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NEW YORK: There’s a reason not to bad mouth your former employer, and it’s not just because it’s unprofessional.Nearly a fifth of laid-off workers return to the company that issued their pink slip, a survey said Tuesday. Eighteen percent of displaced employees who landed new positions were rehired by the same employer that let them go, up from 13% in 2005, according to Right Management’s outplacement services, a division of Manpower.More than 17,000 outplacement candidates were surveyed by Right Management between June 2008 and June 2009.”In some instances, organizations are realizing that they may have cut too deep and are bringing people back in consulting roles or for project work,” Melvin Scales, senior vice president for global solutions at Right Management, said in a statement. “Former employees have the organizational knowledge and skills to jump back into roles quickly to get the job done,” Scales said.But redundant firing and hiring can be disruptive to workforce performance and costly for the company, he noted.Scales recommends that employers consider redeploying workers as an alternative to layoffs. “It’s a way of leveraging the skills and talents of existing employees and reassigning them to new roles within the organization. It provides an opportunity to retain valued talent, reduce the cost of turnover and leverage knowledge transfers within the company,” he said.Previous research conducted by Right Management found that only one in two employers offer redeployment before layoffs.The battered U.S. labor market has witnessed severe job cuts across the board over the course of 2008 and 2009.Nearly 3.4 million jobs have been lost already in the first half of 2009, more than the 3.1 million lost in all of 2008.

Source:CNN

NEW YORK: One in four employees is choosing to ignore medical care to save on costs, while many other workers are either splitting their pills or skipping their medications to make them last longer, according to a new survey Wednesday.According to the National Business Group on Health (NBGH), 27% of insured workers are skipping health care treatments to avoid co-payments, 20% of employees are not taking their prescriptions as advised by their doctors, and 17% of employees are cutting their pills in half to make them last longer.The NBGH said these types of risky behaviors are a result of the recession, and illustrate the “toll [it is taking] on employees’ physical, mental and financial health.” 0:00
/2:03Doctor on callThe survey is disturbing to some. “We think the last two trends are particularly dangerous, assuming that a correct diagnosis was made to prescribe the medicine and they are intentionally not being taken,” said Helen Darling, president of NBGH, which is a non-profit group representing mostly large employers, including 60 of the Fortune 100 companies.The emotional toll. Not surprisingly, the survey also showed that the recession had become a burden on workers’ mental and financial health: 40% of employees said their stress and anxiety was worse since the start of the economic slump, and 50% said the economy has worsened their financial situation.Also, 67% of those polled said saving more is a top priority this year, up sharply from 29% in 2008.Regarding the cost of health care, 58% of those surveyed said they “continue to be surprised” at their out-of-pocket costs. Still, 68% of employees say having access to health benefits is a key reason for staying with their employer.Another significant finding was that improving their health has jumped in priority for American workers.The survey showed 52% of respondents said living a healthier lifestyle is more of a priority this year, compared with 44% who felt the same way a year ago. In that regard, more than half of workers polled believed that smokers should pay higher health care premiums and 47% said obese employees should also pay higher premiums.A majority of those polled said financial incentives from their employers has motivated them to try to lead a healthier lifestyle.”We aren’t surprised by these findings. They show that people are really worried,” said Darling.Helping people cope. However, Darling said her group is also focused on recommending steps employers can take to help their workers manage their health care expenses.’Employers have to be aware that they can do several things,” she said.Among the group’s recommendations, she said employers can offer financial incentives to motivate healthy behavior. They can also provide more transparency to workers about costs and quality of services from health care providers, and spread awareness about financial counseling services available through employee assistance programs.The NBGH also suggested that employers remind their workers of cost savings through use of generic medication, mail-order and nurse help-line services.The NBGH survey was conducted in March and polled 1,500 workers between the ages of 22 and 69 who either have employer-sponsored insurance or union-sponsored health plan.

Source:CNN

Survey sees rise in UK confidence
Confidence among business professionals has risen for the first time since the end of 2007, a survey indicates.The Institute of Chartered Accountants’ index of business confidence rose to -28.2 at the end of March, from -45.3 at the end of the previous quarter. “The underlying data suggests that companies have heeded warnings,” said the Institute’s’s head Michael Izza. More than 1,000 chartered accountants were surveyed across England and Wales. Mr Izza said businesses were “managing the consequences of the global recession remarkably well”. But he added: “While the change in outlook is encouraging, I still believe that difficult times lie ahead.” “I would urge businesses to not be complacent and be measured in any steps they take in response to an economic recovery.” Last week, the Office of National Statistics said the output of the UK economy fell by an unrevised 1.9% in the first three months of 2009 and household spending dropped 1.2%, the biggest decline since 1980. The only sector of the economy making a positive contribution to growth was government spending.
Source:BBC