What makes employees want to stay?

Check out another great article and reasearch from the Center for Applied Positive Psychology (CAPP).

Despite record unemployment across the globe, employees still are picky about who they work for and how much they will tolerate within an organization. Times have changed, generations have changed and work ethics has changed. See how it affects you and your organization - what does your On-boarding program look like? How do you entice, traing, and maintain your workforce?

Getting On-boarding Right

Published February 26, 2013 | By Emma Trenier

Posted by: Emma Trenier, Consulting Psychologist, Capp

With BA recruiting 2, 500 new employees last year, it was a prime time for them to discover what makes on-boarding a success. Their research discovered that 90% of employees make a decision to stay with an organisation in the first 6 months, the failure of a successful transition costs between 1.5 and 5 times annual salary, and Generation Y expect to make 5-7 career changes in their life, compared to Baby Boomers who only wanted to make 2-3 career changes.

Clearly, with the coming trend for more frequent career changes and the high cost of getting it wrong, it’s getting more and more important for companies to get on-boarding right.

I’m prone to a little day dreaming, so let me describe how I would like to be welcomed ‘on board’ in an ideal world…

Before I arrive on my first day I am already excited. I have shared the freebies I received with my friends and family who already think this company is phenomenal and I am the luckiest woman they know.

On day 1, my manager meets me and gives me a tour of the building, introduces me to a number of my colleagues and gives me my laptop and phone, already sorted. I spend time speaking 1:1 to one with a handful of colleagues, finding out what they do and who I can go to for what. I am tasked to discover my strengths overnight with an online questionnaire and bring the results back in the morning.

On day 2, my manager and I talk through my Realise2 strengths profile – what makes me tick and what I find draining. This is enjoyable and insightful as I discover she is as keen as I am for me to be my best self at work. I spend the day satiating my curiosity about the company’s culture through conversation, watching (non-cheesy) videos online and meeting one of the senior leaders for a thought-provoking and honest Q&A. By the end of the day I LIKE this company and I feel as if they LIKE me.

On day 3, my manager gives me my first assignment that plays to my strengths. I am delighted to be given a chance to show what I can do as I prepare to get started. I’m now excited to be working here, knowing that they want me to bring my best self to work, and that they want me to succeed through using my strengths. This company’s culture is all about helping me to do what I do best and love to do each day. It’s the perfect match!

I’ll end my dream here, although ‘on-boarding’ will continue for the next six months as I develop my skills in new areas, work closely with partners who show me the ropes and receive feedback from colleagues as I venture into new terrain.

It doesn’t sound so difficult, so why is this not every new employee’s experience?

For a start, companies don’t recognise the financial impact of getting on-boarding right. As a result, managers are not given the right resources and don’t realise that it is they themselves who can make or break each new employee’s spirit and resolve to stay.

The sad result, when they get it wrong, is that talented people prepare to leave within the first 6 months and everyone’s a loser.

In contrast, get on-boarding right, and everyone is well on the way to being a winner.

Strengths On-boarding is a key way to achieve this, by celebrating the best of why you recruited someone, then putting them to work by doing what they do best and love to do every day. That’s the way to love Mondays!

Strengths On-boarding is part of Strengths Selector, Capp’s five steps to strengths-based recruitment. Find out more about Strengths On-boarding here: http://blog.cappeu.com/2013/02/26/getting-on-boarding-right/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheCappBlog+%28The+Capp+Blog%29.

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Recent Grad, Needs Work!

Are you looking for work?

 

Are you a recent Grad trying to find work? Consider the following conundrum many recruiters are facing while trying to find the perfect candidate.  Though this blog post from the Center for Applied Positive Psychology (CAPP) is focusing on UK employment, the same is true and can be said right here in the USA. Why, with the record high unemployment of recent grads, are recruiters’ having such a hard time placing great people in prospective jobs?

 

In the USA, we typically say – it’s the degree that counts and more importantly, who you know. But in the electronic day – computers are actually not as sophisticated to know that! So, when organizations give recruiting agencies the “top criteria” they can select top universities as a requirement. So, if you didn’t go to a top university, or if you got a BA vs. a BS, the computer may weed you out. Therefore, you may never get in front of an HR rep or a hiring manager with the firm because the selection criteria was so precise.

 

So, per this interesting blog post – it’s about networking – NETWORKING, NETWORKING, & NETWORKING. But, keep in mind, job fairs are only about how many ‘trading’ business cards did you collect vs. your friend (or competition)…but it is truly about making a connection. If you walk away from a job fair with 50 business cards, that may mean nothing if you don’t remember fine details about all 50 people and made that connection. I’d rather walk away with 10 business cards with people anticipating my phone call or follow-up email – and more importantly – they know who I am when I follow-up!

 

Good luck – it’s a tough world out there for recent grads, but you can be successful with the right tools!

 

Job Fairs can be overwhelming - make sure you make real connections with people to help you get that job!

 

 

The CAPP Blog

Graduate Attraction: Going Off-piste

Posted: 12 Feb 2013 12:53 AM PST

http://blog.cappeu.com/2013/02/12/graduate-attraction-going-off-piste/

Posted by: Jamie Betts, Principal Consultant, Capp

 

Something rather odd is happening. Despite a near record high in graduate unemployment, many graduate recruiters find it challenging to attract the very best candidates for their schemes. This reported candidate shortage doesn’t tally with the reality of the graduate job market. With over one million young people looking for work, what’s really going on?

If you speak to students, tutors, and careers service professionals outside of Oxbridge and the Russell Group, you’ll soon notice a trend: they are largely ignored by the bulk of prestigious graduate employers. What then happens is that frantic efforts are simultaneously expended by many employers on the ‘top 10′ UK universities, and particularly Oxbridge.

This creates a sharp division. If you attend a top university, graduate employers are falling over each other as they try to attract your attention – attending your careers fairs, lavishing student associations with sponsorship, and hosting events with free drinks to entice you along. Careers services are overwhelmed with employers wanting air time with their students.

If, however, you are unfortunate enough attend a university in the ‘lower 90%’ bracket, you’d be lucky to have a decent employer attending a single careers fair, let alone lavish you with sponsorship and events. The UK’s top few universities produce a finite number of graduates each year, which goes some way to explain why many graduate employers find it challenging to attract all the talent they need.

This isn’t the only problem. Even in attempting to attract the best talent from the top universities, many graduate employers follow a rigid cyclical timetable. This makes sense on one level, because graduate recruitment does operate in an annual cycle. But it also means that everyone is trying to attract the same finite pool of talent at exactly the same time. Slightly crazy.

Graduate employers who find it challenging to attract the best talent may enjoy greater success in breaking from their traditional cycle.

Don’t just attend the careers fairs with everyone else. Instead, build relationships with specific faculties, host independent events during the quieter months, think creatively about what you can offer undergraduates at each stage in their academic life.

And, importantly, ask the careers service what you can do for them, rather than what they can do for you – you may be surprised at their response.

Perhaps above all else, remember that a wealth of young talent exists outside the Russell Group. You’ve just got to be open to finding it.

Strengths Attraction is the first step in Strengths Selector, Capp’s five steps to strengths-based recruitment.

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http://blog.cappeu.com/2013/02/12/graduate-attraction-going-off-piste/

 

 

Black History Month - African American Women at Risk

To help honor Black History Month, I thought it was important to review some important health and well-being studies that have been recently in the news.

All of us know obesity is an epedimic facing mroe than 30% of Americans. Over 34% of Americans over the age of 20 are obese. 30% are considered to be overweight. But, what about specific populations?  African-American women are at risk when it comes to their health and the obesity epedimic.  In fact, they are disproportionally affected by obesity than any other population in the USA. 

Almost 60% of African-American women are obese, compared with only 32% of white women or 41% of Hispanic women.  This means that African-American women are shortening their life expectency and increasing their changes of developing health related diseases that make the life they have harder. Such diseases are diabetes, arthritis, and cardio-vascular disease, just to name a few.

Read on to learn more and see what you can do to help yourself - or help those you love. Obesity affects every single person in this country! Make no mistake, it doesn't matter what color, what gender, or how old you are - obesity touches us all (economically, socially, physically, etc.)!!! 

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January 23, 2013

In U.S., Obesity Rate Stable in 2012

Nearly 4% of Americans are morbidly obese

by Alyssa Brown

 

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Americans were as likely to be obese in 2012 as they were in 2011. But the 26.2% who were obese in 2012 remains slightly higher than the 25.5% recorded in 2008. Another 36.1% of Americans were overweight in 2012 and about as many were a normal weight -- 35.9%.

Gallup and Healthways started tracking Americans' weight daily in 2008 as part of the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index.

The 2012 data comprise more than 350,000 surveys of American adults. The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index uses respondents' self-reports of their height and weight to calculate body mass index (BMI) scores. Individual BMI values of 30 or above are classified as "obese," 25 to 29.9 are "overweight," 18.5 to 24.9 are "normal weight," and 18.4 or less are "underweight."

The World Health Organization further classifies BMIs of 30.00 or higher into one of three classes of obesity:

• Obese class I = 30.00 to 34.99
• Obese class II = 35.00 to 39.99
• Obese class III = 40.00 or higher

Those with BMIs of 40 or higher -- obese class III -- are often considered "morbidly obese." Based on self-reports of height and weight, 3.6% of American adults were "morbidly obese" in 2012. This is on par with 3.4% in 2011 and 3.5% in 2009 and 2010.

Another 16.7% of adults fell into obese class I in 2012, and another 5.9% were in obese class II. The percentage of Americans in each of these groups has remained similar over the past five years.

Obesity Rates Within Demographic Groups Remain Similar in 2012
The percentage of Americans who were obese in all major demographic and socioeconomic groups stayed about the same in 2012 compared with 2011. Blacks, those aged 45 to 64, and low-income Americans continue to be the most likely to be classified as obese, as has been the case since 2008. Those aged 18 to 29 and higher-income Americans remain the least likely to be obese.

Bottom Line
The percentage of obese adults in the United States held steady in 2012 after declining slightly in 2011. The obesity rate did not continue to decline in 2012, despite more Americans reporting frequent exercise each month and more Americans citing obesity as the most urgent health problem facing the U.S. compared with prior years.

Under the Affordable Care Act, all adults with an insurance policy beginning on or after Sept. 23, 2010, are entitled to an obesity screening and counseling at no cost. Ensuring all Americans are aware of this provision may be key to helping those who are overweight or obese achieve and maintain a healthy weight and avoid the chronic diseases associated with obesity.
Government programs and policies are not the only solution to the obesity epidemic in the United States. Gallup research shows that physicians in the U.S. are in better health than other employed adults and Americans who are engaged in their work are more likely to report having a healthier lifestyle. Thus, physicians can set a positive example for their patients and employers can promote a healthy lifestyle for their employees.

With more than one in four Americans suffering from obesity, it remains a serious public health crisis -- and one with a high cost to the U.S. economy.

About the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index
The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index tracks wellbeing in the U.S. and provides best-in-class solutions for a healthier world. To learn more, please visit well-beingindex.com.

Survey MethodsResults are based on telephone interviews conducted as part of the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index survey Jan. 1-Dec. 31, 2012, with a random sample of 353,564 adults, aged 18 and older, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia, selected using random-digit-dial sampling.
For results based on the total sample of national adults, one can say with 95% confidence that the maximum margin of sampling error is ±0.2 percentage points.
For results based on subgroups, one can say with 95% confidence that the maximum margin of sampling error is ±1 percentage point.
Interviews are conducted with respondents on landline telephones and cellular phones, with interviews conducted in Spanish for respondents who are primarily Spanish-speaking. Each sample includes a minimum quota of 400 cellphone respondents and 600 landline respondents per 1,000 national adults, with additional minimum quotas among landline respondents by region. Landline telephone numbers are chosen at random among listed telephone numbers. Cellphone numbers are selected using random-digit-dial methods. Landline respondents are chosen at random within each household on the basis of which member had the most recent birthday.
Samples are weighted by gender, age, race, Hispanic ethnicity, education, region, adults in the household, and phone status (cellphone only/landline only/both, cellphone mostly, and having an unlisted landline number). Demographic weighting targets are based on the March 2010 Current Population Survey figures for the aged 18 and older non-institutionalized population living in U.S. telephone households. All reported margins of sampling error include the computed design effects for weighting and sample design.
In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls.
For more details on Gallup's polling methodology, visit http://www.gallup.com/.

Does Distance Therapy Work

Many people already have a stigma about seeing a Psychologist, Counselor, Therapist or Coach. Now, with modern technology we can have a bit more convenience of "seeing" therapeutic experts using phone and web therapy, but those services are even more looked down on, because people don't think Web Therapy or Teletherapy can be beneficial.  Now, I'm a fan of Lisa Kudrow's Showtime "Web Therapy" series, but the absurdity of her show is how some people truly view modern therapy sessions.  Rest assured, this is only a clever TV show and not reality.

According to a recent study - Teletherapy or Phone Therapy really can help!  Lisa Kudrow's quirky therapist "heals people" in 2-3 minute sessions. I can assure you that most sessions are a normal 30minute - 60minute session and they are conducted as a face-to-face therapy session would.   Frankly, many clients like the idea of distance therapy because it can work into their schedule better.  I work with athletes who travel the country and world and can't always be seated in my office. So, having the ability to Skype or chat on the phone helps them stay connected with the program we've created together.  Also, some corporate clients like the idea of my "checking-in" after I've visited the site. It does help them save on expensive travel costs, but I can still keep an "eye" on the progress their organization is making by having conference calls or distance meetings that are virtual using "go to meeting" or other virtual meeting programs.

Check out this article from Monitor Magazine to see just how beneficial it can be for you or your organization:

Phone therapy works for mild to moderate disorders, study suggests

January 2013, Vol 44, No. 1

Talking to a therapist on the phone might achieve the same — or even better — results than face-to-face therapy, according to University of Cambridge researchers.
The study compared the outcomes of more than 39,000 British adults who had mild and moderate depression and anxiety disorders and were treated through England's Improving Access to Psychological Therapies program, a national initiative aimed at increasing people's access to low-intensity, non-medical therapies.

The study found that, except among the participants with the most severe symptoms, those who received cognitive behavioral-based therapies via phone benefited as much if not more than their counterparts who received in-person therapy. The study also found that telephone therapy was 36 percent less expensive per session than traditional therapy.

The findings, published in the September 2012 issue of PLOS ONE, support a mode of therapy that's often more accessible to underserved populations, such as those in rural areas or in minority groups, says Peter Jones, PhD, of the University of Cambridge, who led the study.

The study comes as APA is reviewing guidelines for the practice of telepsychology, a set of recommendations drafted with the Association of State and Provincial Psychology Boards and the APA Insurance Trust. The guidelines highlight such areas as how to protect and inform patients about the increased risk to confidentiality, what to do in an emergency situation and how to provide telehealth services across jurisdictions. The guidelines are expected to be finalized late this year.
"Telepsychology provides lots of avenues and venues to be able to make it easier and effective for our clients to obtain psychological services, so I think it's incumbent for us as psychologists to consider how we can adapt it to the services we provide — and to adapt it appropriately," says APA's staff member assigned to the task force, Ronald S. Palomares, PhD, assistant executive director in APA's Practice Directorate.

—Anna Miller

Web Therapy - Showtime:
http://www.sho.com/sho/web-therapy/home

Lisa Kudrow conducting "web therapy" with her patient ~ Meryl Streep