As consumers become savvier, as social media brings more transparency and accountability, and as resources become more scarce, all of these things will conspire to make corporate social responsibility more significant, says Susan McPherson, a business executive.

She sees this initiative taking several different forms.

One is with employee engagement. She predicts that companies will become more involved with non-profit organizations through employee volunteer work. This will be even more prevalent if the economy continues to struggle, she says. About 80 percent of all businesses are planning to do some type of employee engagement effort in 2012. These efforts also help with the productivity and effectiveness of employees – engaged employees report being happier at work. Also, the profits at companies where the employees were more engaged grew three times faster than for other businesses.

McPherson also believes that companies in the future will partner with non-profits to help grow the business and to improve image and exposure. A 2010 survey showed that two-thirds of brands are involved in some type of non-profit partnership, an increase of almost 10 percent over the previous year. Almost every marketing manager believes this is an effective business strategy.

Another trend that will drive these partnerships is the rise of social media, which will increase the pressures for more transparency from organizations. Consumers will have the means to communicate their feelings directly to businesses and non-profits. Businesses and non-profits that engage with consumers will come out ahead, McPherson says.

Corporate boards will be faced with corporate social responsibility issues more and more, McPherson says, with investors more concerned about environmental issues, with risks to business reputation, with political spending, with natural resource management, and with diversity issues. These issues will of necessity become part of business strategic planning.

With the depletion of global resources, things such as supply chains involving scarce resources and how they are handled will become more significant as well, McPherson adds.

Human resources professionals have a lot on their plate today: sourcing, hiring, planning benefits, employee engagement…and now social responsibility initiatives. Let Bayside Solutions help lighten your load by allowing us to help you find terrific workers for your San Francisco-area company’s temporary staffing needs. Contact us today!

The first step in the process, Samuel says, is to write down your most important goals for the year, or any time period you want to work with. She recommends having no more than three major goals here, and to put them at the top of your spreadsheet in large letters, so that they jump out at you.

Then, add all of the activities you are currently involved in or expect to be involved in. Put them all in one column, one activity per row. Some may be a lot more significant than others, and that’s OK. This part of the process may take a little time, so you don’t need to be in a big hurry to get it done, she says. Look at your list and realize that you are not going to get to the things that really matter – those three big things at the top of the spreadsheet – if you try to do everything on your list.

Sort your activities into related areas, and then label how important they are and how urgent they are, Samuel says. She uses different colors to categorize her tasks. Then try to determine which of these tasks can help you get to one of your major goals, and which tasks you can farm out to others. In order to do this, you may have to schedule meetings with others to work this out, and explain the situation

Then, get rid of the tasks you don’t plan on doing at all.

Then take another look at your list. Is it manageable, or is there still more on it that you cannot reasonably do and still chase your big goals? Look again to see if there is anything that you can cut or delegate – it may be tough, but better to admit that you cannot get to these things rather than have your truly important goals get lost in the shuffle.

If one of your New Year’s Resolutions was to find a new position, put THAT at the top of your spreadsheet and then contact a recruiter at Bayside Solutions. We have many positions for IT and other professionals at companies throughout the Bay Area.

The survey found that businesses are putting a lot of resources into helping their employees enhance their health, in areas such as health benefits, health programs in the workplace, and using other healthcare resources outside the company. But despite all of these efforts by the companies, employees have not taken the time or effort to learn about or get involved in the programs.

The study was done by the Midwest Business Group on Health. Midwest worked with five client companies employing more than 250,000 workers over a five-year period to compile the information.

The Midwest Business Group on Health (MBGH) is a non-profit, Chicago-based business coalition made up mostly of human resources and health benefits professionals  from more than 100 large, self-insured public and private employers. The coalition represents about three million people and more than $3 billion in healthcare benefits annually

To help companies get their workers more involved in their health, Midwest made a number of recommendations. It recommended that companies look at their corporate culture when putting healthcare programs in place at work so that these programs fit in with the culture at the company. Midwest also recommended that companies make efforts to improve their communication about healthcare not only with workers, but with the workers’ dependents and family members. Midwest also said companies need to offer more incentives as well to motivate workers to improve their health.

Also, Midwest recommended that companies make resources available to workers so that they can compare different health plans and actually see what their healthcare is costing them.

Midwest also recommended that companies develop initiatives to springboard off of clinical screening programs, such as tests for cholesterol, blood pressure, diabetes, and other conditions, to use the screenings to motivate employees to make lifestyles changes.

Midwest also suggested that companies provide resources to help employees deal with setbacks and stress on the job and at home.

If you’re looking for great employees for either short-term temporary or long-term assignments at your San Francisco-area company, contact Bayside Solutions. We have a large pool of skilled professionals ready, willing and very able to help your company thrive. Contact us today!

People have physical and emotional resources that they use when they confront various situations, and people use these resources at work. When the tank needs fueling, we use things like vacations, support from friends and family, and a sense of fulfillment in our jobs to add fuel. What empties the fuel are such things as bosses who are hard to work for, worries about money, concerns about keeping a job, and heavy workloads.

When the tank is full, people have the energy and enthusiasm to take on new pressures and challenges. But when the tank is low, new pressures and tasks tend to create more problems for the person and become harder to achieve.

One example of this that was studied in detail was the response of workers when a hurricane hit, which naturally put a lot of additional stress on the employees. Research showed that the extra demands made on employees – things such as working longer hours to fill in for people who could not make it to work – caused more problems for people whose reserves were already depleted, whose gas tanks were already near empty. The extra stress actually caused a drop off in their efforts. But employees whose gas tanks were fuller were much more engaged when the hurricane hit.

When demands in the workplace increase, employees need to also increase their resources — their reserves – in order to be able to handle these demands, according to Dave Ulrich, a business analyst. When employees have more resources such as better control of their time, or the chance to learn and grow, they are better able to handle increased stress. The breakdown happens when demands outpace the resources, Ulrich says.

Several business analysts say that they see workers’ tanks nearing empty in the wake of increased demands at work after the recession. And while workers have been able to increase their productivity, the analysts say these increases will not continue if employees are not able to build up their reserves, if they are not able to put some gas in the tank.

Are you ramping up some projects for the coming year. Are you current employees working at capacity? Then consider adding skilled temporary workers with the help of  Bayside Solutions to your Bay Area firm. Contact one of our recruiters today!

What’s Hot
Aerospace, biomedical, computer hardware and mechanical engineering are among the specialties that have been adding engineering jobs in recent years.

Companies are showing interest in college graduates of engineering programs. “Out of 70 employers that came to our fall 2011 campus job fair, 25 were specifically looking for engineering students,” says Bill McCarthy, associate director of the career development center at Binghamton University in New York.

Those firms were hiring for positions in computer hardware, mechanical, industrial, materials and electrical engineering.

The upshot for qualified engineering job seekers in 2012? If you knock on doors in the right industry sector, you’ll be in demand.

Auto Industry Comeback Creates Engineering Jobs

The Detroit automakers and their business partners are beginning to get credit for improving their products, and engineers are being hired to further that effort.

“The in-demand engineering jobs are in mechatronics, LED lighting and lithium-ion batteries,” says Jim Bazner, global vice president of human capital solutions at MSX International, a managed service provider specializing in auto industry talent.

Competition is fierce to hire the few individuals with a background in both mechanical and electronic engineering, according to Julie Lustig, recruiting manager at MSX. “Folks with this experience can work for a lot of different organizations,” she says.

Despite Strapped Governments, Civil Engineering Shows Bright Spots

Recovery Act money is on the wane, but civil construction projects are creating work for engineers on projects that can’t wait any longer. “We’re projecting that we will be hiring about 30 engineers as program design managers, project managers and construction managers as well as civil engineers,” says John Robak, COO of Greeley and Hansen, an environmental engineering firm based in Chicago.

“New funding opportunities in green design, particularly for sustainable infrastructure facilities, will also support growth in 2012,” he says.

Unconventional Engineering Career Opportunities

Engineers will also find novel niches of opportunity in 2012. “We’ll probably hire two to three more engineers in 2012, with advanced degrees and experience, mostly mechanical engineers, because they can work across areas,” says Jeff Richard, president of CED Investigative Technologies, a forensic engineering and accident reconstruction firm in Shelton, Connecticut.

Richard’s firm looks for engineers who can communicate: His employees might be called on to introduce concepts to clients who don’t understand the technology, or to get in front of a jury.

Relocation May Be Less Than You’re Hoping For

Engineers will be on the move in 2012, some on less favorable terms than they might like. Many companies don’t even give their current employees help with moving expenses if their jobs are relocated.

And new entrants to the field may not find jobs in the engineering hot spots of San Diego, Seattle or Chicago. “Young grads might need to go to Detroit or Texas or Fargo [North Dakota] for a few years to accumulate technical skills,” says Paul Kostek, a former president of IEEE-USA.

One thing a company can do is sponsor a kind of signature volunteer program that is of a short-term duration, but one that involves the entire company. For example, JP Morgan Chase has a volunteer program called Global Days of Service, which is a month-long effort of volunteer service each year by Chase employees around the globe. The Chase employees get together with family and friends to volunteer in a variety of service projects. In 2002, volunteers at Chase worked in more than 950 projects in 275 cities around the world.

In another kind of volunteer effort, companies can help out non-profit organizations by volunteering their skills and business expertise. An example here is America Online, which offers IT help to non-profits and schools. The goal is to help them more effectively use resources online for whatever purpose they have. .

To get the most out of your volunteer programs, your company should follow a three-point plan outlined by the Points of Light Foundation:

• First, your company should acknowledge that community service and employee volunteerism are not just the right thing to do, but important to your business achieving its goals.
• Next, your company needs to make a commitment to create and encourage volunteerism for all employees, and you need to look at community service the same as any other business function.
• Finally, you need to focus your efforts at serious social problems in the community.

Community service programs have wide-ranging benefits. They help workers do their jobs better, acquire new skills, work in teams, think creatively, and help with job satisfaction. They also are an important factor in attracting and retaining good employees. And, as is well known, they also improve the company’s image and reputation.

Will you need skilled and reliable workers for your San Francisco-area business in 2012? Then give Bayside Solutions a call! We can place one worker for a short-term assignment, or several temporary workers for long-term assignments. We can even help find great full-time employees for direct-hire assignments. Contact us today!

Can the Obama administration spur $4 billion in building energy efficiency retrofits without being able to get the money out of a deadlocked Congress? Apparently we’ll have the next two years or so to find out.

After months of working with former president Bill Clinton and a lot of private-sector and government partners, the White House says that more than 60 organizations have pledged to spend $2 billion to retrofit about 1.6 billion square feet of commercial and industrial property in the next 24 months.

The White House simultaneously announced a commitment to move forward with $2 billion in federal building “performance-based contracting” projects over the next 24 months. Because private investors and companies will pay for efficiency upgrades at government buildings, then pay themselves out of the energy savings, those projects can go forward without new federal spending.

Together, that $4 billion in projected commitments could add up to tens of thousands of jobs. Consider it a major new market opportunity for the building energy efficiency sector—and a major new challenge in making private-sector economics work in the absence of direct taxpayer support.

Also consider it a thorn in the side of the Obama administration—because they have been unable to get Congress to act on many of the proposals in its Better Buildings Initiative launched last February. The Department of Energy initiative laid out a laundry list of building energy efficiency initiatives, all aimed at making the nation’s commercial buildings 20 percent more energy efficient by 2020.

Part of that plan was the ‘Better Buildings Challenge,’ launched in late June 2011 at the Clinton Global Initiative. 14 initial private sector and local government partners pledged to spend $500 million to retrofit buildings totaling about 300 million square feet.

That included big public-private partnerships in Seattle, Los Angeles and Atlanta, as well as buy-in by USAA Real Estate Company, Best Buy and other corporate partners. Partners including Citi, Hudson Clean Energy Partners, Metrus Energy, Transcend Equity and Renewable Funding agreed to provide at least $525 million in project funding. San Francisco-based startup Serious Energy promised to execute $100 million in energy efficiency upgrades for customers as part of the initiative.

The $4 billion challenge is the latest move the Obama administration has made as part of its “We Can’t Wait” campaign to bypass a deadlocked Congress and spur job creation, even as the President pushes lawmakers to pass a $447 billion jobs bill.

The Political Economy Research Institute projected in June that the entire Better Buildings Initiative could create up to 114,000 jobs if implemented in full. Much of that would have to come via legislation, which seems increasingly unlikely, at least this year.

The big question is whether the economics of building energy retrofits are developed to the point where they can support a $4 billion boost in business without loan guarantees or other federal supports.

The problem may be that the businesses are looking for the perfect resume – too perfect, in fact. They think the best person for the job is the applicant with the 3.9 grade point average from some elite school. But, Anders says, they are finding out that these people don’t show as much initiative as the companies would like to see. Too often they are waiting to be told what to do.

In looking for the perfect resume, businesses are unintentionally weeding out the more freewheeling types, the people who may not have had the best grades, but aren’t afraid to take chances, Anders says.

Anders says companies need to change their mindset, to take a harder look at people who have “jagged resumes,” ones that show successes and failures, because the failures might be evidence of risk taking, of people trying to transcend themselves. Steve Jobs was one such person – he never finished college.

On the face of it, it may look unnecessarily risky to consider such candidates, but if done properly, businesses can find good people, Anders says. To be effective, companies first have to determine what kind of character traits they are looking for, the ones that are indicators of future success. For example, Anders says Teach for America looks for perseverance. Linear Technology looks for the kind of people who like to tinker, and have been doing it since they were children. Resilience, efficiency, curiosity, and self-reliance might be other traits that are important. But whatever the traits, Anders says, the motto should be, “Compromise on experience, not on character.”

Also, Anders says, companies should determine what shortcomings are acceptable. For example, work histories that show that the person jumped around a lot may not really matter all that much. A little eccentricity or mediocre grades also may not be a problem, whereas ethical flaws, or a lack of motivation, may be deal breakers.

Because of the turbulent economy, more people than ever have these jagged resumes, For some hiring managers, that might mean instant disqualification of the applicant, but for others who are willing to look harder and more perceptively, there may be real gems found in the less-than-stellar resume.

If you’d like to forgo culling the hundreds of resumes coming by your desk,talk to Bayside Solutions about helping you find the great people your San Francisco-area company needs. Contact us today!

A new theory suggests that big pharma’s current woes stem from flawed business practices that the industry has followed for the past 60 years.

From 1950 to 2008, the FDA approved 1,222 new drugs and biologics. Over the same period, the annual investment into new drug R&D dramatically increased — growing at an average compounded rate of 12.3% per year to roughly $50 billion per year. Despite this massive R&D investment, the number of new drugs approved each year over the past 50 years has remained fairly constant: averaging 25 to 30 per year.

Therefore, spending more money on R&D initiatives did not help to improve innovation or drug development productivity in the life sciences industry.

Today’s pharmaceutical industry faces several major financial and business challenges.

• Longer R&D cycles and increasing regulatory scrutiny are causing R&D costs to spiral out of control.
• The impending patent expiry of many blockbuster drugs threatens to cut total drug sales revenues by as much as 41% by 2015.
• By the end of 2012, 20% of big pharma’s current sale revenues will be susceptible to generic drug encroachment.
• Generic prescription drugs are predicted to take a bigger chunk out of total global pharmaceutical sales by 2014.
• Healthcare reform legislation and downward pricing pressures imposed by insurance companies and third-party payors are driving down drug reimbursement costs and squeezing the margins of many branded prescription drugs.

Drug makers have attempted to control costs through job cuts, corporate restructuring and M&As. Over the past four years alone, the world’s 10 largest pharmaceutical companies have eliminated over 200,000 jobs. During the same period, M&A activity has skyrocketed as big pharma companies rush to bolster their biotechnology product offerings. While both strategies are likely to help to control costs and boost company stock prices in the short term, neither is likely to help to improve productivity or spark innovation.

The Blockbuster Drug Business Model – No Longer Viable
The blockbuster drug business model is no longer viable or sustainable in today’s marketplace. There is general agreement among most industry analysts that big pharma companies must change to remain productive and relevant. These changes include:

• improved R&D productivity
• a continuation of drastic cost-cutting measures
• a strategy to rapidly garner market share in emerging markets.

While some analysts contend that conventional M&A strategies can address these issues, there is a growing consensus that fundamental changes to big pharma’s business model are necessary to ensure its survival.

Open Innovation
Historically, the life sciences industry has operated by using a “closed innovation” business model, which is mainly driven and protected by patents and IP, and product development is frequently done internally and secretly without much input from external sources.

An open innovation model — such as those used by software developers and information technology companies — is nimble and flexible and relies on both internal and external resources for product development and commercialization. Otherwise known as “crowdsourcing,” this business model leverages the collective external expertise of a network of contributors (the “crowd”) to help develop products that originated as internal ideas.

While most of crowdsourcing’s better-known successes have been realized in the software industry, like Linux software and the Google Android operating system, the possibility of applying it to pharmaceutical R&D is gaining support. Over the past few years, several big pharma companies have begun to apply the crowdsourcing concept to early drug discovery and development.

A Novel Idea: Crowdsourcing Clinical Drug Development
Most of big pharma’s experiments with open innovation have focused on drug discovery, most likely because it’s the least regulated part of the drug commercialization process. But, although substantial financial investment is required for discovery research and preclinical drug development, the most expensive part of the process is usually human clinical trials. And human clinical trial costs are rising, mainly because of regulatory agencies’ increased emphasis on drug safety.

Challenges
There is no question that open innovation drug discovery models are gaining traction at several major pharmaceutical companies. However, wholesale adoption or “buy in” of the open innovation model by the pharmaceutical industry faces several major challenges:

• the open innovation model would likely elevate the regulatory requirements associated with drug development because of the increased number and diversity of contributors to the process.
• implementation of the model would require careful design, ongoing and regular contact with regulators
• a large investment and commitment of overhead in project management and information technology support would be required.
• how will patents and other intellectual property generated during the open innovation process be handled and managed? Who will own the patents?
• Open innovation will require an unusually complex reward system for contributors that include fees for service, fees for success, and milestone and royalty payments
• As big pharma companies continue to become increasingly risk-averse, it isn’t clear what percentage of risk they will be willing to assume in open innovation drug development projects.

Stephen Paskoff, CEO of a provider of ethics and compliance learning solutions, tells the story of someone working at a financial services firm who had to complete 17 online courses covering financial transactions ranging from ethics and discrimination to harassment in about one day. The man said he clicks his way through the courses but learns little. He just tries to get through it as quickly as possible to get his bonus.

Another person who works at a manufacturing firm says he clicks through the courses as fast as he can. Everyone looks on the courses as pretty much of a joke, he said. Once the courses are completed, management never mentions them again.

Paskoff says when the courses are delivered this way – without any context or follow-up – they really are of little benefit to employees. These type of click-through courses are set up just to give employees some legal information and document that they received it. But just getting information in this way really doesn’t do much to change behavior.

Paskoff argues that to really change the types of employee behavior that causes problems in the workplace or that is even illegal, workers really need a strong motivation for change, and with that, simple guidelines to follow.

The information cannot be conveyed simply as a one-time event, without any follow-up or emphasis from management. Company leadership needs the tools and the know-how to continually reinforce the messages delivered in the online program.

The problem isn’t with the online compliance training, which can be very effective, but with the delivery of the message. The way these online courses are handled tells the employees that the company really doesn’t value them and what they have to say all that much. They come across as some unthinking ritual. A company’s leaders need to provide continual support for the messages in these courses, and the messages themselves must be clear, simple and direct, so that they can be easily followed. Otherwise, the courses will continue to be mostly a time-wasting exercise, providing merely the legal cover the company needs in the event of employee claims against the company.

Do you need great workers for your Bay Area company? Then contact Bayside Solutions. We can source and place terrific employees for temporary, temp-to-hire and direct hire assignments. We look forward to hearing from you!