Welcome to the September 5, 2007 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. 

New White Paper!

Performance Management: 10 Steps to Bridge Strategy and Execution

Unlocking the potential of your organization requires discipline of definition, communication and alignment. Without these disciplines, your business "plans" will become at best, broken dreams and unfilled "hopes." The following 10 steps will guide your organization on the disciplined path to a successful future.

Download Performance Management: 10 Steps to Bridge Strategy and Execution

What's Inside:

1. U.S. Workers: Most Productive or Goof-Offs?

While many workers enjoyed a few days off over the Labor Day holiday, the media was awash in news about worker productivity. Just a few days before Labor Day, we learned how much more money CEOs make than the workers they employ. Then the International Labor Organization announced how productive U.S. workers were. Finally, we read about how many of these workers were busy goofing off on company time.

Let's start with the International Labor Organization report, claiming the average U.S. worker produces $63,835 of wealth per year, more than workers in all other countries. U.S. workers also outpaced all 27 nations in the European Union, Japan, and Switzerland in the amount of wealth created per hour of work. Norway was the only country to generate higher output per working hour than the United States.

On the surface that seems like a reason to cheer. Productivity increases are viewed as a measure of how efficient a company manages capital, labor and technology. In this case, the top "company" is represented by the United States. The productivity figures calculated by the United Nations are the result of dividing a country's gross domestic product (GDP) by the number of people employed.

Part of the U.S. productivity growth can be explained by the hours U.S. workers put in. Does this mean U.S. employees are working themselves to the bone? I guess that depends on how you slice the data. On the one hand, Americans work on average more hours - 1804 - each year than employees in Canada, Western Europe, Japan, or Australia. Unlike every other industrialized country, the U.S. has no statutory minimum vacation policy. As a result, American workers spend fewer weeks on vacation than workers elsewhere.

But compared to workers in South Korea, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Hong Kong, China, Malaysia and Thailand, where workers surpass 2,200 average hours per worker, U.S. workers seem to have it made.

That is until you look at wages.

Workers in many countries -- including Germany, France, England, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland -- significantly outpace Americans in terms of pay and benefits. This is not only true for factory workers but also for service sectors workers, such a secretaries, janitors, hotel workers, and retail clerks unless - -

- - of course, you are a CEO. If you just consider the average compensation (wages plus benefits) of full-time year-round workers in non-managerial jobs - roughly $40,000 - CEO pay is more like 270 times bigger than the average Joe's. In 1989, for instance, U.S. CEOs of large companies earned 71 times more than the average worker, according to the Economic Policy Institute.

In yet another recently released report, The Institute for Policy Studies and United for a Fair Economy compared U.S. CEO pay to that of leaders in other fields and other countries. The top 20 CEOs of U.S. companies made an average of $36.4 million in 2006. That's 204 times that of the 20 highest paid U.S. military generals, and 38 times that of the 20 highest-paid non-profit leaders. They also made three times more than the top 20 CEOs of European companies who had booked higher sales numbers than their U.S. counterparts.

The pay gap doesn't stop here. These figures don't include the value of the many perks CEOs receive, which averaged $438,342. Nor do they include the pension benefits CEOs receive.

And let's not forgot about those 2006 Wall Street bonuses - a record $23.9 billion. That's Billion with a B. The top brass reap the biggest paydays, but the rank and file benefit, too. This year the average bonus topped $137,000.

But even including all that, CEO pay looks like chump change next to private equity and hedge fund managers' pay. Those managers made an average of $657.5 million in 2006 - more than 16,000 times what the average full-time worker makes, and roughly 61 times that of the average CEO.

So with all this productivity going on, you'd think employees wouldn't have time to visit the restroom or grab a fresh cup of coffee. That is unless you believe a new MSN-Zobgy survey of office employees.

One in five office workers responding to the poll stated they have watched TV online - while on the job. Six percent admitted they've looked at pornography on their work computer.

The grapevine too is growing as quickly as productivity. Sixty-one percent of all the workers polled admitted thay have spent work time spreading or listening to office gossip.

Quite a few office workers take their work time personal. According to the poll, nearly half of workers said they took care of personal finances on company time while twenty percent of workers have answered a non-work related phone call at a meeting.

Not all these diversions are unrelated to an employee's career development. More than a third of all workers (38 percent) have been job hunting in company time. For workers aged 18 to 29, job hunting on the company time jumps to 49 percent.

What can we learn from all this data? Businesses have a lot of work to do - hiring, retaining and motivating productive and skilled employees. U.S. businesses will need to continue to grow revenues while keeping employment in tow. With global competition squeezing profits, each employee on the payroll will need to be efficient and productive.

To discuss how to evaluate your workforce or leadership preparedness, call us at 800.803.4303 or 717.291.4640.

2. Perfect Labor Storm Indicators

Jobs are changing.

     Workforce growth is slowing.

           Educational attainment levels are lagging.

                Skill gaps are rising. 

The Perfect Labor Storm is imminent.

If you live in Michigan or adjacent Rust Belt states, that "whoosh" you hear is the brain drain.  As a result of massive layoffs in the automobile industry, domestic automakers (GM, Ford and Chrysler) may face operational and developmental problems that could cost billions of dollars. The people who have left have accepted generous severance packages and headed for the nearest exit. It appears what they haven't left is their knowledge to those who have stayed behind.  While Toyota's success and innovation was based on process, U.S. automakers have historically relied on people. Without people and process, what's left?  U.S. automakers are not alone.  Many businesses have relied on single individuals to grow their business. Are U.S. automakers just the tip of the iceberg?

Where Have All Your Workers Gone?  Learn more about The Perfect Labor Storm: why skilled worker shortages, aging populations, education and skills gaps will change the way all people do business.  

Watch these brief Perfect Labor Storm videos now:  

Where Have All The Workers Gone? Skills Gaps  (6:33)
Where Have All The Workers Gone? Skilled Worker Crisis  (5:19)

New!  Diversity: Wake Up Everybody! (6:54)
Then please forward these links to co-workers, colleagues, bosses, reports, and customers.  Thanks.  

The videos are also available on The Perfect Labor Storm website.  

Comments? Please leave comments on the YouTube.com site or email: comments@perfectlaborstorm.com

3. Now on Sale!  Perfect Labor Storm 2.0 (soft and hard cover versions)  (Delivery date on or about September 20, 2007.)  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  

Read what one reader has said:  

Perfect Labor Storm 2.0  will be one of the most quoted books over the next decades. Ira did his homework on this one. Anyone who depends on having a strong workforce for the next twenty years better heed his warnings and prepare accordingly.

Bobby Foster
The Organizer Plus Co., LLC

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.

Read the pre-publication reviews:  

Below you will find just a sampling of the trends, stats, and facts that will change the way you do business.

If you took every single job in the U.S. today and shipped it to China . . .       

                                                                                                       .......China would still have a labor surplus.  

China's Generation Y accounts for nearly one-sixth of the Chinese population, equivalent to two-thirds of the entire U.S. population.   

By 2025 more than 75% of the workforce in India will be from Generation Y and younger generations.  

In the United States, Gen Y and younger will make up just less than 60%.

Trends and stats like this are just an inkling of the information you'll find in the revised, updated and expanded Perfect Labor Storm 2.0, including several chapters about managing generational clashes.  

Keep reading future issues of this newsletter for more announcements about the book release and updated Perfect Storm Indicators.  

Perfect Labor Storm e-book published earlier this year is still available.

You can order a download copy of PLS, a great value at $9.95. 

4. Performance Appraisals - Give Them More than Just Lip Service

You can't improve your company performance with a process that employees don't want to use.  In a recent survey, only 11% of companies indicated that they are very satisfied with the current performance management process utilized by their organization.  

This indicates an obvious disconnect between where senior management sees their business going and how the plan gets executed.  

The catalyst that converts planning to results is effective employee performance management.  

Join us on November 2, 2007 to learn about a revolutionary performance management system that links your organization's vision, values and operating objectives with the daily activities of your people.   

Who should attend this workshop:

• Managers who dread your current performance review process
• Executives who want to improve overall company performance
• Human Resource Professionals who want to improve employee productivity
• Business Owners who want to increase employee satisfaction
• Organizations who want to link individual performance to business objectives (pay for performance)

Call us today - 800-803-4304 - to register for this FREE workshop on November 2, 2007 in Lancaster, PA.

Registration: 8:00 AM

Seminar begins: 8:15 AM

Seminar ends: 11:30 AM  

Can't attend?  Call or reply to this email and schedule a FREE web demonstration or onsite consultation.  

Learn more about KeyneLink Performance Management System

5.  NEW!  CriteriaOne DISC Training - November 1, 2007  

Position yourself as THE DISC subject matter expert in your organization!  When you become a CriteriaOne® DISC Behavioral Analyst*, you will have the know-how to deliver communication and team-building workshops and interpret CriteriaOne® DISC reports.  Success Performance Solutions' professional staff - experts in Marston's DISC model, building effective teams, and job matching using CriteriaOne® DISC reports - will conduct this training.

This fast-paced, comprehensive certification training will provide an in-depth understanding of DISC model, the CriteriaOne® DISC system and its many team building, conflict-reducing and job matching applications.

What's included in this workshop?  Register before October 1 and receive products and services worth nearly $1600.00, much more than the cost of this training!  

Learn more about CriteriaOne DISC reports.   To register for CriteriaOne DISC Training or request more information, call 800-803-4303 or send an email.  

6. Speaking Schedule: Ira S Wolfe  

2007:  

September 14 - ISA Worldwide (New York City)

September 18 - 2007 Material Handling & Logistics Conference (Salt Lake City) October 16 - Shumaker Williams PC (Camp Hill PA)

October 17 - Associated Builders and Contractors (Lancaster PA)

November 13 - Carlisle (PA) Chamber of Commerce  

2008:  

January 21 - Institute of Management Consultants (Dallas, TX)

January 22 - Optimance (Dallas, TX)  

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

8. Quotes from Hire Authorities

A Total View reader emailed me that last week's quote was a repeat from the previous issue. My apologies. So this week's Total View includes two new quotes.  

"Effective leaders see the world the way it is.  Less effective leaders see the world the way they want it to be."

Peter Drucker

"Never let your sense of morality get in the way of doing what's right."

Issac Asimov

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 2007 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