Benefits February 25, 2002

Hiring Survey up Slightly

February 25, 2002 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - About one in five companies participating in a recent survey said they planned to hire staff during the second quarter - a slight improvement, but not enough to bring the job market back to what it was in the boom years.
Reported by

According to Manpower Inc.’s quarterly hiring survey, 21% said they’d be hiring. However 10% said they planned second-quarter layoffs and the rest said their staffing levels would remain the same or their hiring plans were still uncertain.

The survey’s second quarter findings are down from the same time last year, when 28% of the firms said they planned to hire people and 8% intended to cut staff.

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Manufacturing

In the durable goods manufacturing sector, 20% of respondents have plans to hire, while 14% anticipated cutbacks.

In the non-durable goods area, 19% of manufacturers planned to bring on people, while 9% said they were likely to let people go.

The survey covers 16,000 US businesses.


 

Benefits February 22, 2002

UK Workers Slack Off

February 22, 2002 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - It may not take too much convincing to get British workers to slack off - according to a UK survey.
Reported by

On National Slacker Day in the UK, on which workers are encouraged not to do any work, a survey by pollster MyVoice found that two-thirds of respondents said they could get as much done in four days as they now do in five.

The MyVoice poll included some startling admissions:

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  • almost a third of those polled said they surfed the Internet for at least an hour each day for personal reasons,
  • some 75% of respondents said they used office time for personal e-mail and correspondence, and
  • some 59% used work time to call family and friends

The reasons for these questionable work habits, according to the survey:

  • boredom, according to 13%
  • not enough to do, cited by 10%
  • job hatred, cited by 3%

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