Press Room

The Emerging Workforce Study also found that employees ranked training and development last in their list of retention drivers and few workers are even aware that their employers offer these programs in the first place. For example, nearly 92 percent of employers say they offer funding to attend seminars and trade shows. However, only 28 percent of workers are even aware that their employer has this program.

“As our studies have shown, there is a troubling gap between employers and employees on critical workplace issues, and training and development is no exception,” said Nancy Halverson, vice president of talent management for Spherion. “While data shows that companies spend more than $70 billion a year on employee training programs, workers simply have not responded with any enthusiasm. Although there is little doubt that workers are interested in ongoing learning programs to support their career growth, employers need to take a closer look at why their efforts have failed thus far. Employers need to reexamine how they market their programs to employees and may want to consider offering incentives to employees to encourage program participation.”

About the Spherion Workplace Snapshot
As part of the Spherion^® Emerging Workforce^® series of employment surveys, the monthly Spherion Workplace Snapshot provides workers' perspectives on a wide range of issues affecting them in the workplace. Topics include burnout, office parties, supervisor relationships and workplace romance.

Methodology
Employer Survey: The results of the employer survey are based on 502 telephone and online interviews with senior human resources executives at U.S. companies conducted by Harris Interactive^®; on behalf of Spherion between March 21 and April 27, 2005. Companies were selected from a list provided by Dun & Bradstreet and the sample was stratified to ensure a certain number of interviews in each revenue category. The data were weighted by number of employees so that the total sample reflects the distribution of employees across company size. In theory, with a probability sample of this size, one can say with 95 percent certainty that the results have a sampling error of plus or minus 4.5 percentage points of what they would be if the entire population of senior human resource executives at U.S. companies had been polled with complete accuracy. The online sample is not a probability sample.

Employee Survey: The Spherion Workplace Snapshot survey is based on data from the Harris Interactive^®; QuickQuery^SM online omnibus conducted monthly by Harris Interactive^®; on behalf of Spherion Corporation. A U.S. sample of 1,208 employed adults, aged 18 years and older, was interviewed in a poll conducted between May 16-18, 2005. Figures for age, sex, race/ethnicity, income, education and region were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. Propensity score weighting adjusted for respondents' propensity to be online. In theory, with probability samples of this size, one could say with 95 percent certainty that the results have a sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points of what they would be if the entire U.S. population of employed adults had been polled with complete accuracy. This online sample was not a probability sample.

About Spherion
Spherion Corporation is a leader in the staffing industry in North America, providing value-added staffing, recruiting and workforce solutions. Spherion has helped companies improve their bottom line by efficiently planning, acquiring and optimizing talent since 1946. To learn more, visit www.spherion.com.

About Harris Interactive^®
Harris Interactive Inc. (www.harrisinteractive.com), based in Rochester, New York, is the 13th largest and the fastest-growing market research firm in the world, most widely known for The Harris Poll^®; and for its pioneering leadership in the online market research industry. Long recognized by its clients for delivering insights that enable confident business decisions, the Company blends the science of innovative research with the art of strategic consulting to deliver knowledge that leads to measurable and enduring value.

Harris Interactive serves clients worldwide through its United States, Europe (www.harrisinteractive.com/europe) and Asia offices, its wholly-owned subsidiary Novatris in Paris, France (www.novatris.com), and through an independent global network of affiliate market research companies.