Business Trends

Tablet and E-reader Ownership Update – Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project

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The number of Americans ages 16 and older who own tablet computers has grown to 35%, and the share who have e-reading devices like Kindles and Nooks has grown to 24%. Overall, the number of people who have a tablet or an e-book reader among those 16 and older now stands at 43%.

Up from 25% last year, more than half of those in households earning $75,000 or more now have tablets. Up from 19% last year, 38% of those in upper-income households now have e-readers.

via Tablet and E-reader Ownership Update | Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project.

Hmmm…

Worldwide, 13% of Employees Are Engaged at Work

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Only 13% of employees worldwide are engaged at work, according to Gallup\’s new 142-country study on the State of the Global Workplace. In other words, about one in eight workers — roughly 180 million employees in the countries studied — are psychologically committed to their jobs and likely to be making positive contributions to their organizations.

via Worldwide, 13% of Employees Are Engaged at Work.

No surprises here.

18% of the Workforce Could Retire Within 5 Years

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I hesitated before posting this link.  The headline grabs your attention, no?  It got my attention for sure.  Maybe, just maybe there’s hope for our economy and jobs crisis from the demographics.  Then I read the following sentence:

For the purpose of the study, ADP assumed that the average retirement age was 61. Researchers concluded that in many industries, individuals will retire at 61 despite theories suggesting otherwise.

Not gonna happen.  Period.

via 18% of the workforce could retire within five years | LifeHealthPro.

How Unpaid Internships Cheapen Workers of All Ages – PBS

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Interns have been used as a cheap labor force, thousands upon thousands of internships each year in the U.S. are illegal, which has gone global and is completely unregulated, and the system is indeed inefficient and unethical in a variety of ways.

We’re actually eating our young.

via Will Work for Free: How Unpaid Internships Cheapen Workers of All Ages | The Business Desk with Paul Solman | PBS NewsHour | PBS.

Amen.  You should get paid for work.  Never work for free.

What a Messy Desk Says About You – NYTimes.com

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In the study by Dr. Vohs, disordered offices encouraged originality and a search for novelty. In the final portion of the study, adults were given the choice of adding a health “boost” to their lunchtime smoothie that was labeled either “new” or “classic.” The volunteers in the messy space were far more likely to choose the new one; those in the tidy office generally opted for the classic version.

“Disorderly environments seem to inspire breaking free of tradition,” Dr. Vohs and her co-authors conclude in the study, “which can produce fresh insights.”

My office is fine the way it is.  I know what is in every pile.  Now I have some evidence that the way I work is more creative.  STFU!

via What a Messy Desk Says About You – NYTimes.com.