1 April 2021
With schools closed in a large part of the country and only set to gradually reopen after the Easter period, the agreement signed on 18 March at Autostrade per l’Italia...
31 March 2021
Since the start of 2021, Kering has been rolling out its global domestic violence policy that provides specific support to all employees who open up on their situations as...
31 March 2021
On 30 March car manufacturer Volvo Cars announced it is opting-in its more than 40,000 employees globally, in all plants and offices, into a new all-gender, paid parental leave policy. From 01 April, Volvo Cars employees will be able to receive 80% of their salary...
26 March 2021
There will be no more Friday video calls for employees of Citigroup. The New York-based financial services group, the world’s 12th-largest company according to the Forbes Global 2000, has decided to adopt a policy of “Zoom-free Fridays”, meaning none of its 200,000 employees will have to attend internal video meetings on Fridays. Citigroup employees will be encouraged to conduct meetings over the phone, as the group looks to combat the fatigue engendered by the pandemic and extensive remote work over the...
24 March 2021
On 22 March the Italian bank announced its implementation of a group-wide minimum standard maternity leave of 16 weeks (paid) and 4 weeks for fathers (voluntary), which will apply globally from April 2021. The press release notes, ‘The new parental leave standard is part of a larger set of welfare initiatives many of which have been specifically strengthened also in the context of the Covid-19 emergency.’ The statement refers to the bank’s initiative in establishing a dedicated Family Board comprising a...
10 February 2021
US mass retailer Kroger, which employs almost 370,000, has joined a list of US companies and announced a lump sum bonus for employees who get inoculated. “As we move into a new phase of the pandemic, we’re increasing our investment to not only recognize our associates’ contributions, but also encourage them to receive the COVID-19 vaccine as it becomes available to them to optimize their well-being as well as the community’s,” said Tim Massa, Kroger’s Chief Human Resources...
9 February 2021
Since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic crisis, the massive deployment of telework has turned the corporate arena into a huge laboratory that is trying out new ways of working and the work of the future. So what impact does telework have on employee productivity levels? Does the office still have a future? What lessons are HR managers drawing from the crisis in terms of work organisation and indeed how has their work also evolved? The German Association for Human Resources Management (Deutsche Gesellschaft...
1 February 2021
The food delivery platform Just Eat is to recruit at least 4,500 delivery staff in France by the end of this year, according to newspaper reports in the country. Just Eat confirms that it has commenced its recruitment drive, with some 350 employees hired in Paris on open-ended contracts, with weekly working time of between 10 and 35 hours. “Among the people hired there are many students and micro-entrepreneurs. There are also career development opportunities, whether it is to become a ‘captain’ to...
11 December 2020
The consumer goods giant Unilever has signed up to the Halo Code, the UK’s first black hair code, which aims to protect people with afros and other black hairstyles so they can go to work or to school with those hairstyles without fear of being judged. According to the activists that founded the code, and formed the Halo Collective, one in five black women feel societal pressure to straighten their hair for work. “Despite hair being a protected racial characteristic under the law [on discrimination], there is...
10 December 2020
After recently adopting a similar approach in other European countries, the mobile app-based home food delivery giant Just Eat is starting to end its practice of paying per completed job. This gig economy arena revolution means Just Eat drivers can earn at least the minimum hourly wage and enjoy social benefits rights. Between now and March, more than 1,000 employment contracts will be created in London, be they part-time, full-time, or zero hour contracts (i.e. those that guarantee neither working time nor...
2 December 2020
From 07 December and for a one-year trail period, 81 employees working in sales, distribution and marketing roles at the Unilever food giant in New Zealand will be working in the office for 4 days a week while being paid for 5. The UK multinational has explicitly stated that the daily working hours of these employees will not be extended. “If we end up in a situation where the team is working four extended days then we miss the point of this. We don’t want our team to have really long days, but to bring...
29 September 2020
It is a news story that has caused quite a stir in Japan. From October onwards, Yahoo Japan will let its employees choose their working hours and their place of work. In a country where human resources management is often synonymous with long hours in the office and a rigid collectivist spirit, the rise of remote working due to the Covid-19 health emergency is beginning to shift boundaries.
8 September 2020
The US digital giant has for the second time encouraged its teams globally to take a Friday off in order to enjoy a 3-day weekend. This second day ‘off-work’ was implemented for all workers on Friday 04 September and notably allowed the US work teams to enjoy a 4-day weekend as Monday, 07 September 7 was also a public holiday (Labor Day). Google, which announced several months ago that it would maintain teleworking on an ongoing basis until the summer of 2021 at the earliest, is also aware of the consequences...