Social Trust and Employment Trends

This article points out a very interesting trend – less people are moving to find new work. It may seem inconsequential or obvious, but the effects and projected reasons behind this trend are evocative of a greater problem: a drastic decline in social trust. According to the studies presented here, people seem to be staying in jobs that they aren’t happy with because they’re afraid of changing. This not only causes a downturn in productivity, but it also means that many workers are foregoing raises and other benefits that often come with job shifts. It shows a fundamental lack of trust in the economic system and job market – people are terrified of a switch that may leave them worse off than they were before. It’s really thought-provoking to understand how the ways we think about employment fundamentally shift our entire society’s point of view. You can read more about this at The New York Times. 

Photo: A home in Detroit scheduled to be demolished. Image by Fabrizio Costantini/Bloomberg via NYT

The Six-Hour Work Day

It’s hard to argue with some of the results seen in Sweden in favor of a six hour workday. Workers generally seem to be better rested, and therefore more productive in the time that they spend at work. While many business leaders argue that having to hire more staff due to the shorter workday is too costly, many types businesses have seen that initial cost covered by the increased productivity of workers. While it may not work for all businesses, it seems to work at least for some. All in all, employees should be measured by their output and the quality of their work, not by the hours they spend in the office. Relying on more substantive metrics to understand our workers will lead to a more comprehensive system for employees and managers alike. You can read more about this in-depth at The New York Times. 

Photo: Gabrielle Tikman, a surgery nurse, thinks the six-hour workday helps her stay focused. Image by Magnus Laupa for NYT.

Wage Theft at Domino's

This is an absolute affront to working people everywhere. The way that a large franchise corporation, like Domino’s, can take advantage of people already making minimum wage is despicable. Wage theft is a real and systemic problem, but the reason why this particular case is so arresting is that, for the first time, there seems to be substantive evidence linking the corporate heads of a business to the use of software designed to keep low-wage workers from tips, overtime, and their regular pay. This isn’t just a bad workplace culture – it seems to be a business model built on employee exploitation. Oftentimes, in workplaces where I’ve seen similar types of bullying, other aspects of the business are being run unethically as well. If these allegations of wage theft are true, the government should step in and audit all of Domino’s business practices – if they treat employees this way, how are they treating vendors, food safety and sanitation, or other aspects of business?

One other point I’d like to make is that many people may call for a boycott of Domino's as this case moves along, but that would only further hurt those employees at the bottom of this chain trying to support their livelihoods. This needs to be sorted out in court, and subject to continuing investigations. You should read more at The New York Times.

Photo: A Domino's in Bed Stuy, Brooklyn; Image by Sam Hodgson for NYT

Ignored to the Point of Quitting

This article is a real eye-opener. In France, many workers have permanent contracts, or CDIs, that make it very hard for employers to fire them. Because of this, many employees fear what they call “the closet” – a strange situation where employers strip away an employee’s department budget, teams, and even basic duties. The goal is to “Try to make someone so miserable, he’ll quit.” This tactic, while brutal, is not unique to France. Many employers use the same methodology to get rid of workers. However, in France, the job market structure makes this systematic problem even more difficult to escape. You can read more about this at The New York Times.

Photo: Protesters in Paris against France's new labor law policies. Yoan Valat/European Pressphoto Agency via NYT

Supporting the Workers of Fort McMurray

The fires at Fort McMurray have been a tragedy. Usually, in circumstances like these, where an environmental catastrophe happens, we’re used to hearing about the fallout at work – people not only lose their homes, but their jobs, income and way of life. However, in the case of Fort McMurray, there seems to be a different response for working people. As one spokesperson for Syncrude Canada Ltd. put it, “Our employees have looked after us so we’ll look after them.” Several of the oil sands corporations with employees in Fort McMurray have been offering interest-free loans, salary continuation, lump sum payments, and other forms of financial aid to employees displaced by the fire. We’re so used to wrongdoing by big companies in situations like this that the way oil sands producers are currently working for their employees is worth commending. It’s nice to see corporations do the right thing, especially in the face of such a monumental environmental disaster. Read more about it at The Globe and Mail.

Photo: An evacuee camp for the people who fled the Fort McMurray wildfires in Wandering River, Alberta, Canada, Monday May 9, 2016; Mark Blinch/THE CANADIAN PRESS

Collaboration or Exploitation? Arbitration in the Start-up Workplace

Arbitration clauses are coming to the forefront more and more these days. As start-ups go from being small businesses to large, valuable companies that employ thousands, it’s important to keep labor policies in mind. Like many bigger corporations, start-ups are widely instituting arbitration policies to protect themselves when they summarily fire employees based on arbitrary or unfair decision making. Arbitration may sound like “open collaboration” in solving problems, as the chief culture officer of WeWork stated in this article, but in reality, arbitration is severely tilted in the company’s favor. It prevents employees from banding together to complain, and prevents anything from really getting into court, where there’s a better chance that companies will actually be made to change their behavior. The perception of start-ups is that they’re run by young, hip entrepreneurs who care about their employees – why else would so many of these businesses be giving workers free beer, ping-pong tables and other perks? However, underneath the flashy incentives, we’re beginning to see a real return to exploitative business practices built to use employees. If you want to learn more about arbitration, start-up culture and a few specific cases where employees were treated unfairly by this system, check out the full article in The New York Times.

Photo: The Manhattan offices of WeWork, one of the highly profitable start-up companies featured in the NYT article. WeWork used arbitration to squash a class-action lawsuit concerning overtime. Photo by Cole Wilson for NYT

Transforming HR for the Next Generation of Business

I have mixed feelings about the concept of human resources in business. In concept, it’s a great idea; in practice, HR departments can sometimes compound problems within dysfunctional workplace cultures. However, as discussed in this article, the new startup culture shuns the idea of HR – and it often puts non-white, non-male employees in a tricky position. While I’m hesitant to break down the importance of HR in terms of race or gender, I do think that the notion of having a person in a position to be an advocate for employees who feel like they’re being treated unfairly is essential to any growing business. I understand and agree with many criticisms of modern HR culture, which startups are pushing back against, but I think that rather than abandoning HR specialists in favor of substitute software, we should be transforming the way we think about HR to improve it for a new generation of businesses. Read the full article at Fast Company.

Image: Jacob Lund via Shutterstock via Fast Company

Emotional Intelligence in the Workplace

Trying your best to have a high level of emotional intelligence is extremely important in the workplace. It helps you learn from your coworkers more effectively, and work with them more productively. In workplace bullying situations, having emotional intelligence helps you better predict the actions or motivations behind harmful behavior. A working understanding of emotional intelligence shouldn’t be relegated to the HR department, either – having educational courses about developing professional empathy is something businesses should incorporate into wellness programs. Developing emotional intelligence as a group can also be a great way of developing workplace culture as well, so all around, it’s something business leaders should pay more attention to. You can find out more about emotional intelligence at Forbes.com.

Living the Dream at Work?

Many companies like to sell themselves to millennial employees by purporting to have a great work-life balance policy – and more often than not, this isn’t true. Many business leaders also like to discuss work-life balance, and while it’s great that there’s more acknowledgement for separating work and home lives, it doesn’t amount to much if their companies don’t make substantive attempts to incorporate corresponding policies that will help their employees. Having in-house “nap rooms” to encourage better sleep habits in employees may sound like a good idea, but why pick the trendy answer to a systematic problem? Instead, it may benefit employees more to have a more comprehensive vacation policy, more flexible work schedules, and a culture that doesn’t demand off-the-clock continuations of work. You can read more about some of these policies at The Huffington Post.

Photo Credit: PHOTOALTO/ALE VENTURA VIA GETTY IMAGES

Sexism in the Workplace

Susan Credle, Global Chief Creative Officer at FCB, who was interviewed by NYT about sexism in the advertising workplace. Photo by Jesse Dittmar for NYT.

I’m not at all surprised by this headline. You’d think that, after a hugely popular show like Mad Men, which put the gender discrimination of the advertising industry on full display for public criticism, there would be more progress in the contemporary advertising workplace. However, by acknowledging cases of discrimination and harassment merely as things of the past, we’re doing at least half of the population a huge disservice. It’s “okay” to talk about diversity in terms of victories won, but leveling criticism against a decidedly un-diverse executive community, for some working women, is a recipe for inviting workplace bullying or mistreatment. While not contained to the advertising industry, systematic sexism in the workplace is an issue that’s mostly invisible to those with the most power to create positive changes. Read more on this at The New York Times.