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player ready...Maybe it’s all those unread e-mails clogging the inbox. Or maybe it’s the lost shut-eye caused by a lumpy hotel mattress. But a new study by the Kensington Technology Group found that business travelers are not only less productive while on the road–they’re less productive when they get back to the office.
More than half of business travelers surveyed say they require at least two days to catch up on work responsibilities and get their personal lives back in order after a business trip. The survey questioned 600 workers who travel by air at least once a month.
Business travelers also complained that being on the road took a physical toll: Two out of every five respondents reported experiencing headaches, back pain, neck pain or sleeplessness while traveling.
Safer at work
Fewer people died last year on the job than in 2001, making it the fifth consecutive year in which workplace deaths have dropped, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Nationally, 5,524 workers died on the job in 2002–a significant decrease from the 5,915 who died in 2001, a number that did not include those killed in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
That decline extended a downward trend since 1997, when 6,238 workers died. Workplace homicides also declined, down to 609 last year from a 1994 peak of 1,080. The numbers declined even among Hispanics, who are more likely to work in riskier farm, factory and construction jobs. Even so, Hispanic workers died at a higher rate than whites or blacks.
Overall death rates fell from 4.3 per 100,000 workers in 2001 to 4 workers last year. Blacks were the safest at work: They died at a rate of 3.5 per 100,000 workers, down from 3.8 in 2001. White death rates declined from to 3.9 per 100,000 workers from 4.2 in 2001. The rate for Hispanics tumbled from 6 per 100,000 workers to 5 last year, though the number of deaths among foreign-born Hispanics increased.
Bring a friend to work
India’s IT companies are paying up to 50,000 rupees (about $1,100) to employees who recommend a friend for a job, according to The Times of India.
IT companies have found that employee referrals are more effective and a less costly way to recruit than print or Internet advertisements. Plus, if a company bags a big order, employee referrals can be used to quickly fill positions, the newspaper said.
This jobs-go-begging atmosphere in India is in sharp contrast to America’s IT employment picture. Many U.S. workers complain their jobs have been shipped overseas–and don’t see that trend slowing. In fact, Forrester Research estimates that in the next 15 years, 3.3 million U.S. service-industry jobs, including 472,000 in computer services, will move to countries such as India. The Americans holding those jobs now earn about $136 billion a year.
Stretch that check
Are you getting the most you can out of your paycheck?
To help make sure, ADP Employer Services and the American Payroll Association have teamed up to offer a Web site to help workers manage their withholding. The site includes a W-4 assistant to calculate whether you’re withholding too much for taxes, and has tips on flexible spending accounts.
Go to www.nationalpayrollweek.com and click on the “MyPaycheck Site” link.
Chew on this
How long would you have to work to pay for a Big Mac? That depends on where you live.
Financial services company UBS has estimated how many minutes workers in various countries must work to pay for a Big Mac. In Nairobi, a typical worker would toil for more than three hours for one of the McDonald’s burgers. By contrast, a Chicago worker can afford one with only 10 minutes’ work. The global average? It’s 37 minutes. Such differences reflect variations in productivity as well as disparities in local costs of ingredients.
%% Working time for a Big Mac
Cities Minutes
Amsterdam 16
Bangkok 50
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Chicago 10
Mexico City 75
Moscow 30
Tel Aviv 31
Tokyo 10
Source: UBS
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