Author

Deb Perelman

BlackBerry Backlash: ‘Always On’ Is Overrated

Ask a “CrackBerry” fiend if they resent feeling tied to the office when they’ve finally gotten away and most likely they’ll tell you it’s not a ball-and-chain — it makes them more productive, flexible and, in the end, more successful. But a study released today by Digital Life America, suggests that the tide might actually […]

Where Does the Day Go?

Its 2 p.m. and you have (theoretically) been at work for five hours, and you’ve gotten almost nothing checked off on your to-do list. How does this happen? Where did the time go? Well, a survey released on Feb. 16 by the staffing firm OfficeTeam, says you know where the time went — you squandered […]

Hire Well and Ye Shall Prosper

There is no shortage of conversations across human resources, workplace and talent management publications focused on the difficulties of hiring and retaining the most competitive workers, but few have warned of the consequences as sharply and clearly as a report issued by Watson Wyatt, a global consulting firm, on Feb.14: If you overlook the importance […]

Employee Retention Edges Up on Employers Agendas

Though health care cost continued its eight-year reign at the top of the annual agendas of employers, employee retention edged up to the second spot, as well as retirement benefits, according to a survey released Feb. 15 by New York-based Deloitte Consulting and the International Society of Certified Employee Benefit Specialists, a nonprofit educational association. […]

Your Female Co-workers Are Full of Germs

Just in time for a day of romance and chivalry, a study released Feb. 14 by researchers at the University of Arizona and the Clorox Co. advises men to forget the flowers and chocolates on Valentine’s Day and instead “buy her disinfectant.” Yes, they actually went “there.” According to the results of this study, bacteria […]

SAP Skills Pay Off Big for IT Pros

Pay for non-certified IT skills grew 8 percent in 2006, while pay for certified skills showed flat growth, according to the most recent edition of the Hot Technical Skills and Certification Pay Index released Feb. 12 by New Canaan, Conn., IT workforce research firm Foote Partners. “Though there was an increase in certified pay in […]

Cubicle Cupids No Longer Covert

Nearly four in 10 workers would consider dating a co-worker, the same number have actually done so and one-quarter of these romances have led to marriage, finds a survey released by Spherion, a recruiting and staffing firm, on Jan. 29. “The results of this survey confirm what we know intuitively—that many workers find opportunities for […]

Report: IT Service Jobs to Take Biggest Offshoring Hit

While the loss of service jobs to offshoring in the near future will be modest, metropolitan areas with large concentrations of IT and back-office jobs will be harder hit, finds a report released Feb. 12 by the Brookings Institution, a Washington-based independent research group. Noting that public fervor and coverage of offshoring has noticeably died […]

Bridging the CEO-CIO Gap

The CEO-CIO relationship has been characterized as everything from an enormously uncomfortable marriage to square pegs versus round holes to irreconcilable differences. Although making light banter about these notoriously touchy relationships is guaranteed to get everyone to crack a smile while sitting around a boardroom table, like most jokes, theyre funny because theyre somewhat true. […]

U.S. Lags in Worker Protections

U.S. policies to ensure decent working conditions for families still lag behind those of other high-income countries, according to a new study by McGill Universitys Institute for Health and Social Policy. In studying 173 countries, IHSP Director Dr. Jody Heymann found that 168 (97 percent) guarantee paid maternal leave, with 98 (57 percent) of them […]