The U.S. is the only advanced economy in the world that doesn’t guarantee workers paid vacation.
There’s a problem in the United States when it comes to Americans taking a vacation. Four in 10 employees offered paid time off don’t use it all, which is kind of a slap in the face to those who don’t take a vacation because they can’t afford a vacation without pay.
Continue reading… “America is the no-vacation nation”
There have been few studies, until now, that examined how workers feel about the adequacy of their skills. A survey of employees was released last week that provides strong confirmation of the notion that employees need better skills to do their jobs well, especially skills related to technology.
Continue reading… “Udemy survey finds workers don’t have the skills they need – and they know it”
Piecemeal labor has taken on a shinier veneer under new rubrics: the sharing economy, the peer economy, the collaborative economy, the gig economy.
Jennifer Guidry was in the driveway of her rental apartment just after 4 a.m. on a Friday while most of the neighbors in her leafy Boston suburb were still asleep. Her blond hair pulled back in a tidy French braid she was vacuuming the inside of her car. A Navy veteran and former accountant, Ms. Guidry uses the early time to mitigate the uncertainty of working in what’s known as the sharing economy.
Continue reading… “Workers find freedom and uncertainty in the sharing economy”
Will they steal our jobs or raise living standards?
Are American wages and jobs under threat by the increasing automation of our economy? Should the American worker fear the rise of the robots? No, not really.
Continue reading… “Should we welcome the robots?”
600,000 Chinese a year die from working too hard.
After 26 years, Chinese banking regulator Li Jianhua literally worked himself to death. He was “always putting the cause of the party and the people” first, his employer said this month, the 48-year-old official died rushing to finish a report before the sun came up.
Continue reading… “China’s epidemic of overwork, workers are dying at their desks”
Plasticsmiths
Gangjian Cui’s “The Rise of the Plasticsmith” speculates China’s post-industrial future. Cui envisions the rise of a new breed of workers who will use plastic crafts to tell the history of the industrial age. (Photos and videos)
Continue reading… “The Rise of the Plasticsmith in China”
54% said they felt obliged to work during the weekend because there is too much to do.
Office workers in the UK are so focused on managing email traffic and attending internal meetings, they struggle to find time to produce anything really meaningful, according to research released this week.
Continue reading… “Mobility trend leaves UK workers overworked but unproductive: Study”
Is your office prepared for millennials?
It’s estimated that 46% of U.S. workers will be made up of millennials, by 2020, and that is projected to grow to 75% by 2025, which means companies of all sizes will be vying for this group of professionals.
Continue reading… “46% of U.S. workers will be made up of millennials by 2020”
Labor’s share of the world’s income is plunging, and the technology boom is to blame.
For the past thirty years, wages have evaporated as a share of the economy. Meanwhile, the proportion of national income consumed by profits, dividends, and capital gains has steadily grown. Capital 1, Labor 0.
Continue reading… “Robots are already stealing our paychecks”
Workers can now be analyzed like any other data.
As it turns out, bosses really do matter and they may matter more than we even realize. For example, in telephone call centers where hourly workers handle a steady stream of calls under demanding conditions, the communication skills and personal warmth of an employee’s supervisor are often crucial in determining the employee’s tenure and performance. Recent research shows that the quality of the supervisor may be more important than the experience and individual attributes of the workers themselves.
Continue reading… “Trying to build better workers with big data”
Comparing salaries among colleagues has long been a taboo of workplace chatter,
Brian Bader said at the orientation for a tech-support job with Apple Inc. that human-resources managers ran down the list of guidelines workers were expected to follow. Don’t use explicit language on calls with customers. Treat other employees with respect. And, he says, they told the assembled recruits, don’t discuss your pay with co-workers.
Continue reading… “Employees share their salary secrets”
American adults who have a job (or are looking for a job) has fallen to its lowest point since 1979, hovering around 63 percent. Thirty-seven percent of working-age Americans aren’t working. But, what are they doing? Bloomberg Businessweek gives us a snapshot of 2013 with this amazing infographic above.
Continue reading… “37 percent of working-age Americans aren’t working, but what are they doing?”
By delving into the futuring techniques of Futurist Thomas Frey, you’ll embark on an enlightening journey.
Learn More about this exciting program.