24 March 2020
During this Covid-19 pandemic, two business sectors are bucking a general downtrend with extremely strong growth, namely the supermarket and distribution sectors. With demand levels already high, both are multiplying their job offers, and with the free movement of people now hampered, their hiring methods have also had to adapt and the hiring pool has also altered as other businesses abruptly lay off workers. While in order to attract workers, the supermarket chains are boosting bonuses, they aren’t so quick to...
20 March 2020
The US HR software company Workday announced on its blog on 16 March that its some 10,000 workers would receive a one-off payment, equivalent to two weeks’ wages, to help them deal with the repercussions of the coronavirus outbreak. This measure, which will cost the company around $80 million (€73.3m), concerns all employees, except for executives. Payment is expected to be made by 30 April. A special fund to help those employees most in difficulty will also be created. Also as part of efforts to limit the...
13 March 2020
Since 09 March more than 500 staff at the Japanese carmaker Nissan’s plant in the UK’s north-east region of Sunderland will have access to free sanitary protection in the company’s toilets. The car giant has just joined a local UK trade union (Unite) campaign. Called the ‘Period Dignity Campaign, it was launched during the summer of 2019 and aims to encourage all employers to make sanitary protection freely available in toilet facilities, just like toilet paper. Another key point of the campaign, is to...
6 March 2020
Santander is introducing a global minimum standard for parental leave in every market in which it operates, with mothers granted at least 14 weeks of paid leave and the father or secondary parent granted at least 4 weeks. Paternity or secondary parental leave can be taken in a single period or in two periods of two weeks until the child is one year old. The rule is applicable for the 196,000 people employed by the bank across the 10 countries in which it operates. The change results in an increase in maternity...
2 March 2020
During the Bosch Connected World 2020 conference, held between 19 and 20 February in Berlin, Germany’s leading automobile equipment manufacturer and its chief executive Volkmar Denner announced that the company is about to launch a huge artificial intelligence training programme, to be take by 20,000 staff members by 2022. Last week, meanwhile, Bosch unveiled its new code of conduct – Codex KI – which clarifies and regulates the use of AI technology, both internally and externally. Planet Labor sets out the...
18 February 2020
On 13 February the French construction materials company launched its “CARE by Saint-Gobain” social protection program that will provide specific minimum cover for all the Group’s more than 180,000 employees worldwide and their families. This program will cover medical support for the families and access to care, providing minimum cover for health costs, leave for the arrival of a child in the home and for death by providing the family with financial aid.
6 February 2020
The Franco-German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CFACI) and the French branches of four large German chemicals groups (BAYER, BASF, Merck and Boehringer) have teamed up to create a joint training scheme for maintenance engineers, through which they can earn a BTS, a French vocational qualification. The scheme will involve digital training as well as several weeks spent in Germany, with trainees earning a double French and German certification. The initiative was unveiled on 20 January but the content of the...
6 February 2020
Employees at the pharmaceutical company’s French subsidiary are set to receive an extra two weeks of paid parental leave above and beyond the standard minimum duration as required in the pharmaceutical company’s global policy that was issued in March 2019 (cf. article No. 11048), and that fixes a minimum of 14 weeks of paid parental leave irrespective of employment contract (permanent or fixed term), career length, and marital status, and is available to those welcoming the arrival of a child (childbirth and...
5 February 2020
An opinion piece published in the 05 February edition of the daily economics publication Les Echos (here) indicates that 105 companies (primarily in the tech, organic, and sustainable development sectors, and for a large part SMEs) have committed to putting second parent leave arrangements in place. French legislation currently recognizes only 11 days of paternity leave (that is partially paid by the social security system). These 105 companies are highlighting their willingness and intention to ‘lead by example...
5 February 2020
Fathers in Hungary can avail of five-days of paid statutory leave following the birth of a child. This leave can be taken whole or in several parts but must be used before the child is two months old. Diageo, one of the leading global alcoholic beverages companies, has introduced a family-friendly measure that will see fathers having the opportunity to avail of an additional 26 weeks of leave. The company’s global parental policy provides a standard 4 weeks of leave as well as 26 weeks of maternity leave. The...
