A survey conducted by LinkedIn with 426 employees across Canada provides an update on practices on how they organize their daily work. 63% of Canadian employees prepare a task list and of these, only 1 out of 10 says that they accomplish everything they have put on the list. What causes the distraction? Phone calls, emails and unplanned meetings that happen during their work time provoke them to move away from their daily goals. Some sectors are less affected than others. Agriculture workers are the most productive with 83% managing to achieve most of what is noted on their To Do list and 18% that get distracted by the unexpected events of the day. Finally, it seems that those least likely to get to the end of their task list are the legal professions, for which 66% say that they complete the large part of what they have listed.
Shortage of skilled workers
34% of employers worldwide have difficulty finding candidates that match their needs, according to a study conducted by Manpower in 41 countries with 40,000 companies. What are the most sought after profiles currently? Salespeople, technicians, drivers, construction workers, information technology specialists, accounting and financial employees, cooks and managers. The difficulties mentioned by employers are related to lack of qualifications, experience, foreign language skills and… little enthusiasm shown by candidates for taking the position offered! The countries that have the most difficulty hiring are Japan, Brazil, Bulgaria, Australia and the USA (49% of employees). At the lowest level are Ireland, the Netherlands and Spain (10% of employers).
Thousands of new hires for the oil and gas industry until 2015
The Petroleum Human Resources Council of Canada foresees hiring 9,500 persons in the industry between 2012 and 2015. A report by the Council shows a loss over the next few years of 3% of the current workforce. What is causing this loss? Retirements are one cause but there is also high turnover. In the end, the total number of employees is not expected to grow and will even remain relatively low. The exploitation sector plans to hire 5,400 persons. And the sector with the highest demand is the tar sands with plans to hire 5,850 persons.