Survey Shows Overall Employee Confidence Drops to Year Low

The confidence level of U.S. workers slightly decreased in December, according to a recent survey of 2,827 working adults. The Spherion Employee Confidence Index, a monthly gauge of overall worker confidence, decreased by 0.9 point to 52 in December, the lowest level recorded this year.

The survey, conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf of Spherion Corporation (NYSE: SFN), revealed that while slightly fewer workers were optimistic about job availability, more were confident in the future of their current employer.

According to the Index, the percentage of workers who believed the economy was getting stronger was unchanged at 12 percent, while slightly fewer workers believed that are more jobs available. Despite this, the percentage of workers who are confident in the future of their current employer increased three percentage points from November to 64 percent. In addition, the number of workers likely to look for a new job in the next year remains stable at 32 percent and nearly eight-in-ten (78 percent) workers feel that they are unlikely to lose their job in the next 12 months.

"With the continuing turmoil in the housing and credit markets and concerns of an overall slowing in the economy, it's not surprising that the Employee Confidence Index has continued its decline," says Roy Krause, president and chief executive officer of Spherion. "This month's Index reached its lowest level in the past year, but not all of the data is negative. In fact, the majority of workers remain confident about their own job security and the future of their current employer. The data also shows that nearly a third of workers plan on finding a new job in the next year, indicating that this certainly isn't the time for employers to ease up on their retention and recruiting efforts. It's those employers who make the extra effort now to be recognized as an employer of choice who will reap the benefits from having top talent in the years to come."

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Employee Confidence Index Slips to Its Lowest Level this Year

The number of U.S. workers expressing confidence in the economy and in their personal
employment situation continued its decline in November, according to a recent survey from Spherion Corporation (NYSE: SFN) of 3,014 working adults.

The Spherion Employee Confidence Index, a monthly gauge of overall worker confidence, decreased by 3.5 points to 52.9 in November, its lowest level seen this year. The survey, conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf of Spherion, reveals that fewer workers believe there are more jobs available and that the economy is getting stronger. Despite this, more than three-quarters of workers believe it is unlikely that they will lose their job in the next 12 months.

According to the survey, the percentage of workers who expressed confidence in their own job security increased two percentage points from 77 percent in October to 79 percent in November, while the percentage of workers who felt confident in the future of their current employer decreased four percentage points from October to 61 percent. Nearly one-third of workers, or 32 percent, reported that it was likely that they would seek new jobs in the next 12 months, a decrease of two percentage
points from last month.

"It appears that the volatile stock market, credit situation, housing slowdown and continued anxiety over fuel prices may be fueling apprehension among workers," says Roy Krause, president and chief executive officer of Spherion Corporation. "Though this month's Index decreased, data aggregated from specific survey questions indicate a clear majority of workers remain optimistic and confident about their own job security and the future of their current employer. Furthermore, the data shows that slightly fewer workers intend to seek new jobs in the next 12 months, which is could be good news for employers focused on retaining top performers. When considered along with a comparatively low 4.7 percent unemployment rate and continued job growth in industries such as professional services, healthcare and hospitality, we believe that the overall job market remains strong."

Confidence Levels Hit Lowest Level of the Year: The Spherion Employee Confidence Index dropped to its lowest level this year, decreasing 3.5 points to 52.9 in November. The Index, which measures workers' confidence in their personal employment situation and optimism in the macroeconomic environment, reveals that more workers were apprehensive about the economy, job market and the future of their current employers.

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Telecommuting Has Mostly Positive Consequences For Employees, Employers

Telecommuting is a win-win for employees and employers, resulting in higher morale and job satisfaction and lower employee stress and turnover. These were among the conclusions of psychologists who examined 20 years of research on flexible work arrangements.
The findings, based on a meta-analysis of 46 studies of telecommuting involving 12,833 employees, are reported in the current issue of the Journal of Applied Psychology, published by the American Psychological Association (APA).

“Our results show that telecommuting has an overall beneficial effect because the arrangement provides employees with more control over how they do their work,” says lead author Ravi Gajendran. “Autonomy is a major factor in worker satisfaction and this rings true in our analysis. We found that telecommuters reported more job satisfaction, less motivation to leave the company, less stress, improved work-family balance, and higher performance ratings by supervisors.”

An estimated 45 million Americans telecommuted in 2006, up from 41 million in 2003, according to the magazine WorldatWork. The researchers defined telecommuting as “an alternative work arrangement in which employees perform tasks elsewhere that are normally done in a primary or central workplace, for at least some portion of their work schedule, using electronic media to interact with others inside and outside the organization.”

Gajendran and his fellow researcher David Harrison, from Pennsylvania State University, find that telecommuting has more positive than negative effects on employees and employers. “A work-at-home option gives telecommuters more freedom in their work arrangement and removes workers from direct, face-to-face supervision,” Gajendran says. In addition, the employees in their study reported that telecommuting was beneficial for managing the often conflicting demands of work and family.

Contrary to popular belief that face time at the office is essential for good work relationships, said Gajendran, telecommuters’ relationship with their managers and coworkers did not suffer from telecommuting with one exception. Employees who worked away from their offices for three or more days a week reported worsening of their relationships with coworkers. However, managers who oversaw telecommuters reported that the telecommuters’ performance was not negatively affected by working from home. And those who telecommuted reported that they did not believe their careers were likely to suffer from telecommuting.

The typical telecommuter examined in the analysis was a manager or a professional from the information technology or sales and marketing department of a firm. The average age of a telecommuter was 39; men and women were equally represented.

Women telecommuters may derive even greater benefits from telecommuting. The authors found that study samples with greater proportions of women found they received higher performance ratings from their supervisors and that their career prospects improved, rather than worsened.

“Telecommuting has a clear upside: small but favorable effects on perceived autonomy, work-family conflict, job satisfaction, performance, turnover intent and stress,” the authors write. “Contrary to expectations in both academic and practitioner literatures, telecommuting has no straightforward, damaging effects on the quality of workplace relationships or perceived career prospects.”

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Migraines Cost Business Big Bucks, Too

Migraines take a toll on employers as well — up to $28.7 billion in annual direct and indirect healthcare costs can be attributed to migraine-related losses in productivity. Data presented at the 59th Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) in Boston, Mass., reinforced the benefit for employers to acknowledge and assess the impact of migraine to potentially improve workplace productivity. The data also suggested workers consider potential treatment options that may help them prevent or reduce the frequency of migraine attacks.

The first of three analyses sponsored by Ortho-McNeil Neurologics, Inc. found that employers who actively screen for migraine may help identify those undiagnosed with the condition. The researchers also evaluated the total burden of migraine in the workplace and found that more than 50 percent of the migraine sufferers surveyed experienced moderate to severe disability due to the condition, often affecting job performance and leading to missed workdays. The third analysis examined the impact of preventive treatment on workers who suffer from frequent migraines and suggested that use of TOPAMAX (topiramate) may lead to fewer missed workdays and improve workplace productivity.

"Migraine can have a significant impact in the workplace," says study investigator Jennifer Lofland, project director, Department of Health Policy, Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University.

"If migraine can be effectively managed during the workday, it may lead to cost savings for employers over the long run. One approach patients may want to consider is taking a preventive medication to help reduce the frequency of migraine attacks and potentially lead to more migraine-free days."

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Think That Conversation From Your Office Phone Is Private? Think Again

News reports thata Wal-Mart employee taped telephone conversations between a New York Times reporter and other Wal-Mart employees brings to light the practice of corporations who require employees to consent to company surveillance of calls made through company systems and equipment.

Wal-Mart officials have said the employee in the recently reported case was not authorized to make the recordings and adds that company policy restricts monitoring of employee communications to instances in which fraud or criminal activity is suspected, according to a Vanderbilt University statement.

However, that policy is not a requirement. "We know from recent surveys by groups such as the American Management Association and others that many firms do routinely monitor employee communications that employees might think are private, without cause of suspicion," says Bruce Barry, professor of management and sociology. "This means workers, especially in the private sector, work under the threat that their expressive activity is being watched, which has the effect of chilling free expression that might have nothing to do with the corporation, or that might involve whistleblowing regarding corporate misbehavior."

Barry has focused recent research on free expression in and around the workplace from legal, managerial, and ethical perspectives. He is the author of a soon-to-be-published book on the subject, Speechless: The Erosion of Free Expression in the American Workplace.

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Report: Workers Should Have More 401(k) Information

Over the past two decades there has been a shift in the types of retirement plans employers are offering employees. Employers are increasingly moving away from traditional defined benefit plans to what has become the most dominant and fastest growing type of defined contribution plan, the 401(k).

But as workers come to more heavily rely on 401(k) plans for their retirements, they to have more information, as well, a government audit finds.

Now, 401(k) plans represent the majority of all private pension plans; they also service the most participants and hold the most assets, according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO). GAO is the nonpartisan investigative arm of Congress. These plans offer a range of investment options, but equity funds—those that invest primarily in stocks—accounted for nearly half of 401(k) assets at the close of 2005. Most 401(k) plans are participant-directed, meaning that a participant is responsible for making the investment decisions about his or her own retirement plan contributions, GAO notes.

"Inadequate disclosure and reporting requirements may leave participants without a simple way to compare fees among plan investment options, and [the U.S.] Labor [Department] without the information it needs to oversee fees and identify questionable 401(k) business practices," the report says.

The Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) of 1974 requires 401(k) plan sponsors to disclose only limited information on fees, GAO notes.

"Participants must collect various documents over time and may be required to seek out some documents in order to get a clear picture of the total fees that they pay. Furthermore, the documents that participants receive do not provide a simple way to compare fees—along with risk and historical performance—among the investment options in their 401(k) plan," GAO adds. "The information reported to Labor does not identify all fees charged to 401(k) plans and therefore has limited use for effectively overseeing fees and identifying undisclosed business arrangements among consultants or service providers. As a result, participants may have more limited investment options and pay higher fees for these options than they otherwise would."

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