Benefits June 26, 2006

SHRM Releases Survey on Trends that Affect the US Workplace

June 26, 2006 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - In a recent survey, the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) identified the top 10 trends that affect the American workplace, and the rising cost of health care tops the list again.
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style=”MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt”>The top 10 trends are:

  • A rise in health care costs
  • An increased use of outsourcing/offering jobs to other countries
  • A threat to increase health care/medical costs in response to economic competition in the US
  • An increased demand for work/life balance
  • A wide-scale baby boomer retirement around the same time
  • An rise in new attitudes toward aging and retirement as they reach retirement age
  • A rise in the number of individuals and families without health insurance
  • An increase in identity theft
  • An increase in the intensity of work as employers try to increase productivity with fewer employees, and
  • A vulnerability that technology has to attack or disaster.

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style=”MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt”>”Issues like health care costs, access to skilled workers and business practices are all key areas where HR can and must play a substantial role in helping organizations be more globally competitive,” said Susan Meisinger, president and CEO of SHRM, in a news release.

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style=”MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt”>The survey polled a random sample of 1,232 SHRM members and focused on the issues that affect macro-trends in the workplace as well as the jobs, duties and concerns of HR professionals, according to a SHRM news release.

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style=”MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt”>Two years ago, rising health-care costs were also considered the No.1 problem for the next year (See Rising Health-Care Costs Top Workplace Impact Trend ).

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