Gaming the Clock
June 15, 2009
In a recent survey we conducted with Harris Interactive, we asked over 700 hourly paid employees if they had ever cheated in reporting their hours in order to increase their paycheck. Twenty-one percent indicated that they had. Not surprisingly, of the 21% of respondents who admitted to cheating on their time reporting, the highest percentage (35%) of them were using paper based systems. As the means of time reporting became more automated and harder to deceive, the percentage of cheaters declined, with only 5% of those using biometric time clocks reporting themselves as having gamed the system. Among those who cheated, the tactics included:
- Punching in earlier or out later than scheduled (69%)
- Adding extra time to their timesheet (22%)
- Failure to punch out for meals or breaks (14%)
- Having someone else punch them in or out (5%)
How much does time theft hurt businesses? A recent Diagnostic Assessment analysis Kronos conducted for a 6,800 employee manufacturer revealed rounding-rule abuse cost of over 1.3% of total wages paid. The 4 worst-performing departments in terms of rounding-rule abuse cost the organization approximately $3.6M annually. According to a 2006 Nucleus Research Report ROI report, companies with manual time and attendance systems typically incur unnecessary payroll costs upwards of 1.2 percent of their total payroll costs due to inaccurate application of pay rules, as well as human errors, intentional and otherwise.
Feelings run high on both sides of this issue. This discussion thread from Woodweb, a website for the woodworking industry, is a spirited debate between employers and workers regarding whether automated time tracking is a necessary management tool or Orwellian incursion. The truth lies in how the tools are used, of course. Employee punches collected by time clocks are indisputable data elements. Friction between employers and employees, or failure to comply with standards such as those set by FMLA, FLSA or union rules, is caused by how that data is used to calculate pay. Fair and legal policies, consistently applied via technology, can help to close those gaps.
June is Innovation Month
June 5, 2009
…at least according to Scott Kirsner of the Boston Globe. Scott is encouraging his readers to think about ways to revive the New England economy from its doldrums by supporting new innovators and innovations. You can visit his website for ideas on how to “make new connections, share your expertise, find out about and support new ventures. Help accelerate some of the important, cool, life-saving, world-changing innovations being developed here in New England.”
Having worked in high tech in New England for the past 28 years, here are my favorite innovations and innovators that I’ve had the opportunity to work with in no particular order:
- Our own Mark Ain - father of the computerized timeclock and founder of the world’s leading workforce management software company
- Lotus Notes - first in collaborative computing. Sharepoint is still trying to catch up!
- An Wang - a genius and a very gracious man.
- Wang Imaging - ahead of its time, but gave me the opportunity to travel the world educating hundreds of consultants on business process improvement.
- John Landry - a wild man on the dance floor and prescient force of nature. You called it on eCommerce in 1994!
- Mark Dane - visionary and pragmatic, you never forget the customer.
- My colleagues at BrassRing - we had a wild ride, leading the way to applicant tracking on the Internet
Who’s your favorite innovator today?
Human Capital Valuation: Measuring What Matters
February 26, 2009
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In the current economy, organizations may be tempted to decrease or forgo new employee training or other workforce development programs in order to reduce short term expenses. One of our Kronos colleagues, Dr. Robert P. Yerex, explores quantitative methods for examining those types of decisions in a new paper titled “Valuation of Human Capital – Measure What Matters”. The challenges of valuing investments in employees have been studied many times over the years by well known experts such as Jac Fitz-enz and John Boudreau. Dr. Yerex, a chief scientist at Kronos, builds on some of this earlier work, focusing this paper on the development of a model that is useful for the hourly workforce.
He says the value of investing in employee development can be viewed through employee asset-based valuation models. Creating valuation models to measure human capital requires that organizations take the time to understand the specific direct and indirect costs associated with increasing employee productivity, as well as relevant measures of their value to an organization. The payoff is more informed decisions concerning the benefits of workforce development investments.
What kinds of ROI models do you use in making informed decisions about investments in your workforce?
Guest Blog: The Obama Workforce Agenda
January 30, 2009
The following guest blog post is submitted by our board member, Russell Klosk:
Even as we all watched the swearing in of our 44th President with the hope that things are going to get better, we are grappling with current business and human resource environments plagued by the global economic recession and the worry that it will turn into the 2nd great depression. The new administration looks to put its mark on the governance of the human capital function within the federal workforce, and both a new administration and a new Congress take up the cause of reform of the laws that govern our workplaces.
It is in that spirit, and with an eye toward what the future MIGHT hold between the Obama administration and the 111th congress that I thought I would take a moment to put to paper some of the debates and intentions already taking place, and those that look like they will have traction. My intent here is not to be all inclusive nor predict the future, but it seems likely some of it will come to pass, and as it does the HR environment will once again shift. With that in mind, I offer a discussion of the following workforce items on the agenda of the new administration:
Potential Impacts on the Federal workplace:
1. Obama has named Nancy Killifer, who comes out of McKinsey & Company with a fantastic reputation, as his Chief Performance Officer for the entire federal government. This position does not currently exist, and while the President has the power to create it, for it to have any real teeth Congress is going to have to enable an individual in this role to have oversight over much of the executive branch. That is a debate that is scheduled to be taken up in committee in early February.
Nonetheless, what Obama is envisioning is someone who can go through the government in a comprehensive way and increase performance by looking at certain functions holistically as a federal wide activity instead of an agency by agency activity. Among other impacts this will focus on the acquisition process in general, in the human capital space the talent acquisition, promotion, and rewards (compensation / pay for performance) process, and logistics in general. Other areas will certainly fall under the purview but have not yet been defined. If you’d like to know more about what people like this typically do in the private sector go to http://www.chiefperformanceofficer.com and you will find a bevy of information
2. Office of Personnel Management: Obama is interested in continuing President Bush’s formulation of Federal Centers of Excellence. Among these are having one agency which is responsible for transactional level activity for key functions such as Finance, Accounting, Human Resources, etc. This is highlighted by OPMs HR LoB initiative, and indications are that is going to get a kick up in implementation and authority going from a recommended federal architecture for the HR function to a mandated one.
Additionally the new administration sees waste in the duplicative efforts of multiple HR organizations. Not sure yet if this will mean allowing OPM to become the chief HR provider for all federal agencies with only employee relation support in the individual agencies or if it will take the form of centralizing HR at the master agency level (i.e. DoD OSD level, DHS HQ level, etc.) and reducing the HR footprint in the sub agencies (i.e. Department of the Navy, Department of The Army, and sub commands, DLA, etc.) but they are looking at both possibilities. This would be a major shift to a more centralized HR model, and is not a small thing to get authority for, so lot of doubt if they will succeed in this area. To date a new head of OPM has not yet been named.
The Obama administration is very concerned with the demographics of the federal workforce and the need to both ramp up hiring and retention programs as well as knowledge management programs to accomplish the work with a smaller workforce. Overall they are talking about shrinking the size of the federal workforce, through attrition, to the tune of 10-15%, and see the most waste in what are loosely the GS 12-15 ranks. The demographic trends say this will likely happen with or without a master plan as baby boomers begin to retire, and with only a very small Generation X contingent in the workforce, but this increased focus presents major shifts in the process and governance used in the executive branch over the next 4 years as well as major labor relations challenges.
Agenda Items of Interest to HR Professionals:
1. Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act (H.R. 11, S.181) passed the House on Jan 9 currently under debate in the Senate vote expected last week of January. This is a response to an anti-discrimination law suit in which the courts held that issuing paychecks can not be challenged as a discriminatory act. In other words it goes after unfair wage practice law, and issues revolving around facts such as women being paid less than men, etc. Legally it states that every time a pay check is issued that would be considered an act of discrimination and opens the door for class action law suits. In practical terms it mandates that compensation systems be modified so that the only differentiators for pay on a given job be seniority, merit, and production and that other factors such as sex, geography (that is a huge one), etc. are not valid. The geography clause could result in the elimination of pay differentials based on geography and cost of living. Of more import the act is retroactive, so it will force both employers and the federal government to go back and revue past pay policies and may force them to make restitution payments.
2. Employee Non-Discrimination Act, not yet under debate, but would prohibit employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation
3. Employee Free Choice Act (S. 2). This is a major change to labor relations law in the US, and would mandate the certification of unions if a union could produce signed union cards totaling 50%+1 of a workforce regardless of how or when those cards were gathered. It would eliminate secret balloting for unionizing a workforce and mandate set time frames under which union balloting must take place. It would also mandate that once certified immediate collective bargaining must occur, and if unsuccessful in 90 days that the National Labor Relations Board would mandate an agreement through binding arbitration.
4. RESPECT ACT. Narrows the legal definition of a “supervisor” under the provisions of the National Labor Relations Act. Impacts include not only who could be part of a union bargaining unit, but also how companies formulate their organizational structures.
5. Workplace Flexibility / Leave Act. This is being pushed by Ted Kennedy as one of his legacy issues, and is also one of Michelle Obama’s stated focus areas. It would have impacts on the changes to the FMLA regulations that take effect on February 1, 2009. They would require any employer with more than 15 employees to provide paid sick leave (7 days minimum), prevent employers from altering existing leave policies that are more generous than that. It would also, and perhaps far greater impact, redefine full time workers (both exempt and non-exempt) as anyone working 30 or more hours in a week (1,020 hours in a year) ; which has impacts on benefits policies, job classifications, use of temporary workers, and use of season staff among other things.
6. Family Leave Insurance Act. Would provide for 8 weeks of PAID leave for any worker taking leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). Funding for this program still to be formulated.
7. Employment Verification: The E-Verify program through DHS expires March 6, 2009, however, DHS has issued regulations saying that since it was funded in their appropriations bill they will continue providing the service, on a voluntary basis, beyond that date. Comprehensive reform of this legislation is a key issue according to polls (# 3 with the electorate), and it is likely to see debate that would mandate among other things a stricter enforcement mechanism against companies employing illegal aliens.
8. Health Care reform is going to be a major focus of the 1st year, just as it was a part of today’s inaugural address, and issues include expansion of the State Children’s Health Insurance Plan (SCHIP) which insures anyone under the age of 18 whose parents employers do not provide insurance. This passed the house yesterday (Wednesday). Also looking at mandating that health insurance be provided to employees of any prime contractor to the federal government with 300 or more employees and any sub contractor to the government that does more than $10,000 in business with the federal government in a given year. This is not limited to “traditional” government contractors such as Lockheed Martin and Boeing, but anyone with whom the government does business. That includes newspapers and television stations they buy advertising from for one example, consumer good companies that provide goods in the militaries commissaries for another, colleges and universities as a third example, and any number of business in between.
The one thing for certain, change is coming, and change is probably overdue. So I encourage everyone to keep your eyes open and watch for what the next 6 months may do to the HR profession.
Workforce Stimulus Plan
January 20, 2009
As our new President is inaugurated today, we’re all keen to see the audacity of hope converted into the realization of productive change that can restore our economy and put our growing numbers of unemployed Americans back to work. One of the most burning issues for many Americans is what the new administration will do to stimulate the economy through government spending. Our board member, Jared Bernstein, has recently joined Vice President Joe Biden’s staff as an economic policy advisor. You can read some of his thoughts about what an economic stimulus package needs to achieve in his testimony before the House Committee on Education and Labor on October 24th of last year.
While most of us don’t have much say as to where those government dollars will land, we do have choices to make about how to keep our organizations healthy and our employees engaged. Many organizations worldwide are cutting budgets, including headcount, in an effort to remain viable. Following are suggestions from our board members and other Workforce Institute stakeholders about how organizations can keep their employees engaged and stimulate workforce productivity, even as they are forced to make tough workforce budget decisions.
Leadership is More Critical Than Ever:
- Get extremely focused on setting and aligning employees around key business goals. It is critical that everyone in the organization be spending time on those things that matter most for the company’s survival. Set realistic goals.
- Employees will be looking to their managers to share the pain of wage freezes, reductions of perks, and increased workloads driven by headcount reductions.
- Paying attention to employee engagement as a key business driver is as important now as it is when employees may have more opportunities elsewhere in the market. Our newest board member, CEO Andy Brantley of the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources, writes about how cutbacks are impacting the academic workforce in his blog.
Involve Employees in Business Improvement Efforts
- The employees closest to the work can have great impact on improving revenue and margin opportunities. Mel Kleiman cites the example of one of his dining clients holding meetings with frontline workers to enlist their ideas to increase profit margins. This client has seen a reduction in food cost of almost 2%. In another case, following an employee resignation, a manager offered a 50 cent/hour raise to the remaining employees if they could come up with a plan to get the job done without a backfill.
- Being assigned to a strategic project is often viewed as a reward/recognition for above-average performance and when these projects dry up, it can negatively impact top performers. Creating strategic initiatives focused on operating improvements provides learning and recognition opportunities for top performers while driving needed organizational efficiencies.
- Conduct company-wide contests for ideas on how to improve operational efficiency. If you want to get really creative, turn such an initiative into an American Idol-type format, hopefully without the lunatics. Winners can receive monetary rewards equal to a percentage of the savings/benefits generated.
Communicate, Communicate, Communicate
- Complete transparency is difficult when individuals’ jobs are on the line, however keeping the lines of communication open about what’s happening in the market and what the organization is doing to respond is critical to keeping employees engaged and productive. In the absence of information, employees will assume the worst case scenario.
- Russell Klosk notes that the debate about whether you let employees know when they are identified as high potential has resurfaced. The majority view on this is to let top performers know they are considered high potential so that they’ll be more invested in remaining with the organization.
Get Creative with Rewards
- One company in the office cleaning business gives a cleaning crew member the vacuum cleaner they have been using to take home at the end of the year. They say the results have been amazing: less theft, better care of the equipment, reduced turnover and more motivated employees.
- Tim Lett suggests team-building efforts focused on helping out in the local community. “We participated in a toy drive in Toronto just before Christmas and it’s amazing how good people feel when they contribute to things like that. The cost is nil, you get to help a worthy cause and you get people together to work as a team and feel good about themselves. Executive management participation is critical.”
- Deb McGrath suggests increasing the contribution to stock option plans (so that employees can benefit from the recovery). She also suggests giving employees loans for cars and mortgages. There was an interesting article in Sunday’s New York Times on the latter.
- Reward outstanding performance through public recognition – at meetings, in newsletters, in the CEO blog
- Make available to managers small “gifts of gratitude” to be handed out on the spot to reward and reinforce great efforts – for example: movie tickets, free meal ticket, $5 or $10 iTunes gift card.
- Throw an ice cream or pizza party on all three shifts and have the Executive Team serve to show their personal appreciation
Talent Management is Still Important
- Help employees use the recession as a chance to take on new challenges and build their skills and experience. It’s a challenge we have to get through, so we might as well use it as a chance to learn.
- Many of the contributors to this post indicated that leading companies are using the current slowdown as a time to invest in employee training – both internally and through encouraging employees to seek outside development. This is an immediate skill building benefit for employees, that can also enable the organization to redeploy or advance employees as opportunities arise.
- Tim Lett cites an airline client with a program where employees can take foreign language classes on their lunch breaks. Employees seem excited about the opportunity to expand their skills and the company benefits by having a larger pool of employees with language skills to handle international customers or work in international locations.
- Invest in internship programs to build your talent pipeline while providing college students with important resume building opportunities. If the opportunity to learn is good, students will consider unpaid internships.
Creative Labor Cost Management Strategies
- While many organizations are downsizing to trim operating expenses, Russell Klosk cites a recent article in the New York Times by Matt Richtel about the extraordinary length some companies are going to in order to avoid layoffs and hold onto their workforce. Specifically “Cisco implemented a four day shutdown (no pay for anyone). Motorola asked staff to take salary cuts across the board”. Other employers are shifting to 4-day work weeks and trimming benefits. The interesting quote was “Companies taking nips and tucks to their workforce say this economy plunged so quickly in October that they do not want to prune too much should it just as suddenly roar back.”
- Workforce management technologies such as scheduling and analytics can help ensure that employee resources are optimized for the job at hand. Already stressed managers will benefit from better control over expenses such as overtime and absenteeism while automated scheduling solutions ensure that shifts are covered. Even better is to implement employee self service options so that shift bidding is handled fairly while accommodating employee preferences.
What would you add to the list above?
Climbing the Hourly Ladder - An Interview with Paul Facella
December 31, 2008
I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Paul Facella, a former Regional Vice President of McDonald’s Corporation and now CEO of Inside Management. He is author of Everything I Know about Business I Learned at McDonald’s (McGraw-Hill, 2008). During Paul’s 34 year career with McDonald’s, he learned a lot about growing his own career as well as how to motivate and develop others to do so. He was kind enough to share some of those lessons during our discussion and in a guest blog he wrote for us (below).
Click here to listen to a podcast of our discussion and read on to enjoy Paul’s blog below.
(Paul’s blog post is presented here as he submitted it to us)
The jobless figures for the U.S. economy in November were the worst in 34 years. With more than 9.5 million Americans now out of work–and rising–many job seekers are wondering if the American Dream is fading. Is it still possible in today’s economic climate to work hard, rise up the corporate ladder, and get ahead?
No doubt about it. As someone with firsthand experience, I encourage you not to lose heart in this tough job market. There are opportunities hiding in some of the least likely places–namely, in the hourly workforce.
Like four out of seven McDonald’s CEOs and three out of four senior-level managers, I started my stellar career climb at the bottom rung–as a crew member. That scenario is as likely today as it ever was.
But there’s a caveat. If you want to grow in a company, you have to find one that has aggressive talent development policies and is committed to promoting from within. McDonald’s, for example, has created more millionaires–including more women and minority millionaires–than any other American company. That’s because the company culture is based on rewards and recognition. If you work hard there, you will be rewarded.
Job seekers who are willing to work for hourly pay initially, want to learn and develop, are ambitious, and have a clear vision of where they’d like to be in three to five years are good candidates for such jobs. But don’t waste your time at the bottom unless you are confident that the company hiring you has your best career interests at heart.
So how can you find out which companies have the right stuff for career advancement? The Bureau of Labor Statistics puts out a detailed and excellent set of guidelines and resources, at http://www.bls.gov/oco/oco20046.htm, for finding out more about a prospective company before you say yes. Do as much homework as possible before an interview so you can be reasonably sure this will be a goal-and-growth-oriented job–not a dead-end job.
In your job interview, ask such questions as: What percentage of your mid- to senior-level managers are promoted from within? What programs and policies are set up for helping high-achieving employees develop new skills? Is mobility at your company limited, or could one apply for jobs for which one qualifies elsewhere in the company?
What types of companies have the peachiest low-end jobs that are likely to lead to bigger and better positions? One rule of thumb is size. Large Fortune 500 companies usually have well-developed promote-from-within policies and are dedicated to career advancement for their lower-end employees. Some of the names that consistently come up, in addition to McDonald’s, are Walgreens, GE, FedEx, Enterprise Rent-a-Car, and LL Bean. Each of these organizations has a track record for fast-tracking low-rung workers, such as store clerks, drivers, and low-end office workers into managerial positions. Also, the US military is well known for recognizing exceptional smarts and talents and promoting promising people quickly.
The take-away message is this: If you’re discouraged about the job market, don’t forget that a great job may be staring you in the face. Bottom-level jobs are not always dead-end jobs. In the right organization, they are a first stepping stone to rich career opportunities ahead.
What was your best hourly job? What did you learn from it?
Greetings from the Workforce Institute Executive Summit
October 21, 2008
Today I emceed the second annual Workforce Institute Executive Summit - a day long session we run for executives who are attending our KronosWorks conference. You can find today’s agenda and speaker bios at www.workforceinstitute.org/event.
Here are some of my favorite insights from today’s speakers:
From Rich Karlgaard, Publisher of Forbes -
Why do people feel worse about the economy than the facts of our current economic situation actually support?
- People are angry with Washington. Once the election is behind us, and the uncertainty about who’s running the country clears, that emotion should subside a bit.
- New York is the epicenter of the US financial community and also the epicenter of the US media. The sheer volume of individuals personally affected on Wall Street may skew the perception of the media who don’t understand that the panic is not running so high on Main Street.
- This is the first major stock market adjustment that impacts the majority demographic represented by the Baby Boomers that wasn’t proceeded by an artificial bubble (dotcom stocks) or national crisis (9/11).
- Innumeracy (lack of math skills) is a growing problem - and leaves people vulnerable to overreacting. Karlgaard cited the example of an email that’s been making the rounds that indicated the AIG bailout could have been used to give every US citizen over 18 a $425,000 personal stimulus package. Sounds good until you do the math and understand the real number is $425.
- The quantity and quality of business journalists is declining as people with the necessary business and literary acumen pursue more lucrative careers.
Karlgaard noted that the 1970s, an economic climate very similar to what were seeing now, was a veritable crucible of entrepreneurship and innovation. His hypothesis is that when traditional organization growth slows during times of economic turmoil, smart innovators are likely to turn to entrepreneurship. This decade spawned Southwest Airlines, FedEx, Genentech, Microsoft, Apple and Oracle, among others. What are some of the components of their sucess?
- Creative synthesis of ideas
- Supply chain innovation
- Analytics innovation - do you think or do you know?
- Self service innovation
- Speedy innovation - failing fast and moving on to continuous improvement
- Training innovation - investing in your people
- Open source innovation - tapping into the expertise of people outside of your company
- Customer feedback innovation
- Virtual innovation - bringing experts together virtually vs. the traditional organizational model
- Purpose innovation - uniting organizations behind a shared vision
Bill Bradley, former US Senator, New York Knick and Olympic gold medalist, spoke to us about what it takes to lead in a changing world - from a personal and an organizational perspective. Senator Bradley reflected on the qualities of great leaders: readiness to confront the unknown, passion, selflessness, resilience, imagination and integrity. He talked about the importance of the ethic of connectedness in our world today; i.e. the need to link collective caring with personal responsibility in order to address the significant issues that face not only our domestic challenges, but global challenges such as climate change and access to healthcare.
What’s your level of confidence that you’ll manage through the current turbulence? In Bill Bradley’s words, how do you “keep the current economic challenges and failures of today from becoming the enemy of victory tomorrow?”
Treating Hourly Workers like Professional Employees
September 23, 2008
Today’s post is courtesy of our board member, Steven T. Hunt, Ph.D, SPHR.
A recent study found that many American workers between 18 and 29 plan to remain in hourly jobs for the majority of their careers (Gurchiek, 2008). This includes careers in what are sometimes viewed as “entry-level” hourly jobs found in the retail, service, and hospitality industries. Even more surprising, at least to me, 25% of the employees surveyed who possessed college degrees intend to pursue careers in hourly jobs. This goes against the widely held assumption that college educated hourly employees are just biding their time until they can find a “real job” in the salaried workforce. As the study points out, there appears to be a shift among younger workers in what they consider viable and rewarding long-term career options.
There are many reasons why hourly work might be seen as a good long-term career option. First, many hourly jobs now provide healthcare benefits so this is not as major an issue as it once was. Some hourly jobs have quite impressive benefits including childcare, educational reimbursements, and paid vacation. Second, many hourly jobs are fairly stable in terms of their position in the economy. Salaried jobs can often be “offshored” to other countries, but many hourly jobs, particularly those in the hospitality, retail and healthcare industry require providing personal service to customers which makes them generally immune to being taken offshore. For example, if you have skills as a waiter then you will always have local job opportunities as long as people go to restaurants where you live. Third, hourly jobs by definition do not require working outside of scheduled work hours. This is a very attractive for people who wish to maintain an active and full life outside of work. Perhaps the single most widespread drawback to hourly jobs is they tend to pay less than salaried work. But people may accept lower paying hourly employment if it allows them to “work to live” rather than requiring them to “live to work”.
So what does this mean for hourly employers?
A shift toward more people pursuing hourly careers suggests several implications for employers. First, it increases the potential to create longer-tenured, increasingly stable hourly workforces. The benefits of reducing hourly turnover have been widely written about so I won’t rehash them here. But I will call attention to another opportunity that comes from having longer tenured employees: the chance to significantly increase employee performance levels over time.
Historically, companies have invested relatively few resources into maximizing the performance of hourly employees. Hourly workers tended to have access to far fewer resources than salaried or “professional” employees working in the same companies. The thinking was, “hourly employees will only be here a short time so why spend money to improve their performance”. But this thinking may no longer be true as more people choose to remain in hourly jobs indefinitely. As companies experience longer levels of hourly tenure, more emphasis should be placed on providing frontline managers and supervisors with tools and training to maximize employee performance. Even small shifts in hourly performance can result in massive bottom line impact given the size of many hourly workforces. Equipping managers with knowledge and tools to provide frontline employees with clear direction, effective feedback, and fair and consistent rewards and recognition will provide major dividends in terms of higher levels of employee loyalty, engagement, and productivity
References
Gurchiek, K. (2008). “New collar” workers choose hourly careers. HR Magazine, September, p. 24.
My Chat with Robert Reich
September 17, 2008
I recently had the opportunity to interview Robert Reich, Professor of Public Policy at the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley and former secretary of labor under President Bill Clinton. Professor Reich has written eleven books, including The Work of Nations, which has been translated into 22 languages; the best-sellers The Future of Success and Locked in the Cabinet, and his most recent book, Supercapitalism. His articles have appeared in the New Yorker, Atlantic Monthly, New York Times, Washington Post, and Wall Street Journal. Professor Reich is co-founding editor of The American Prospect magazine and his weekly commentaries on public radio’s “Marketplace” are heard by nearly five million people.
Our conversation focused on his book, Supercapitalism, in which he dissects how globalization and technology have simultaneously expanded Americans’ roles as investors and consumers while negatively impacting the ability of many Americans to earn a living wage. We talked about what we can do as individuals, as well as what we should require as citizens in a democracy, to ensure an adequate wage and standard of living for all Americans.
You can hear a podcast of our discussion here:
Workforce Institute Interview with Robert Reich
Running on Empty
August 20, 2008
We’ve just published the results of our newest Harris Interactive survey. In this poll of 1106 working adults, our goal was to understand how the current state of the economy is impacting the average worker. Not surprisingly, many of these respondents indicated that they were cutting back on discretionary expenditures such as eating out and taking vacations in order to cope with the current state of the economy. Given falling real estate prices, rising food costs, and continuing recessionary pressures, what was surprising to us was how predominantly the price of fuel emerged as a significant economic factor in people’s responses.
While fifty-nine percent of respondents indicated they were driving less overall, 68% of those who drive to and from work indicated that they weren’t changing their commuting habits. Eighty percent of respondents indicated that their employers were not offering any special assistance to help them cope with rising fuel prices. I discussed this topic in some detail with Mark Larson in an article for Workforce Management last Friday, including what employers can do to help.
Another interesting result of this survey was that people were no more or less likely to be looking for a new job than they have been in surveys we’ve conducted over the last few years. So, while people may be feeling the stress of coping with rising costs, they’re not necessarily reacting by leaving to find a better job. While this may be logical in a down economy, we likewise don’t see an increase in people hunkering down with their current employer to ride out the storm.
Take the poll on our home page and let us know how you’re managing through the current economy.
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