In a recent quarterly report by Freelancer.com, it was reported the freelance economy had enjoyed a stronger start to the year, in comparison to Q1 2019. The report that was released on 14 May, also featured the growth of 21% year-over-year with the total rising from 410,000 to 497,000. The report also featured an interesting trend in relation to skillset between Q4 2019 and Q1 2020.
According to the Labor Department’s weekly report on jobless claims, released on Thursday, millions more Americans have filed for unemployment benefits last week, as backlogs are being cleared continuously. The report also featured that there is a second wave of layoffs due to coronavirus, which points out to another month of staggering job losses. While the report looked glum, there were some positive facts as well including the pace at which businesses rehire the workers as they reopen their offices.
In the recent development in the FinTech companies, Mastercard Inc has announced that employees could continue to work from home until the fear of the virus subsides completely. The second-largest payment processor revealed that it will support the employees who wish to continue to work from home, considering the fear of coronavirus still lurks.
In a recent development related to COVID-19, Visa Inc has announced that it will allow the majority of its employees to work from home through 2020. According to the announcement made by Chief Executive Officer Alfred Kelly Jr, the organization would be mirroring similar moves from other FinTech companies including AmEx. It was stated that the organization would be looking at bringing the employees back to offices in stages.
In a recent survey carried out by Strada Education Network, it was revealed about one-third of workers who had lost a job, income, or hours due to the COVID-19 pandemic have started a new job within that timeframe. The results were revealed on 13 May 2020. The survey also revealed that Latino Americans were the most likely group that lost either a job, income, or hours.
According to Skillsoft, an educational technology company, the leaders across the world would need to upskill to enhance their leadership styles in meaningful ways, as the organizations prepare for come-back post coronavirus pandemic. The workshop titled Leadercamp: Leading in the New Normal is a new workshop that has been created with an aim to help leaders meet evolving workplace challenges.
In a recent internal mail sent to the employees, it was found Uber Technologies would be focusing on the core business of ride-hailing and food delivery, in an attempt to cut the cost during the pandemic. The move is an aim to stay profitable during the coronavirus crisis. The mail was sent by Chief Executive Officer Dara Khosrowshahi to all the employees on Monday. The mail also talked about the total number of job cuts at 6,700, including the 3,700 jobs, the company had announced earlier this month.
According to the recent video shared by the Chief Executive Officer Steve Squeri, American Express Co has announced employees who have been able to work from home should continue to do so for the rest of the year. Squeri was talking about the return-to-office plan. He also emphasized on the uncertainty of returning to the physical office sometime soon.
As organizations plan to reopen their offices, UnitedHealth and Microsoft have launched an app that would help employers reopen the workplaces to maintain the strict coronavirus safety guidelines. The app, which is a Microsoft-powered smartphone app, called ProtectWell, would screen employees for COVID-19 and would then notify their employers and colleagues in order to offer peace of mind as staff returns to the workplace. The app would also report if an employee is found to be at-risk for the virus.
Another major organization around the world to hit by the deadly pandemic is Emirates Group. According to the Bloomberg news report released on Sunday, Emirates Group was planning to slash about 30,000 jobs to cut costs during the coronavirus outbreak. With this move, the number of employees would be reduced by about 30% from more than 105,000 at the March end. The report also stated the organization’s consideration about speeding up the planned retirement of its A380 fleet.
The impact of coronavirus on business has been devastating for the world as well as the US economy. However, as offices plan to reopen their doors post the COVID era, employees are still reluctant to make a full time come back to the physical office. According to the survey of about 2,000 US workers that were commissioned by software company Citrix, employees were not comfortable to return to work. The workers revealed that the reactivation of the physical offices needs to comply with the strict coronavirus safety measures in place including mandatory protective equipment, coronavirus testing, and contact tracing among others.
In a recent survey carried out by Eagle Hill Consulting, it was found that while employers were investing heavily in new technologies to ensure a smooth transition to remote work, they were forgetting to source employee input. About 13% of employees said they were completely unaware of technology changes in their organization. The report also stated that almost half of employees reported that while their employers invested in new technologies only 29% of them helped employees to do their jobs better.
In a recent development related to COVID-19, as the businesses slowly reopen post the virus scare, the organizations are gearing up for people first strategy to strengthen workforce resilience. According to a statement issued by EY, it was revealed a need for a major overhaul in the business model and transform to survive the post coronavirus era.
According to a union statement released on 14 May 2020, Walt Disney World and unions reached an agreement on safeguards to protect employees from coronavirus. The step would help remove one of the company’s hurdles to reopening its popular theme parks. The statement from the Service Trades Council Union (STCU) – representing about 43,000 workers at Walt Disney World in Orlando – stated the various measures would include social distancing practices, increased cleaning, and mandatory masks for both employees and guests.
The recent report by Federal Reserve, released on Thursday 14 May 2020 revealed some disturbing facts about the coronavirus related job losses. As the deadly pandemic weakened the US economy and dwindled the finances, the report stated lower-income group workers were hit harder by the COVID-19 related job losses. According to the survey, almost one in five all adults either lost their jobs or worked at a reduced number of hours at work in the month of March. Lower-income suffered the most with severe job losses and pay cuts.
A non-union employee of United Airlines filed a class action lawsuit on 13 May 2020. According to the lawsuit, the employee alleged that a compulsory 20 days of unpaid leave for both management and administration employees was a breach of the terms of federal payroll aid. Chicago-based United is one of the US airlines that have accepted the government payroll support under a condition that companies would not cut jobs or slash salaries before 30 September 2020.
In a recent response to coronavirus pandemic, the HR credentialing bodies have offered online testing options to its participants. The participants of HR institutes like SHRM and HRCI would be able to take their online proctored exams to facilitate testing from home. Candidates could log in to their respective institute’s website for more details.
In a recent development amid the reopening of Tesla’s California unit, the HR boss Valerie Workman warned the company’s California employees that if they chose to stay home, even when they are called back to work due to Covid-19 concerns, then they would lose their unemployment benefits. Tesla had resumed its production of vehicles at its Fremont-based car plant in California.
In a company-wide email sent by Jack Dorsey, the chief executive officer of Twitter, it was stated Twitter would allow its employees to work from home as a forever option. The company spokesperson confirmed the decision and revealed while the organization was the first one to opt for work from home option, it would definitely not the first one to return to the office. Twitter has ‘strongly encouraged’ working from home since 2 March and made it mandatory for employees to work from home since 11 March 2020.
In a recent survey done by the Cornerstone Institute for People Development, it was found an exponential increase in the demand for online courses due to pandemic. The report also pointed out the fact about a large number of the workforce working from home has led to this significant increase as employees look ways to stay productive and updated in their field so as to avoid layoffs.
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