January 2008 edition
Every month, in collaboration with the Institute of
Workplace Studies (IWS), CAHRS identifies the 'Top
10' news items from the IWS News Service covering
key workplace issues that would be of interest to
CAHRS sponsors. Now CAHRS and the HR
Division have agreed to distribute this information as
another benefit of HR Division membership.
These news items are carefully selected, covering
areas such as emerging workplace trends,
compensation, executive training and development,
technology enabled HR services, important policy
announcements impacting people practices,
employment related macro economic data and top
line general economic data, significant court
decisions relating to employment law and any other
issue of potential significance to human resource
managers.
The content is sourced from U.S. Government and
international agencies, public and private bodies,
consultancies and knowledge services firms, industry
associations, unions and select academic institutions.
Because the links below are sometimes to
copyrighted materials, you may be asked to sign in to
a proprietary website (for example Business Week
online) after following the link. However, once you
have signed up for these free services, you will be
able to find the complete article. Our goal is
to
provide you with information about up-to-date issues
in HR.
The CAHRS Top Ten
1.
Learning and Career Development Opportunities Are
Key to Attract, Retain and Engage Workforce in
China [November 2007], by
www.towersperrin.com
Summary: Employees in China see learning
and career development opportunities as the key
elements in choosing an employer, staying with the
company and making discretionary effort to improve
the individual's performance, according to a new
survey of nearly 90,000 workers in 18 countries,
including 5,000 employees in mainland China.
However, employees in China do not believe their
organizations or their senior leaders are doing
enough to help them become fully engaged and
contribute to their company's success. The 2007
Towers Perrin Global Workforce Study found that
Chinese employees are among those suffering from
a gap between the discretionary effort employees
actually want to invest, and how effectively their
organizations are tapping into and channeling their
commitment and energy. The study also found that
companies with the highest levels of employee
engagement achieve better financial results and are
more successful in retaining their most valued
employees than companies with lower levels of
engagement.
2. Calling it Quits [December
2007], by Scott Flanders, Human Resource Executive
Online
Summary: Inappropriate -- but not illegal --
behaviors too often prompt employees to find other
jobs. The offensive behavior is sometimes so subtle
that managers fail to realize the problem, and
sometimes includes diversity-promoting efforts that
prompt unintended results. A new study has found
that employee turnover due to unfairness -- real or
perceived -- costs American employers $64 billion a
year. The study by the Level Playing Field Institute in
San Francisco estimates that more than two million
professionals and managers quit their jobs each year
solely because of slights, both large and small. This
article cites examples of the kinds of unfairness that
drives people from their jobs and warns of the
negative impact of this problem.
3. Attractive Workplace
For All: Company Cases [November 2007], by the
European Foundation for the Improvement of Living
and Working Conditions
Summary: The Lisbon strategy aims to make
the EU by 2010 'the most competitive and dynamic
knowledge-based economy in the world, capable of
sustainable economic growth, with more and better
jobs and greater social cohesion'. Recent research
from the Foundation shows that there are companies
across Europe implementing innovative employment
policies, practices and agreements, and, therefore,
contributing to the Lisbon strategy objectives. These
cases are examples of 'win-win situations', showing
that it is possible to combine quality of work and
employment with economic performance. They deal
with key dimensions of the Lisbon strategy such as
business creation and entrepreneurship,
employability, pay, flexibility and increasing the labor
market participation of underrepresented groups and
people at risk of exclusion.
4. Retirement Plan Participation:
Gender Differences[December 2007], by
www.ebri.org
Summary: The November 2007 EBRI Issue
Brief, published by the nonpartisan Employee Benefit
Research Institute (EBRI), provides answers to
retirement-related questions regarding the
percentage of women participating in retirement plans
and how the "gender gap" in retirement coverage is
changing. While there is still a "gender gap" in
retirement participation rates, it has narrowed sharply
as more women have entered the work force.
5. Employers Contemplate Social Networking, Focus
on Improving Technology in 2008 [December
2007], by www.watsonwyatt.com
Summary: Companies will focus on
upgrading and integrating their human resources
technology in 2008 in an effort to improve
administration and better engage employees,
according to experts at Watson Wyatt Worldwide.
Among likely trends are the increased adoption of
advanced Web solutions, such as wikis, blogs and
social networking, and a focus on making HR
technology easier for employees to use. Among the
top trends Watson Wyatt has identified for 2008 are
adopting advanced Web 2.0 technology, focusing on
improving employee service and satisfaction,
implementing integrated technology solutions for
talent management and taking a flexible approach to
outsourcing HR administration.
6. Made in China [December 2007], by The
Wharton School, Human Resource Executive Online
Summary: Labor rights in China continue to
evolve, with the most vulnerable workers being those
who live in rural areas and children. Most workers
sidestep labor unions when seeking help, as the
unions are affiliated with the government, and
attempting to address grievances in court is too
expensive and time-consuming. The article discusses
the extent to which initiatives in China, such as the
New Labor Contract Law, are securing the rights of
workers, as well as the interpretation of "labor rights"
in the Chinese culture.
7. The Future of
Employment-Based Health Benefits: Have Employers
Reached a Tipping Point? [December 2007] by
www.ebri.org
Summary: Some associations representing
employers' interests are suggesting fundamental
reforms in the current system of employment-based
health insurance, but large employers are not on the
verge of dropping benefits, according to a study
released today by the nonpartisan Employee Benefit
Research Institute (EBRI). The vast majority of
American workers and their families who have health
insurance currently obtain it through their jobs. The
employment-based health system in the United
States is voluntary; employers are not required to
provide it, and rapidly rising health costs are forcing
many employers to reconsider offering health
benefits.
8.
Study Reveals Strong Link Between CEO Realizable
Pay and Performance; Broad-Based Stock Option
Reductions Continue, While Forfeitures Increase
[December 2007], by www.watsonwyatt.com
Summary: Executives at high-performing
companies are realizing greater compensation than
their counterparts at underperforming companies,
suggesting that corporate America's executive pay-for-
performance model is working, according to a new
study by Watson Wyatt Worldwide, a leading global
consulting firm. Separately, the study also found that a
growing number of workers are forfeiting "in-the-
money" stock options and companies continue to pull
back on broad-based stock options. Watson Wyatt's
annual report on executive compensation found that
CEOs at high-performing companies earned
significantly more "realizable" pay between 2004 and
2006, especially from long-term incentive (LTI)
awards.
9.
Quality of Work and Employment in Europe: Women or
Men, Does it Matter? [December 2007], by the
European Foundation for the Improvement of Living
and Working Conditions
Summary: Casting the spotlight on the gender
dimension in the workplace inevitably leads to an
exploration of the different gendered elements of the
experience of work in Europe. With this aim in mind,
this paper draws from the findings of the report
Gender and Working Conditions in the European
Union (Burchell et al, 2007). In turn, this report is
based on secondary analysis of the data from the
Foundation's fourth European Working Conditions
Survey, as well as on recently published research
from the Eurofound's observatories the European
Working Conditions Observatory (EWCO) and the
European Industrial Relations Observatory (EIRO).
10. Security in Labor Markets:
Combining Flexibility with Security for Decent
Work
[December 2007], by Peter Auer
Summary: Trade liberalization, offshoring and
technological advances entail more volatility in labor
markets and imply that the labor market risks of
workers increase. These workers thus have to be
adequately insured by new types of security outside
the stable employment relationship. Flexicurity has
become a buzzword describing such developments
aiming at both labor market flexibility and security. The
term drives the Labor market policy agenda of the
European Commission and is now becoming
attractive as an alternative to "flexibility only" reform
agendas in other parts of the world. This article
describes definitional issues and shows that it
seems indeed possible to have flexible labor markets
and workers' security if certain conditions are
observed.
Learn more...
