Ladies and gentlemen, can I please have your attention? I’ve just been handed an urgent and horrifying news story. And I need all of you to stop what you’re doing and listen: Here are the top five stories from Talentmgt.com from the week of Sept. 30. (Can you name the movie?)
1. Does This Job Make Me Look Fat?: A little exercise can go a long way to trim back that waistline and boost productivity, writes Talent Management editor Mike Prokopeak.
2. The Unstoppable BYOD Trend: How can HR harness the benefits of the bring-your-own-device trend while keeping its most serious risks at bay? Talent Management editor Frank Kalman has more in this issue’s “Insight” interview.
3. How Caterpillar Transforms People Into Butterflies: CHRO Kimberly Hauer pushes employees to maximize their contributions through leadership development and diversity initiatives — all while maintaining a strategic alignment with the business. Talent Management editor Deanna Hartley has more in this issue’s profile.
4. Research Uncovers Reasons People Get Let Go: A number of factors determine which employees get let go in the face of downsizing, new research shows, and not all of them are obvious.
5. Study: 18 Percent of U.S. Workforce May Retire Within Five Years: Public administration and health care services can expect large numbers of employees to leave the workforce, a new report shows.
In Other News …
The federal government shut down this week, and as of this writing had yet to open back up. The AP has the scoop on one of the implications of the shutdown: it threw into uncertainty the household finances of federal workers facing unpaid furloughs. Read the entire story here.
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Also, job ads are due for a refresh, writes The Wall Street Journal this week.
“Nobody’s bemoaning the loss of yesteryear’s ads — a New York coat shop posted in 1896 for a “young lady of German parentage” with a 36-inch bust and a knowledge of bookkeeping — but the job ad circa 2013 isn’t faring much better. Ads today are long, dull, cluttered with clichés like ‘must be a team player,’ and overloaded with job requirements, many of which aren’t truly necessary.”
Read more here. Also, read what we here at Talent Management had to write on job descriptions back in May here.
