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2019: The year employee loyalty ended

Roberta Matuson Business Management, Services & Risk Management

TINYpulse recently released its 2019 Employee Engagement Report, and the results are somewhat disturbing. Here's what I mean. What would you say if I told you that 43 percent of employees would leave their current employer for a measly 10 percent salary increase...or that employees think only 9 percent of their co-workers are very happy? And that in spite of this big push to improve company cultures, most organizations are barely moving the needle. Less than one-third of people believe their company has a strong culture. OK, so now that you know this, what will you do with this information? Here are some ideas to consider.

How to correct negative misperceptions

Anne Rose Communications

Negative misperceptions are easy to acquire and hard to erase. "She's a very rude and unfriendly person. She looked right at me and didn't even say hello or acknowledge me." "Oh, that guy is a crook. I called him about some work I needed, and he wanted $300 just to give me a quote." Maybe the "rude" person who didn’t say hello actually didn’t see you but was staring off in the distance in a daydream. Maybe you’ve mixed up the service fellow with a different but similarly named person. Where and how do these misperceptions originate?

Is there a guaranteed annual income in your future? — Part 2

Patrick Gleeson Civil & Government

Until recently, most guaranteed annual income proposals centered on moral arguments for providing everyone with at least a subsistence income — for example, that it was an obligatory act of Christian charity. Since the 1960s, those favoring a GAI have abandoned these earlier arguments on moral grounds in favor of what is potentially a more compelling reason: we need to have a GAI simply because, in the very near future, there won’t be enough jobs as workers are replaced by machines with artificial intelligence capabilities.

Brexit’s unclear impact on US manufacturing

Michelle R. Matisons Manufacturing

As politicians fight over how and when the U.K. will leave the EU, Brexit's impact is felt around the world. A no-deal Brexit, which has the U.K. exiting the EU on March 29 without a clear trade agreement, is said to have potentially catastrophic consequences for U.K. manufacturing. How does all this impact U.S. manufacturing? First, we need to understand Brexit's impact on U.K. manufacturing — especially automobiles. The automobile sector provides an excellent example of increased challenges under the prospects of a new U.K. economy free of EU guidelines and infrastructure.

The future of interior design sourcing

Lloyd Princeton Interior Design, Furnishings & Fixtures

Like many other industries and professions, interior design is becoming increasingly digitized. From conception and rendering, to project management, to how designers communicate with their teams and their clients, basic processes and procedures are transferring to digital platforms. One of the areas most affected by this transformation is sourcing and purchasing. What began as a gradual shift towards e-commerce at the beginning of the decade has exploded into a robust online universe of interior design products and services. E-commerce has pulled back the curtain on interior design sourcing.

What customers want from your loyalty program

Emma Fitzpatrick Marketing

You probably already know that acquiring new customers costs more than retaining the ones you already have. Acquiring new customers can be a staggering five to 25 times more expensive than retaining a customer you already have. On the flip side, if you increase customer retention rates by only 5 percent, you can raise profits by 25 to 95 percent, according to Bain & Company research. That's the power of customer loyalty, and yet, it's an area most companies can do much better in. Read on to find out the research-backed characteristics shoppers want from your loyalty program.

Analysis: Standard work arrangements surprisingly dominate labor force…

Seth Sandronsky Association Management

Beware of talk that we are living through the rise of nonstandard employment. We turn to a new analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data from the Center for Economic and Policy Research and the Economic Policy Institute based in Washington, D.C. “In 2017, the total share of the labor force working in nonstandard arrangements was 10.1 percent, down from 10.9 percent in 2005,” according to Eileen Appelbaum, Arne Kalleberg and Hye Jin Rho. Accordingly, the fraction of workers in standard work arrangements was 89.9 percent in 2017, roughly the same as 1995.

Strategies for speculative job applications

Hank Boyer Business Management, Services & Risk Management

A speculative job application occurs whenever someone applies to an employer for a job that is not open. Job seekers do this in the hope that something on their application or résumé sparks an interest from the employer. Most employers’ websites offer the ability for candidates to post résumés and online applications regardless of whether or not there is a specific opening associated with the application. Most speculative applications are poorly done and never result in a call for an interview.

The real truth about teamwork

Roberta Matuson Business Management, Services & Risk Management

I’m from New England, where I guess you could say we know a lot about teams here. After all, both the Patriots and Red Sox are currently world champions in their respective sports. If you truly have a team, then the team wins and loses together. This lesson is one that many companies still haven’t learned. Here’s an example that highlights what I mean. Aramark recently made the decision not to pay bonuses to thousands of low-level managers. These are the "team members" who are ultimately responsible for executing on the company's strategy. Those in upper management received bonuses.

Changing positions at your work helps you grow and mature

Frank R. Myers Business Management, Services & Risk Management

While I was a firefighter in the Emergency Response Division for my former department, I sincerely looked forward to every tour of duty. However, I never saw the "other" side of my department and understood what happens behind the scenes. It was not until I was awarded the position of driver engineer instructor for me to realize what occurs. It brought my professionalism up to the next level. When I first reported for my first day in my new position, it was great. Sitting in my new office and working with another instructor reviewing some hydraulic equations, which I thoroughly enjoyed, I said to myself, "This is great." Soon after, I learned the many other aspects involved with this position.

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