Using Social Media for Learning Gets Better Foothold in Workplace
Source: https://www.workforce.com
By Garry Kranz
Social learning may not yet be a mainstay of corporate training departments, although it’s more than a trend inside larger enterprises.
A Jan. 22 report from Bersin by Deloitte, an Oakland, California-based research firm formerly known as Bersin & Associates, says large employers are fueling increased adoption of social-learning tools, such as internal employee blogs, wikis and online expert communities. Enterprises with at least 10,000 employees spent an average of $46,000 on social tools in 2012, three times the average two years ago.
The uptick contributed to an overall spending jump of 12 percent on employee training last year, according to The Corporate Learning Factbook 2013: Benchmarks, Trends, and Analysis of the U.S. Training Market. The study is based on research involving 300 organizations of various sizes and industries.
Most U.S.-based employers use some type of social tool to facilitate greater employee learning, including internal blogs, wikis, subject-matter directories and “communities of practice,” in which employees develop and share their expertise, says Karen O’Leonard, a Bersin by Deloitte analyst who authored the report.
“The big challenge for learning and development professionals is to create a new mind-set of continuous learning, not thinking of social tools as one component within a specific program,” O’Leonard says.
Organizations using social tools face another near-term hurdle: how to seamlessly organize the increasing volume of user-generated content. “We expect content management will become a growing issue. The research shows that the most effective learning organizations have created a strategy for content management and knowledge sharing,” O’Leonard says.
This year’s report uses Bersin’s proprietary “maturity model,” which lets an organization benchmark its learning function based on four levels of effectiveness and business impact.
Most companies are not at the highest rung of maturity, but there is a marked difference between those that are highly mature and those that are still getting there, O’Leonard says. The most effective learning functions are less involved with program management and play an active role in developing long-range strategies.
“High-impact learning organizations have L&D professionals who are very adept at performance consulting and building the capabilities the organization will need in the future,” O’Leonard says, referring to learning and development. “They’re outsourcing noncore competencies and getting away from the business of delivering ad hoc training.”
Also, the manner in which companies spent their training dollars reflects the varying level of effectiveness and maturity. U.S. companies spent about 16 percent of their training budgets on outside learning services, products and consultants in 2012, up from 12 percent in 2009. In general, organizations spent less money on expensive customized training and opted instead to purchase commodity-priced vendor products, the report finds.
At organizations deemed highly mature, the inverse is true: they invested money in instructor-led custom content and assessment programs, with off-the-shelf training products a lower spending priority.
Other notable findings:
The 12 percent rise in training expenditures equates to about $706 per employee. However, companies at the top end of the maturity scale spent $867 per employee—34 percent higher than spending by companies at the lower maturity level.
Many companies beefed up their learning and development staff last year, but the gains were offset by faster growth in the number of employees receiving learning. That dynamic has led to a decline in the trainer-to-learner ratio at many companies and is “one sign of the changing role of the L&D function” from clearinghouse to facilitator.
Training spending increased the most in the technology and manufacturing sectors, which each posted year-over-year increases of 20 percentage points.
The 12 percent spending surge shows companies are reinvesting in skills development after a long period of financial instability, O’Leonard says.
Study reveals 10-point jump in employee engagement
Source: https://eba.benefitnews.com
By Tristan Lejeune
Employee engagement has risen in the past year, according to Temkin Group research announced Wednesday, and those companies with highly engaged employees are reaping meaningful rewards in terms of personnel and profit.
Temkin researchers say engaged employees are three times as likely to suggest improvements to a firm than those who aren’t engaged and twice as likely to do something positive for the company, even if it’s not expected of them. They are also twice as likely to stay late at work to get something done or help a coworker without being asked; a highly engaged worker is reportedly more than six times as likely to recommend a friend or relative apply for a job.
The study indicates that three-quarters of employees with companies with markedly above-average financial performance are at least moderately engaged. For employers with subpar financial results, it’s less than half.
The best news: engagement is up. After tabulating results from surveys of approximately 2,400 full-time U.S. employees from August of last year compared to August 2011, Temkin reports that 57% are moderately or highly engaged, up from 47%.
“It may not show up on any balance sheet, but a highly engaged workforce is one of the most valuable assets that an organization can possess,” says Bruce Temkin, a customer experience expert and managing partner of Temkin Group.
Small businesses fare better in the research than the very large — 60% of the populations at companies with 100 or fewer workers are engaged, versus 46% at companies with 10,000 or more employees. Travel and retail firms have the lowest engagement levels; professional services firms and construction companies have the highest.
Temkin says the most engaged employees trend toward older, male, college-educated and African-American. Forty-six percent of individual contributors are moderately or highly engaged, as are 75% of senior executives.
Training, Benefits Can Bring Millennials Around
Source: United Benefit Advisors
Maybe it's an age thing.
An annual survey by the Center for Professional Excellence notes that the perceived professionalism of entry-level (and thus usually younger) workers by their managers has slipped during the past five years, with about 45 percent of those polled saying their employees' work ethic has worsened, according to a report by Workforcemagazine. Respondents cited a "too-casual" view of work (87 percent), workers not being self-starters (72 percent) and "a lack of ownership in one's work" (69 percent).
The survey reflects an emerging trend that poses a tough challenge to HR professionals: how to encourage "millennials" -- today's youngest workers -- to adapt and succeed within a company's business culture.
The first step, according to Joel Gross of Coalition Technologies, is to train young workers from the start on what is to be expected in their jobs. Aaron McDaniel, an author and millennial himself, agrees.
"We haven't necessarily been taught how to be successful in a working environment," McDaniel told Workforce.
Creating a strong line of communication about expectations is only part of the equation when trying to elevate the performance of millennials. As with most employees, compensation can serve as a strong motivator for millennials, as well.
After seeing wages stagnate during the recent economic recession, today's young workers say they prefer guaranteed salary increases over benefits -- a shift from employees who came before them -- according to a recent study by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE). In prior studies, medical insurance benefits topped the list for young workers as the most important form of compensation, according to Edwin Koc, a director at NACE.
"We've basically asked the same question since 2007 and far and away, employer-paid medical insurance was the No. 1 benefit that they were seeking," Koc said in a FOX Business report. "[Now] they want to be assured that their starting salary is not going to be what they have for the next five years, but that they can actually move up a little bit."
While salary is always a major factor in compensation discussions, employers should be diligent about educating workers about the value of other employer-sponsored benefits, experts say. This includes the importance of health coverage (even for young and seemingly healthy workers), retirement plan options and even tuition reimbursement, if the company offers it.
Employers also should be open-minded if millennials make suggestions about new benefits that would work for them, said Tracy McCarthy, chief HR officer at SilkRoad.
"I appreciate when employees ask this and I take it as an opportunity to help less-seasoned employees understand business financial concepts and how benefits play into the equation," McCarthy told FOX Business. "Most employees expect and appreciate transparency."
Extended absences put small, mid-size companies at risk
Source: https://eba.benefitnews.com
By Tristan Lejeune
Disability insurance experts with the Guardian Life Insurance Company are in the final stages of developing an index for measuring and predicting the success of companies’ absence management programs in conjunction with their short-term and long-term disability. Guardian’s Andrew Hutchison, assistant vice president of group life and disability products, and Judy Buczek, manager of group disability products, are taking the opportunity to encourage small and mid-size employers who haven’t yet implemented absence management to do so.
“Absence management is not new, but it’s really kind of a large-case concept," Buczek says. "Larger employers understand the importance of managing absenteeism, but it’s just as important for mid-size and smaller employers. And actually, they’re usually the folks who don’t have access to the type of tools they need to manage a program. ... We're trying to help employers recognize the need for absence management programs, and also to help bring some of those programs downstream to the smaller employers."
Hutchison recommends that every company explore their absence management options, especially those without enough human resources personnel to dedicate exclusively to the cause. “To outsource” a coordinated, umbrella approach to reining in absenteeism and long-term disability, he says, may seem like a big expense, but it “really becomes a cost-saving measure, and it takes away a lot of the worry.” Small companies, he says, are particularly vulnerable to extended absences.
“These days, everyone is asked to do two jobs,” Hutchison says. “So having a person out, really, really has an impact on the organization today. Getting people back to work sooner … really does impact the bottom line.”
To that end, Buczek says, Guardian is planning a spring release for its Absence Management Activity Index Report and Tool.
“It’s an employer tool that they can use to find out the effectiveness of what they have in place,” she says. “We’ve done some research on our existing plan holders, both large and small, and we’ve looked at what type of programs they have in place, from wellness to a seamless FMLA program to an STD/LTD program and we said, ‘OK, what programs work the best and what are most effective at managing absences?’ It’s geared toward making sure that the appropriate tools are put in place.”
Leadership and Employee Engagement
By: Peter Freska
I recently climbed Mount Everest! Well, in actuality it was a simulation put together in partnership with Harvard Business School Publishing that I completed with a team. As the outline reads:
“You and four other team members will attempt to summit Mount Everest in this collaborative multi-player simulation. There are five camps or checkpoints along the route to the Summit (top) of Mt. Everest. At each camp, team members analyze information on weather, health conditions, supplies, goals, or hiking speed, and determine how much of that information to communicate to their teammates.”
Now, it is not likely that most of us will ever climb Mount Everest - but that is one of the compelling pieces to this simulation. How many of us will be put into a situation where the decisions of those around us could have life or death consequences? Or more importantly, how many of us might be put in a leadership position with life or death consequences. From squad leader to general, our military leaders understand this position and so does someone that has led a Mount Everest summit. But what about the rest of us? How do we learn to be great leaders? What are the qualities of a great leader?
There are so many questions and so many people with answers. Several years ago I attended a luncheon with keynote speaker, the late-great General Norman Schwarzkopf (Ret.). He explained that with all his military career achievements, he cannot pinpoint the one characteristic that makes a great leader. However, he did say that, “When in charge, take charge.”
In today’s work environment, we have unprecedented opportunity that comes with responsibility. We grew up with our parents and grandparents telling us that we need to carve out our piece of the world. What they didn’t tell us is that we need to know when to change course. Peter Drucker wrote in his article, Managing Oneself (Harvard Business Review, Best of HBR 1999), that, “Success in the knowledge economy comes to those who know themselves – their strengths, their values and how best they perform.” Drucker also outlined the following questions to be answered of oneself:
1. “What are my strengths?”
2. “How do I work?”
3. “What are my values?”
4. “Where do I belong?”
5. “What can I contribute?”
So, what does all of this have to do with employee benefits? PPACA, HIPAA, ERISA and a host of other acronyms flood the over stimulated world we live in. But what are the things that really matter? Credibility of a leader starts with being honest, forward-looking, inspiring, competent, and intelligent (Credibility, Kouzes and Posner, 2011). These are the things that matter. And unless these characteristics are established at the leadership level, employees will not be engaged. My partner, Holly Parsons, wrote in a previous blog that many employees do not feel connected and a recent study found that “only 29% of employees are fully engaged.” How does this affect productivity? To be direct, lack of engagement ruins productivity. This holds true with employee benefits. If they do not see the value, then there is no benefit. If the leadership team views benefits as a necessary evil, or as purely an expense – well, then I would refer them back to the five questions that Peter Drucker asked. I would also direct them to Kouzes and Posner’s book, Credibility. It starts at the top, and in today’s world it also starts with each of us – for leadership is a lifelong process.
As for my Mount Everest experience, it was great! We learned about ourselves, our communication styles and team dynamics. And yes, my Team was the only team that made it to the summit - all together as a “real team.”