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Majority of employees on job hunt
The new year could bring resignations aplenty, as more than 75 percent of employees are currently looking for new jobs, according to a poll released Dec. 19 by the Society for Human Resource Management and The Wall Street Journals CareerJournal.com.
That follows what already was a busy 2006. Surveyed HR professionals said that, on average, 12 percent of their organizations work forces resigned since the beginning of 2006.
While money was the top reason employees jumped ship—cited by 30 percent of employees and 40 percent of HR professionals—career advancement also was a significant factor. Twenty-seven percent of workers and 48 percent of HR pros said opportunities elsewhere were a prime reason for employees leaving.
U.S. workers praise the connected world
More Americans than ever stayed connected to the office while away this past holiday season, but not all were complaining about it.
According to a survey released Dec. 12 that was commissioned by Lexmark, “knowledge workers”—individuals who use a computer at work for word processing, database, spreadsheet, Internet or
e-mail applications—said they are more stressed at work than they were a few years ago, but they blame longer hours and not wireless technology. Though 61 percent of workers are committed to a 40-hour workweek, the majority said they work at least 5 hours more each week, with 10 percent reporting working an additional 20 hours weekly.
Even though workers acknowledged that their wireless devices are eroding the boundary between the office and their outside-work lives, the survey found them focusing more on the benefits than on the drawbacks.
Furthermore, in citing flexibility—working hours that suit them, their bosses or clients—nearly half said they had more of it than five years earlier, and those with more flexibility felt they were less stressed than their less-flexible counterparts.
CIOs eyeing bump in IT hiring in 2007
CIOs anticipate a rise in IT hiring in the first quarter of 2007, according to the IT Hiring and Skills Report released Dec. 11 by Robert Half Technology.
Sixteen percent of executives polled plan to add IT staff in the next three months and only 2 percent anticipate cutbacks. The expected net 14 percent hiring increase is the highest since the fourth quarter of 2001 and is up four percentage points from the previous quarters forecast.
CIOs cited a range of factors contributing to the anticipated increase in Q1 IT hiring. Thirty-five percent of CIOs reported business growth as the reason for the expected hiring increase, while 26 percent cited an increased demand for customer and user support professionals.
Twenty-one percent responded that the increased need for the installation or development of new enterprisewide applications was a primary factor driving IT hiring.