http://www.wabusinessnews.com.au/en-sto ... ing-survey
WA and SA chief executives hardest working: survey
5-December-07 by Edited announcement
Latest News
Western Australian chief executives are the second hardest working, behind South Australia, with 60 per cent working more than 50 hours a week, according to the latest survey of Australian chief executives released today by TEC.
The survey also shows that WA chief executive had the most drastic drop in holiday time with 89 per cent taking 3 weeks or more last year down to 60 per cent taking the same time off this year.
Not in it for the money - according to 87% of chief executives
WA and SA CEs hardest working
Succession planning and CSR rising
Staff development and skills shortage will be issues of 2008
Australia's booming economy continues to drive chief executive confidence skyward but is forcing them to work more in order to counter the negative effects of the skills shortages, according to the latest survey of Australian chief executives released today by TEC, the world's leading chief executive membership organisation.
"55% of chief executives are looking to increase the size of their workforce to meet expected increases in demand next year," explained Mike O'Neill, TEC chief executive. "Only 4% expect a decline in revenue, and only 12% are worried about profitability."
"Business growth is the reason half of chief executives go to work each morning, way up from last year 29%. Another 17% go to work to 'make a difference', way ahead of the 13% who are more motivated by personal wealth."
The major issues identified by chief executives to focus on in 2008 were staff development 33% and skills shortage management 30%, while team building has become the most important leadership quality (41% up from 34% last year).
For the second year in a row, SA chief executives are the hardest working with 74% at their desk more than 50 hours per week compared to only 51% of Qld chief executives working those hours. Last year WA chief executives worked fewer hours than any other state, but this year they are the second hardest working with 60% working more than 50 hours a week.
Overall, chief executives took fewer holidays last year, especially in SA where 48% took 2 weeks or less, compared to last year when 76% took more than 3 weeks annual leave. WA has had the most drastic drop in holiday time with 89% taking 3 weeks or more last year down to 60% taking the same time off this year. Only QLD execs are taking more holidays this year than last with 78% taking more than 3 weeks compared to 74% last year.
Networking has overtaken financial management as the second least enjoyable part of the CEs job at 24%, only slightly behind people management at 25%.
"Chief executives know their people are important, that's why team development is cited as the most important leadership quality and staff development is named the biggest issue for 2008," O'Neill said. "But most chief executives are also time poor with the majority working more than 50 hours a week, and while people management and networking are very worthwhile parts of the job, they are also very time-consuming."
Arrogance still rates as the worst leadership trait evident in chief executives, followed by ignorance of staff issues and lack of delegation and procrastination.
Corporate governance has been a major area of activity in the chief executive office over the past year with 57% of respondents saying they have changed their approach. Most of this was through new policies and requirements (33%) or reviewing staff KPI definitions 16%.
Corporate social responsibility continues to grow with 37% of chief executives reporting increased activity in the last year.
Economy Highlights
The number of CEs who say the economy is in better shape today than a year ago has increased significantly (46% now from 27% this time last year)
WA the most optimistic state - 55% believe economy has improved
NSW most pessimistic state - 24% said the economy had worsened in the last 12 months
Only 18% believe the economy will be better this time next year. The number predicting a downturn has decreased to 28% from 32% this time last year and those predicting the same economic conditions is 54%
CEs are optimistic regarding their own businesses - a huge 76% say their sales revenue will increase in the next 12 months, compared with just 4% who anticipate a decrease
Males were more optimistic on their own business performance, with 78% expecting increased revenues compared to 69% of women
Nearly two thirds of CEs (63%) say their profits will improve, with only 12% saying a drop in their company profits is on the cards
The skill shortage looks likely to be exacerbated even further in the next 12 months with 55% of CEs expecting to hire more staff and only 6% expecting to decrease staff
The number of companies doing business with China, India and SE Asia has increased by 5% (each) since this time last quarter
Leadership issues - highlights
More than two thirds of CEs (69%) see business growth (52% up from 29% last year) and making a difference to the community (17%) as their main personal motivator. There has also been a significant reduction in the number of CEs who suggested 'the challenge' was their biggest motivator (to 13% from 36% last year)
Females (22%) were twice as likely to see 'the challenge' as their biggest personal motivator than men (11%)
- Strategic vision (41%) and team building skills (41%) were identified as the two most important CEs leadership qualities, a rise of 7% for team building which scored 34% this time last year
Among female CEs team building was the most important quality with 50%
- The skills shortage (30%) and staff development (33%) were identified as the major issues CEs need to learn more about in 2008
- Arrogance (26%), lack of delegation and procrastination (17%) and ignorance of staff issues (16%) were identified as the worst leadership traits seen in others. This is a significant increase in terms of ignorance of staff issues up from 8% this time last year, while not sharing information decreased significantly from 17% last year to 11% this year
- More than half (52%) of CEs indicated they need to know more about how to work strategically 'on' the business and less hands on 'in' the business. Significantly 75% of women CEs indicated this was the area they needed to know more about as opposed to 47% of men
- Interestingly, 35% of CEs indicated this (working more 'on' the business) was the area of leadership they had most changed in the last 12 months
- People management was the least enjoyable aspect of the CE role with 25%, down from 29% this time last year. This was closely followed by networking (24%) and financial management (22%)
- Nearly two thirds (65%) of CEs indicated they currently had succession plans in place, an increase from 44% this time last year. Of those that have succession plans in place the most common method was up-skilling senior management to move into the role (33%) and trade sales (10%)
- There has been no change in the percentage of CEs that are confident that the next generation of leadership was in place in their business compared to last year (61% suggesting it was in place or was partially in place)
- 57% of CEs indicate they had changed their approach to corporate governance in the last 12 months, with changes of policies and requirements (33%) and KPI review (16%) identified as the major governance changes
- 37% of CEs indicated they had increased their business' corporate social responsibility activities in the last year, with 20% suggesting they now provide more regular support