This month’s roundup of HR News features a Gallup survey on strengths & weaknesses of managers, current costs of compensation and benefits, a new workplace safety index, and more HR news we found noteworthy.
The Strengths, Weaknesses and Blind Spots of Managers
Ben Wigert, Gallup
To help managers foster highly productive teams, Gallup conducted a study comparing how managers think they are currently leading their team versus how employees say they are being managed.
The study used a nationally representative U.S. sample of 2,729 managers and 12,710 individual contributors. Each group assessed how they are managing their team or how they are being managed based on a list of 20 managerial responsibilities. Ratings of each managerial behavior were separated into four categories: Strengths — rated highest by both managers and employees; Known Weaknesses — rated lowest by both managers and employees; Blind Spots — managers rated high, but employees rated low; Unrecognized Strengths — employees rated high, but managers rated low.
3 Ways to Support Employees with Bipolar Disorder
Constance Noonan Hadley, Hooria Jazaieri, and Hillary Anger Elfenbein – Harvard Business Review
More than 40 million adults worldwide, including 3% of U.S. adults, have been diagnosed with bipolar disorder. These people often display higher-than-average levels of creativity, empathy, and resilience, yet, even with these traits, many do not achieve their full potential at work. We believe this results in part from suboptimal aspects of job design, managerial practice, and organizational culture that can be modified to amplify bipolar employees’ effectiveness. In this article, we offer three measures that organizations can take to bring out the best in employees with this condition.
This Is How To Be A Great Manager: 4 Powerful Secrets From Research
Eric Barker, Barking Up the Wrong Tree
What makes companies great? Gallup did research to find out — real research. They surveyed 24 companies in 12 different industries measuring productivity, profitability, employee retention and customer satisfaction. They ended up looking at over 2500 business units and interviewed 105,000 employees.
And what was the thing that made all the difference? Good managers.
Employer Costs for Employee Compensation
US Bureau of Labor Statistics
Total employer compensation costs for private industry workers averaged $43.78 per hour worked in March 2024. Wages and salaries averaged $30.76 per hour worked and accounted for 70.3 percent of employer costs, while benefit costs averaged $13.02 per hour worked and accounted for the remaining 29.7 percent. Total compensation costs for private industry workers were $16.94 at the 10th wage percentile, $31.81 at the 50th (median) wage percentile, and $84.97 at the 90th wage percentile.
2024 Workplace Safety Index
Liberty Mutual Insurance
U.S. businesses spend more than $1 billion per week on workplace injuries, for a staggering total of more than $58 billion per year. That’s a tough pill to swallow — even more so when we realize these costs stem almost entirely from just 10 common workplace injuries.
The 2024 Workplace Safety Index estimates the top 10 causes of the most serious workplace injuries — those causing an employee to miss more than five days of work — and ranks them by their direct costs of medical and lost-wage payments.
HR News Roundup: Quick Takes
- 5 Strategies for Connecting with Your LGBTQ+ Employees
- 8 Essential Performance Review Tips for New Managers
- Cancer is expensive: How to help reduce employers’ healthcare costs
- How [Nursing] Leaders Can Prevent Workplace Violence and Keep Workers Psychologically Safe
- Working 3 days at home reduces quit rates: Stanford report
- How to Avoid Getting Sick This Summer
- EEOC Sues 15 Employers in 10 States for Not Filing Workforce Demographics Data
- Don’t Take the Bait: 7 Strategies for Dealing With Toxic People
- People’s last words are often these 4 phrases: What they teach us about living happy, meaningful lives, from an oncologist
- Homeowner Assistance as an Employee Benefit
- Surgeon General’s Advisory: Firearm Violence: A Public Health Crisis in America
From the Lighter Side …
- The US Postal service just issued a Forever Stamp honoring Alex Trebek of Jeopardy. The stamp’s release coincided with the popular quiz show’s 60th anniversary. Forever Stamps are popular collectibles, and they have another great feature – no matter how long you hold on to them or what you’ve paid for them, they can be used now or in the future to mail a standard one-ounce letter. The first Forever Stamp was introduced in 2007 for 41 cents, less, You know it’s a Forever Stamp if instead of a numeric price on the stamp, you see the word “forever.” You can browse commemorative stamps of 2024, or see commemorative stamps going back to 2005.
- If you are a fan of “animals with jobs” you might enjoy Bodega Cats (Instagram) or you can find them on Twitter/X.
- Feeling nostalgic? Conserve the Sound: Your Museum for endangered sounds – The sound of a dial telephone, a Walkman, an analog typewriter, a pay phone, a 56k modem, a nuclear power plant or even a cell phone keypad are partially already gone or are about to disappear from our daily life. This site contains image and sound recordings of everyday objects no longer in use.
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