Welcome to the March 5, 2008 issue of The Total View

Published by Success Performance Solutions, Written by Ira S. Wolfe

Visit our Human Resources Blog and Perfect Labor Storm Blog where we can post daily (and more often) human resource updates, news, and Perfect Labor Storm facts. 

What's Inside this issue of The TotalView:

1. Drug Abusers More Likely to Work for Employers Who Do Not Test  

A link between the absence of employer substance abuse testing and the incidence of abusing employees in the workforce appears to emerge from a study recently released by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration ("SAMHSA"), a division of the United States Department of Health and Human Services.   The survey, released on July 16, 2007, underscores the fact that use of illicit drugs and alcohol in the workplace is widespread. Some of the survey's more significant highlights for employers include the following:  

• Most of the nation's approximately 16.4 million current illicit drug users and approximately 15 million heavy alcohol users hold full-time jobs.
• Current drug users were more likely to work for employers who did not conduct drug or alcohol testing.
• Highest rates of current illicit drug use were among food service workers (17.4%), construction workers (15.1%), and arts, design, entertainment, sports and media employees (12.4%).
• Highest rates of current heavy alcohol use were found among construction, mining, excavation and drilling workers (17.8%), installation, maintenance and repair workers (14.7%), and food service workers (12.1%).
• Illicit drug use and heavy alcohol use are associated with higher levels of absenteeism and frequent job changes. For example, nearly twice as many current illicit drug users skipped one or more days of work in the past month compared with workers who did not abuse drugs.
• Drug users were also far more likely to report missing two or more days of work in the past month due to illness or injury compared with workers who did not abuse drugs.
• Substance abusers had high job turnover rates. Among full-time workers who reported current illicit drug use, 12.3% said they had worked for three or more employers in the last year, compared with 5.1% of non-abusing workers.

Source: HRTrainingCenter.com

Reduce Absenteeism and Illegal Drug Use in the Workplace with Candid Clues. Click here to learn more or call us at 800.803.4303.

2. Perfect Labor Storm Warnings   

Every day I receive dozens of stories highlighting

another shortage of workers. Each week I'll post

one or two of the more interesting ones.  This week's

post is:

Executives at Northrop Grumman estimate that roughly half of its 122,000 workers will be eligible to retire in the next five to 10 years. The trend is the same at Lockheed Martin Corp., of Bethesda, Md., which could lose up to half of its work force of 140,000 to retirement over the next decade. At Chicago-based Boeing Co., about 15 percent of the company's engineers are 55 or older and eligible to retire now.

And industrywide, almost 60 percent of the U.S. aerospace work force was age 45 or older in 2007, according to the Aerospace Industries Association.

Read more about skilled worker shortages in the NEW Perfect Labor Storm 2.0 (soft and hard cover versions)

Now on Sale!  Perfect Labor Storm 2.0 (soft and hard cover versions)  

Order today and save 25%.

NEW Chapters!  Generational Conflicts in the Workplace, Managing the Future Workforce, Attracting Young Employees in a Seller's Job Market plus hundreds of new facts, trends and stats.

View Table of Contents  

Save 25% off retail by ordering now.

Hard Cover: $29.99         Soft Cover: $19.99  

Your Price: $22.49           Your Price: $14.99

To order Perfect Labor Storm 2.0, call 800.803.4303.  Discounts for orders of 10 or more.  Specify hard or soft cover.

3. Understanding Business Values and Motivators

What makes employees "tick?"  In "Understanding Business Values and Motivators". Ira Wolfe writes a book that translates motivation into an easy to understand, modern day version of "why we do what we do." This book isn't about hocus-pocus, rah-rah tricks and techniques to motivate others, but a down-to-earth approach for understanding how people are "wired" and how to tap into those motivators for their success and yours.

Order Understanding Business Values and Motivators.

4.  A Practical Guide to Understanding and Managing Hispanic Employees

Hispanics make up a huge percentage of the workforce in the hotel, food, manufacturing, service and many other industries. As a manager or co-worker do you understand the motives and needs behind the behaviors? Do you want to learn how to create a more inclusive environment, and how to increase your effectiveness with cross-cultural communication to get results?

Inside this book you'll learn the secrets of:

5. New White Paper: "Why Executive Coaching"

Whether it's due to business growth or pending

retirements, the demand for the next generation

of leaders has shifted into high gear.  As a result,

executive coaching has moved out of the board

room and into the mainstream. Once a perk

for the top executives, executive coaching today is

becoming a requirement for high-potential employees

and managers to meet the current and future demands

of the job.  

Matt Angello, founder and principal of Bright Tree Consulting Group, recently published an outstanding white paper titled "Why Executive Coaching." It's a free download which can be accessed by clicking on the following link: Why Executive Coaching.  

Success Performance Solutions is a strategic partner with Bright Tree Consulting. Ira S Wolfe, founder and president of Success Performance Solutions, serves as Bright Tree's assessment consultant.

6. Speaking Schedule: Ira S Wolfe

2008:

May 16 - Sovereign Benefits Solutions HR Conference, Hershey PA

June 6 - CEO Roundtable, Boston MA

October (tentative) - American Staffing Association Annual Meeting - Workforce Trends That Change The Way You Will Do Business  

Call 717.291.4640 to schedule Ira for your next meeting or conference.

7. New Book: Coming Job Boom

Ira recently collaborated with Bonnie Kerrigan Snyder on a new book, The Coming Job Boom.  Bonnie is the author of The Public School Parent's Guide to Success. The Coming Job Boom is the "ying" for the "yang" of The Perfect Labor Storm.  While the Perfect Labor Storm is beginning to make managers feel like storm chasers looking for qualified workers, high school and college students must be smiling at this Upcoming Job Boom. For those young workers with the right skills and motivation, the job market will make these kids feel like  - well, like kid's in a candy store! The book release is scheduled for April 2008. Watch for more info in future newsletters.

8. Quotes from Hire Authorities

"Diversity without unity makes about as much sense as dishing up flour, sugar, water, eggs, shortening, and baking power on a plate and calling it a cake."

C. William Pollard

Author of The Soul of the Firm

Permission is granted to consultants, managers, business owners and HR professionals to reproduce content from this newsletter for your internal publications, or to distribute copies to your workforce, on the condition that you reproduce the credits and contact information as follows: "Reprinted with permission from Ira S Wolfe and Success Performance Solutions. Copyright 2008 Ira S Wolfe."  We also hope you will forward the newsletter in its entirety and recommend to others that they subscribe.

Ira S. Wolfe Copyright 2007 - All Rights Reserved. Reprints and other distribution by permission