Employment Stats 9/24/09

Weekly Jobless Claims (Seasonally Adjusted), Week Ending 9/19 (reported 9/24) 530,000
Weekly Jobless Claims Change from Previous Week (seasonally adjusted) -21,000
Payroll Employment (Nonfarm Jobs Created or Lost), August -216,000
Unemployment Rate, August 9.7 percent

New grads are going to leave your company after the recession ends and it isn't going to be pretty. So says research out of the U.K.:

• 49 percent of HR managers highlighted the difficulty of retaining graduates for long enough, with 22 percent reporting that on average they lose graduates within two years of their employment.
• 57 percent felt that there was more they could do to retain these graduates - the ability to identify and retain the right graduates will be a crucial success factor as the economy comes out of recession.
• 75 percent of HR managers saw most graduates leaving between two-and-a-half and three-and-a-half years after starting their graduate program, or one year after the end of the program.
• 78 percent of HR managers agreed or agreed strongly that a specific development program to increase retention of graduates one year after the end of their graduate program would be of benefit.

Nobody has confidence that they'll be able to keep new grads or basically anyone who doesn't currently want to work for their current employer. It is going to be interesting to monitor how much movement picks up after the recession dies down (when it dies down, hopefully).

Does recruiting on Facebook make you biased?
As more employers use social networks to recruit, many lawyers warn the practice could get companies sued. Are they right, or just overreacting?

The biggest concern: Users of social networking sites are primarily Caucasians age 20 to 40. For example, on LinkedIn, only 4 percent of users are African-American, and just 2 percent are Hispanic, according to the latest data from Quantcast. HRMorning

Happening This Week: 12th Annual HR Technology Conference & Exposition
Now - more than ever - is a critical time for you to attend the 12th Annual HR Technology? Conference & Exposition.

After the economic shocks of the winter, everyone in HR is getting back to work. But you face the new realities of innovating by looking at lower-cost technologies, rethinking business processes, and consolidating where possible. (Event takes place September 30th to August 2nd, at McCormick Place, Chicago.) hrtechconference.com

Retention: The Holy Grail of HR and Recruiting
I think the concept of retention is overblown and childish. Yes, that's right.

• I am fully aware that it costs money to hire and train employees.
• I know it's expensive to carry the benefit load for an employee who quits after a short period of time.
• I've been a recruiter. I know how difficult it is to find a skilled worker in a niche industry.

But hear me out. Retention is the trendy holy grail of recruiting & HR because it is an easy thing for everyone to understand and sell. Punk Rock HR

Undocumented Workers Cost Company over $1.5 million
Shipley Do-Nut Flour and Supply Company, Inc., of Houston, has been ordered to forfeit more than $1.3 million to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and pay a criminal fine of $250,000 for harboring illegal aliens. In addition, the company's president pleaded guilty in Houston District Court to conspiring to harbor illegal aliens and received probation and a $6,000 personal fine. Three warehouse managers also pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of hiring illegal immigrants. HR.BLR.com

Feds eye workplace models of Google, Facebook
John Berry, who as head of U.S. Office of Personnel Management is responsible for the needs of 1.9 million federal workers, wants to improve the working conditions of government employees by increasing telecommuting and incorporating some of the best ideas in Silicon Valley to change the workplace atmosphere.

Appointed by President Obama, Berry is reaching out to high-tech firms - Google and Facebook in particular - for ideas on how to create office environments and working conditions that are more Silicon Valley and less federal cubicle. Computerworld

Xerox Buys Affiliated, Fueling Shift to Services
Ursula M. Burns, the chief executive of Xerox, declared on Monday that the company's plan to buy Affiliated Computer Services, an outsourcing services company, for $6.4 billion would be "a game-changer" for Xerox.

That could be standard business hyperbole, of course, and only time will tell whether the deal proves to be a winner for Xerox. But the game is indeed changing for big technology suppliers catering to corporate customers as they shift to depend less on products and more on services. The New York Times