing the gap.
Read the full piece from
today's Globe.
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December 11, 2006
Explaining employee burnout
Posted by
Douglas Eisenhart
at 4:48 PM
As reported on Human Resource Executive Online, a new study from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania takes an in-depth look at the causes of employee burnout and departure from the organization:
According to [report author Wharton management professor Sigal] Barsade, "One of the biggest complaints employees have is they are not sufficiently recognized by their organizations for the work that they do. Respect is a component of recognition. When employees don't feel that the organization respects and values them, they tend to experience higher levels of burnout."
Or, as [report co-author Lakshmi] Ramarajan puts it, "it is often not the job that burns you out, but the organization."
Read the full piece.
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December 8, 2006
US job gains in November, says DOL
Posted by
Douglas Eisenhart
at 4:46 PM
Good news on the job front:
WASHINGTON -- Gearing up for the holidays, employers boosted hiring in November, and hundreds of thousands of jobseekers streamed into the market, nudging the unemployment rate up to 4.5 percent.
- - - - -
Sharing in the gains were retailers, bars and restaurants, hotels and motels, health-care providers, financial firms, computer-design outfits and architectural and engineering companies. Their increases eclipsed job losses, mostly in construction and manufacturing.
Read the full piece from today on Boston.com.
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December 4, 2006
Tooling up for retirement
Posted by
Douglas Eisenhart
at 4:31 PM
The "R" word - Retirement - may look a long way off to many of your employees, a hazy region out there on the distant horizon, not to be worried about now or even in the near future. It'll take care of itself when the time comes.
Or will it? The shocking truth for many workers, especially the graying population bulge known as Baby Boomers, is that they are much closer to retirement than they may think. And for many, as this piece from today's Globe makes clear, the sad news is that they may not be adequately prepared to survive without an active income:
Recent changes to federal retirement policies have been based on the premise that private savings plans like 401(k)s will make up for stingier pensions and Social Security shortfalls in the future. Yet survey after survey shows that Americans aren't saving enough on their own.
Now Web-based retirement calculators and similar features from companies like Fidelity Investments and John Hancock Funds are underscoring the importance of putting more aside. The calculators show individuals how much they will need to save for the retirement they expect, often setting a daunting target of $1 million or more.
The article also takes a look at some of the new online tools and marketing approaches a few of the larger players in the investment and retirement planning business are using to attract and serve customers. Something for employers to consider, as well as employees.
To learn more, read this related piece, "Will your employees have enough gold for their golden years?", from NEHRA - The Voice of HR, right here on the Hiring Hub.
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