“Vacation is what you take when you can’t take what you’ve been taking any longer”

Author Unknown

Most of the executives I coach are pretty stretched individuals. Now and then I get a few who tell me they really “thrive” on stress and don’t really need a vacation or a break from work. These are the same executives who tell me they function well on little sleep.  These are the same “Type A” executives who tend to “give stress” to others.

It seems we are all be asked to work more with less resources in this globally competitive world of ours. Getting away ain’t what it used to be.

Current research shows about 90 percent of U.S. employers offer vacation. Typically in the US employees receive about nine days of paid vacation and six paid holidays, a total of 15 days off per year. Approximately 28 million Americans don’t get any paid vacation or paid holidays. Entrepreneurs and small business owners have heard of the concept of vacations or have watched others experience this personally.

As they say, you really can’t take it with you….unless you travel like I do and see business and family travelers try to stuff oversized bags into airline compartments not made to handle them–much to the annoyance of all of us. Being stretched at work also seems to spill over to stress at home, at least from some new research that is accumulating.

Results of a new study from the University of Maryland confirm what working parents already know — the expanded work week is undermining family life. In a study of over 500 employees in a Fortune 500 company, researchers concluded that long hours at work significantly increase work-family conflict and that this conflict is associated with increases stress and depression (regardless of how flexible an employee’s schedule was or how much help they had at home for child care).

In case anyone hasn’t noticed, some major career paradigm shifts continue to influence the value struggle between employers’ needs and employees’ wants. Job security has been replaced by employability security, organizational loyalty has been replaced by job/task loyalty, and linear career paths have been replaced by alternative career paths. It is no coincidence that when reviewing characteristics of the “Best Companies” in America, we find a shift to those that are indeed “family friendly.”

Vacation Factoids:

• In a 2002 poll by Reston, Virginia based TrueCareers, more than 70% of workers do not think there is a healthy balance between work and their personal lives. More than 50% of the 1,626 respondents reported they are exploring new career opportunities because of the inability to manage both work and family stressors.
• In a comparative survey by Atlanta-based staffing firm Randstad North America, in the year 2000, 54% rated family the most important priority compared to almost 70% in 2002.
• For working professional women it is not unusual stop out of work (“off ramping) to care for children, parents or other family demands. In fact, in a recent study by Sylvia Ann Hewlett and Carolyn Buck Luce published in Harvard Business Review on differences in “off ramping” found that 44% women reported leaving the “fast lane” for “family time” compared with only 12% of men.
• According to a Family and Work Institute study conducted in 2000, over 16% of employees bring work home at least once a week—up from 6% in 1977.
• According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average American man today works 100 more hours a year than he did in the 1970s with women working 200 more hours (Cornell University economist Robert Frank) The average woman works 200 more hours.
• The typical American sleeps one to two hours less a night than his or her parents did (two hours or more less sleep than you need significantly effects memory, decision making, mood and psychomotor skills.
• Men are still more likely than women in US companies to work more than 40 hours per week. However, men are more likely than women to not take allotted vacation time. On average, Americans leave at least four days unclaimed annually.
• What makes these work/family issues more striking is that working hours in other countries are flat or even declining. For example, France recently enacted a 35-hour work week and mandatory vacations for all employees. The standard work week in Belgium and Norway is Monday through Friday, 37.5 hours, and cannot exceed 40 hours. The French also are provided 30 days of vacation time, unlimited sick days and full child care.
• According to the International Labor Organization, as of 2000, Americans are working more hours than the Japanese (1,966 hours per year compared to 1,889) and to every European country surveyed.

Keep in mind that in the old days, vacation was often considered a luxury, but in today’s world it seems like it has become a necessity….Hope you have a relaxful end of the year vacation if you can fit it in….Be well….

Technorati Tags: vacation, holidays, work hours, work/life balance, stress, burnout, work hours, sleep, fatigue, Ken Nowack, Envisia, Envisia Learning, Kenneth Nowack

HOT READS FOR THE PRACTIONER

Title: The Best Business Books of 2008

Competency: self-development

Who benefits: you

Consultant Usage: self-development and references

What’s it about? I am declaring today a holiday for everyone who reads business books.  FastCompany.com put together a slide show of the 10 best business books for 2008.  As an avid reader it feels like a present to me, so I am making it a gift to you.  Check it out.  And keep a pen and piece of paper handy so you can write down your favorites. 

I am planning on reading 5 or 6.  Hope you find at least one or two that “speak” to you. 

Enjoy. 

Catch you later.

Technorati Tags: innovation, creativity, design, sustainability, technology, advertising and marketing, global business, bill bradley, william bradley, bradley

“I’m not asleep… but that doesn’t mean I’m awake”

Author Unknown

We all seem to be working longer and harder with health, sleep and mood being affected.

Research by Sylvia Ann-Hewlett and Caroyl Luce show that 62% of high earning individuals work more than 50 hours per week, 35% work more than 60 hours a week and 10% work more than 80 hours¹. Their findings suggest that more than 70% of professionals reported not getting enough sleep.

Our own research with our stress and health assessment called StressScan allows us to also take a look at just how sleep deprived talent today is.  One of the scales is called Sleep/Rest and is measures both quantity and quality of sleep.  In a recent analysis of over 686 leaders, approximately 30% reported receiving less sleep than required because they stayed up too late or had to get up too early.  Almost 30% reported that they had difficulty falling or staying asleep that also resulted in a sleep deficit.  I guess there is nothing like a third or more of our work force coming to work sleep deprived–I just hope these employees aren’t flying my planes, operating my nuclear plants, performing my surgeries or making critical decisions that impact my health and welfare.

Leaders and others know that the sleep-deprived are significantly more moody, miserable and just not much fun to be around. New research from UC Berkeley using MRI technology helps explain why for the first time.

The study is the first to show exactly what areas of the brain are affected by sleep deprivation².

In the UC Berkeley study of 26 young adults, half of the subjects were kept awake for 35 hours straight and the other half were allowed a normal night’s sleep in that same time period. Then all of the subjects were hooked up to an MRI and shown a number of images while the researchers monitored what happened in their brains as each image was shown.

The sleep-deprived subjects had a significant activity in the amygdala (the section of the brain that puts the body on alert to protect itself and control emotions) and simultaneously activity slowed down in the prefrontal cortex, which controls logical reasoning. However, subjects who had gotten a full night of sleep showed normal brain activity.

Americans are among the most sleep-deprived people in the world with 40% of Americans getting less than seven hours of sleep a night, according to a 2005 poll conducted by the National Sleep Foundation, and 75% reported having some sort of sleep disorder one or two nights a week (http://www.sleepfoundation.org/).

What this means for most people is that a sleepless night or very poor quality of sleep can cause employees to overreact to emotional challenges that they would otherwise be able to tolerate without any trouble. In research from my colleague and friend Dr. Mark Rosekind of Alertness Solutions has shown that just a few hours of sleep less than you need has a significant impact on mood, psychomotor function and memory even if you believe you are functioning at 100%.

So, look out if you have sleep deprived talent and leaders who lack emotional intelligence — their amygdala already is compromised….Be well…

Technorati Tags: insomnia, sleep, fatigue, depression, sleep disorders, fatigue countermeasures, REM, NREM, circadian rhythms, stress, health, job burnout, kenneth nowack, ken nowack, nowack

1. Hewlett, A. & Luce, C. (2006). Extreme jobs. The danagerous allure of the 70-hour workweek. Harvard Business Review, December 2006, pp. 1-12 [↩]
2. Yoo, S., Gujar,N., Hu,P., Jolesz, F., & and Walker, M. (2007). The human emotional brain without sleep — a prefrontal amygdala disconnect. Current Biology. Vol 17, R877-R878, 23 October 2007 [↩]

HOT READS FOR THE PRACTIONER

Title: Get Rid of the Performance Review!

Competencies: performance management, performance appraisal

Who benefits: managers/supervisors, employees, organization

Consultant Usage: organizational development and human resource development

What’s it about?  One of my least favorite authors has written a short article about one of my least favorite topics.  Oddly, the results are favorable.

The author is arrogant and presumptuous.  The topic is distasteful.  Yet the end result is something I have advocated for over three decades (yes arrogant author, you are far from the first to think of this topic).  

The topic is performance reviews/appraisals.  They don’t work.  Never have.  And at the risk of being labeled “lazy”, let me quote the author who nails it in this provocative paragraph:

“To my way of thinking, a one-side-accountable, boss-administered review is little more than a dysfunctional pretense. It’s a negative to corporate performance, an obstacle to straight-talk relationships, and a prime cause of low morale at work. Even the mere knowledge that such an event will take place damages daily communications and teamwork.”

He goes on to list a host of reasons why performance appraisals fail.  Most of his reasoning is valid, although he shows some real sloppiness when writes about “the contemporary performance-reviewing fad called ‘360-degree feedback’.”  Most folks who understand “360-degree feedback” know it works best as a developmental tool, not as an appraisal tool.  And “360” has been around for over 20 years, which is a lot of longevity for a “fad”.

His solution is a good one.  Performance previews.  Sit-downs to discuss the future and the mutual responsibilities both parties.  Focus on the future, which is, after all, the only time zone we can do anything about.  It is also the only place that both parties are likely to get a real mutual agreement.

If you like the concept of the article, there is an excellent book that has been around since 2000 called Abolishing Performance Appraisals: Why They Backfire and What to Do Instead, which is reasoned, thoughtful, and well researched.  I highly recommend it if you are interested in the topic.

If you read either, would be very interested in your thoughts.

Catch you later.

Technorati Tags: performance review, performance appraisal, performance management, feedback, coaching, performance previews, bill bradley, william bradley, bradley

“Grief can take care of itself, but to get the full value of a joy you must have somebody to divide it with.”

Mark Twain

After being laied off, employees were 35% less likley than before to become actively involved or participate in church, community groups, and charitable organizations.  And, not many returned after they found a new position.

Investigators from UCLA and the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor conducted the study based on 4,373 participants in the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study¹. The Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (WLS) has tracked a group of 1957 Wisconsin high school graduates for more than 45 years, gathering detailed information on their IQs, education, careers, psychological well-being, family and social lives.  

Social connection and support, both work-related and home/family/friend plays a prominent role as protective factor for many health related variables.  It’s a very challenging variable to really study as it can involve many aspects such as the source of received support, type of support (emotional or instrumental), enacted or received, utility of the support system and overall satisfaction with support received.

In our own research on the importance of social support and health using our Social Support scale from our StressScan assessment, we have found that change in one’s support network can impact both physical health and psychological well-being including our immune system ². 

We have tried to carefully construct a measure of social support within StressScan that measures 3 very unique aspects of this complicated concept:

• Availability of support from five different sources (boss/supervisor, others at work, spouse/partner, family members/relatives, friends)
• Use of the network system (either provided or received)
• Satisfaction with each in meeting your needs (informational, instrumental, emotional

We also assess the source of support because your use and satisfaction with each may be quite different:

• Immediate boss or supervisor
• Other colleagues or people at work
• Spouse, partner, lover or significant other
• Family members or relatives
• Friends

A high score on this scale suggests a global evaluation of having an adequate support network that you utilize and feel a sense of satisfaction with it.

It would appear that losing a job can not only be a career set back but also impact involvement and social connectiveness which, in turn, can impact our physical health and well-being.

Want to find out about your own social support network?  Contact us for a free trial of StressScan at support@envisialearning.com   Be well…..

Technorati Tags: StressScan, talent development, executive coaching, performance, layoff, social support, mastery, expertise, kenneth nowack, ken nowack, nowack, envisia, deliberate practice

1. Brand, Jennie E. and Sarah A. Burgard. Forthcoming: Social Forces (2008). Effects of Job Displacement on Social Participation: Findings over the Life Course of a Cohort of Joiners [↩]
2. Schwartz, G.E., Schwartz, J.I., Nowack, K.M., & Eichling, P.S. (1992). Changes in perceived stress and social support over time are related to changes in immune function. University of Arizona and Canyon Ranch. Unpublished manuscript [↩]

HOT READS FOR THE PRACTIONER

Title: What Got You Here Won’t Get You There

Competencies: self-development, career development, coaching, talent management

Who benefits: motivated individuals, manager/supervisors who coach, professional coaches

Consultant Usage: excellent resource for professional coaches or talent management consultants

What’s it about?  It is never too early to make New Year’s resolution.  Especially if you don’t plan to keep it.  Get it out of the way early.   And according to USA Today, the average New Year’s resolution lasts about 3 days, so why wait to make that all important resolution?

In keeping with the general theme of change that I have been writing about for the past couple of months, let me suggest a personal change resolution.   With all the changes happening in the outside world (economy, political, environment…), how about preparing yourself to change with the times?  If I were still an active full-time employee or consultant, I would in a heartbeat.  I would do anything I could to maximize my flexibility in these times of uncertainty. 

I would take the advice of two friends.  One says “position yourself for opportunity”.  The other recommends a specific public program on dealing with the intrapersonal side of change.  Today I am passing that program on to you for your consideration and as a possible New Year’s resolution. 

The program is What Got You Here Won’t Get You There.  The presenter is Marshall Goldsmith.  The course is based on his book of the same name.  Can’t make the course, at least read the book.  The program will only be offered three times next year (the late year one will be in November or December in San Francisco – the date may not have been announced yet).

You can check out Dr. Goldsmith at his website.   It is quite impressive. 

Or you can settle for my summary: The Economist calls him one of the most credible leaders in the modern era of leadership; Forbes calls him one of the five most respected executive coaches in the world; Wall Street Journal calls him one of the 10 best executive educators; and Business Week calls him one of the most influential practitioners in the history of leadership development.  The book mentioned above is one of the all time best sellers in the business category. 

His goal in the course is to get you to change.  He wants you to understand what is getting in your way to moving closer to your ultimate goals.  He wants you to identify the poor work habits and unconscious behaviors that currently keep you in place.  Then, and only then, he wants you to develop a positive, long-range strategy to get you to your destination.  Others do the same thing, but apparently no one does it better. 

If you know you can’t get to his program, or your organization is being short-sighted and not investing in people during this downturn, you can catch Dr. Goldsmith on a You-Tube video courtesy of the good folks at Google.

If I could only go to one program next year, this is the one I would go to.

PS: if you are of the mindset that you are okay, it is all them others out there who need to change, Dr. Goldsmith is presenting The Manager as Coach: Promoting High Performance in 8 locations (including Los Angeles) in the US and Europe next year.  But be warned, the first 25% of his program is devoted to changing you.  In the end, it all comes back to YOU, doesn’t it?

Catch you later.

Technorati Tags: intrapersonal skills, change, managing self, career development, career, careers, leadership, coaching, the manager as coach, executive coaching, Marshall Goldsmith, bill bradley, william bradley, bradley

“Stress is nothing more than a socially acceptable form of mental illness”

Richard Carlson

News alert (in case you might have not known already) — Work-related stress can be a direct cause of clinical depression and anxiety among employees.

In our own personal stress and health assessment called StressScan we measure the hard driving, competitive and achievement oriented Type A behavior as one of the major scales. The majority of working professionals composing our extensive norm group (62.7%) report they tend to be hard driving and competitive at work and play and 49.4% report they feel hurried and pressured for time all of the time or most of the time. Finally, 44.4% report that their activites and schedule push them to be as busy and active as possible stretching them to their limits of their energy and capacity most or all the time.

A recent finding in Psychological Medicine finding comes from the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study, which has followed a group of 1000 children born in 1972-73 in Dunedin, New Zealand throughout their lives. The study subjects have been assessed at the ages of 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 18, 26, and most recently at the age of 32, in 2004-05.

The study included 406 women and 485 men. All were asked at age 32 about their perceptions of work stress. In general, men reported higher psychological job demands, lower social support, and higher physical job demands than women.

High psychological job demands, such as long hours, heavy workload, or poor relations with one’s boss, were found to be significantly associated with clinical depression, anxiety, or both in both women and men.

It was found that women who reported high psychological job demands (using a standard approach to measuring work load and decisional control over things on the job), such as working long hours, working under pressure or without clear direction, were 75 per cent more likely to suffer from clinical depression or general anxiety disorder than women who reported the lowest level of psychological job demands.

Men with high psychological job demands were 80 per cent more likely to suffer from depression or anxiety disorders than men with lower demands. Men with low levels of social support at work were also found to be at increased risk of depression, anxiety or both.

This study shows that high levels of workplace stress may be an important contributor to common mental disorders, such as depression and anxiety. These disorders certainly contribute directly to employer costs for medical claims, absenteeis, presenteeism and disability.

It’s seems so easy to just suggest individually based remedies to help employees cope more effectively with stress on the job. However, a recent review of stress management interventions suggests that inidivudally based approaches, without targeting the organization, are unlikely to have sustain impact over time¹.

Looking for a place to start?

In his book Primal Leadership, Dan Goleman states “Roughly 50 to 70 percent of how employees perceive their organizational climate can be traced to the actions of one person: the leader. More than anyone else, the boss, creates the conditions that determine people’s ability to work well.”

If that doesn’t work, there is always the Serenity Prayer….Be well….

Technorati Tags: stress, burnout, job demands, anxiety, depression, workload, pressure, ken nowack, envisia, kenneth nowack, StressScan, Envisia Learining 

1. Nowack, K. (2000). Occupational stress management: Effective or not?. In P. Schnall, K. Belkie, P. Landensbergis, & D. Baker (Eds.), Occupational Medicine: State of the Art Reviews, Hanley and Belfus, Inc., Philadelphia, PA., Vol 15, No. 1, pp. 231-233 [↩]

“I have to exercise in the morning before my brain figures out what I’m doing.”

Marsha Doble

Do you ever wonder if leaders are losing their mind based on the stupid decisions or actions they tend to make? Maybe the phrase “losing it” really has some scientific backing.

Indeed, all of us actually start to lose brain tissue as early as our third decade.

Maybe just working out will make you smarter.

Our own research with our personal stress and health risk assessment StressScan suggests that 51.9% of our large US data base of professional working adults report spending at least 20-30 minutes daily (23.1% report never).  And, 29.6% reported never or rarely spending their leisure time participating in physical activities.

A 2003 study at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign suggests that people who exercise lose brain tissue more slowly. Arthur Kramer, Ph.D. studying adults between the ages of 58 to 78 found that 6 months of regular aerobic activity altered the middle frontal and superior parietal regions of the brain (responsible for concentration).

Kramer used MRI tests to show that those who exercised had denser brains than those who were inactive. It seems that leaders who are physically active lose brain tissue more slowly¹.

A very recent recent study revealed that individuals who exercised for 6 months showed a significant increase in brain tissue responsible for higher level functioning like planning, goal setting and multitasking².

In this study, one group just walked three days a week for 45 minutes and the other control group did non-aerobic stretching exercises. After six months, MRI tests confirmed that the exercise group had a significant increase in the prefrontal and temporal cortices – areas that show considerable age-related deterioration – incurred the greatest gains from aerobic exercise.

Based on these studies showing increased plasticity of the brain of leaders, aerobic activities are preferred over pushing your weight around, side stepping that issue, leaning on your top performer or jumping to conclusions.

You gotta love Nike’s slogan….Be well….

Technorati Tags: fitness, physical activity, StressScan, exercise, brain plasticity, brain tissue, cognition, executive decision making, ken nowack, kenneth nowack

1. Colcombe, S., Erickson, K., Raz, N., Webb, A., Cohen, N., McAuley, E. & Kramer, A. (2003). Aerobic fitness reduces brain tissue loss in aging humans. Journal of Gerontology: Biological Sciences. 58, 176-180 [↩]
2. Columbe, S., Erickson, K., Scalf, P., Kim, J., Prakash, R., McAuley, E., Ekavsky, S., Marquez, L, & Kramer, A. (2006). Aerobic exercise training increases brain volume in aging humans. Journal of Gerontology: Biological Sciences. 61, 1166-1170 [↩]

HOT READS FOR THE PRACTIONER

Title: The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less

Competencies: self development, time management, decision making

Who benefits: individuals with an open mind and a slightly philosophical bent

Consultant Usage: limited use for coaches and time management trainers

What’s it about? A few weeks ago I did a posting about time management.  I am wise enough to know I don’t always use my time wisely.  Being mostly retired I have a very short daily to-do list.  Yet I still have an occasional nagging feeling that I waste more time than I should.

I still love a line from that old business movie “How to Get Control of Your Time and Your Life” based on Alan Lakein’s book of the same title.  The line was/is “What is the best use of your time right now?”

With the above paragraphs as a preamble I stumbled across a marvelous book the other day.  It was a serendipitous moment of delight.  I intended to skim the book, but I could not put it down.  Several hours later I had gained some excellent insight into how I consistently get bogged down in agonizing over decisions not worth my time. 

This book proposes we have too many choices in our lives.  We have assumed that having more choices is good and that more choices in life lead to greater satisfaction.  Not so argues the author.  If fact more choices lead us to time wasting, decision paralysis, anxiety, and stress.

I love how he sets up the book, although I think he over does it a little.  He begins with some common, everyday examples.  He goes to a grocery store and counts the choices we have for various everyday items.  How many breakfast cereals we can choose from.  How many shampoos we can select from.  He observes how people stand in an aisle and agonize over which cereal to buy, which shampoo to purchase.

He tells a story on himself about going into a store to buy a pair of jeans and after determining his size, he must chose from about 15 different styles.  But all I wanted was a pair of regular old jean, he says (I paraphrase).

Reminds me of sitting down to watch television.  Endless choices and probably very few worth watching.  But how much wasted time do I spend considering my choices?

The book has far more depth than the opening stories.  In the end it all about our psychological and emotional well being.  And after convincing us (well, me anyway) that being overwhelmed with choice can have a negative effect on our health, he offers 11 suggestions to help us make more manageable the choices in our life, how to simplify our life.  

I don’t know if I have done the book enough credit.  I loved it.  I recommend it with a big smile on my face.  I urge you to read it…but the paradox is, of course, the choice is yours.

Catch you later.

Technorati Tags: paradox, choice, decision-making, stress, simplicity, emotional well being, psychological well being, less is more, bill bradley, william bradley,   bradley

“There’s a world of difference between truth and facts.  Facts can obscure the truth.”

Maya Angelou

The leadership and talent management “facts” just keep coming. In fact (no pun intended), thanks to some readers, I now have even more to share with you!  

1. Hay Group, a global management consulting firm in a recent study discovered that among 75 key components “trust and confidence in top leadership” was the single most reliable predictor of employee satisfaction.

2. A recent survey of more than 300 small businesses conducted by the management consulting firm Six Disciplines Corporation found that the number one characteristic setting apart high and low performing companies was the strength of the senior leadership.  The second most common trait shared by successful small businesses was the ability to attract and retain quality talent and keep those working satisfied.

3. Data from the 2006 market study “High Potential Leadership Selection and Development” Institute of Executive Development and RHR International Question #5 revealed: “Which of the following characteristics/abilities do you think are most important for your organization’s future leaders to posses?  1) Strategic Thinking/Ability to Develop Others 50%; 2) Business Acumen/Knowledge 38%; 3) Ability to Manage Organizational Change/Relationship Building 29%; 4) Cross Cultural/Cross National Understanding 18%; and 6) Ability to manage the performance of others 17%.

4. More than half of global executives wish they could start over in a different career according to a recent 2007 survey by search firm Korn/Ferry.  People define their work as a job, career or calling—we are lucky if what we wind up doing is truly our “calling.”

5. According to RHR International, 40% to 60% of high level corporate executives brought in from outside a company will fail within 2 years based on their 2006 analysis of clients.  Those who do fail most often derail quickly sometime between 7 to 9 months in the job.

6. Last year there were 28,058 executive turnovers including board members and executives from CEO down to VP a 68% increase over 2006 according to Liberum Research analysis of North American public companies—of those 44% of the positions were filled from outside the company.

7. At large companies, chief financial officers are turning over at a rate of 22% a year according to Russell Reynolds Associates because CFOs are under extreme pressure in the regime of Sarbanes-Oxley and they are the face of the company to Wall Street.

8. In a recent Gallup Management Journal, 59% of employees in the US reported “not being engaged” and 14% were “actively disengaged” which Gallup describes as “undermining what their engaged coworkers accomplish.”

9. ISR 2007 research study reported that five of the largest Asia-Pacific economies including Australia, China, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand were included in the study of more than 3,000 “top talent”.  The study revealed that the region is full of “talent at risk” staff and Malaysia has the largest proportion (47%) of employees that define themselves as either disillusioned or actively disengaged.  Singapore ranked second with 40% followed by the other countries above 30%.

10. In recent Gallup survey, 80% of British workers reported that they lack commitment to their jobs with 25% being disengaged compared to only 12% in France. In Singapore, 17% of the talent reported being “actively disengaged” at work.

10. ISR also found that 88% of at-risk staff in China indicated they would leave their current positions while 92% of Australians and 95% of Singapore’s talent at risk planned to leave.

11. 81% of executives consider employee retention an important business priority compared to 41% in 2007 (Annual emploee turnoversurvey of more than 600 organizations TalentKeepers Inc.

12. According to a recent 2008 survey of 16,237 U.S. workers by Marietta, Ga.-based consultancy Leadership IQ, 47% of high performers are actively looking for new jobs, by posting and submitting their resumes and even going to interviews. Compare that to only 18 percent of identified low performers who say they are looking for new jobs, and 25 percent of middle performers who are actively searching, according to the findings.

All in all, emotions and attitudes might be more important than “facts”….Be well….

Technorati Tags: talent management, succession planning, coaching, executive coaching, executive development, surveys, kenneth nowack, ken nowack, nowack