There is lot’s of speculation about what 2009 will look like. Some are saying ‘how can we plan – if we have no idea what the economy will be doing?’ The question I ask is would you rather be a driver of your destiny, or take what you are given? We run on line surveys on the home page www.redballoon.com.au and we asked the question this week “Do you have a New Years Resolution?” The results were as you would…
Category Archives: Interesting Numbers
‘Sickies’ will kill Australian businesses in the downturn.
In troubled times business must do more with less. There may be less people in your business, less customers, less capital, less cash…. But one thing you do want less of is people ‘Chucking a Sicky’ As a result there a some simple options available to doing more with less: Whinge to anyone who might still be interested in listening Innovate – find new ways of doing things Mazimise your return on what you do have… that is ‘how engaged…
Psychological Recession
I don’t know about you but I’m pretty confused… some days all the news reports are great ‘Australia is robust and will weather the storm’ other days it is all gloom and doom. The reality is that no one really knows – how deep, how far and for how long. The only thing we know is that our financial systems are about to change – forever. The way financial institutions historically have incentivized people with massive bonuses for structuring and…
Better than Cash…
We’ve seen the results at RedBalloon – according to our recent Hewitt Employee Engagement score card – the 97% we received is far above the Australian average of 54%. Like any growing business – we don’t have cash to splash… it is not cash that has caused this phenomena. We practice what we preach here, but when I read a recent Globoforce report…. and they were saying the same thing. A simple authentic ‘Thank you’ can deliver more to your…
84% of people feel stressed by the clutter in their lives.
We have just completed a RedBalloon online survey, and the results are fascinating. Most people are stressed by the clutter in their lives – but they’re not sure what to do with the clutter. 7% use storage facilities, but the Mum’s and Dad’s of Australia provide free storage for 16%… perhaps the kids clutter is causing the parents to be stressed. 74% of respondents said that they feel like their home is cluttered with items and nearly half say…
Stress costs less than disengagement.
A Medibank Private study has found that people who are ‘stressed’ at work are costing the economy $15billion a year in lost productivity. Stress is defined as people who have demands placed on them that they either don’t have the capacity to do (work overload) or the skill to do the job. Australian’s who are stressed will take on average 3.2 days off a year, costing businesses billions. The point is though it is often not seen. Perhaps it is…
What a waste….
Good Weekend had some interesting numbers in its Number Crunch feature : Estimated proportion of Australians who received an unwanted Christmas gift in 2007 : 65 %; amount spent on them : $985 million compiled by John Croucher, Professor of statistics, Macquarie University So if you’ve heard me speak, read this blog regularly or read my book you will already know my single purpose is to ‘change gifting in Australia forever’. Have you ever seen a better argument for why!……
Number One Distraction at work
If you know me, you know I love to talk. (Luckily I even get paid to talk from time to time.) What is not good is when I talk way too much and distract my work colleagues. Now the evidence is here, according to the Good Weekend Number Crunch’s – John Croucher – “Proportion of surveyed Australian Workers who say that disruptive, talkative colleagues are their biggest distraction – 44%” which means it is their colleagues that are stopping them…
Two Australian’s on global stage.
Great to pick up the papers this morning and see that two Australian companies – BHP Billiton and Woolworths have made it to Fortune Magazine’s "worlds most admired companies" list. The SMH reported in relation to the list, "Hay Group, which each year analyses a particular aspect of the findings, this year concentrated its analysis on how companies across the globe managed employee reward programs. It found the companies that made up the most admired lists did a much better…
Imagine running a business based on fun - that's what I decided to try when I left a very serious corporate career in marketing to set up RedBalloon...
Where is the opportunity for 2009
According to a survey by Ernst & Young – presented by Jon Dobell Managing partner, Strategic Growth Markets… CEO’s see growth coming in 2009 from: 45.4% Expand into new geographies 36.3% Target one particular market segment 27% New acquisitions 18% Drive recurring income 18% Cross selling. The four key decisions to make that drive sustainable growth People Strategy Execution Cash. I’m thinking of all the things that we are doing to prepare for the upturn….