There's No Business Like Small Business

Bigger isn’t always better. A recent CareerBuilder survey finds that 22 percent of workers who were laid off within the past year found new positions with small businesses. Of those who didn’t find jobs, 59 percent reported that they were interested in working for a small business and 29 percent said they would like to start their own small business.

Small businesses employ half of all workers in the private sector and provide half of the private gross domestic product, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration.

There were a multitude of reasons that working for a small business was an attractive option. Some of them included the family-like work environment (56 percent); more recognition of employees (49 percent); a sense of being able to facilitate change (48 percent); and the lack of corporate red tape (46 percent).

What are some other perks of working at a small business?

Does Your Company Have Clear Expectations Regarding Diversity?

According to the Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace survey results—commissioned by Capital H Group and released today—91 percent of managers and senior managers from DiversityInc Top 10 companies and a comparison group of Fortune 500 companies report that their organizations set clear expectations regarding diversity.

92 percent of those surveyed said their company's current diversity and inclusion practices have helped their organization's ability to attract and retain talent.

Does your company have a diversity policy? What is your company's definition of diversity?

One-third of respondents said their diversity policy only includes gender and race/ethnicity.

When you look for a job, is diversity an important factor in choosing which company to work for?

Productivity at All-Time High

Last week, news surfaced that productivity—basically the amount of work per hour—increased at an annual rate of 6.6 percent during the second quarter. That’s the best performance since the summer 2003 and easily exceeded the 6.4 percent gain economists expected, according to the Labor Department.

So what does that really mean? Are workers being asked to do more in less time? If so, how is workplace training playing a part in this productivity?

Are the workers who are remaining on the jobsite the older, more experienced group or are those workers left behind during a RIF being upskilled quickly to meet the demands of the organization?

Fear of Management

Did you see the most recent Harris Interactive survey that reported that most U.S. workers do not want to be managers? Increased stress is apparently the no. 1 reason why American workers are afraid to take on more responsibility.

Fifty-one percent of the people surveyed said they don't want to become managers, and 69 percent older workers—those over the age of 64—are not interested in moving up the career ladder.

Are you surprised? Why isn't more responsibility enticing for U.S. workers?

Are leadership development programs scaring away high potentials, or maybe it's the lack of good development programs that has workers weary of taking on more responsibility?

Whatever the reason, scaring away would-be managers is a sobering reality that could have company executives scratching their heads in the not so distant future.