According to a survey of 400 business owners, more than half of them revealed that they struggle to discuss the 401(k) plan with their employees. About 68% of the owners realized that it is their responsibility to encourage employees’ participation in the plan.
Workers at McDonald’s in Michigan have sued the fast-food chain for allowing sexual harassment to flourish at its restaurants nationwide. Workers accused the chain of lacking policies to address sexual harassment, failing to train managers to prevent harassment and retaliating against workers who complain. Last week, CEO Steve Easterbrook was asked to leave due to his consensual relationship with an employee.
Employers are prioritizing soft skills in hiring and training. They are increasingly focused on improving abilities such as leadership and behavioral skills. These skills include curiosity, responsibility and positive thinking, says Keca Ward, senior director of talent experience at Phenom People. These skills are important as technical skills are becoming outdated faster than employees can upskill themselves.
Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) had to send inspectors 90 times at Tesla’s Giga Factory in Nevada. While other factories in the same area had to call the inspector only once. USA Today reports workers were routinely injured, at least three times a month. In some cases – including amputations, injuries are not even reported by the company.
After fighting the bureaucratic rule to wear heels to the office, Japanese female workers are fighting the right to wear eyeglasses to work. Some employers demand women workers to mandatorily wear contact lenses at work and not eyeglasses, as glasses don’t appeal to customers. Earlier, Yumi Ishikawa started the #KuToo hashtag to protest the heels rule.
Middle managers seem to pay no importance to diversity and inclusion. However, CEOs are motivated to do so. Reportedly, middle managers shrug off implicit bias training, diverse hiring guidelines, and inclusive management practices. Employers are convincing middle managers to pay heed to diversity and inclusion. If middle managers build teams that look identical to themselves, they will slow their careers.
Do happy employees lead to a successful business or is it the other way round? Employee engagement and financial performance have been linked. However, there’s a difference between correlation and causation. Therefore, this becomes a proverbial chicken and egg problem. If engagement is a consequence of business success, it would have implications for companies’ employee engagement. So should companies focus on improving financials?
A new survey by cloud-based software provider Maven Link says work-life balance defines successful culture for cross-generation employees. Work-life balance was followed by team building activities, continuous and collaborative environment. For workers between 35 and 40 of age, continuous learning is important, while for 18-to-24-year old workers team-building matters.
Around 81 percent of workers are worried about being replaced by artificial intelligence, Blumberg Capital’s research found out. Most workers fear their job will be taken away by algorithms and robots. Due to this fear, people aren’t learning much. Workers need to stay focused and learn new tech skills, fortune reports. PwC spent over USD 3 billion to train its 2,76,000 employees.
Not executing benefits enrollment properly may cause trouble for employers. Judith Well, an employee benefits employer with Mc Dermott Will & Emery in Chicago, suggests employees should take a printout of the enrollment confirmation page after filling details. Further, employees should check their first paystub. Pay attention to rewards and wellness programs so as to avoid mistakes, Wendell suggests.
Gap Inc.’s CEO Art Peck will leave the company amid company-wide restructuring. The apparel retailer slashed its full-year earning, plummeting its shares to 7%. Peck was instrumental in developing the company’s “omnichannel strategy channel” strategy. The company is facing competition from fast-fashion rivals like Zara and H&M. Gap reported a 4% drop in its third-quarter sales and a decline across all its brands.
44% of American workers between 18 to 64 years of age are low-wage workers, Brookings Institution report says. The median wage of these workers is USDS17,950. Although unemployment is low, jobs don’t pay very well. Women and minority groups are more likely to earn low wages. Black workers and Latinos are 32 % and 41 % more likely to earn low wages than whites respectively.
Millennials are the largest generation in the labor force. The percentage of employees aged 65 and older is growing and voluntary employee turnover is surging, Fortune reports. Therefore, companies are increasing their efforts to hire and retain talent. Employee turnover has increased to 88% since 2010. CEOs need to think about “creating a place where people can grow personally and professionally?” Elli Kaplan says.
Goldman Sachs announced good news for all its new parents through birth, surrogacy or adoption in a memo on Monday. The company is increasing its parental leave to 20 weeks. Competing banks including JPMorgan, Citi, Wells Fargo and Morgan Stanley offer 16 weeks leave to the primary caregivers and fewer to the secondary caregivers. The move is aimed at attracting talent, CEO, David Solomon says.
The oil and gas industry lacks gender parity. According to EY, only 11% of senior leadership positions in the industry are represented by women. Chevron, however, plays well in this position. Among its 45,000 workers, 32,000 workers are part of its 20 employee networks. These groups address employee-related issues and represent different minorities. The women’s group is the largest.
Alphabet Inc., Google’s parent company, is investigating the company’s handling of sexual harassment and misconduct claims. The move comes in response to several harassment and misconduct allegations against executives. Alphabet Inc. has formed an independent subcommittee to oversee the investigation. Reportedly, several executives engaged in inappropriate behavior and were protected by the company. Jennifer Blakely, recently, alleged mistreatment by CLO David Drummond.
Marc Veasey, D-Texas, and Brendan Boyle, D-Pa, introduced WANTO (Women in Apprenticeship and Nontraditional Occupations Amendment Act) to support more women in apprenticeship programs. The new amendment will add at least one grant in each state/territory, thus adding to the current six grants issued each year. With the grants women will be able to address two major barriers for women – transportation & childcare costs, Veasey said.
According to the new rule by DOL, employers can claim the tip credit for workers who spend more than 20 percent of their time performing non-tipped duties. Employers can pay tipped workers as little as $2.13 an hour if they generate at least $30 per month in tips. But this is where employers can exploit the workers by paying less and assigning them non-tip generating work thus not allowing them to earn tips.
Women – as founders & employees – hold far less equity than their male counterparts, says a new report from Carta. Women account for just 7% of founder equity, while women startup workers hold 20% of start-up employee equity. Among female equity holders, 20 %, 15%, and 12% of founders are worth at least $1 million, $10 million or more, and $100 million respectively.
In a new experiment called Work-Life Choice Challenge Summer 2019, Microsoft employees showed enhanced productivity. The company shortened the workweek and gave four Fridays off in a row. At the end of the project, the company reported a 40 percent increase in productivity and happier workers, Microsoft reported. In 2018, New Zealand trust management experimented with the four-day workweek and reported less stressed employees.
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