News You Can Use: What sets your Gen X and Gen Y employees a-Twitter?

In collaboration with Editor in Chief Kelley Butler's article in the December issue "Leveraging BlackBerries and buzzwords," EBN conducted its own (albeit unscientific) research to figure out how your Gen X and Gen Y employees best communicate.

Following the model set forth in the original study, published by the Employee Benefits Research Institute, we asked a number of employees what terms they most did (and didn't) identify with.

Meaghan Lynch, second year medical student at Boston University

Disciplined: Very
Carefree: Not so much
Family-Oriented: Very
Hard-working: Very
Expensive Taste: Somewhat
Technologically Savvy: Not at all.
Charitable: Very
Optimistic: Very

Other words: Happy, honest, social, motivated, practical

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Gina Anderson, researcher at Corporate Executive Board

Disciplined: Yes
Carefree: Somewhat
Family-Oriented: Not very
Hard-working: Yes
Expensive Taste: Somewhat
Technologically Savvy: Yes
Charitable: Somewhat
Optimistic: Extremely

Other words: energetic, intelligent, intellectual, organized, and conscientious

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Alison Noelker, field sales representative at Eli Lilly & Co.

Disciplined: Very
Carefree: Not at all
Family-Oriented: Somewhat
Hard-working: Very
Expensive Taste: Somewhat
Technologically Savvy: Very
Charitable: Somewhat
Optimistic: Very

Other words: driven, energetic, determined, go-getter, empathetic, loyal

---

Molly Bernhart, associate editor at Fierce Markets

Disciplined: Somewhat
Carefree: Very
Family-Oriented: Very
Hard-working: Very
Expensive Taste: Not at all
Technologically Savvy: Somewhat
Charitable: Somewhat
Optimistic: Very

Other words: poised/tactful, creative, principled

---

Kristina Libby, U.S. Program Coordinator, Global Entrepreneurship Week

Disciplined: very
Carefree: somewehat
Family-Oriented: not yet
Hard-working: yes
Expensive Taste: relative to my income range
Technologically Savvy: Exceptionally
Charitable: yes
Optimistic: sickeningly so

Other terms: occasionally ambivalent, determined, open minded, fast paced, detail oriented, creative, knowledge hungry, bored with static nine-to-five hours, overachiever

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In keeping with the idea that the Gen X and Gen Y audience best respond to messages distributed via Web 2.0 material, EBN has also begun distributing its own messages through social media channels like Twitter, Facebook, and a corporate blog, the Employee Benefit News Daily Diversion. If you're looking to get up to speed with your own employees, we'd suggest developing a familiarity with our own materials through these free and easy-to-use channels.

News You Can Use: Absent employees cost companies more than one-third of payroll each year

It’s no secret that missing workers cost companies millions of dollars in lost revenue each year. But exactly how much does the combined cost of absenteeism affect your business?

According to a new survey by Mercer, “The Total Financial Impact of Employee Absences,” the total cost of absence can equal as much as 36% of payroll. Of that 36%, nine percent accounts for unplanned absences. Planned absences, like vacations and holidays, average 26.6%.

For even a mid-sized business, this unplanned absence can account for as much as $4.5 million dollars per year.

“Employers tend to focus their energies on managing healthcare costs because the dollars are easily measured,” said George Faulkner, principal and absence management specialist at Mercer. “But this new survey suggests that absences cost employers more than half the cost of healthcare, a startling number and a call to action for all organizations to get a better handle on this often unchecked cost.”

Unplanned absences like casual sick days result in the highest per-day productivity loss, 21% versus just 15% for planned absences like vacation days. On average, employees have 5.3 unplanned absence days per year.

“The cost of absenteeism is often misunderstood, seen as un-measurable, or dismissed as negligible,” said Toni Kellam, absence management consultant at Kronos, the company that commissioned Mercer’s survey. “[T]his new survey shows is that employers can control labor costs and increase productivity by better tracking and controlling their absence-related expenses and minimizing unplanned absences.”

In order to help manage unplanned absences, 36% of survey participants use a PTO bank rather than a tradition TTO plan for nonunion hourly workers. In contrast, only 29% use PTO banks for salaried workers.

Fourteen percent of employers don’t provide paid sick leave for non-union hourly workers (excepting disability claims).

Nearly 500 employers participated in the survey.

News you can use: CFOs most concerned about benefits

New survey from the folks at Grant Thornton shows that CFOs are eyeing benefits. The firm recently asked about 700 CFOs and other financial executives "which types of pricing pressure are you most concerned about?"

54.97% said employee benefits (e.g., health care, pensions)
40.20% said energy
38.74% said raw materials (e.g., food, metals)
16.81% said insurance
12.43% said other
4.82% said commercial property

And while it might be tempting to read the use of "concerned" in the question as a euphemism for cut, the experts over at GT say not so fast. Check back here on Monday for a podcast of EBA Editor Robert L. Whiddon's recent interview with some of the brains behind the survey.

News You Can't Use: Most workers don't want their boss' job

A new OfficeTeam survey says that more than 3/4 of workers have no desire to walk in their boss or manager's shoes...but 60% say that they could do a better job than their boss.