‘Get a loan’ is what U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross is meaning to say the 80,000 furloughed federal employees. He mentioned that he is out of wits as to why the furloughed employees won’t get a loan to pay their bills as there are advertisements from financial institutions offering the same. He is of the opinion that this is “not a good excuse why there should be a liquidity crisis, true the people might have to pay a little bit of interest.” Meanwhile Ross’s boss, President Trump said that he did not hear the comment, but he does understand where he is coming from.
Department of Labor updated its 2017 lawsuit against Oracle in the light of fresh data and claims that the company’s discriminatory practice against Asians, people of African descent and women cost the mentioned employees $400 million in missed wages. In their complaint, DOL says that the tech company built the discrimination around two “potential pathways”. The first pathway is to design a compensation on the base of their previous pay package and the second one is putting them in less lucrative job roles. DOL put forward an instance where the company that earns $100 million every year in federal and public contracts hired 450 Asians out of their 500 college hires between 2013 and 2015 and held their visa authorization dependency on the company as a tool to suppress them.
Buzfeed is examining “the evolving economics of digital platforms” as per CEO, Jonah Peretti and in the processes trimming their employee weight by 15%. The move is in the light of a turbulent digital marketing and advertisement market and a part of the entire wave of media layoffs. Verizon Communication Inc. went on a similar path earlier this week as they announced to cut-down 7% of its digital media operations that includes names like Yahoo, Huffington Post, and Yahoo. Buzfeed the pioneer when it comes to listicles, personality quizzes and hard news says the move will allow them to win the economics of digital media.
The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals stood divided yet firm in their 8-4 decision where they ruled out older job employees invoking ADEA against their rejected job application. The Court said in a “plain language” that Age Discrimination in Employment Act forbids discrimination against employees who are 40 years or above and does not hold water for job applicants. The decision stands as a contrast to the earlier 2-1 decision made last April by the same panel. The majority opinion for this ruling was written by President Trump appointee Circuit Judge Michael Scudder and the dissent came from Circuit Judge David Hamilton, a President Obama appointee.
The historically low-unemployment might be showing the first signs of a handsome pay rise as UK employers are offering the biggest hikes in the last 10 years. 2019 looks promising for employees in Britain as median annual wage this month stood at 2.8% compared to 2% for December. The wage hike was up by 3.4% the fastest in 10 years and stands as a contrast to the other economic slowdowns as a result of Brexit apprehensions. Andy Haldane, chief economist at The Bank of England looked hopeful as he pointed towards a “new dawn” for wage increase as the bank foresees a smooth Brexit transition.
A pay stub may not be just enough as 36% of U.S. organizations are going for total compensation statement. A pay stub is just about the salary, bonus, tax and other deductions and is not a complete picture of all the employee benefits. A Total compensation statement includes the non-quantifiable rewards that an employee receives from the company in lieu of her time and skill invested. It may include a flexible work schedule, free gym facilities or a free childcare center that is directed toward employee wellness. It puts to notice the perks while a valuable resource might be thinking about a change.
More than 400 firms might be secretly boosting their Glassdoor ratings says a Wall Street Journal Study. The surge came into notice in September and October, where companies enlisted and instructed enthused workers to post five-star ratings leading to a spiked overall rating. An example, in this case, is a mortgage broking company Guaranteed Rate whose ratings fell at 2.6 out of 5 after a slew of negative reviews. The CEO, Victor Ciardelli instructed the team to find motivated workers and instruct them to post ratings on Glassdoor. Guaranteed Rate, now has a rating of 4.1 on Glassdoor.
Governments should make sure that jobs created globally should be targeted not just towards robots, but also towards human economic wellbeing. The Global Commission on the Future of Work, who went into an 18-month deliberation has come up with other far-reaching reforms that will change the corporate focus from quarterly financing and GDP metrics to the creation of a lifelong investment in learning. The ILO fueled commission is co-chaired by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and Stefan Lofven, Prime Minister of Sweden and believes that the “future of our societies depends on how we deal with the challenges and opportunities related to the world of work” and the opportunities, as well as the challenges, lie in creating policies to focus on a human-centered agenda.
.jpg "EMPLOYERS ARE MISSING THE MARK WHEN IT COMES TO CARE-GIVING BENEFITS SAYS REPORT")
Employers in the U.S. have all the good intention behind offering caregiving-support benefits, but they are not quite hitting the bull’s eye when it comes to addressing employee needs. The Harvard Business School’s Future of Work Project’s January 2019 report “The Caring Company” indicates that the “caregiver” crisis is costing firms millions of dollars in hidden costs like employee absenteeism and turnover. Three out of Four workers in the U.S. are caregivers and a vast majority of them feels that caregiving affects their productivity at work. Contrasting this point of view are the employers where just a quarter think that caregiving affects performance. The startling part is that 52% of employers never take into cognizance, the caregiving burden on the employee and its subsequent cost to the company.
Ageism exists and refuses to leave even half a century after Congress made it illegal for employers to discriminate against employees who are 40 years or above. The ProPublica and the Urban Institute fueled data analysis found that from 1992 to 2016, 56% of workers, 40 years or above faced a lay off at least once or had to leave their jobs in excruciating and debilitating financial circumstances that it looks like a forceful resignation than a voluntary one. The Age Discrimination in Employment Act or ADEA of 1967 was weakened by a 2009 Supreme Court ruling that burdened aging employees with greater proofs to prove their discrimination allegations.
.jpg "TRANSPARENT SALARY KEEPS WORKERS MORE MOTIVATED AND KEEPS THE WAGE GAP AT BAY")
Employees are more productive if they have a transparent salary policy. Emiliano Huet-Vaughan, an economist at UCLA who ran a 2013 study on similar lines said that a piece of "accurate information about peer compensation” will give them a fair idea about when they are getting underpaid. Without salary transparency, a case against pay-discrimination falls flat. Keeping the compensation secret might encourage inequalities across ranks as it hides the obvious act of discrimination. While at a macro level the wage gap is easier to see when it comes to the ground level or individual cases a wrapped up compensation is a deterrent in proving wage gap.
Pessimism is reaching out to people more than social media and people are pinning their trust on employers as per Edelman fueled global attitude survey. The survey by the public relations firm, Edelman also found that 75% of the respondents trusted their employers, which is 28% more than the media and 27% more than the government. The background of the trust on employers can be attributed to a turbulent world. The survey also found that women are more skeptical than men when it comes to trust institutions. Employers are seen as a ‘closer to home’ entity compared to media and the government.
.jpg "TESLA TRIMS 7% OF STAFF AS MUSK SEES TOUGH TIMES AHEAD")
Tesla comes in the line of fire as it slashes 7% of the jobs to limit spending as it comes in terms with what Elon Musk called the “most challenging” year in its history. The move will affect more than 3,000 jobs and comes with a warning from Musk that the “road ahead is very difficult” to make affordable electric cars for the masses. The company’s shares fell by 7.7 percent after the start of regular trading as the company profits narrowed down since October 2018. Tesla increased the staff by 30% last year and stated that the number was more than they can support.
.jpg "A MAJORITY OF WORKERS WILL RELOCATE FOR BETTER PERKS SAYS SURVEY")
A 2,800 people strong Robert Half survey found that 62% of them will relocate for a new and better position. The topmost impetus for relocation was compensation (44%), which resonates with 34% of the companies increasing their pay package. The Generation Z and Millennials; the 18 to 34-year-old age group is more likely (76%) to relocate than their older counterparts. Geography may play a factor in and against relocation as out of 28 cities polled people were less likely to relocate if they were from Boston, Detroit or Philadelphia. People living in Des Moines, Miami, and Charlotte, on the other hand, were more open for relocation.
.jpg "NY PASSES BILL TO OUTLAW DISCRIMINATION BASED ON GENDER IDENTITY AND EXPRESSION")
New York joins the league of 21 other states as the State Assembly passed a bill prohibiting discrimination based on gender identity and gender expression. The said Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act or GENDA sets “a person’s actual or perceived gender-related identity, appearance, behavior, expression, or other gender-related characteristics” as a definition for gender identity or expression. The person’s sex at the time of birth does not affect the definition implying that New York Human Rights Law now, extends to transgender and non-gender confirming individual.
The Generation Z aka the youngest working generation had a pretty good 2018 as their wages gained pace and were the closest to their senior cohort since 2002. The U.S. citizen between 16-24 years working in a full-time position earned an average of $549 per week that is 59% of the earnings of the earlier cohort. The closing gap can be attributed to a tight job market, which forces companies to pay up for entry-level jobs.
The Chinese Lunar Year that will fall around early February will bring job jitters for many Chinese workers as the ongoing trade war between the Washington and Beijing is creating major ripples that are reaching across industries - from autos to logistics to technology. The Danish Shipper A.P. Moller-Maersk laid off 2,000 workers from the idle since December Dongguan transport container factory. The firing succeeded an early holiday before the Lunar New Year and was mostly a one-on-one phone call or WeChat message ritual. China’s COSCO Shipping reduced the number of vessels in Guangdong as a direct response to the trade war.
Warrren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathway Inc. owned luxury plane unit NetJets went on a proactive note to avoid past burns as it extended its pilot contract by three years to avoid the labor strife it had earlier this decade. The agreement with NetJets Association of Shared Aircraft Pilot will impact 2,500 pilots and mostly in a morale-boosting way. The 2015 agreement does not expire till 2023, but the Columbus, Ohio-based company sat through six weeks of talk to reach the accord that boosts pay and retirement benefit along with a revised compensation that pays pilots more for flying more. The pilots took the clauses positively and 81% voted in favor of the changes.
The Google walkout group circa November 2018 is back and this time they are taking up Instagram and Twitter for a campaign, spreading awareness regarding the forced arbitration clause that tech companies include in their employee agreement. The said post by the group, End Forced Arbitration has pre-recorded conversations of legal professors discussing the proposed legislation introduced in the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of representatives to amend federal law defining employee arbitration protocols. The group also went ahead with a survey that included 30 companies and they claimed that none stands true pillars of a ‘transparent and equitable workplace’. The said names in the survey include Facebook, Netflix, Uber, Airbnb and staffing giant Adecco.
A good 86% of respondents believe that work burnout is related to job satisfaction in a University of Phoenix’s Job Burnout Poll conducted in 2008. More than half of the people currently employed have faced burnouts, while the percentage decreases to 39% for the unemployed respondents. A little above one-third of the employees said they took a day or more off for mental health opposed to a 61% taking a leave on account of physical health. And a mental health day off at least once a year is twice more likely in parents who have kids under 18 years compared to non-parents.
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