Deloitte Touche Tomatsu Ltd. recently released a report titled 'Resetting Horizons: Human Capital Trends 2013'. The top 5 trends outlined in the report were:

• next generation leadership
• accelerating organizational change
• the war to develop talent
• boards are changing the HR game
• transforming HR to meet new business priorities

Of particular note is the skills gap and the efforts to develop talent. The authors of the report feel that this is likely the most important point to pay attention to. Leadership development (not just recruitment) is crucial to being able to compete in the global market. Businesses today all face a unique set of challenges that will require different types of leaders and the strategies need to be in place to find, develop, and retain those resources.

I have to admit that I found this article refreshing even though it would likely make an HR professional cringe a little. In this article, Clifford Oxford makes the distinction between the stereotypical happy employee as defined by HR and the happy employees found in high-growth companies such as those found in the technology sector.

'Here’s how I define H.R. Happy: Bosses are at least superficially nice and periodically pretend to be interested in employees as people. These employees can count on birthday-cake celebrations and shallow conversations about what their hobbies are outside of work. This approach allows H.R. people to do the job they love — compliance and regulations — instead of the job they should be doing — finding and recruiting the best available talent.

And this may work in a call-center environment or in a second-rate corporate culture where people resign themselves to the fact that they will get more if they accept being treated like children. But these H.R. Happy employees can have a rough time at fast-growth companies when they meet people who are High Performance Happy. Think of an Olympic athlete jumping into the pool for those 4:30 a.m. laps. High Performance Happy is an attitude with a skill set that says we are on a mission that is bigger than any one of us. We find our happiness in being on a world class team that is making a difference.

H.R. Happy says we should do what pleases us first — bring your dog to work! High Performance Happy says I will fight for every inch. I will be there at 4:30 a.m. no matter what and until the last dog dies. Respect is core to the success of High Performance Happy, and it is based on what you are giving not on what you are taking. For example, if one person has a sick child, we all have a sick child, and we all give more that day. And this is why High Performance Happy builds deeper bonds.

High Performance Happy means you give employees tremendous responsibility, and they are happy to show that they are the best. You don’t have to con them into doing things with a flavor-of-the-month methodology that suggests they will only perform if you make them happy first. H.R. Happy says, I want you to think that I like you. High Performance Happy says, I believe in you.'

Check out the full article here.

In our effort to manage our time effectively and get the most done in the time we have, many of us eat lunch at our desks. We think we are being more productive but a recent study points out that any event that depresses us, negatively affects productivity. And eating lunch at our desks can be a depressing event for many.

'The researchers said decreased happiness at work can lead to reduced productivity and a generally unhappier workplace, while going out to eat made people view their job more favourably and could potentially increase productivity.

Eating sandwiches on the beach was found to boost mood the most, with a park bench in a green space second best. Both of these locations make workers happier than going to a restaurant, the psychologists found.

"It's fascinating that lunches outside, at the beach or on a park bench, can have such a dramatic impact on people's emotional wellbeing and attitudes towards work,” a Kingsmill spokesman said. “Eating sandwiches with the sun on your face, or feeling a light refreshing breeze, can really help refresh you and refocus your mind for the afternoon ahead."

When we think about flexible work arrangements, I am sure many of us make the assumption that they were first introduced to accommodate women and their family commitments and women are therefore the main users of such arrangements. But a study done in January by Harris Interactive on behalf of the American Psychological Association's Center of Excellence (COE) found that men used the flexible work arrangements offered by employers more than women.

'Only 38% of women employees avail themselves of flexible-work arrangements, compared with 42% of men. In addition, while just 37% of women employees regularly use those benefits ‘designed to help them meet demands outside the office’, that figure is 42% for men.

The focus of employers should, therefore, no longer be solely on meeting the needs of women, but on meeting the needs of all employees, according to David Ballard, head of the COE. Ballard told HRE Online that an earlier APA study showed that one of the top two factors that cause people to stay in a job is that the job fits well with the demands of their personal lives. “This should be a huge wake-up call for employers that workplace flexibility isn’t just for women and [their] family demands,” he said. “It’s more of a human issue now.”'

When I first read this I thought that women might not feel comfortable using the flexible work arrangements as they may think it shows them in a negative light to their supervisors but this same article states that there are studies that demonstrate that men actually feel more penalized for using these arrangements especially if they are thought of internally as a way to help women. At the end of the day, both men and women feel the same stresses when they cannot meet their family and personal commitments and flexible work arrangements are a way to help employees cope and be more productive at work.

Check out the full article here. 

In my last blog post I referred to a study about the uptake by employees of company wellness plans. It is difficult to get employees to sign up for programs given their time limitations and lack of interest. But a recent study of Fortune 100 companies, illustrates why employers keep trying. Healthy employees mean longer employement retention, higher productivity, and lower health costs.

"This study demonstrates that a scientifically-validated measure of a workforce’s well-being is a strong indicator of future retention, productivity and health outcomes and can serve as a meaningful business performance metric. The findings also reveal there is a significant connection between improvements in a workforce’s well-being over time and in better employee health and performance outcomes—which should accrue to a company’s bottom line.

They found that employees who eat healthy all day long were 25% more likely to have higher job performance, while those who eat five or more servings of fruit and vegetables at least four times a week were 20% more likely to be more productive.

In addition, employees who exercise for at least 30 minutes, three times a week, were 15% more likely to have higher job performance. Overall, absenteeism was 27% lower for those workers who ate healthy and regularly exercised and that their job performance was 11% higher than their peers who were obese."

Check out the full article here.