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The following Perfect Labor Storm stat just arrived in my inbox:
The U.S Department of Justice reports that 1 in every 32 adults has a criminal record, so the typical company of 500 employees would, on average, have at least 15 convicted criminals on their payroll.
This follows on the heels about my last post about teen attitudes related to theft, cheating, and lying.
I'm often asked why anyone would ever admit they stole, cheated or hit someone in anger. The answer is simple: they believe this is acceptable behavior and their peers agree.
The latest (Dec 2007)Junior Achievement/Deloitte Teen Ethics Survey confirms why honesty and integrity tests are a good pre-employment tool for employers who want to weed out candidates who might cheat, steal, fight or just not show up for worl. The findings should be frightening to anyone who is counting on the next generation of workers to drive their organization ahead.
Harris Interactive did the actual survey of American teens ages 13-18, and here are a few of the findings:
• 71 percent of teens say they feel fully prepared to make ethical decisions when they enter the workforce.
• 38 percent of that group believes it is sometimes necessary to cheat, plagiarize, lie or even behave violently in order to succeed. In fact, some 23 percent of all teens surveyed think violence toward another person is acceptable on some level. Of those who think so, the justifications for violence include settling an argument (27 percent) and revenge (20 percent).
• 24 percent of all teens surveyed think cheating on a test is acceptable on some level, and more than half of those teens (54 percent) say their personal desire to succeed is the rationale.
• Of the teens who think plagiarism is acceptable on some level, 37 percent think a personal desire to succeed is justification, and that number climbs to 51 percent among the students who feel an overwhelming pressure to succeed.
• 27 percent of all teens surveyed said it’s not fair for an employer to suspend or fire employees for unethical behavior outside of their jobs.
• 57 percent of all teens surveyed believe it is not fair for employers to make hiring or firing decisions based on material they have posted to the Internet, and another 19 percent weren’t sure if it was fair or not.
• 47 percent of teens said it was acceptable on some level to illegally download music without paying for it, but only 5 percent said it was acceptable to steal something from a store.
Name this country.
A shortage of skilled workers, declining demand and the rising cost of finance, are key hurdles for businesses today.
About 38% of businesses say a skilled labor shortage is becoming a critical constraint. This <Name this country>’s companies say the shortage has caused negative impact to their business. Many blame the education system for the lack of skilled labor. Other reasons include poor people management, uncompetitive salary levels and an increasing number of career opportunities in the labor market, where demand has outstripped supply.
The survey identified a quantitative shortage in output from schools and a mismatch between employer demand and supply from the educational system. Meanwhile, the shortage of skilled managers, engineers and technicians also hinders plans to achieve higher value-added activities such as R&D and international expansion.
The most important skills required are in business decision-making (95%), planning (82%) and financial management (75%).
<Name this country> now needs graduates who can think, make decisions, do research, analyze problems and find solutions to the problems. Yet the <Name this country>’s education system isn't producing this.
Source: Grant Thornton International, according to the company's recent survey of 7,200 businesses in 32 countries.
Answer: Thailand
