Survey: Slow thaw in the labour market
According to an ongoing survey by Watson Wyatt (last updated October 2009) on 201 U.S.-based companies, a little more than one year after the financial crisis began, employers are beginning to lift freezes on hiring and salary increases. The percentage of companies reversing freezes has increased markedly from our June and August surveys. Almost all companies have made offers to new hires in the past three months, and the vast majority anticipates making offers in the next three months. However, approximately one-fifth still anticipate making layoffs in the remainder of 2009 or in 2010. This number is significantly less than six months ago, but reinforces that companies are at different stages in a recovery that promises to be uneven. But as the labour market slowly begins to thaw, almost two-thirds of employers report that they are more concerned about the retention of critical-skill and top-performing employees than they were before the economic crisis hit.
Drugs by the numbers
Drug-using employees are:
• 2.2 times more likely to leave work early or request time off
• 2.5 times more likely to have absences of 8 days or more
• 3 times more likely to be late for work
• 5 times more likely to file a worker’s compensation claim
Other costs associated with employees’ alcohol and drug abuse include employee theft and fraud, accidents, legal expenses, insurance claims, staff turnover and more. The cost of the average addicted employee to his/her employer is $7,000 per year.
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© Copyright 2009 Rogers Publishing Ltd. This article first appeared in the December 2009 edition of WORKING WELL magazine.