Search Results

Direct care workers provide much of the hands-on, long-term care received by older adults and people with disabilities in the U.S. Despite being a lifeline for the people they serve and their families, direct care workers are among the lowest paid workers in the country. They often work with minimal benefits, little access to training, and few opportunities for advancement. Improving the job quality for the professionals in this field should be a goal of all policymakers seeking to strengthen economic opportunities for the working poor. State governments are uniquely positioned to tackle this issue and promote such policies. This new report examines opportunities and levers for states to enhance the wages, benefits, and other conditions affecting jobs in the direct care workforce. These policies can benefit direct care workers and their families, as well as enhance the quality of care provided older adults and people with disabilities across the country.

Published abstract. Show less

Cooperations or transfers of the German technical and vocational education and training (TVET) system have taken place in different cultural contexts in recent decades. In Mexico, the so-called Modelo Mexicano de Formacion Dual has been adapted to Mexico's cultural conditions. Yet, it still seems to be largely unknown in society, the education system and the labour market. Attitudes, perceptions or so-called 'social representations' are culturally anchored in a society and can be identified in artefacts and individual narratives. Especially social representations of company gatekeepers, such as human resources employees are focused because they regulate access in companies and to higher positions. Although this happens on the basis of organizational transition policies, decision-making processes are shaped by culturally anchored individual perceptions. The target group of company gatekeepers from the tourism sector was interviewed within the framework of a qualitative study during eight semistructured 'face-to-screen' interviews, analysed according to grounded theory methodology. Based on social representation analysis, the Mexican labour market seems to be dichotomized. Academic titles have a high symbolic value, promising prestige. TVET options are given little focus, lack a high social esteem and are still largely unknown. Those produce tecnicos, while holders of oficos often do on-the-job training within their families. Both depend upon their employers and have to accept unfavourable working conditions. This implies physically demanding, often gender-specific work. Promotions are possible, even without academic degrees. Because of a lack of institutionalization, these are subjective, depending on the goodwill of company gatekeepers. Promotions are possible to a certain extent, so nonacademic workers are facing a glass ceiling.

Published abstract reprinted by permission of the copyright owner. Show less

The economic and labour crisis created by the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic could increase global unemployment by almost 25 million, according to an ILO assessment. However, if we see an internationally coordinated policy response, as happened in the global financial crisis of 2008/9, then the impact on global unemployment could be significantly lower. These regular reports give a global overview of how countries are grappling with the employment and labour market effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent recovery.

Edited excerpt from publisher's website with additional information. Show less

This report is based on desk research and a survey of 106 firms in Oman, carried out between May and June 2022. The research was commissioned by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and was carried out in collaboration with the Omani Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OCCI). The results will help Omani businesses, policymakers, workers organizations, and employers and business membership organizations (EBMOs) to better assess policy options, especially as they pertain to skills development of nationals and to skills-based international recruitment. If conducted regularly, this survey can help assess the skills and competency gaps of the Omani workforce with a view to identifying the resulting skill and labour shortages or surpluses and recommending effective measures with respect to reskilling and upskilling.

Following the introduction, Section 2 of the report analyses the skills needs and trends in Oman based on desk research. Section 3 presents key findings from the employer survey. Section 4 highlights insights based on the analysis. Section 5 concludes.

Edited excerpt from publication. Show less

This research project tracked a cohort of nine female trainees as they completed their apprenticeships as line mechanics or cable jointers in the electricity supply industry in New Zealand. The key findings relate to how the women negotiated their way as trainees in a traditionally male trade, and also to the human resource practices that were used by their employers through this process. The findings draw attention to the skills that women bring to these non-traditional trades that differ from those usually offered by male trainees. They also identify a need for work and family networks to support women working in non-traditional trades, and for work practices to address health and safety concerns that may be specific to (or more likely to be experienced by) women. The attitude of women trainees to health and safety practices were described as an asset. Some teams were unsure how to work with the women and a protective attitude did at times hinder the women's progress. Rough patches were able to be navigated in large part through good support from whanau and family, other trainees and workplace mentors. However, levels of resistance to having women in these roles did not wane considerably among operational staff. Good human resource practices helped to integrate the women but some challenges remain, for example, in how women can reconcile long and unpredictable hours with family responsibilities.

Excerpts from publication. Show less

Achieving work environments that make work sustainable over a lifetime is a key facet of the promotion of longer working lives. This study considers the dimensions of work that have proved essential to the understanding of work sustainability: working conditions; physical and psychological health; the expressive dimension of work; reconciliation of working and non-working time; and socioeconomic conditions. It examines the influence of these factors on how older workers perceive the sustainability of their work, taking account of differences between workers in terms of age, occupation and gender. In addition, the working conditions of the ageing workforce across Member States of the European Union are compared.

Published abstract reprinted by permission of the copyright owner. Show less

This book is dedicated to the role of work organizations when it comes to the realization of an active fatherhood. Firstly, it deals with barriers for active fatherhood and its correlating mechanisms of inequality: Which aspects of discrimination and social closure do fathers face today if they assert a claim for active fatherhood, and with what kind of barriers are they confronted? Secondly, capabilities of fathers are addressed: Which is their possible scope of action, and which factors lead to differences in capabilities at the workplace? Finally, the book analyzes the meaning of organizational rationalities, and the effects of policies and programs on change and organizational learning with respect to fatherhood.

Summary from publisher's website.

Contents: 1. Introduction: Fathers in work organizations: introduction and overview / Brigitte Liebig and Mechtild Oechsle; 2. Life conduct, strategies and capabilities: Work organizations and fathers' lifestyles: constraints and capabilities / Annette von Alemann, Sandra Beaufays and Mechtild Oechsle; Devoted workers, breadwinning fathers: the case of executive men in the United States / Mary Blair-Loy and Stacy J. Williams; Fathers' parental leave and work-family division in Norwegian elite professions / Sigtona Halrynjo and Selma Therese Lyng; Changing fatherhood? The significance of parental leave for work organizations and couples / Benjamin Neumann and Michael Meuser; 3. Cultures, rationalities and management ambivalent benevolence: The instrumental rationality of father-friendly policies in Swiss organizations / Brigitte Liebig and Christian Kron; Fatherhood in transition: from standard to precarious archetypes in Italian contemporary work organizations / Annalisa Murgia and Barbara Poggio; Of ikumen and ikuboss: an inquiry into Japan’s new fathers as consumers, employees and managers / Christoph Schimkowsky and Florian Kohlbacher; 4. Policies and politics of fatherhood constructing male employees as carers through the Norwegian fathers' quota / Elin Kvande and Berit Brandth; The 'daddy months' in the German fatherhood regime: a step towards an equal share of work and care? / Johanna Possinger; Reconciliation: The different political goals of organizations, governments and lobbies for fathers and children in Germany / Stephan Hoyng; 5. Issues and challenges in research: Research on work and family: some issues and challenges / Suzan Lewis and Bianca Stumbitz. Show less

This article contributes to feminist debates that seek to shed light on the politics of the contemporary neoliberal academy, contributing insights into experiences of early career academics on teaching-only contracts. Through collaborative autoethnography it explores configurations and intersections of the temporal with precarity, class and gender. We draw upon experience(s) of navigating academia as early career academics, reflecting on our journeys from doctoral study to and through the academic labour market, from fixed-term precarious contracts through to securing 'permanent' full-time academic contracts. We focus on ways in which temporalities have served as a structuring force in our working and personal lives, shaping experiences of navigating academia on both a micro and macro scale. We grapple with themes such as everyday experiences of time, precarious timelines, 'working against the clock', 'staying afloat' and 'finding the time'. We further consider way(s) in which our experiences have been further compounded by socio-historical positions, attending to intersections of class and gender given our differing class backgrounds, circumstances, life stage and the timeline of history and biography.

Published abstract. Show less

This report sets out to map and analyse legislation and collective bargaining on telework in the 27 [European Union] Member States and Norway. It highlights the main cross-country differences and similarities regarding telework legislation and recent changes to these regulations. It also examines the current situation regarding collective bargaining on telework. The analysis highlights many of the drawbacks and challenges of telework, focusing on provisions relating to access to telework, flexible working time, continuous availability/connectivity, isolation, occupational and health risk prevention and the costs incurred by the employee while working remotely. With [Coronavirus Disease 2019] COVID-19 having been an accelerator for regulating telework both in legislation and through collective bargaining, the report sheds light on how the future of telework could be regulated at national and EU level to improve working conditions and the well-being of workers.

Key findings include: (1) Telework is here to stay. Monitoring developments in Member States must remain a priority for policymakers, particularly on issues such as different types of telework arrangements, the organisation of working time, the right to disconnect, the right to request telework, the relationship between telework and gender equality, work–life balance and psychosocial risks. If teleworkers across the EU are to be protected equally, shared standards will also be necessary; (2) There is no one size fits all approach to regulating telework as remote working requires different combinations of regulation, policies and work culture. Social dialogue can play a critical role in implementing telework regulations to protect employees and create positive outcomes for both employers and workers; (3) A significant number of collective agreements on telework were introduced during the pandemic at company and sectoral levels, particularly in sectors with existing arrangements, such as in financial services, manufacturing and information and communications. New agreements were developed in the public services and administration, education, and health and social work activities sectors, highlighting how telework is fast becoming an established way of work organisation across the EU; and (4) The number of countries that have included the right to telework in national legislation has doubled since the beginning of the pandemic. Employees with teleworkable jobs in several countries are now entitled to request telework, including in France, Lithuania, Portugal and the Netherlands, with legislation being developed in Germany and Ireland.

Published abstract and edited excerpts from publisher's website. Show less

This paper operationalises the OECD Guidelines for Measuring the Quality of the Working Environment (OECD, 2017) to describe job characteristics among European countries, the United States and Korea in 2010 and 2015. The analysis extends the range of aspects of quality of the working environment beyond those featuring in the Job Strain index presented by (Cazes, 2015), which is used to monitor implementation of the OECD Job Strategy, but at the cost of a more limited country coverage. While the two indices of job strain are largely consistent both across countries and over time, all of the job characteristics included in the 'extended' index turns out to matter for workers' well-being. The framework uses the job demands-resources model (Demerouti, 2001) that stresses the importance of balancing the demands of the job and the resources that are available to workers to meet those demands. Workers are classified as (heavily) strained when the number of job demands they face (largely) exceeds the number of job resources they benefit from, and conversely, they are classified as (very) well-resourced when their job resources (largely) exceed their job demands.

On average among 28 OECD countries, about one third of employees are (moderately or heavily) strained at work, while one half are well-resourced. The share of employees that are heavily strained is close to 10 per cent. Job strain is relatively more frequent among employees with low education and low occupational skills, and it is relatively less frequent in the service sector and in the public sector. Due to composition effects, women hold on average slightly less strained jobs than men. The share of strained workers has slightly declined on average over the 2010-2015 period, falling in a majority of countries. The improvement in working conditions is related to better prospects of career advancement, higher take-up of training, stronger social support and organisational participation at work, higher flexibility of working time, as well as lower exposure to physical risk factors, hard physical demands and unsocial work schedule. On the other hand, perceptions of job insecurity, intimidation and discrimination, as well as work intensity have been on the rise. Finally, quality of the working environment is strongly associated with workers' well-being as measured by mental and physical health, days of sickness, job satisfaction as well as job motivation, and the associated effects are potentially large. For most outcomes, perceived intimidation and discrimination at work is one of the most powerful predictor of workers' well-being.

Published abstract. Show less