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Articles in
Brief
A quick synopsis of what other
publications are saying about topics related
to leadership, employee involvement, quality, and
organizational performance
Business2.0
www.business2.com
September 2003
The Coming Job
Boom
Forget those grim unemployment numbers. Demographic
forces are about to put a squeeze on the labor supply
that will make it feel like 1999 all over again.
Fortune Magazine
www.fortune.com
September 22, 2003
The Rebalancing
Act
If you are bouncing wildly between work and family,
you’re in good company. Here’s some
advice: Learn how to say no—sometimes to your
boss and sometimes to your family! And don’t
apologize to the boss.
Reams of research confirm what most of us already
know. Anyone with a career and a family is
preoccupied with juggling them, to the point where
pollsters have found that, given their druthers, most
of the jugglers would choose more free time—or
just more flexible hours—over more money, more
power, or a fancier title.
HR Magazine
www.shrm.org
June 2003
Help With Elder
Care
Child care used to be the topic of discussion at
parties, says Dr. Sandra Timmermann. “Now
it’s aging parents. The work force is maturing
and more employees will become caregivers for their
aging relatives.”
As employees’ elder care obligations
increase, many experts say, so will employers’
costs. Currently, according to MetLife, these costs
come to at least $11 billion a year in lost
productivity—absenteeism, workday
interruptions, as well as turnover—when
employees leave the work force because they feel
overwhelmed by their elder care responsibilities.
Reining in such costs, according to some experts,
may hinge on the availability of elder care programs
designed to curtail productivity losses and reduce
employee stress.
September 2003
Helping Employees Cope With
Grief
A death in the family—especially if it’s
sudden, because of an accident, perhaps, or a heart
attack, a criminal act, or suicide—can plunge
survivors into sorrow and even depression, altering
their work habits and affecting those around them.
How an employer reacts during this vulnerable time
can make a difference in a grieving employee’s
recovery. The HR professional’s
responsibilities include:
- Ensuring that bereavement policies are
established.
- Helping the grieving worker communicate with
colleagues.
- Helping co-workers express their sympathy.
- Helping the bereaved employee and his or her
supervisor deal with any lingering productivity
issues.
Inc. Magazine
www.inc.com
August 2003
Caught in the
Crossfire
Marketers who rely on e-mail are getting zapped by
aggressive new spam filters. To circumvent them some
companies are going retro, others super techno.
No one likes to see their e-mail boxes filled with
crass, ceaseless come-ons for penis-enlargement
pills, Nigerian investment opportunities, and
too-good-to-be-true mortgage refinancing. As the war
on spam heats up, innocent bystanders are being
caught in the crossfire.
Now, after finally figuring out how to make e-mail
work for them, marketers have found that the rules
have changed. Their legitimate messages are being
blocked by a new breed of aggressive spam filters;
their good names are turning up on anti-spam
blacklists; and they’re being forced to devote
time, energy, and in many cases, a good outlay of
cash to keep their e-mail marketing efforts out of
hot water.
Quality Progress
www.asq.org
September 2003
Health Care’s Need for
Revolutionary Change
Health care
is now a $1.5 trillion industry—the largest of
our society—built essentially around a craft
model still rooted not in the 20th or even the 19th
century, but in the 18th.
That means we have this enormously complex system
still largely formed on a preindustrial revolution
craft model: Train the craftspersons (physicians,
nurses, and so on), license them, supply them with
resources, then let them alone as they care for
patients. This model—leaving much of the design
of actual patient care up to the
craftspeople—arguably worked, probably up until
the mid-20th century.
T+D Magazine
www.astd.org
September 2003
The Buzz Surrounding Learning
Analytics
If you’ve been following the learning industry
recently, you’ve probably heard the term
“learning analytics” thrown around.
Learning analytics is the new buzzword for the
process by which learning professionals analyze
critical indicators within their businesses to not
only improve continuously but also to demonstrate
value to stakeholders and to optimize learning
investments. It’s not just about cool
technology. It’s also about gathering the right
data and leveraging the right queries to ensure that
senior management understands the value of learning
investments.
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