Employers more interested in critical thinking, problem solving than college major, says study

The Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) has released a report, “It Takes More than a Major: Employer Priorities for College Learning and Student Success,” which summarizing the findings of a national survey of business and nonprofit leaders.

Among other things, the survey reveals that 74 percent of business and nonprofit leaders say they would recommend a 21st century liberal education to a young person they know in order to prepare for long-term professional success in today’s global economy, according to a press release.

“While policy leaders have been focused intensely on what college students are choosing as their majors and what salaries they are being paid shortly after they graduate, business leaders who actually hire college graduates are urging us to prioritize the cross-cutting capacities a college education should develop in every student, in every major,” said Mildred García, president of California State University, Fullerton and chair of AAC&U’s board of directors.

“No matter what careers students seek, their college education must equip them with intercultural skills, ethical judgment, and a sophisticated understanding of the diversity of our society and of any successful business or organization.”

Key findings National Survey of Business and Nonprofit Leaders include:

• Nearly all employers surveyed (93 percent) say that “a demonstrated capacity to think critically, communicate clearly, and solve complex problems is more important than [a candidate’s] undergraduate major.”
• Even more (95 percent) say they prioritize hiring college graduates with skills that will help them contribute to innovation in the workplace.
• About 95 percent of those surveyed also say it is important that those they hire demonstrate ethical judgment and integrity; intercultural skills; and the capacity for continued new learning.
• More than 75 percent of those surveyed say they want more emphasis on five key areas including: critical thinking, complex problem solving, written and oral communication, and applied knowledge in real-world settings.
• 80 percent of employers agree that, regardless of their major, every college student should acquire broad knowledge in the liberal arts and sciences.

For a full report on the findings from the national survey of employers, see:www.aacu.org/leap/public_opinion_research.cfm.

source: http://hr.blr.com/HR-news/Staffing-Training/Recruiting/Employers-more-interested-in-critical-thinking-pro

-- Sachin . V
Alumni (FK-2270)

Early return to work program:

Modified work programs designed to get employees who have been out of work due to injury or illness to return to the workforce sooner by providing them with less strenuous alternative jobs until they are able to resume their full regular duties. Returning to work speeds an injured worker's recovery and reduces the financial impact of a workers' compensation claim on the worker, the employer and the workers' compensation system. The key is to act quickly. The Early Return to Work (ERTW) program encourages return‑to‑work options much earlier in the claims process, to everyone‛s benefit.

-Nirmalendu 

Brown Bag Lunch

A brown bag lunch is an informal opportunity for employees to learn at work. A brown bag lunch is used to convey work information occasionally, but mostly serves to enhance employee knowledge about non-work or job specific issues and ideas. Topics for a brown bag lunch range from viewing slides of a coworker's vacation trip to a visit from a local banker to discuss maximizing the potential return that employees can earn by saving.

Brown bag lunch originally referred to the practice of employees bringing a packed lunch from home or carry-out lunch to an informal learning opportunity in the workplace. Brown bag lunch, as a term, has come to represent any brief informal employee education or training opportunity that is supplied during non-work hours at work.

Hence the name, brown bag lunch, recognizes that these may be learning opportunities that are supplied during the employees' lunch break. Brown bag lunch are also held at the beginning or end of a work day, too, and occasionally, during the evening or weekend.

Meera

Hierarchy of rewards and recognition

Today the hierarchy system in rewards and recognition of the organization is gaining concern. For top employees in today’s corporate world salary is not the only motivator whereas it is the total employee rewards that matter. Herzberg’s two factor theory is evidence to this fact. Herzberg differentiated all the factors associated with employee motivation into two:

1.      Hygiene factors

2.      True motivators

Hygiene factors are those factors at a workplace, when absent creates employee dissatisfaction but at the same time do not effectuate employee motivation when they are present. These are those elements that merely restrict dissatisfaction from creeping into the organization. Thus, the hygiene factors only affect job dissatisfaction and will not have any influence on the job satisfaction. These factors will not create positive motivation or pave way for positive job engagement or retention. The hygiene elements include pay, security, status, peer relationships, subordinate and supervisor relationships, company policy and administration, work conditions, and supervision. 

Rewards and recognition given to the employees also have a great impact on the satisfaction of each and every employee be it at any level of hierarchy. While designing rewards and recognition an HR manager should keep in mind the concept of “equality” also. If employees feel that they are being treated unfairly, it will affect the second factor of the Herzberg theory i.e. Motivation factors.

While this is so, there are other elements as well that directly result in actively motivating the employees. These factors when absent may or may not result in job dissatisfaction but when present they will greatly motivate the employees and facilitate employee engagement and retention. True motivating factors that result in extreme job satisfaction are achievement, recognition, the work itself, responsibility, advancement, and opportunities for growth.Organizations that focus on giving fair treatment to employee in case of designing rewards have a more people oriented approach.

image source: http://thelanterngroup.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/rr-components-red.png

Athira unni

ERISA (Employment Retirement Income Security Act)

A federal law that governs pension and welfare employee benefit plans. ERISA requires plans to provide participants with plan information including plan features and funding. It also requires that plans provide fiduciary responsibilities for those who manage and control assets. It gives participants the right to sue for benefits and breaches of fiduciary duty.

Arjun

Balanced Scorecard

A strategic planning and management system that is used to tie business activities to the vision and strategy of the organization, improve internal and external communications, and monitor performance against goals. Developed in the early 1990's by Drs. Robert Kaplan and David Norton, the balanced scorecard measure four areas of business: internal business processes, financial performance, customer knowledge, and learning and growth.

- Sachin V

Human resources executives seek labor law reforms

“The HR professional is usually the bearer of bad news when it comes to terminations, disciplinary action or wage negotiations. So to an ordinary workman, particularly a misguided one, he represents the face of the organization. Workers are often unable to tell that the HR manager is simply executing decisions taken by a collective leadership, and he is not responsible for them.”

-Santrupt Misra, director, global HR at the Aditya Birla Group

Times have changed and surely we have come a long way compared to the times of legendary strikes. HR was considered to be an easy and safe job by many. And many a times HR personnel are considered to be a negotiator between the company and its employees.

HR department is considered to be the interface between the management and the employees. Thus often they become the carriers of bad news. This is when the relation between the HR person and the employees get ugly.

Maruti’s Manesar issue is not the first of its kind. In the past also such incidents have occured.

Now-a-days HR is considered to be one of the toughest and most unsafe areas to work in. It is high time to make the employees realize that the decision making power does not lie with the HR but it is the joint decision of the top management. Employees also needs to understand that killing someone does not solve the issue but only worsens it.

 Following the brutal killing of Awanish Kumar Dev, the HR manager at Maruti's Manesar plant, human resources (HR) heads across the country have gone into a huddle. Shocked and shaken, the community is rallying together to push for various kinds of reforms to protect themselves against such attacks in future.

The National HRD Network (NHRDN), condemned Dev's murder and said it plans to lobby with other industry bodies - the Employees Federation of India (EFI), Ficci and CII - to press the HRD ministry for safer working conditions in plants and factories.

Another reason for taking up such safety measures is that HR heads are concerned that these attacks will deter youngsters from taking up the factory stint. Therefore it's high time the country had a code of conduct for regulating employment.

source:http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2012-07-27/news/32889428_1_hr-heads-hr-professionals-hr-manager