Saturday, March 22, 2008
Saturday, March 8, 2008
Summary for case studies
1) The Drivers of Employee Engagement
Engagement has clear overlaps with the more exhaustively researched concepts of commitment and organizational citizenship behaviors, but there are also differences.
In particular, engagement is two-way: organizations must work to engage the employee, who in turn has a choice about the level of engagement to offer the employer.
The organization must work to develop and nurture engagement, which requires a two-way relationship between employer and employee.’
Twelve attitude statements representing engagement were tested; all were found to ‘sit together’ reliably, to comprise a single indicator of engagement.
The IES engagement model illustrates the strong link between feeling valued and involved and engagement.
SOURCE : Robinson D, Perryman S, Hayday, April 2004
2) Employee health & well-being
Employee health and well-being programmes are increasingly moving up the HR agenda as a means of improving staff morale and engagement as well as reducing sickness absence.
By providing company-paid private medical insurance, employers aim to help staff recover and return to work as soon as possible following illness or an accident.
Our special feature gives details after examining cost containment methods, eligibility criteria, benefit levels, terms of cover and claims administration.
Smoking in the workplace represents a health risk, can increase employers’ costs, presents a poor company image and can lead to resentment between staff who smoke and those who don't.
Our second feature article looks at the design and implementation of smoking policies, in the light of forthcoming government legislation.
SOURCE : IDS HR Studies Update 823, June 2006
3) Employees Wellness Program
Creating a workplace culture that encourages employee engagement at all levels.
Integrating Mercy’s values and mission through educational offerings that continue to improve the knowledge and skills of colleagues;
Enhancing organizational development though the North Iowa Mercy Network
The long-term objectives of Mercy’s work with Gallup are to understand the dimensions of employee engagement that consistently drive business outcomes as well as to build stronger workplace
The Gallup Organization has interviewed over one million employees working in American business and industry asking them hundreds of questions on every conceivable aspect of their workplace
SOURCE : Kailo’s Employee Well Being Programme, Jun 6, 2007
4) Employee well being solutions
Encouraging positive health & wellbeing among our staff is a major goal of the organization.
The health & wellbeing programme enables us to focus on organizational development and personal health improvement for the benefit of everyone.
Research showed a statistically significant reduction in lifestyle risk factors over five years for those staff on the wellbeing programme.
Health screening very professionally managed, with well informed staff who advised on positive health issues, providing practical and helpful tips on improvement.
Feedback from staff was very encouraging and they were all keen to get going on their regimes
SOURCE : Health CV Itd, Sunday, 2 March 2008
5) Physical Activity Program Guide
The new contact here was able to conduct a targeted workplace audit of 300 DH staff in an effort to gather some baseline data from employees about their current physical activity levels and what opportunities they would like provided.
DH pulled together a working group which comprised of representatives from different departments including the Work and Health team, the Canteen, the Bicycle User Group, and HR.
Two events were held, one in Central London to target the employees who work at all the offices in London, and one in Leeds.
Both events were extremely well received by staff and should be a platform from which to launch further opportunities for employees.
DH has recently appointed a new occupational health provider who had a stand at the well-being event and provided health checks, and in the near future DH will be launching an employee well-being strategy.
SOURCE : Sport England, Sunday, 2 March 2008
Engagement has clear overlaps with the more exhaustively researched concepts of commitment and organizational citizenship behaviors, but there are also differences.
In particular, engagement is two-way: organizations must work to engage the employee, who in turn has a choice about the level of engagement to offer the employer.
The organization must work to develop and nurture engagement, which requires a two-way relationship between employer and employee.’
Twelve attitude statements representing engagement were tested; all were found to ‘sit together’ reliably, to comprise a single indicator of engagement.
The IES engagement model illustrates the strong link between feeling valued and involved and engagement.
SOURCE : Robinson D, Perryman S, Hayday, April 2004
2) Employee health & well-being
Employee health and well-being programmes are increasingly moving up the HR agenda as a means of improving staff morale and engagement as well as reducing sickness absence.
By providing company-paid private medical insurance, employers aim to help staff recover and return to work as soon as possible following illness or an accident.
Our special feature gives details after examining cost containment methods, eligibility criteria, benefit levels, terms of cover and claims administration.
Smoking in the workplace represents a health risk, can increase employers’ costs, presents a poor company image and can lead to resentment between staff who smoke and those who don't.
Our second feature article looks at the design and implementation of smoking policies, in the light of forthcoming government legislation.
SOURCE : IDS HR Studies Update 823, June 2006
3) Employees Wellness Program
Creating a workplace culture that encourages employee engagement at all levels.
Integrating Mercy’s values and mission through educational offerings that continue to improve the knowledge and skills of colleagues;
Enhancing organizational development though the North Iowa Mercy Network
The long-term objectives of Mercy’s work with Gallup are to understand the dimensions of employee engagement that consistently drive business outcomes as well as to build stronger workplace
The Gallup Organization has interviewed over one million employees working in American business and industry asking them hundreds of questions on every conceivable aspect of their workplace
SOURCE : Kailo’s Employee Well Being Programme, Jun 6, 2007
4) Employee well being solutions
Encouraging positive health & wellbeing among our staff is a major goal of the organization.
The health & wellbeing programme enables us to focus on organizational development and personal health improvement for the benefit of everyone.
Research showed a statistically significant reduction in lifestyle risk factors over five years for those staff on the wellbeing programme.
Health screening very professionally managed, with well informed staff who advised on positive health issues, providing practical and helpful tips on improvement.
Feedback from staff was very encouraging and they were all keen to get going on their regimes
SOURCE : Health CV Itd, Sunday, 2 March 2008
5) Physical Activity Program Guide
The new contact here was able to conduct a targeted workplace audit of 300 DH staff in an effort to gather some baseline data from employees about their current physical activity levels and what opportunities they would like provided.
DH pulled together a working group which comprised of representatives from different departments including the Work and Health team, the Canteen, the Bicycle User Group, and HR.
Two events were held, one in Central London to target the employees who work at all the offices in London, and one in Leeds.
Both events were extremely well received by staff and should be a platform from which to launch further opportunities for employees.
DH has recently appointed a new occupational health provider who had a stand at the well-being event and provided health checks, and in the near future DH will be launching an employee well-being strategy.
SOURCE : Sport England, Sunday, 2 March 2008
Sunday, March 2, 2008
Summary of 20 articles
1) Article: A comparative study of employee involvement initiatives in Hong Kong and the USA
Employee involvement program have become most popular and relatively effective means of boosting productivity.
There is a great deal of literature and evidence confirming the beneficial effects of employee involvement practices.
Despite problems and difficulties in conceiving, implementing and evaluating EI programs across industries, the EI effort will eventually supersede other forms of traditionally HRM practices.
Quality circles, group participation and survey feedback seem to be relatively more popular in US companies than those in Hong Kong.
Basing rewards on organizational performance is one way to ensure that employees are involved and care about the performances of the organization.
SOURCE : International Journal of Manpower, 2004, MCB University Press
2) Articles: Employees and e-learning
Training are tighter and those who responsible for training often budget reduction and typically finding that they are expected to train more employees with less fund.
A mix of classroom and on-line e-learning is acknowledged as the preferable route for employee development.
Sixteen organizations using e-learning as a critical component of their training delivery agreed to contribute to this study.
Employees are using e-learning to develop skills across the wide range of general operating system.
Learning new skills and broadening knowledge was given a reason for learning for use in the workplace.
SOURCE: Industrial and Commercial Training, 2004, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
3) Article: The three Cs
Work site safety and safety awareness are essential to success. In this article, the three Cs refers to Choice, Culture, and Communication. The Three Cs combined with specific objectives make safety a top priority across the organization.
Many companies have implemented the safety program to improve awareness and well-being at work. They aim to help employees achieve a good work/life balance, through the provision of a number of well-being initiatives in the convenience of the workplace.
With respect to the establishment of safety program, the management teams demonstrate to employees the overall health of the company. But, they still can’t hold attention from the employees towards this program. The assumption that incentives will increase safety negates the importance of communication, performance measurement, and frequently celebrated rewards and recognition for a job well done.
Industry statistics bear out that nine out of 10 workplace accidents are due to lack of attention. Therefore, it is imperative to create safety programs that use incentives to ensure safety objectives are prominent thoughts in their worker's mind.
A safe workplace is the result of top-of-mind presence throughout the day. However, even when programs are created and implemented, the rewards need to be fresh and exciting enough to keep the employees’ attention and the desire to keep the workplace safe.
SOURCE : Editorial By Michael G. Dermer dated January 2004
4) Article: Seven strategies for the way forward
From this article, we realize that in a speech entitled Repositioning the Malaysian Economy and the Way Forward in Malacca over the weekend, Second Finance Minister, Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop, outlined seven key strategies to be adopted under the 9th Malaysia Flan. One of the strategies is “Building world-class human capital.”
Human resources development will remain the foundation of our future development efforts. The Government will ensure that Malaysia produces an adequate supply of workforce that is equipped with the necessary skills and expertise and high level of thinking skills. The education and training system will be further reoriented to ensure that not only the manpower output match the requirements of new technology and knowledge-based economy, but also nurture creativity, innovativeness, versatility and able to produce multi-skilled workforce.
Malaysia has selectively opened up to foreign skilled workers and professionals, whose expertise can help us, fill gaps in the labor market that Malaysians currently cannot fill. The Government is reforming the education system, beginning the teaching of English at a much younger age, encouraging multilingual skills, and promoting a greater focus on science and technology.
SOURCE : The Star (local newspaper) dated 29 November 2005
5) Article: Improving skills of workforce
According to this local newspaper, Malaysia economy is experiencing robust growth towards an export-oriented economy. A few companies were putting emphasize to improve the quality and productivity of the masons on their worksites. Those companies being discussed here are Lafarge Malayan Cement Berhad, FedEx, and Nokia Company.
To achieve business objectives, Lafarge raises the level of skills and productivity of its workforce in order to meet the increasing sophistication in customer demand for quality goods and services in a competitive environment.
FedEx is a strong advocate of human capital development. FedEx was focusing on training employees to ensure they have right knowledge to serve the company’s customers as well as to enhance the quality for the service provided. The in-house training enables its employees receives an annual grant of US$2,500 that allows them to take up preferred courses to aid in personal and professional development.
Nokia was seeking solutions to free its workforce from the confines of their desks in order to become a global player in terms of mobility – for work and for play and to achieve greater technological advancement.
SOURCE : The Star (Local newspaper) dated 14 December 2005
6) Article: At work, Feeling Good Matters
Other research on happiness in the workplace suggests that worker well-being plays a major role in organizational performance.
In a survey conducted by the American Psychological Association in 2004, nearly two-thirds of all respondents indicated that their work lives had a significant impact on their stress levels, while one in four had called in sick or taken a "mental health day" as a result of stress at work.
Previous Gallup research - as well as results from this survey - show that supervisors play a crucial role in worker well-being and engagement.
In response to the question “How much of the happiness you experience overall would you say comes from your work life?,” 45% of engaged employees said they get a great deal of their overall happiness from their work life, compared to just 19% of not-engaged and 8% of actively disengaged employees. These findings suggest that while most workers experience varying degrees of happiness and well-being at work, engaged workers get the most from these feelings.
SOURCE: Krueger, Jerry; Kilham, Emily. Gallup Management Journal Online
12 August 2005
7) Article: Maids are workers, too
According to the report, we realize that the most vulnerable and exploited group of workers consists of domestic and foreign workers.
Most domestic workers, both local and foreign, work for pitiful pay in conditions that in any other area of employment would be described as abusive. Most labor work for very long hours but their wages held back by their employers. Many have had to face verbal abuse, some of which has escalated into physical violence. It is, therefore, unreasonable and unjust for domestic workers to be deprived of the protection of labor laws.
In this article, Awam hopes the authorities will make it a priority to look into improving the situation of domestic workers in Malaysia. The domestic workers who receive unreasonable and unjust treatment should be protected under the labor laws.
SOURCE : The Star (Local newspaper) dated 16 February 2006
8) Article: Sparkling Creativity at Ferrari
We launched a program called Formula Uomo that combines the creation of an architecturally pleasing and healthy work environment– a place that actually feels people centered–with the development of some unusual training and wellness programs.
For example, staff members can start the day brushing up on their English in a
program called English@ breakfast. They can also sign up for English@lunch or gather in the afternoon called English tea.
We run a program called Creativity Club that is designed to get employees’ creative juices flowing. Each time we hold the club, we have six events at which employees meet various types of artists. We also offer three classes, in six to eight sessions, where these artists teach their skills.
We wanted to create an environment where people from all levels of the company, from executives to workers on the assembly line, could mix comfortably and get to know one another.
SOURCE : Trade Publication (Journal)
Morse, Gardener, Harvard Business Review, , April 2006, Vol.84
Issues 4 Page 23
9) Article: Government Aiming To Get One Million Welfare Claimants Back Into Workplace
Employers are being encouraged to help those on incapacity benefit (IB) back to work under the welfare reform bill, published last week
The bill aims to get a million of the UK’s 2.7 million IB claimants back to work by providing regular assessments of their capabilities and making benefits conditional on efforts to get employment.
Firms are being challenged to boost the low take-up of company pension schemes after the government launched a push to get more workers to save for retirement.
Firms are being challenged to boost the low take-up of company pension schemes after the government launched a push to get more workers to save for retirement.
The NAPF has launched Pensions Force, a government backed service to help employers
guide their staff to make the right choices
Only a quarter of organizations have an employee well-being strategy or similar initiative in place, according to the CIPD’s latest absence research.
SOURCE : People Management 13 July 2006 Vol 12 Issue 4
10) Article: Managerial Practices and Employee Well-Being Tradeoffs
Employee well-being is a hot topic in organizational life. The popular press is full of books that offer guidelines for protecting and promoting employee satisfaction, fulfillment, and health (Bakke, 2005; Dalai Lama & Cutler, 2003).
Organizations that foster employee well-being are honored by awards, such as Fortune magazine’s annual list of the “100 Best Companies to Work For,” and are recognized by current and prospective employees as desirable places to work.
The American Psychological Association (2006) is now offering awards to psychologically healthy workplaces, and the Great Place to Work® Institute (2006) is seeking to document and implement steps for organizations to improve the quality of employees’ lives.
Leaders, managers, supervisors, and employees alike believe that making employees happier and healthier increases their effort, contributions, and productivity (Fisher, 2003).
SOURCE: Adam M. Grant, Marlys K. Christianson, and Richard H. Price Grant,
Christianson and Price (2006)
11) Article: Technology can free HR to focus on more strategic objectives
Well-integrated HR information systems have the potential to drive business performance, as well as providing effective means of employee engagement and communication, according to the ClPD’s
Benedictine monk Dermot Tredget will be among those discussing the issue of employee well-being at a CIPD forum event on the subject organized by the Counseling and Career Management and Public Sector forums.
Regulations affecting the employment of overseas workers, the introduction of the Work and Families Bill and the impact of age discrimination legislation will all be in the spotlight at the ClPD’s annual employment law conference.
SOURCE : People Management 14 June 2007 Vol 13 Issue 12, Page 33
12) Article: Still Work To Be Done
Joined Heidrick & Struggles, one of several companies both promoting and profiting from a more flexible Japanese labor market.
The traditional Japanese “lifetime employment” model was deeply entrenched.
The strict seniority system is giving way to a greater emphasis on performance-based pay and promotion on merit.
Under the traditional system, companies hired graduates and then invested heavily in their training and development.
Employees worked their way up through the ranks, so age and seniority were tightly intertwined
SOURCE : The Economist, Nov 29th 2007
13) Article: Is Employee Praising Counterproductive
The employee remains on the job at the boss's pleasure.
Positive reinforcement is a motivator.
Perhaps these fearful managers have in mind those high-profile sports figures.
some positive reinforcement hurt an employee,
The most common fears associated with praising employees, followed by reasons those fears are unfounded.
SOURCE : The Economist , Nov 26th 2007
14) Article: Signs of movement of employee in workplace
Under the traditional Japanese system, employees qualified for a lump sum at retirement (over and above the state pension scheme) after 30 years at the same firm, which strongly discouraged mid-career moves.
Workers who opt for it do not seem to be seen as disloyal. The tax system could be changed to encourage more people to use the scheme.
As the labor market has become more dynamic for regular workers, however, the gulf between regular and non-regular workers has widened.
Spurred by changes to employment law, they also began to take on more non-regular workers on lower pay and short-term contracts.
The protection of regular workers, in short, has come at the cost of a growing army of non-regular workers.
SOURCE : The Economist, 27 January 2007
15) Article: Union ought to be supportive of wellness
The issue of wellness program among employees is being discussed in this journal. Currently, state government pays 79 percent of employee health insurance premiums regardless of whether they participate in wellness programs or not. While, employees pay only 21 percent.
Wellness programs lead employees to a healthier lifestyle. These programs help employees by reducing their health costs and improving the quality of their lives. In other way round, it helps employers by reducing employees health costs, reducing absenteeism and increasing productivity.
Wellness programs must be designed properly to meet legal requirements. Wellness programs that offer financial incentives for physical activity must provide alternatives for employees with disabilities that exclude them from some forms of exercise.
Participation in wellness programs is already popular among private employers. Employee unions should out in front on this issue in order to ensure a healthy and safety workplace.
SOURCE : Journal Star, Editorial dated 17 January 2008
16) Aritcles: The effects of employee services on organizational commitment and intentions to quit
Traditional employee benefit, such as healthcare plans, retirement’s plans, or insurance plans, are generally provided to all employees within an organization, irrespective of their work performance, to meet their security and safety needs.
Employees interpret and assess their organizational external prestige by comparing its practices that are considered central, enduring and distinctive with other firms.
The manufacturing company provided employees with only wellness program comprising talks and campaign related to smoking cessation, health fitness and stress reduction.
Individuals from lower income household prefer to work for organization that helps them to pay for dependent care so that they could remain on the workforce.
The practical implication of this study suggest that company must continuously invest not only to external business partner but for internal employees too.
SOURCE : Personnel Review, 2008, Emerald Group Publishing Limited
17) Article: The new covenant of employability
Changing career patterns and the erosion of job security have led to a growing emphasis on employability as s basis of career and employment success.
Individual expected to take primary responsibility for their own employability rather then relying on the organization to the direct and maintain their career.
Many organizations are now driven by the need to be flexible and adaptable and therefore are no longer able to promise long-term job security.
Employability is more than simply variation on a psychological contract.
Physical or psychological boundaries requires both accumulation of “career capital” and willingness to cross either internal or external control.
SOURCE : Employee Relations, 2008, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
18) Articles: Employee perceived training effectiveness relationship to employee attitudes
Researchers converge in their suggestions to businesses, that they increase their training budgets, in order to remain competitive and maintain an adaptable and flexible workforce.
The empirical relationship between training as a sole human resource practice and organizational performance, however intuitively compelling, is still considered weak since a relatively small number of surveys have been conducted to test it.
The underlying logic of the individual model of training dictates that the organization should recognize that its employees are not effective and a change should be attempted in their knowledge, attitudes and skills.
Individual job performance is also influenced by the organizational culture and structure, by the job design, the reward systems used to motivate employees and the power and politics that exist in the organization and the group processes.
The role of employee perceived training effectiveness (PTE) becomes clearer and its relationship to employee motivation, commitment and job satisfaction, is rather lucid, looking at the results of this study.
SOURCE : Journal of European Industrial Training, 2008, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
19) Article: Does it right?
Investors are taking an ever greater interest.
An economic recession would also be bad news for the CSR industry, parts of which might be seen as a luxury companies could live without.
featuring a new breed of “social entrepreneur”
It brings financial rigors as well as an appetite for risk.
The entrepreneurial model of tackling social and environmental problems is likely to stir up the CSR world.
SOURCE : The Economist 17th Jan 2008
20) Article: Employees can't jump ship without consequences
Restraining an employee from using or retaining confidential or sensitive information/documentation.
Employers are where employee conduct is viewed to be in bad faith, a perceived conflict of interest, and unfair competition.
great importance when determining the true extent of the employer and employee common law contractual rights and obligations
A restraint on luring employees to join another employer
Common law requirement that employees devote their time and skills.
SOURCE : The Star News Paper, 23 January 2008
Employee involvement program have become most popular and relatively effective means of boosting productivity.
There is a great deal of literature and evidence confirming the beneficial effects of employee involvement practices.
Despite problems and difficulties in conceiving, implementing and evaluating EI programs across industries, the EI effort will eventually supersede other forms of traditionally HRM practices.
Quality circles, group participation and survey feedback seem to be relatively more popular in US companies than those in Hong Kong.
Basing rewards on organizational performance is one way to ensure that employees are involved and care about the performances of the organization.
SOURCE : International Journal of Manpower, 2004, MCB University Press
2) Articles: Employees and e-learning
Training are tighter and those who responsible for training often budget reduction and typically finding that they are expected to train more employees with less fund.
A mix of classroom and on-line e-learning is acknowledged as the preferable route for employee development.
Sixteen organizations using e-learning as a critical component of their training delivery agreed to contribute to this study.
Employees are using e-learning to develop skills across the wide range of general operating system.
Learning new skills and broadening knowledge was given a reason for learning for use in the workplace.
SOURCE: Industrial and Commercial Training, 2004, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
3) Article: The three Cs
Work site safety and safety awareness are essential to success. In this article, the three Cs refers to Choice, Culture, and Communication. The Three Cs combined with specific objectives make safety a top priority across the organization.
Many companies have implemented the safety program to improve awareness and well-being at work. They aim to help employees achieve a good work/life balance, through the provision of a number of well-being initiatives in the convenience of the workplace.
With respect to the establishment of safety program, the management teams demonstrate to employees the overall health of the company. But, they still can’t hold attention from the employees towards this program. The assumption that incentives will increase safety negates the importance of communication, performance measurement, and frequently celebrated rewards and recognition for a job well done.
Industry statistics bear out that nine out of 10 workplace accidents are due to lack of attention. Therefore, it is imperative to create safety programs that use incentives to ensure safety objectives are prominent thoughts in their worker's mind.
A safe workplace is the result of top-of-mind presence throughout the day. However, even when programs are created and implemented, the rewards need to be fresh and exciting enough to keep the employees’ attention and the desire to keep the workplace safe.
SOURCE : Editorial By Michael G. Dermer dated January 2004
4) Article: Seven strategies for the way forward
From this article, we realize that in a speech entitled Repositioning the Malaysian Economy and the Way Forward in Malacca over the weekend, Second Finance Minister, Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop, outlined seven key strategies to be adopted under the 9th Malaysia Flan. One of the strategies is “Building world-class human capital.”
Human resources development will remain the foundation of our future development efforts. The Government will ensure that Malaysia produces an adequate supply of workforce that is equipped with the necessary skills and expertise and high level of thinking skills. The education and training system will be further reoriented to ensure that not only the manpower output match the requirements of new technology and knowledge-based economy, but also nurture creativity, innovativeness, versatility and able to produce multi-skilled workforce.
Malaysia has selectively opened up to foreign skilled workers and professionals, whose expertise can help us, fill gaps in the labor market that Malaysians currently cannot fill. The Government is reforming the education system, beginning the teaching of English at a much younger age, encouraging multilingual skills, and promoting a greater focus on science and technology.
SOURCE : The Star (local newspaper) dated 29 November 2005
5) Article: Improving skills of workforce
According to this local newspaper, Malaysia economy is experiencing robust growth towards an export-oriented economy. A few companies were putting emphasize to improve the quality and productivity of the masons on their worksites. Those companies being discussed here are Lafarge Malayan Cement Berhad, FedEx, and Nokia Company.
To achieve business objectives, Lafarge raises the level of skills and productivity of its workforce in order to meet the increasing sophistication in customer demand for quality goods and services in a competitive environment.
FedEx is a strong advocate of human capital development. FedEx was focusing on training employees to ensure they have right knowledge to serve the company’s customers as well as to enhance the quality for the service provided. The in-house training enables its employees receives an annual grant of US$2,500 that allows them to take up preferred courses to aid in personal and professional development.
Nokia was seeking solutions to free its workforce from the confines of their desks in order to become a global player in terms of mobility – for work and for play and to achieve greater technological advancement.
SOURCE : The Star (Local newspaper) dated 14 December 2005
6) Article: At work, Feeling Good Matters
Other research on happiness in the workplace suggests that worker well-being plays a major role in organizational performance.
In a survey conducted by the American Psychological Association in 2004, nearly two-thirds of all respondents indicated that their work lives had a significant impact on their stress levels, while one in four had called in sick or taken a "mental health day" as a result of stress at work.
Previous Gallup research - as well as results from this survey - show that supervisors play a crucial role in worker well-being and engagement.
In response to the question “How much of the happiness you experience overall would you say comes from your work life?,” 45% of engaged employees said they get a great deal of their overall happiness from their work life, compared to just 19% of not-engaged and 8% of actively disengaged employees. These findings suggest that while most workers experience varying degrees of happiness and well-being at work, engaged workers get the most from these feelings.
SOURCE: Krueger, Jerry; Kilham, Emily. Gallup Management Journal Online
12 August 2005
7) Article: Maids are workers, too
According to the report, we realize that the most vulnerable and exploited group of workers consists of domestic and foreign workers.
Most domestic workers, both local and foreign, work for pitiful pay in conditions that in any other area of employment would be described as abusive. Most labor work for very long hours but their wages held back by their employers. Many have had to face verbal abuse, some of which has escalated into physical violence. It is, therefore, unreasonable and unjust for domestic workers to be deprived of the protection of labor laws.
In this article, Awam hopes the authorities will make it a priority to look into improving the situation of domestic workers in Malaysia. The domestic workers who receive unreasonable and unjust treatment should be protected under the labor laws.
SOURCE : The Star (Local newspaper) dated 16 February 2006
8) Article: Sparkling Creativity at Ferrari
We launched a program called Formula Uomo that combines the creation of an architecturally pleasing and healthy work environment– a place that actually feels people centered–with the development of some unusual training and wellness programs.
For example, staff members can start the day brushing up on their English in a
program called English@ breakfast. They can also sign up for English@lunch or gather in the afternoon called English tea.
We run a program called Creativity Club that is designed to get employees’ creative juices flowing. Each time we hold the club, we have six events at which employees meet various types of artists. We also offer three classes, in six to eight sessions, where these artists teach their skills.
We wanted to create an environment where people from all levels of the company, from executives to workers on the assembly line, could mix comfortably and get to know one another.
SOURCE : Trade Publication (Journal)
Morse, Gardener, Harvard Business Review, , April 2006, Vol.84
Issues 4 Page 23
9) Article: Government Aiming To Get One Million Welfare Claimants Back Into Workplace
Employers are being encouraged to help those on incapacity benefit (IB) back to work under the welfare reform bill, published last week
The bill aims to get a million of the UK’s 2.7 million IB claimants back to work by providing regular assessments of their capabilities and making benefits conditional on efforts to get employment.
Firms are being challenged to boost the low take-up of company pension schemes after the government launched a push to get more workers to save for retirement.
Firms are being challenged to boost the low take-up of company pension schemes after the government launched a push to get more workers to save for retirement.
The NAPF has launched Pensions Force, a government backed service to help employers
guide their staff to make the right choices
Only a quarter of organizations have an employee well-being strategy or similar initiative in place, according to the CIPD’s latest absence research.
SOURCE : People Management 13 July 2006 Vol 12 Issue 4
10) Article: Managerial Practices and Employee Well-Being Tradeoffs
Employee well-being is a hot topic in organizational life. The popular press is full of books that offer guidelines for protecting and promoting employee satisfaction, fulfillment, and health (Bakke, 2005; Dalai Lama & Cutler, 2003).
Organizations that foster employee well-being are honored by awards, such as Fortune magazine’s annual list of the “100 Best Companies to Work For,” and are recognized by current and prospective employees as desirable places to work.
The American Psychological Association (2006) is now offering awards to psychologically healthy workplaces, and the Great Place to Work® Institute (2006) is seeking to document and implement steps for organizations to improve the quality of employees’ lives.
Leaders, managers, supervisors, and employees alike believe that making employees happier and healthier increases their effort, contributions, and productivity (Fisher, 2003).
SOURCE: Adam M. Grant, Marlys K. Christianson, and Richard H. Price Grant,
Christianson and Price (2006)
11) Article: Technology can free HR to focus on more strategic objectives
Well-integrated HR information systems have the potential to drive business performance, as well as providing effective means of employee engagement and communication, according to the ClPD’s
Benedictine monk Dermot Tredget will be among those discussing the issue of employee well-being at a CIPD forum event on the subject organized by the Counseling and Career Management and Public Sector forums.
Regulations affecting the employment of overseas workers, the introduction of the Work and Families Bill and the impact of age discrimination legislation will all be in the spotlight at the ClPD’s annual employment law conference.
SOURCE : People Management 14 June 2007 Vol 13 Issue 12, Page 33
12) Article: Still Work To Be Done
Joined Heidrick & Struggles, one of several companies both promoting and profiting from a more flexible Japanese labor market.
The traditional Japanese “lifetime employment” model was deeply entrenched.
The strict seniority system is giving way to a greater emphasis on performance-based pay and promotion on merit.
Under the traditional system, companies hired graduates and then invested heavily in their training and development.
Employees worked their way up through the ranks, so age and seniority were tightly intertwined
SOURCE : The Economist, Nov 29th 2007
13) Article: Is Employee Praising Counterproductive
The employee remains on the job at the boss's pleasure.
Positive reinforcement is a motivator.
Perhaps these fearful managers have in mind those high-profile sports figures.
some positive reinforcement hurt an employee,
The most common fears associated with praising employees, followed by reasons those fears are unfounded.
SOURCE : The Economist , Nov 26th 2007
14) Article: Signs of movement of employee in workplace
Under the traditional Japanese system, employees qualified for a lump sum at retirement (over and above the state pension scheme) after 30 years at the same firm, which strongly discouraged mid-career moves.
Workers who opt for it do not seem to be seen as disloyal. The tax system could be changed to encourage more people to use the scheme.
As the labor market has become more dynamic for regular workers, however, the gulf between regular and non-regular workers has widened.
Spurred by changes to employment law, they also began to take on more non-regular workers on lower pay and short-term contracts.
The protection of regular workers, in short, has come at the cost of a growing army of non-regular workers.
SOURCE : The Economist, 27 January 2007
15) Article: Union ought to be supportive of wellness
The issue of wellness program among employees is being discussed in this journal. Currently, state government pays 79 percent of employee health insurance premiums regardless of whether they participate in wellness programs or not. While, employees pay only 21 percent.
Wellness programs lead employees to a healthier lifestyle. These programs help employees by reducing their health costs and improving the quality of their lives. In other way round, it helps employers by reducing employees health costs, reducing absenteeism and increasing productivity.
Wellness programs must be designed properly to meet legal requirements. Wellness programs that offer financial incentives for physical activity must provide alternatives for employees with disabilities that exclude them from some forms of exercise.
Participation in wellness programs is already popular among private employers. Employee unions should out in front on this issue in order to ensure a healthy and safety workplace.
SOURCE : Journal Star, Editorial dated 17 January 2008
16) Aritcles: The effects of employee services on organizational commitment and intentions to quit
Traditional employee benefit, such as healthcare plans, retirement’s plans, or insurance plans, are generally provided to all employees within an organization, irrespective of their work performance, to meet their security and safety needs.
Employees interpret and assess their organizational external prestige by comparing its practices that are considered central, enduring and distinctive with other firms.
The manufacturing company provided employees with only wellness program comprising talks and campaign related to smoking cessation, health fitness and stress reduction.
Individuals from lower income household prefer to work for organization that helps them to pay for dependent care so that they could remain on the workforce.
The practical implication of this study suggest that company must continuously invest not only to external business partner but for internal employees too.
SOURCE : Personnel Review, 2008, Emerald Group Publishing Limited
17) Article: The new covenant of employability
Changing career patterns and the erosion of job security have led to a growing emphasis on employability as s basis of career and employment success.
Individual expected to take primary responsibility for their own employability rather then relying on the organization to the direct and maintain their career.
Many organizations are now driven by the need to be flexible and adaptable and therefore are no longer able to promise long-term job security.
Employability is more than simply variation on a psychological contract.
Physical or psychological boundaries requires both accumulation of “career capital” and willingness to cross either internal or external control.
SOURCE : Employee Relations, 2008, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
18) Articles: Employee perceived training effectiveness relationship to employee attitudes
Researchers converge in their suggestions to businesses, that they increase their training budgets, in order to remain competitive and maintain an adaptable and flexible workforce.
The empirical relationship between training as a sole human resource practice and organizational performance, however intuitively compelling, is still considered weak since a relatively small number of surveys have been conducted to test it.
The underlying logic of the individual model of training dictates that the organization should recognize that its employees are not effective and a change should be attempted in their knowledge, attitudes and skills.
Individual job performance is also influenced by the organizational culture and structure, by the job design, the reward systems used to motivate employees and the power and politics that exist in the organization and the group processes.
The role of employee perceived training effectiveness (PTE) becomes clearer and its relationship to employee motivation, commitment and job satisfaction, is rather lucid, looking at the results of this study.
SOURCE : Journal of European Industrial Training, 2008, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
19) Article: Does it right?
Investors are taking an ever greater interest.
An economic recession would also be bad news for the CSR industry, parts of which might be seen as a luxury companies could live without.
featuring a new breed of “social entrepreneur”
It brings financial rigors as well as an appetite for risk.
The entrepreneurial model of tackling social and environmental problems is likely to stir up the CSR world.
SOURCE : The Economist 17th Jan 2008
20) Article: Employees can't jump ship without consequences
Restraining an employee from using or retaining confidential or sensitive information/documentation.
Employers are where employee conduct is viewed to be in bad faith, a perceived conflict of interest, and unfair competition.
great importance when determining the true extent of the employer and employee common law contractual rights and obligations
A restraint on luring employees to join another employer
Common law requirement that employees devote their time and skills.
SOURCE : The Star News Paper, 23 January 2008
Star Fish Solution Model ( Part 2 )
This is the solution model for Maslow's Theory. Must read ah.
1. Physiological
Most workers at Pharmaniaga are been well adequate with physiological needs. But we think that Pharmaniga can do much better. The physiological need is the human first precedence. These consist mainly of excretion, eating, sex, drinking, sleeping and warmth.
For example Pharmaniaga can launched a special needs program to the low income group workers at Pharmaniga. As we knew, the rising of fuel price has affected all levels of workers in
2. Safety
Safety is the main issue which concern by every worker. The safety needs are include personal security from crime, financial security, health and well-being, safety net against accidents & illness and the adverse impacts. In Pharmaniaga, the rates of accidents have been reduced on the year of 2005. This is because Pharmaniaga is adhere strict regulations and precautions to every workers in its company. Workers will be penalized if they disobey the safety rules of the department. We suggest Pharmaniaga establish Safety Committees led by top managers at each site and involve employees at all levels. Compliance with these security standards will be monitored through site-level audits and periodically examined though corporate audits. This will guaranteed the safety of workers and develop a sense of safety among the workers. In the end, this will increase their well being.
3. Social
An organization culture is the element that determines a company performance. Every workers will have to connected to all level of workers fro top management, middle level management and low level management. Through our research, Pharmaniaga has a long organization chart that may cause communication barriers. We suggest that the top management of Pharmaniaga should concern their subordinates. This can be done by establish a hotline or weekly top management consult session to the workers. Workers will be given a chance to speak out their opinions, improvement steps and feedback to their company. Moreover, a website called “Says The Truth” should be construct and available in multilanguage to take care the needs of all level of workers. In the end, a strong social bonding will be existed between the workers and the top management in the organization.
4. Self Esteem
All humans have a need to be respected, to have self-esteem, self-respect, and to respect others. People need to engage themselves to gain recognition and have an activity or activities that give the person a sense of contribution, to feel accepted and self-valued. In Pharmaniaga, workers are been giving award to their well performance. But this award only opens to the workers from the executive level. We suggest Pharmaniaga accept the participants from all level of workers. Workers will be feeling motivated to do their works. In addition, employee reward program should be improved. This will create a productive workforce in the company because the employee well being are been increased.
5. Self Actualization
In Maslow's scheme, the final stage of psychological development comes when the individual feels assured that his physiological, security, affiliation and affection, self-respect, and recognition needs have been satisfied. As these become dormant, he becomes filled with a desire to realize all of his potential for being an effective, creative, mature human being. In Pharmaniaga, workers are still not having chance to get the free share from their company. We suggest Pharmaniga give some share to its workers based on their performance and other criteria. This will increase their well being and strike hard to the development of the company.
Star Fish Solution Model ( Part 1)
Discussion on Solution Concept (Part 1)
Pharmaniaga is an outstanding medical supplies company which was recognized worldwide. This organization has achieved outstanding level in terms of improving employee well being but it still shows a lot of room improvement from the CSR perspectives. So we will apply our solution concept in order to create a new way to improve the Pharmaniaga employee well being. At the same time, we also will suggest some improvement ways to increase the employee well being according to our solution concept.
1. Employee Engagement
Pharmaniaga is a big organization. This organization has a complex organization chart compare to other organization. For example the flows of information from the top management to the subordinates require a long flow and time. This result less interaction among the top management and the subordinates. Consequently the top management does not understand the employee’s problems. The employees are given less autonomy to make the decisions. They can’t act in a way to further organization’s interest. We suggest Pharmaniaga develop employee engagement training by giving more the autonomy of decision making to the employees. This decentralized decision system will be monitor by the top management. In the same time, workers will have to make the company decision that suitable for the objective of company and do not harm the interest of the company. This will increase the sense of engagement of the workers. At the end, they will contribute more to the company and increase their employee well being.
2. Employee Improvement
Pharmaniaga is an outstanding company in
3. Employee Virtual Team
Pharmaniaga is a big company that need contribution from the talent workers around the world to help its to become an outstanding company in the world. We noticed that Pharmaniaga already launched a program called E- Office to let its workers to work outside from the office. This is a good indicator to the company. This is because Pharmaniaga will have a group of employee virtual team to work with its company. Unfortunately, this E-Office program just in the early stage and it need some improvement. For example a lot of workers still not had been encouraged to join this program. This is because the company policy about employee virtual team still lacks some privileges and could not guarantee the workers welfare. In our opinion, Pharmaniaga should established the employee virtual team department to take care about their welfare, provide them some guidance, keep them updated about the company because they seldom come to the company. In the end, the virtual team will feel free to work with Pharmaniaga because their well being has been increased.
4. Employee Cross Training
From our research, the employees in Pharmaniaga are been providing adequate employee training and done their job well. Unfortunately, these workers are only been trained to their own department. Pharmaniaga do not provide any cross training to its employees. Every worker is become only concern about their department. They do not show any concern to the other departments in the company. Consequently, they can’t see the company as a whole. We suggest Pharmaniaga should provide cross training to its employees. This can be done by launching job rotation program among the employees. Every worker will be trained to work at different departments at Pharmaniaga. The workers well being will be increased. This is because their will not work at the same department for a long period and they will not tend to do mistakes. This will increase their confidence if they find a department that suitable with their own talent.
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