One of the most popular topics in the workplace these days is employee happiness. Happier employees are more successful employees, and as a result, researchers are finding that happiness makes business sense. Fostering both personal and professional happiness in the workplace can help your organization become more effective.
Top 4 Critical Skills Employees Need to Develop
In its Critical Skills Survey, the American Management Association (AMA) unveiled the four most critical workforce skills that need to be developed. Many of these skill gaps are also extremely common among the organizations we serve at ERC. Here’s an overview of the top four critical skills as well as recommendations on how to close these gaps through training and development in your organization.
Demand for Technical Skill Sets Help Deliver Strong IT Salaries
Information Technology (IT) continues to be an area of exceptional growth in the job market, both nationally and locally. Using data from the 2013 ERC Salary Survey, the average median salary growth of various occupational categories within IT, as set by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, can be seen below. The positive salary growth this figure illustrates is unsurprising when two key factors are considered.
The Ultimate Summer Workplace Checklist
Sweet summertime is right around the corner. Bring on the company picnics, vacation schedules, and little league games!
5 Easy Ways to Boost Summer Productivity
Summer can drain workplace productivity. Employees generally feel more sapped of work energy and motivation during the summer. In fact, studies have found that organizations can experience a lull in productivity during the summer, with one 2011 study finding that one-in-four employers think employees are less productive in the summer.
Paid Summer Holidays in Ohio Aline with National Stats
With Memorial Day unofficially kicking off “summertime” in Northeast Ohio for 2013, vacations, time-off and holidays for the upcoming summer months are top of mind for employees and employers alike. While official paid-time-off and vacation policies have a different look and feel based on each employer’s organizational culture, paid holidays are more consistent across the board.
ADA Compliance: How Much Is Enough?
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires that employers provide reasonable accommodations to employees with disabilities. But how much accommodation is enough? When does an accommodation become unreasonable? How reasonable is reasonable?
Rarely Performed Duties Can Be Essential Functions Under ADA
The outcome of a recent court case reminds employers that when determining the essential functions of the job, how frequently they are performed is just one factor that should be considered.
9 Ways to Avoid Employee Burnout
Are some of your employees suffering from burnout? Maybe even your best employees? Burnout is a talent issue because it is more often experienced by your top employees – those who are trying to contribute most to your organization. It can even affect your leaders. Top performers and leaders tend to be more susceptible to burnout based on their personalities, work habits, and strong desire to achieve.
A Toolkit for Retaining Great Employees
Are you giving your best employees good reasons to stay at your organization? Retaining employees comes down to giving great employees a good reason to stay at your workplace over and over again, especially when they have another opportunity on the table.
New Graduate and Intern Compensation Trends
The 2013 ERC/NOCHE Intern & Recent Graduate Pay Rates & Practices Survey, conducted annually through a partnership between the Northeast Ohio Council on Higher Education (NOCHE) and ERC, reports that 57% of the organizations surveyed have a formal internship program in place. In addition, the same proportion of respondents are either in the process of hiring or are planning to hire new college graduates in 2013. This strong connection between the area’s higher education institutions and local employers also seems to be translating into positive compensation trends for many interns and new graduates, particularly in highly technical fields of study such as engineering.
