Workforce Productivity - Best Practices
Steps to improve IT workforce productivity include:
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Develop a strong team orientation - Effective teams and the effective planning and execution provide the structure necessary to get the best from all team members. Well written job descriptions are a first step in that process.
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Align roles and performance objectives - Change causes by today's business environment causes misalignments of roles and focus of a significant number of the workforce. Job descriptions that are results and metric driven are an essential tool in the management process.
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Set performance goals and manage workforce with that as the focus - A majority of the workforce performs better if they have specific goals they must achieve. Good job description include measurable goals.
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Evaluate workforce based on defined objectives and goals - Review job performance based on job content and metrics to see how they can be modified to improved organizational productivity and minimize organizational dysfunction.
IT Best Practices News and Information
Training supervisors on supporting staff improves productivity
February 9th, 2012
The demand to improve productivity has created a workplace environment of intense competition and increased stress for many. Paradoxically, these conditions often stymie organizational efforts to become more efficient and effective.
A new study offers a way to improve worker productivity - training direct supervisors to provide support. While it may seem a common-sense notion, many employers do not train supervisors on the necessity of support or on techniques to provide assistance.
In earlier studies, scholars have shown stress at the workplace (due to high job demands and low control) can cause workers to develop psychological strain that translates into physiological symptoms, such as headaches, stomach aches and fatigue.
When the boss offers support in the form of, for example, a lightened work load or stress management training, it is more likely to keep the worker from taking sick leave. This is because the worker feels more inclined to reciprocate the supportive treatment by keeping their work effort high.
Researchers determined that co-worker support early on, when the employee begins to experience workday stress, plays a role in reducing the physical effects of stress, thereby reducing the likelihood of even developing the need for sickness absence.
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H-1B discriminates against US IT workers
February 3rd, 2012H-1B workers are better educated than U.S. born workers and earn more. The report by two economists at the non-partisan Public Policy Institute of California, found that, on average, H-1B workers are about 10 years younger than U.S. born workers.
The report's findings concerning pay indirectly challenge beliefs about the H-1B program held by its backers. In a recent column in the Financial Times, it was argued that restrictions on the H-1B program protect "many high earners from skilled migrant competitors." He called the H-1B program "a subsidy for the wealthy," meaning well-paid IT workers.
But according to this study, the conclusion U.S. IT workers are a "privileged elite is wrong." The study found that the average annual earnings of H-1B workers are about 10% higher than the average annual earnings of U.S. workers, after adjustments for age, occupation and education.
The study is drawing reaction from those who see current H-1B policies as a detriment to U.S. workers.
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Anonymous implements social media hacks
January 28th, 2012
Anonymous distributed links to specially crafted Web pages via its Twitter feed which was re-tweeted widely, and links also popped up on Internet Relay Chat rooms, Facebook, Tumblr and other social networking sites. Some of the links led to PasteHTML.com, a site that looks a little like the popular text-sharing site Pastebin frequently used by Anonymous to issue statements. A variation of this method allowed users to type in the IP address of target Web servers before the JavaScript code began executing.
Most of the links were obscured using URL shortening services such as bit.ly. Several Anonymous Twitter accounts have thousands of followers, and some gained "hundreds of thousands of new fans overnight" during the course of the campaign, according to Cluley.
The new method appears to have helped knock Universal Music and other sites offline during last week's Megaupload-revenge attacks
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FedRAMP to drive cloud solution providers
January 14th, 2012
The Federal CIO Council released the security control requirements for the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) - the new, innovative IT risk management program created to foster the adoption of cloud computing by the Federal government. FedRAMP provides a standardized approach to the security authorization process for cloud products and services, adopting requirements agreed upon by all Federal agencies and approved by the FedRAMP Joint Authorization Board (JAB). The security controls baseline is the basis for FedRAMPsstandardized approach to the security authorization process for cloud products and services. The release of the FedRAMP controls is the critical first step that to successfully launching FedRAMP.
FedRAMPs unified risk management process will evaluate IT services offered by vendors on behalf of Federal agencies, saving agencies from conducting their own risk management programs. By reducing duplicative risk management efforts, FedRAMP will enable Federal agencies to focus their evaluations of IT services on their agencys specific needs, as well as their privacy and security requirements. In the coming month, GSA will release the FedRAMP Concept of Operations, further detailing the processes for Federal agencies and CSPs to meet FedRAMP requirements.
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IT job descriptions updated to meet all compliance requirements
January 7th, 2012
Internet and Information Technology Position Descriptions HandiGuide
®243 Job Descriptions and Organization Charts Sensitive Information Policy Compliance Agreement
The IT job descriptions contained within the Internet and Information Technology Position Descriptions HandiGuide® were completed in 2012 and contains over 700 pages; in a new easy to read format; and, includes sample organization charts, a job progression matrix, and 243 Internet and Information Technology (IT) job descriptions. The book also addresses Fair Labor Standards and the ADA, and sexual harassment. Each job description meets ADA standards and the position description is delivered in electronic format - word which is editable and PDF which is printed.
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