Turnover
& Vacancy Rate Survey
Shameless
Self Promotion
How many times
have you searched for position-specific turnover and
vacancy rate information, only to come up empty
handed?
Your search for
the information you need for successful staffing
management ends here.
In response to
multiple client requests, Astron Solutions has
launched a new annual survey product. Our 2007
Turnover and Vacancy Rate Survey captures
position-specific figures for 92 healthcare
positions across a variety of disciplines.
In order to make
the survey a success, we ask for your
participation. Over 500 healthcare-related
organizations across the country already have been
invited to participate.
You can submit
data for all 92 positions, or for a handful of
titles. Survey positions are grouped by discipline
for your convenience. As is the practice for Astron
Solutions surveys, the final report will provide
overall findings and demographic breakouts for each
position, to facilitate your in-depth analysis.
The
deadline to participate is Friday, March 23, 2007.
Submitted data should be as of December 31, 2006.
Participants may purchase the survey results for
$449. Non-participants may purchase the survey
results for $1,049. Be sure to take advantage of
the substantial participant discount!
The survey
questionnaire is only available on-line at
http://www.easyeval.com/tv2007/index.asp.
To protect your data, our website is secure.
Please contact
us at any time with any questions you may have on
the survey or technical issues with the website.
We look forward to receiving your
submission soon!
The
Astron Road Show
It’s spring, and
the Astron Road Show is revving up into high gear!
On March 15,
2007, National Director Michael Maciekowich will
present to the Merrimack Valley Chamber of Commerce
HR Association. The meeting will be held in
Andover, MA. Mike will address the topic of
“Generations in the Workplace.”
On April 17,
2007, Astron Solutions ventures in cyberspace, with
the launch of our first ever webinar! Through a
partnership with
PayScale and
HR.com,
National Director Jennifer Loftus will present
“Spinning Gold from Straw: Low Cost Employee
Retention and Motivation Tools.” Look for
registration information in your inbox soon! The
webinar will be held at 1 PM EDT.
Click here to review our full Road Show dates.
We’ll keep you posted on events as they draw near.
Deal or no Deal? The All or Nothing
Mentality in Negotiations
There have been a lot of famous game show questions
over the years. “Would you like to spin the wheel
or solve the puzzle?” “What would you bid on this
dining room set?” “Is that your final answer?”
One
question has been capturing the American public
lately, a question which has implications beyond the
game show and its host, Howie Mandel. That question,
which is also the namesake of the show, is “Deal or
No Deal.” Human Resource professionals should take
the implications of what goes on in the game into
account when they negotiate with their prospective
and current employees.
Thierry Post, Martijn van den Assem, Guido
Baltussen, and Richard Thaler studied the effects of
“Deal or No Deal” in the television show and in the
classroom.
According to their findings: “Contrary to the
traditional view of expected utility theory, the
choices can be explained in large part by previous
outcomes experienced during the game. Risk aversion
decreases after earlier expectations have been
shattered by unfavorable outcomes or surpassed by
favorable outcomes. Our results point to
reference-dependent choice theories such as prospect
theory, and suggest that path-dependence is
relevant, even when the choice problems are simple
and well-defined and large real monetary amounts are
at stake.”
This all sounds great, but what does it mean in
plain English? And for which choice does Human
Resources need to watch out?
“Most notably, risk aversion generally decreases
after prior expectations have been shattered by
eliminating high-value briefcases or after earlier
expectations have been surpassed by opening
low-value briefcases.”
This means that someone who would be risk averse
will become more risk-seeking if their expectations
are under or over the actual results. In a business
negotiation sense, this would mean that an offer
perceived as a “lowball,” or on the other hand, an
offer way above the candidate’s expectations, will
actually make the person more risk-seeking. If this
holds true, then a candidate who values themselves
at $40,000 a year and gets an offer of $20,000 will
feel that they can negotiate in a risky manner and
maybe lose the job before they’ll accept the lowball
offer. Similarly, the same person who receives a
$60,000 offer will try to turn this good fortune
into an even higher salary, either with his or her
current company or by leveraging that offer into a
higher bid from another firm. If the study is
correct, the person who is easiest to negotiate with
is the one with expectations closest to the $40,000
offer.
After describing “Deal or No Deal” as an economist’s
dream – because the game involves no skill at all
and therefore does not differ due to skill level –
Mr. Post described people’s actions in more detail
for the Wall Street Journal: “That supports
‘prospect theory.’ Prospect theory holds that people
evaluate prospects for gains and losses from
psychological reference points that may shift over
time (like an early setback) instead of seeking to
maximize the ‘utility’ they receive from money under
a rigid formula.”
In
practice this probably makes sense. A person who
gets an offer around what they think they are worth
is much more likely to accept it, or at least will
be less risky in their negotiating, knowing that you
have aptly priced them in the market.
NPR radio explained last year that this happens
because of people’s aversion to risk in general.
When offered $50 or a coin flip at $100 or $0, they
will take the guaranteed $50 or even $45, when their
expected return in the original offer is the same in
both instances.
The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center took the
NPR study one step further and found that the
part of the brain that looks for immediate rewards –
as in taking lower offers – may be the part of the
brain that is linked with addiction: “The preference
for immediate over delayed rewards of larger value,
which researchers term ‘delay discounting,’ has
already been linked to impulse-control problems,
such as substance abuse, addiction and pathological
gambling.” While it may be considered quite rash to
expect that someone who is negotiating for a signing
bonus and a smaller overall salary is going to
become a drug addict, this study does delve into the
fact that looking at people’s habits in a “Deal or
No Deal” situation can help determine certain
aspects of their personality.
So
how does a Human Resource professional act upon
this? “Not all positions are suitable for risky
behavior. On the other hand, some positions require
the element of daring,” explains Jennifer Loftus,
National Director of Astron Solutions. “Human
Resource professionals must thoroughly understand
the positions for which they’re hiring to ensure
sourcing of the best suited candidate.” One way to
effectively source could be by asking a simple
expected returns question to an interviewee. If it’s
a position where you are looking for someone who
will shoot for the top, then look for the person who
takes the coin flip at $100. If this is going to be
a person, let’s say, giving out loans at a bank, you
may want to find the person who will take the $50,
because they may be more prone to avoiding risks.
Even a simple task such as letting the candidate
play a round of “Deal or No Deal” and watching their
behavior can tell you a lot about their tolerance
for risk. Because when it comes down to risk
preference at work, you want to know what your
future employee is going to answer when they’re
asked “Deal or No Deal?”