Source: NPR, 2010
Stories include:
- Diversity Efforts Uneven In U.S. Companies
- The Promise Of Diversity Is Yet To Be Fulfilled
- Introspection After Allegations Of Discrimination
- In-House Resource Groups Can Help And Harm
- Defining Diversity: Beyond Race And Gender
- Gay In The Office: The Last Frontier Of Workplace Equality
- 'Mad Men' Haven't Changed Much Since The 1960s
- Should 'The Office' Be Used In HR Training?
Source: Peter Coy, Michelle Conlin and Moira Herbst, Business Week, no. 4163, January 18, 2009
Pay is falling, benefits are vanishing, and no one's job is secure. How companies are making the era of the temp more than temporary.
...You know American workers are in bad shape when a low-paying, no-benefits job is considered a sweet deal. Their situation isn't likely to improve soon; some economists predict it will be years, not months, before employees regain any semblance of bargaining power. That's because this recession's unusual ferocity has accelerated trends--including offshoring, automation, the decline of labor unions' influence, new management techniques, and regulatory changes--that already had been eroding workers' economic standing.
Source: Diane Rehm Show, December 14, 2009
American workers are short-changed on vacation days, sick leave and benefits compared to their counterparts in other nations. The case for improving work life in the U.S. and around the world.
See also:
Audio
Source: Jody Heymann and Alison Earle, Stanford Politics and Policy, October 28, 2009
(purchase required)
From the press release:
A major new study by researchers at Harvard and McGill Universities - the largest ever to look at working conditions worldwide - finds the United States far behind other economically successful nations in terms of adopting policies that support workers and families. The new study finds that 14 of the world's 15 most competitive countries provide paid sick leave, 13 guarantee paid leave for new mothers, 12 provide paid leave for new fathers, 11 provide paid leave to care for children's health needs, eight provide paid leave to care for adult family members, and seven guarantee breastfeeding breaks to nursing mothers on the job. At the federal level, the United States offers its workers none of those supports.
Raising the Global Floor: Dismantling the Myth that We Can't Afford Good Working Conditions for Everyone examines policies, protections and supports in 190 of the world's 192 United Nations countries. It is the most extensive study ever conducted on these issues. Released today, the new book is published by Stanford University Press and written by Jody Heymann, Founding Director of the Institute for Health and Social Policy at McGill University and Alison Earle, while a Research Scientist at the Harvard School of Public Health. They were aided in the study by a team of international researchers who also examined the working conditions faced by 55,000 households in seven countries on five continents.
Raising the Global Floor also finds that:
* 163 nations around the world guarantee paid sick leave; the U.S. does not.
* 164 nations guarantee paid annual leave; the U.S. does not.
* 177 nations guarantee paid leave for new mothers; the U.S. does not.
* 74 nations guarantee paid leave for new fathers; the U.S. does not.
* 48 nations guarantee paid time off to care for children's health; the U.S. does not.
* 157 nations guarantee workers a day of rest each week; the U.S. does not.
* 148 nations guarantee a wage premium for mandatory overtime, including the U.S.
Source: Lindsay Beyerstein, In these Times, November 12, 2009
The tempification of the American workforce continues apace. While job losses make headlines, we don't hear as much about an equally insidious trend: real jobs with benefits are being replaced by "contracting opportunities" and temporary placements.
Source: Tristin Green, Emory Law Journal, 2009
From the abstract:
This Article provides the first extended analysis of the conscious use of race and sex in decisions organizing work. It takes the position that race and sex are being used in organizing work-in assigning clients and job tasks, in composing work teams, in staffing committees and outreach groups-and that they are being used pursuant to a "diversity" narrative in ways that are likely to entrench workplace inequality. At the same time, it argues that race and sex could be used in those same decisions to reduce workplace discrimination and to further equality in work. Drawing on a rich body of research in sociology, social psychology, and organizational theory, the Article exposes the risks and possibilities of race and sex in organizing work by focusing on the role that social interactions play in producing and reproducing disadvantage and on the role of organizational and institutional structures in shaping those interactions.
Based on this empirical foundation and on the Supreme Court case law governing the use of race and sex in employment decisions under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the Article advances a comprehensive approach to the permissibility of race and sex in decisions organizing work. It argues that Title VII permits the use of race and sex in decisions organizing work to serve the goal of reducing employment discrimination, provided that individual race- and sex-based decisions are part of an employer's systemic integrative effort. This approach recognizes that decisions organizing work differ from decisions at moments of entry, promotion, and exit in ways that matter to an anti discrimination analysis. They are "softer" in that their benefits and harms are not always immediately discernible, and they can impose costs as well as benefits on women and people of color, even when they are intended to (and do) further anti discrimination goals. The approach to Title VII developed in this Article accounts for these differences and offers a unique opportunity to harness the existing business case for diversity to progress meaningful integration in work and to foster reduced workplace discrimination.
Source: American Health Care Association, 2009
This paper was created in 2009 by the AHCA Quality Improvement Committee for the purpose of sharing what nursing home leaders are doing that improves staff satisfaction in key areas. These improvements would be reflected in higher staff satisfaction survey ratings. These ratings in turn translate to improved staff retention and staff work practices and attitudes that support service excellence and a quality culture. Many of the change ideas offered here are backed by research-based evidence while other ideas have simply been effective for many of the individuals who contributed to this effort.
Source: Guest Editor(s): Sharon Bolton and Maeve Houlihan, Employee Relations, Volume 31 Issue 6, 2009
(subscription required)
A review of contemporary debates on fun at work reveals a predominantly prescriptive focus on attempts to engage employees through fun activities that oversimplifies the human dynamism involved in the employment relationship. The editorial suggests that we need to consider the motivations, processes and outcomes of managed fun at work initiatives and to consider employees' reactions in terms of "shades of engagement" that detail how people variously engage, enjoy, endure, or escape managed fun.
Source: Karen S. Markel and Lizabeth A. Barclay, Employee Responsibilities and Rights Journal, 3 September 2009
(subscription required)
From the abstract
The underemployment of persons with disabilities continues to be a societal problem; many persons with disabilities have difficulty securing and maintaining employment. This difficulty contributes to the relatively higher rates of poverty among persons with disabilities as well as their underutilization as productive members of society. This research examines factors that contribute to this underemployment problem. Based on this examination, we develop questions organizations must consider for addressing the problem. These questions are based on creating working relationships for persons with disabilities at an individual level that may be an extension of an organization's corporate social responsibility program. Individuals with disabilities have a right to obtain and maintain successful employment opportunities; this research outlines the factors at play and provides suggestions for employers to consider in addressing this social problem.
This report exposes a world of work in which the core protections that many Americans take for granted--the right to be paid at least the minimum wage, the right to be paid for overtime hours, the right to take meal breaks, access to workers' compensation when injured, and the right to advocate for better working conditions--are failing significant numbers of workers. The sheer breadth of the problem, spanning key industries in the economy, as well as its profound impact on workers, entailing significant economic hardship, demands urgent attention.
In 2008, we conducted a landmark survey of 4,387 workers in low-wage industries in the three largest U.S. cities--Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York City. We used an innovative, rigorous methodology that allowed us to reach vulnerable workers who are often missed in standard surveys, such as unauthorized immigrants and those paid in cash. Our goal was to obtain accurate and statistically representative estimates of the prevalence of workplace violations. All findings are adjusted to be representative of front-line workers (i.e. excluding managers, professional or technical workers) in low-wage industries in the three cities--a population of about 1.64 million workers, or 15 percent of the combined workforce of Chicago, Los Angeles and New York.
See also:
Low-Wage Workers Are Often Cheated, Study Says
Source: Steven Greenhouse, New York Times, September 2, 2009
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