In Case You Missed It: Business News Round-Up

Beth 005Contributed by Beth Collinge of CTG – a division of ILX Group plc.

The US Federal Reserve confirmed a much-anticipated expansion of its asset purchase programme with a second round of quantitative easing – dubbed QE2 – when it said it would buy $600bn of longer-term Treasury securities by mid-2011. Interest rates rose in both Australia and India, while the Bank of England, the Bank of Japan, and the European Central Bank left interest rates unchanged.

Economic Backdrop

  • Improving economic data from the US, China and the UK were released this week.
  • America’s economy grew by an annualised rate of 2% in the third quarter, according to the first official estimate, up from 1.7% in the second quarter. Consumer spending, the biggest component of demand in America, also rose again but still at a much slower rate than after previous deep recessions. Data from the Institute for Supply Management, also showed the manufacturing sector growing faster, as the PMI rose from 54.4 in September to 56.9 in October. Factory goods orders climbed by 2.1 per cent in September, the biggest increase since January.
  • The US jobs market showed signs of improvement in October, with total non-farm payrolls (which excludes public sector workers) rising by 151,000, higher than the 70,000 increase expected. The unemployment rate, however, remained at 9.6 per cent for the third consecutive month.
  • In Europe, the UK also published strong PMI figures. It reported a rise from 53.5 to 54.9, suggesting that growth was unlikely to slow further this year. ‘Flash’ indicators from the eurozone last month also showed an improvement in business activity among manufacturers, especially in Germany.
  • The European Central Bank (ECB) left its monetary policy unchanged on Thursday and Jean-Claude Trichet, ECB president, made relatively hawkish comments. The Bank of England and the Bank of Japan also left interest rates unchanged.
  • The official PMI measure released by the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing, rose to a six-month high of 54.7 in October from 53.8 in September, beating economists’ expectations of a slowdown. Indian manufacturing PMI data were also strong.
  • Investors have started putting money back into equity funds in the US and Europe in a tentative sign of risk appetite increasing. Last week, global equity and commodity prices reached multi-month peaks. The FT 100 finished at a 29-month high, and the S&P 500 reached a two-year high. Gold soared to an all-time nominal high of $1,397.85 a troy ounce – up 2.9 per cent on the week. Silver, platinum, palladium and copper hit their highest prices in years. The rubber price has tripled in two years and major tyre companies have raised their prices by 5-15 per cent. Orange juice prices reached their highest point in three years, after news that the Brazilian orange crop will fall, and sugar is at 30-year high, also due to forecast reduced crops. Oil touched its highest level since 2008.
  • Over the week, the dollar dropped 0.9 per cent to $1.4079 against the euro and lost 1.2 per cent to $1.6240 against the pound. The Australian dollar surged through parity against the US dollar to hit its highest level since it was floated in 1983, when the Reserve Bank of Australia unexpectedly raised interest rates by 25 basis points to 4.75 per cent after its policy meeting on Tuesday.

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5 Ways to Get More Women Into Green Jobs

iStock_000013764446XSmallBy Andrea Newel (Grand Rapids, Michigan)

This article originally appeared on our corporate citizenship website Evolved Employer.

Talk of more green jobs has been everywhere lately, touted as a solution to our economic crisis soaring unemployment rate, and impending climate change situation. However, most green jobs to date have been male-dominated, labor-intensive roles in construction and manufacturing. With women comprising nearly 50% of the current workforce, the green solution will not be nearly as effective without involving more women and utilizing their strengths.

  • Encourage women to pursue jobs in math, science and technology. This is the same idea we have discussed many times, but it is becoming increasingly important. In addition to becoming engineers or scientists, women could become architects designing LEED-certified buildings and interior designers selecting environmentally-friendly furnishings.

    • The EPA reported that U.S. buildings are responsible for nearly 40 percent of the nation’s total carbon emissions and almost 75 percent of total electricity consumption each year. Strides toward more environmentally-friendly new construction, as well as retro-fitting older buildings to improve their carbon footprint could make a huge impact. Men may dominate the manual labor market for this niche, but woman could help lead the way.

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Why Negotiating and Networking Go Hand in Hand

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Group of Multiethnic Diverse Busy Business PeopleOn Tuesday, The Glass Hammer hosted our latest event on career management. Sponsored by Accenture, Bloomberg, and Sungard, the event discussed how women can build professional negotiation skills, and provided tips on networking and how to navigate tricky office politics.

Panelist Carol Frohlinger, Principal at Negotiating Women Inc. and co-author of Her Place at the Table, commented, “Women often suffer from the tiara syndrome – we work hard and wait for someone to place a tiara on our head.” But, she said, in today’s environment, we can not wait for someone to notice hard work or reward it appropriately.

“We must proactively negotiate for the conditions of our own success,” Frohlinger said.

The event’s panelists included Frohlinger, Anne Erni, Head of Leadership, Learning and Diversity, Bloomberg; Camille Mirshokrai, Global Director of Leadership Development, Accenture; Linda Descano, President and CEO, Citi Women & Co.; and Kathleen Weslock, Chief Human Resources Officer, SunGard. The discussion was moderated by Selena Rezvani, co-founder of Women’s Roadmap, Washington Post columnist, and author of The Next Generation of Women Leaders.

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What Does the Shift in Gender Roles Mean for Women in the Workforce?

Family at homeBy Tina Vasquez (Los Angeles)

In 2009 the Families and Work Institute quietly released a study entitled Times are Changing: Gender and Generation at Work and Home [PDF] that dropped quite a few unexpected bombshells. The study’s findings came as a result of the Institute’s 2008 National Study of the Changing Workforce, which found that millennial women are seeking out jobs with more responsibility; many are earning more than their spouses; and traditional gender roles are changing, among other surprising facts.

Since 1997, the desire to move to jobs with more responsibility among young workers has increased, with this increase being greater for young women—from 54 to 66 percent in 2008. Essentially there is no longer any difference between young women and men in wanting jobs with greater responsibility. The study also found that there is no difference between young women with and without children in their desire to move to jobs with more responsibility. Whereas 60 percent of women under 29 with children and 78 percent of women without children wanted jobs with more responsibility in 1992, today the percentages are 69 percent with children and 66 percent without. This is most likely because millennial women (those under 29, according to the study) are now able to take on more demanding jobs thanks to a slowly evolving shift in how traditional gender roles are perceived and an increase in the amount of time their spouses are spending with their children.

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Honoring Powerful Female Role Models

Stock PhotoBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

Today marked the 18th Annual Women of Distinction Breakfast hosted by the Girl Scout Council of Greater New York. The event honored 5 professional women, and one future leader.

With more than 23,000 girl scouts, and the goal to expand to 100,000 girls by 2017, the Girl Scout Council of Greater New York is working hard to empower the next generation of female leaders. One honoree, Barbara Cooperman, Global Chief Marketing Officer for LexisNexis Group, explained that one of the outcomes of the Girl Scouts is putting “more women in leadership roles – and we should set that expectation for girls.”

She added that Girl Scouts is not just about selling cookies and camping – one of the top benefits of an all girl organization is that “all of the leaders are female role models.”

The numbers show that Girl Scouting does encourage and prepare girls to reach higher. In fact, as Patricia Stensrud, Board President of the Girl Scout Council of Greater New York pointed out, 80% of women executives and business owners were girl scouts – as well as every female US astronaut.

Deborah Norville, emcee of the event and anchor of Inside Edition, said that Girl Scouting teaches girls about confidence. “Confidence comes not from being right all the time. Confidence comes from not being afraid to be wrong.”

The honorees included Cooperman; Terri D. Austin, Vice President, Diversity and Inclusion, The McGraw-Hill Companies; Arlene Isaacs-Lowe, Senior Vice President, Moody’s Investment Service; Vanessa Lau, Chief Financial Officer, Alcoa Global Rolled Products; and Nadja Swarovski, Vice President, International Communications, Swarovski. The winner of the Future Woman of Distinction award was Carolina Torres, an Ambassador Girl Scout from Queens, NY.

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Remote Working and Productivity

African-American Woman with computerBy Elizabeth Harrin (London)

“Fifty-five per cent of businesses are seeing more home working now than before the recession,” said Mick Hegarty, Strategy and Communication Director at BT Business. Productivity is up by 20% in those who work flexibly compared with those who don’t, he went on. BT have generated a saving of between £6million and £7million as a result of improved productivity.

Hegarty was speaking at the Remote Worker Awards in London recently, and he was just one of several employers who spoke about the value a flexible workforce offers their companies. Hegarty presented some research carried out by BT showing that companies save an average of £6,000 per employee on the cost of overheads. BT itself made estate savings by moving a portion of their workforce to flexible arrangements.

“It helps employees be more motivated,” Hegarty said. He explained that flexible working practices result in less sickness absence and better retention. They are also key in attracting new recruits and enabling employers to “draw from a wider pool of talent like lone parents.”

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Women and Workplace Flexibility: Canaries in the Coal Mine

betsyContributed by Betsy Bagley, Work-Life Strategy Consultant, NLC Strategies

Work-Life types from across the country descended on Dallas last month for the first regional forum of the National Dialogue of Workplace Flexibility hosted by the Women’s Bureau, U.S. Department of Labor. The four regional forums in Texas, California, Illinois and New York are designed to build on the message and momentum from the March 2010 White House Flexibility Forum.

One of the major themes of the day was that workplace flexibility was a gender-neutral proposition, which begs the question, “Then why was it hosted by the Women’s Bureau?”

In the traditional breadwinner-homemaker family, there were two jobs and two people. Hilda Solis, U.S. Secretary of Labor, shared that she grew up in family whose basic standard of living necessitated the employment of both parents and she saw a different family model develop. Her mother oversaw the management of the household, but the older children were responsible for providing care for younger children while the parents were both at their places of employment. The key issue is that the mother’s primary concern was ensuring that the children were provided for and cared for. This was a three job-two parent household. Ms. Solis, even as a child, wasn’t blinded to the fact that it was her mother that carried the heavier load, managing both employment and the family.

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Voice of Experience: Marie Wilson, Founder and President of the White House Project

marieBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

A Special Election Day Message from Marie Wilson: “There are 107 reasons for you to vote. Why 107 reasons? This Tuesday, November 2nd, 107 alumnae of The White House Project’s signature political trainings will be on the ballot and running for political office.”

“The first job I applied for was at DuPont. I took a test, and the results came back saying I was a candidate for management. They didn’t hire me because as they said, ‘you’ll just get pregnant and have a child.’ This was 1962,” said Marie Wilson, Founder and President of The White House Project.

Wilson, one of the honorary “Founding Mothers” of the Ms. Foundation and co-founder of Take Our Daughters to Work Day, has been advocating for women in leadership ever since.

“If you’re going to be a leader,” she said, “don’t rush to change yourself. The world is still mixed about ambitious women. You need people who will encourage you to dream big – and the world is often discouraging. You need a tough skin that is porous – slough off the critics, but listen.”

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