Worries, American-style
Few Americans are bothered by getting older, but many are concerned with some of the problems of age, according to a research study by R.H. Bruskin Associates. Nearly half of the people in the United States, 44 percent, worry about their health. Men and women from every region and from all age, income and education groups fret about health problems. A sixth of the people, 17 percent, worry about physical impairment. 25 percent are afraid they don't have enough savings—that their money won't be enough to take them through the course of life. The people most worried about savings are those aged 25 to 34.
Executives rate newly hired managers
A recent survey conducted by Opinion Research Corp. finds that many of America's top executives find serious deficiencies in the abilities displayed by young managers and professionals in carrying out their jobs. Important skills that executives find lacking among new employees include writing competence and critical reasoning. Executives believe that their younger colleagues are more adept with computers and quantitative data, but these skills are viewed as being less important than others.
Three quarters of executives say that interpersonal skills (77 percent), and the ability to think critically (76 percent) are very important to the performance of new managers. In addition, more than two-thirds of executives (69 percent) stress the importance of writing ability for new managers.
In contrast, only about half as many executives see quantitative ability (36 percent), general business knowledge (33 percent), or computer skills (27 percent) as being of vital importance.
Many of America's business leaders believe that entry-level managers and professionals are ill prepared in certain crucial areas to meet their organization's needs. Forty-four percent believe these new hires are poorly prepared to deal with interpersonal relationships; a bare majority (54 percent) of executives see newly hired professionals as having adequate interpersonal skills. Executives are even less complimentary about the ability of recent graduates in regard to other qualitative talents. 54 percent say that young managers do not have the ability to think critically. 55 percent grade new managers as poorly prepared in terms of their general business knowledge. Two-thirds (66 percent) of executives see junior colleagues as being inadequate writers. This is seen as the most deficient of graduates' skills, with 15 percent of executives rating them as very poorly prepared.
Although executives see their younger colleagues as being competent in regard to number crunching skills, they are distinctly unenthusiastic in this regard. No more than one executive in five (19 percent) believe that recent graduates are "very well prepared" in these areas. However, majority proportions find that recent college graduates are at least reasonably well prepared quantitatively; 83 percent believe this of graduates' ability to use computers, and 78 percent believe that college graduates are well prepared to work with quantitative data.
A clean car is a happy car
A recent national survey by Maritz AmeriPoli showed that on average 22 percent of respondents wash their cars weekly. Eighteen percent wash them every two weeks, while another 23 percent wash their cars once a month. According to the poll, only 5 percent never wash their cars.
When respondents were asked what car washing method they use most often, nearly half (48 percent) said they hand wash at home. Interestingly, women were as likely to hand wash at home as men (48 percent compared to 49 percent of men). Over one third of the respondents (35 percent) said they use an automatic car wash, while 14 percent use a manual car wash facility.
The doctor will see you...soon
About four of every ten adults (41 percent) in America visited a doctor's office during the month of November, 1988 according to a national study conducted by R.H. Bruskin Associates. Those that did so made an average of over two visits each. The time spent in the waiting room was just about 25 minutes per visit. Plenty of time to catch up on your reading, isn't it?
Who buys new products first?
In a recent OmniTel study, conducted by R.H. Bruskin Associates, some 23 percent of all adults indicated that when a new product comes on the market, they like to buy it right away. On the other hand, 63 percent like to wait until others have tried it, with the balance of 14 percent undecided or not sure about what they would do. However, 28 percent of all women say they like to buy that new product right away, compared with only 18 percent of all the men. Another highlight of the findings: adults over 35 years of age and those with incomes of $40,000 or more are more likely to be first in buying new products.