Corporate social responsibility
26 November 2019
The World Players Association (WPA), that represents players and athletes globally (85,000 sportspeople across more than 100 players associations and across more than 60 countries), and which acts as the leading voice of organized players in the governance of world sport, is continuing its work of building human rights awareness among the international sporting bodies and their members. On 04 December, WPA Executive Director, Brendan Schwab will be hosting a webinar on this issue that follows closely after the...
25 November 2019
In a statement published on 21 November, the US tech corporation Intel called on its corporate law departments, located in the US, to consider performance on diversity when using external law firms. In concrete terms, as of 1 January 2021, Intel says it will only use external legal service providers that “meet two diversity criteria: at least 21% of the firm’s US equity partners are women and at least 10% of the firm’s US equity partners are underrepresented minorities (which, for this purpose, we define as...
19 November 2019
On 13 November 2019, after eight months of negotiations, and along with the IndustriALL affiliate, Industrial Workers’ Federation of Myanmar (IWFM), garment and textiles factories in Myanmar, which produce for some twenty brands that are members of the Action, Collaboration, Transformation (ACT) agreement that aims to develop sector based collective bargaining within the large garment producing countries, adopted the Myanmar Freedom of Association (FoA) Guideline. In addition to international guidelines on...
More articles on this topic >>
Digital tools
16 October 2019
Oxford-based visual data management start-up, Zegami, has just launched a new tool for employers that will enable them to predict which employees are most likely to resign from their jobs. Called Zegami HR, the platform operates using a tailor-made algorithm developed from work carried out at the Oxford University Computational Biology division into the factors that made people happy at work in a company. The algorithm uses relevant data and includes age, salary, career path, academic history, career satisfaction...
30 September 2019
Doing an internship at a multinational firm without even leaving the house, and perhaps while still in one’s pyjamas, is now a possibility, thanks to the concept of virtual work experience offered by the Australian start-up InsideSherpa. Since 2017, the company has offered short work experience programmes, exclusively online, at companies from all over the globe. While students see the platform as an unprecedented opportunity to discover large companies and gain experience, employers using this method hope to...
19 June 2019
In an interview on 04 June with David Green for his website My HR Future, HR Tech advisor, Yvette Cameron shares her vision of blockchain storing and managing data technology as it applies to HR. Planet Labor summarizes her vision below (for the full 38′ podcast, click here).
More articles on this topic >>
HR practices
2 December 2019
On 25 November the German arm of US IT giant Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) announced that all employees will now be eligible for six months of parental leave, with 100% pay from the company, following the birth of a child or an adoption. This move is indicative of a growing trend in Germany; faced with a shortage of qualified staff and the aspirations of new generation of workers, less focused on their careers, an increasing number of companies are introducing measures to foster an improved work-life balance....
22 November 2019
From banking group HSBC to supermarket chain Sainsbury’s and professional services group PwC, more and more UK companies are now talking about the sensitive topic of menopause and the need to put in measures to support those employees affected. Their aim? To prevent any kind of stigmatisation of women, as well as to avoid mass departures and potential legal action. Planet Labor has spoken to two experts on this issue, which has now become unavoidable for HR departments in the UK.
12 November 2019
On 05 November 2019, Tata Starbucks, a 50/50 joint-venture between Tata Global Beverages and the Californian Starbucks company announced in a statement (here in English) that its female participation rate had risen by 15 percentage points and that it had achieved its gender pay equity objective. Although female labor participation rates are falling in India, at Tata Starbucks, ‘women now make up 29 percent of its workforce (Ed. note: this percentage was 14% in 2014), a key gender diversity milestone toward its...
More articles on this topic >>
Industrial relations
3 December 2019
On 21 November, Belgium’s Women in Finance association announced it had already achieved its goal of a charter promoting equal treatment between males and females that covers more than 90% of employees in the finance sector. Currently, thirty-four financial institutions (public and private and employers’ federations) representing 91% of the country’s finance sector employees have signed up to the ‘Women in Finance’ charter, the contents of which are based on the Women’s Empowerment Principles as set...
29 November 2019
The fast-paced shift towards electricity-powered vehicles and the digitalisation of production is piling pressure on the German automobile industry, a central pillar of the country’s economy. Like Volkswagen and, more recently, Audi before them, BMW has found itself needing to cut costs in order to protect its profit margins and level of investment in research and development. However, unlike its competitor based in Ingolstadt, the Munich-based manufacturer has managed to negotiate a company agreement with its...
29 November 2019
The negotiation of new collective agreements in Finland appears set to be fraught with difficulty, as demonstrated by recent strikes that have impacted the post office, mail services and, following solidarity strikes, air transport, ports and buses in the country. While agreements have been reached in the post and mail sector, strikes are planned in the metals and chemicals industries.
More articles on this topic >>
Legal developments
3 December 2019
On 02 December in the run-up to the general election, the Conservative party, which continues to be well ahead in the polls, announced that should it win on 12 December, it intended to create a visa-waiver entry system for EU nationals seeking entry to the UK, along the lines of the US ESTA (Electronic System for Travel Authorization) for tourists entering from visa exempt countries. The online document called the Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) would need to be completed three days in advance of arrival in...
3 December 2019
On 18 November, three Republican US House of Representatives members from the conservative states of South Dakota, North Carolina, and Tennessee, presented their Worker’s Choice Act that aims to amend the National Labor Relations Act. The text has been published (here) and is entitled: ‘To amend the National Labor Relations Act to repeal exclusive representation (Ed. Note: by a...
2 December 2019
With the Juncker Commission’s five years in office having come to an end, there is a feeling of business being unfinished when it comes to social Europe. As the former European Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs, Skills and Labour Mobility, Marianne Thyssen, prepares to pass the torch on to her successor, Nicolas Schmit, she will not be able to help but notice the impasse regarding her last legislative proposal, on the coordination of social security systems.
More articles on this topic >>
