Trivial Pursuit IV

Welcome to another edition of trivial pursuit via The City Wire — an irregular feature meant to provide info that is likely entertaining and only accidentally informative in a useful manner. Enjoy.

LESS GOVERNMENT
Seven out of 10 small businesses want local government support in the form of tax breaks and fewer regulations, according to the recent Ouch Point survey from Opinion Research Corporation.

When asked what government action would be most helpful, keeping businesses better informed topped the list at 56%. Reducing the number of regulations followed closely with 55%.

Despite the challenges many businesses are facing today, most are satisfied with their location. Nearly three-quarters (72%) would recommend their city to other businesses. Nearly a third (30%) of business owners in the West say that they would definitely not or probably not recommend their town to someone looking to start or relocate a business. By contrast, more than three-quarters (78%) of those in the South would probably or definitely recommend their town.

When asked to identify the primary business advantage of their location, local customer loyalty and location were at the top of the list, with 22% each.

The South is the only region in which a majority of business owners (53%) indicated that improving the quality of the work force would be most effective. By comparison, only 38% of those in the West agree.

MR. ROBOTO
NextGen Research reports that the market for personal robots will reach $5.26 billion by 2015.

NextGen likens the personal robotics market to the personal computer market of the mid-1970s, with many small companies with greater expertise in R&D than in marketing trying to create a product for which others will develop applications. Therefore, the global personal robots market will grow from $1.16 billion in 2009 to more than $5 billion in 2015. The majority of such robots in 2009 are entertainment robots — toys — and single-task robots, such as vacuum cleaners or floor washers, according to NextGen.

In the next phase of the market’s evolution, robots will be partially controlled by a user at a remote location. Telepresence robots will allow people to interact with family members at another location or to check on pets or second homes. Health personnel will monitor the elderly or infirm remotely, making sure they take their medication on time or guiding them through blood pressure or blood sugar measurements.

MONEY PERSPECTIVE
Brace yourself for this shocker: A Wells Fargo study finds that parents and children don’t “see eye to eye” when it comes to money.

The survey shows 95% of parents say they’re confident their children will attain their financial goals, but only 5% of the young adults surveyed said they had such confidence about their personal finance goals. The survey also showed parents’ top three priorities for their children are to find a job, pay off student loans and pay off their credit cards and debt. Youth said their top three were to buy a car, find a job and buy a home.

Ninety-five percent of youth said a budget is not effective for them, compared to 92% of parents who indicated budgets are effective.

Other survey results include:
• 28% of young adults understand annual percentage rates (parents, 73%)
• 23% of young adults understand a 401(K) (parents, 73%)
• 31% of young adults understand compound interest (parents, 64%)

Survey results also revealed parents are more concerned about the economy than their children. While just 22% of youth are concerned about having enough money to finish college, for parents, the figure jumped to 46%.

ONLINE PAYMENTS
Forrester Research says the number of U.S. households paying bills online will grow from 48 million in 2009 to 63 million by 2014.

Forrester sees a shift in the online bill payment market as more consumers turn to banks and bill payment because of the convenience of having multiple bills aggregated at a single Web site, the elimination of bill payment fees and innovative marketing efforts to drive adoption. By 2012, consolidators’ share of the online bill payment market will surpass direct billing by merchants for the first time.

“Young consumers — especially young affluent consumers — will be a key battleground among financial services firms as the market matures. To date, this generation has shown less of an interest than older consumers to use aggregators such as banks for their online bill payment,” Forrester noted in a statement.

FUDGING THE NUMBERS
A survey by Harris Interactive for The Workforce Institute finds that 21% of hourly workers have cheated — known as “gaming the clock” — on their timesheets to get more pay.  www.workforceinstitute.org

Survey details include
• Of the total number of respondents who state that they game the clock, 69% admit to punching in earlier or punching out later than scheduled
• 22% admit to adding additional time to their timesheet
• 14% say that they don’t punch out for unpaid lunches or breaks
• Five percent admit to having someone punch them in or out (“buddy punching”)
• 35% of respondents who receive an hourly wage stated that their employers use paper timesheets to keep track of employee time worked

The “Gaming the Clock” survey indicates that employers who use outdated workforce management methods are at risk of significant payroll inflation.

VACATION A PRIORITY
Burst Media surveyed nearly 2,000 adults (18 years and older) and found that 76.3% of respondents will take a personal trip or vacation this summer that will entail travel at least 100 miles from home.  www.burstmedia.com/research/research.asp

Among this “summer travel” segment, 40.8% say the number of trips they plan to take is “the same” as the number they took last year; 24.4% say they will be traveling more frequently, and 34.6% of summer travelers will travel less frequently. Among respondents traveling less frequently, 71.3% say the recession has impacted their summer travel plans.

The Internet is used by 80.3% of summer travelers to help plan a vacation. Of respondents reporting household income of $100,000 or more, 88.2% plan to use the Internet to help plan summer travel.