How do you position your firm for improved performance?

By Amos B Robinson

There are many different elements to your business or organization: Strategy, Culture, Core Processes, Systems and Structure. So there are many different areas of our firm that we have to be concerned about when it comes to performance. But what strategic approach can we use to help drive all these other areas of our business? What approach can we measure and use to implement the performance improvement that we so desire? The answer is Employee and Customer Engagement.

There is nothing that will provide for the growth of your firms sales and profits like an engaged employee and customer. As you can see from the accompanying graph, employee engagement by itself can affect a number of key outcomes in your business.

Do you know how engaged your employees or customers are?

Work units in the top quartile also saw significantly lower turnover (25% in high-turnover organizations, 65% in low-turnover organizations), shrinkage (28%), absenteeism (37%), fewer safety incidents (48%), patient safety incidents (41%), and quality defects (41%).

It is the engaged employee who brings the most productivity, energy, innovation, excitement and enthusiasm to the position. This in turn impacts the customer. The customer is impacted by the engagement of the employee to the point where it creates excitement and enthusiasm around your brand. In other words, the customer wants to buy more of what you have to sell, will pay more for it and will purchase more often.

So what can we do to improve or increase the engagement of our team members. First, we can measure for it. When we measure for it, we learn where the areas of improvement are and can then prioritize our efforts and begin work. Secondly, we can hire for strengths appropriate to the position or role and enhance the strengths of our existing team mates. Thirdly, we can select managers carefully and train them to manage for engagement.

To learn more about scheduling a discussion session call (919)348-9153 or (804)651-5400 or reply to this email.

You can access Robinson Analytics Blog at http://blog.robinsonanalytics.com


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Amos B. Robinson - Robinson Analytics

Insights for improved performance. 

The Economic Guide To Picking A College Major

By BEN CASSELMAN

The millions of American college students heading back to campus this month face a grim reality: A college degree is no guarantee of economic success. But through their choice of major, they can take at least some steps toward boosting their odds.

The link between education and earnings is notoriously fraught, with cause and effect often difficult to disentangle. But a look at detailed data on college graduates by major reveals some clear messages: Don’t be pre-med if you aren’t planning to go to medical school; don’t assume that all “STEM” — science, technology, engineering and math — majors are the same; and if you study drama, be prepared to wait tables.

Those lessons might seem obvious, but there’s evidence that many students aren’t learning them. By far the most popular major in recent years, psychology, is also one of the lowest-paying and leaves more than half its graduates working in jobs that don’t require a college degree. Many of those students no doubt would have chosen to study psychology even if they had known about their uncertain career prospects. But research has consistentlyshown that many colleges and universities do little to push their students to make informed choices about what to study.

For all the recent skepticism about the value of a college education, abachelor’s degree is still “worth it” on average. In fact, according to a recent analysis by economists at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the average value of a college degree is near an all-time high, even factoring in rising tuitions.

But the key word there is “average.” The same Fed researchers also found that the lowest-earning 25 percent of college graduates earn less than about half of high school graduates — and the high school grads also had four years to make money while the college students were taking on debt. And those figures don’t include the shockingly high percentage of college students who don’t graduate, many of whom end up with the worst of both worlds: saddled with debt, but with no degree to help their job prospects.

Today’s college students, then, need to choose a major that maximizes their chances of graduating, and minimizes their chances of ending up in that bottom 25 percent, where they would have been better off skipping college, at least financially.

To understand how big a financial difference choice of major can make, look at the table below. The typical recent college graduate with a full-time job earns about $36,000 a year, according to the American Community Survey. But graduates with a degree in petroleum engineering, the highest-paying major, earned a whopping $110,000. That’s five times the $22,000 median salary at the bottom end of the spectrum, library science. And that’s just for graduates lucky enough to land full-time jobs.¹

To continue reading click The-Economic-Guide-To-Picking-A-College-Major

Poll: People around the globe sour on economic recovery

Think the economic recovery isn't going so well? You're not alone.

Article by Alan Gomez, USA TODAY

A 44-country survey shows that 60% of people say their own country's economy performs poorly, and 69% say it's headed in the wrong direction, according to a Pew Research Center report released Tuesday.

"Six years after the beginning of the Great Recession, amid an uneven global economic recovery, publics around the world remain glum," the report concluded. "In most nations, people say their country is heading in the wrong direction, and most voice the view that economic conditions are bad."

The survey, conducted in each of the 44 countries, found that people's moods reflect what has been a slow economic turnaround. In the first quarter of 2014, global growth slowed to 2.75%, a full percentage point down from the second half of 2013, according to the International Monetary Fund.

There were some interesting patterns in the way people view their economic prospects.

Most people in advanced economies (64%) and emerging ones (59%) describe their country's economic condition as bad, while 51% of people in developing countries call it good.

Improvements in manufacturing combined with better responses from their governments helped the economic outlook in many Asian countries. The poll found that Pakistan, Indonesia and South Korea are among the six countries with the biggest increases in economic optimism from 2013 to 2014.

Political turmoil was to blame for increased depression in Latin America. Brazil, Venezuela and Argentina, which have seen mass protests over political and economic shortcomings, saw some of the biggest drops in economic confidence from 2013 to 2014.

Americans aren't feeling too bullish either. Forty percent of respondents say the economy is doing well, and 33% say they're satisfied with its direction.

There is similar concern among other advanced economies surveyed. Germany is the only advanced country where a majority of people (59%) are satisfied with the direction of the economy. Forty-nine percent of Israelis, 40% of people in the United Kingdom and 34% of Japanese say their countries are on the right track.

The lack of employment opportunities is the primary economic challenge in European countries such as Greece, Italy, Spain and France. People in countries from Pakistan to South Africa to Mexico say rising prices are more troubling than jobs, public debt and the gap between rich and poor.

Other findings from the report:

• Countries with the worst outlooks of their economic situation are Greece (97%), Italy (96%), Spain (93%), Ukraine (93%) Lebanon (91%) and France (88%).
• Countries with the brightest outlooks of conditions are China (89%), Vietnam (87%), Germany (85%), Malaysia (72%). Bangladesh (71%) and Chile (69%).

The survey was based on 48,643 interviews in 44 countries from March 17 through June 5. The margin of error for each country ranges from 3.1% to 4.5%.

Private Sector Employment Is Continuing to Grow

According to the ADP Payroll Employment report that was released yesterday, we saw August 2014 private sector employment continuing to grow.  The trend-line continues its upward climb.  However, we see that the employment growth number is slower than the growth rate of June of this year and the previous four months.

Small businesses with 1 to 49 employees saw the greatest increase of employment for the month with seventy eight thousand.  Mid-sized firms saw the second largest category of growth with 75,000 employment growth.  Large businesses as a category increased the least in August with employment growth of 52,000.

The largest sector of employment growth was professional/business services with 51,000 employment growth.  The second largest sector of employment growth was trade/transportation/utilities with 28,000 employment growth.

Amos B Robinson,
Data Scientist
Robinson Analytics
"Insights for Improved Performance"
(919)348-9153 or (804)651-5400
www.robinsonanalytics.com

U.S. Consumer Spending Flat in August

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Americans' self-reports of daily spending averaged $94 in August, matching the average for July. Spending last month was also similar to the $95 average in August 2013.

Though higher-income earners may have spent less in August, middle- and lower-income-earning Americans picked up the slack -- thus keeping overall spending flat.

August 2014 consumer spending may not have exceeded the previous August's figure, but spending this year has been steady. The larger pattern since 2012 has been one of increased consumer spending, which is crucial to the U.S. economy's recovery.

GoogleX Secret Project - Project Wing

SAN FRANCISCO — The drone wars have officially begun.
By Marco della Cava, USATODAY

Once the exclusive domain of DIYers passionate about buzzing parks and neighbors, tech titans are entering the fray with serious financial and gray-matter resources. Late last year, Amazon's Jeff Bezos showed off his company's drone delivery prototypes, and now Google reveals it has been secretly testing its own drones in Australian cattle country.

Dubbed Project Wing, the three-year mission successfully completed its first delivery Aug. 13, a bundle of Cherry Ripe chocolate bars. Over subsequent days, the team from GoogleX — the Mountain View, Calif.-based search company's exploratory technology arm — air-dropped a range of other farmer-friendly goods, from medicines to first-aid kits.

The flights were a direct response to GoogleX lead and Google co-founder Sergey Brin, who challenged his team to make a delivery to a real person via drone.

"We selected these items based on several conversations with local people about how aerial delivery might help them in their jobs," GoogleX said in a release Thursday. "Over the course of the week, the team ran more than 30 successful delivery flights. We are now back in California reviewing what we've learned."

Delivery by drone remains the stuff of the future, in part due to pending Federal Aviation Administration regulations regarding such unmanned flights. There's also the simple matter of people getting used to oversize mechanical mosquitoes buzzing around. But for some drone industry observers, it's a matter of when not if.

"Google's announcement of its planned UAS (unmanned aircraft systems) delivery service further demonstrates (its) potential," says Michael Toscano, president and CEO of the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International. The technology promises "to revolutionize industries ... whether it is helping farmers survey their fields, search for lost hikers or filming Hollywood movies, UAVs are capable of saving time, money and most importantly, lives."

GoogleX, perhaps best known for its self-driving car project, is calling Project Wing a self-flying vehicle. Headed by Nick Roy of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Aeronautics & Astronautics department, the project took flight in earnest in July 2012. A hybrid approach was deemed best, with wings for fast forward flight, and four rotors for vertical take-off and landing. In a drawing provided by Google, the package is seen nestled inside the plane's body, and is lowered by a chain from heights of 120 to 180 feet.

The next two years were then spent refining the prototype before heading to a ranch 100 miles inland from Brisbane. The site was chosen, according to Google, for its "rolling hills, open sky and long-standing history of innovation with UAVs. Out in the countryside, the temperature varies drastically by time of day, winds shift by the second, and weather rolls in unexpectedly."

Although bullish on its progress, Google says consumers shouldn't expect drone deliveries for years. The reasons include complexity ("These planes have much more in common with (our) self-driving cars than the remote-controlled airplanes people fly in parks"), sophistication ("They will fly a preprogrammed route with just the push of a button"), and variety ("Over time, what you want to deliver and where and why will determine what vehicle you want to use").

In the coming months, GoogleX's Project Wing team will drill down deeper on reducing the noise of its drones, improving the precision of its flights and delivery targets ("to the size of a doorstep"), and making sure its self-flying vehicles are able to see and avoid each other while in flight.

To access a video presentation of Google Drones, click Google Secret Drone Project, Project Wing

Report on the Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households in 2013 - U.S. Federal Reserve

Many households in the United States have been tested by the Great Recession. Large-scale financial strain at the household level ultimately fed into broader economic challenges for the country, and the completion of the national recovery will ultimately be, in part, a reflection of the well-being of households and consumers. Because households’ finances can change at a rapid pace and new opportunities and risks may emerge, such recovery can be complex to monitor.

To better understand the financial state of U.S. households, the Federal Reserve Board conducted a new consumer survey, the results of which are described in this report. The Survey of Household Economics and Decision making (SHED) was conducted by the Board’s Division of Consumer and Community Affairs in September 2013 using a nationally representative online survey panel. The purpose of the SHED was to capture a snapshot of the financial and economic well-being of U.S. households and the issues they face, as well as to monitor their recovery from the Great Recession and identify perceived risks to their financial stability. It further collected information on households that was not readily available from other sources or was not available in combination with other variables of interest.

Key Findings

This report presents findings from the September 2013 survey. The survey covered a range of topics—including household financial well-being, housing, credit availability, borrowing for education, savings, retirement, and medical expenses—meant to round out the understanding of how households are faring financially.

Overall, the survey found that many households were faring well, but that sizable fractions of the population were at the same time displaying signs of financial stress:

• Over 60 percent of respondents reported that their families are either “doing okay” or “living comfortably” financially; another one-fourth, however, said that they were “just getting by” financially andanother 13 percent said they were struggling to do so

• The effects of the recession continued to be felt by many: 34 percent reported that they were somewhat worse off or much worse off financially than they had been five years earlier, 34 percent reported that they were about the same, and 30 percent reported that they were somewhat or much better off

• 42 percent reported that they had delayed a major purchase or expense directly due to the recession, and 18 percent put off what they considered to be a major life decision as a result of the recession

• Just over half of respondents were putting some portion of their income away in savings, although about one-fifth were spending more than they earned

• 61 percent reported that they expected their income to stay the same in the next 12 months, while 21 percent expected it to increase and 16 percent expected it to decline.  The survey asked questions about a number of specific aspects of households’ financial lives:

To find out more on some of the specifics, you can access the full report at:

http://www.federalreserve.gov/econresdata/2013-report-economic-well-being-us-households-201407.pdf

Amos B Robinson,

Data Scientist

Robinson Analytics

(919)348-9153 or (804)651-5400 

www.robinsonanalytics.com