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Kinds of Employers Terms modified by Employers Selected AbstractsTHE RELATION OF INSTRUMENTAL and SYMBOLIC ATTRIBUTES TO A COMPANY'S ATTRACTIVENESS AS AN EMPLOYERPERSONNEL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 1 2003FILIP LIEVENS This study adds a new marketing-based angle to the study of the attractiveness of organizations in the early stages of the recruitment process. Drawing on the instrumental-symbolic framework from the marketing literature, we expected that the meanings (in terms of inferred traits) that prospective applicants associate with employing organizations would play an important role in applicants' attractiveness to these organizations. Two groups of prospective applicants (275 final-year students and 124 bank employees) were drawn from the applicant population targeted by the bank industry. These applicants were asked to rate a randomly assigned bank in terms of job/organizational factors and to ascribe traits to this bank. In both samples, trait inferences about organizations accounted for incremental variance over job and organizational attributes in predicting an organization's perceived attractiveness as an employer. Moreover, it was easier to differentiate among organizations on the basis of trait inferences versus traditional job and organizational attributes. Practical implications for image audit and image management are discussed. [source] GOVERNMENT CALLING: PUBLIC SERVICE MOTIVATION AS AN ELEMENT IN SELECTING GOVERNMENT AS AN EMPLOYER OF CHOICEPUBLIC ADMINISTRATION, Issue 4 2008WOUTER VANDENABEELEArticle first published online: 11 JUL 200 The article assesses public service motivation as a possible influence in the attractiveness of government as an employer by embedding it into a person-organization fit framework. First, a theoretical framework is developed and all relevant concepts are discussed. In addition, a set of hypotheses concerning the research question is developed. A sample of 1714 final year masters students demonstrates that the presence of public service motivation positively correlates with the preference for prospective public employers. For government organizations that display a high degree of publicness, the effect of public service motivation as a predictor for employer preference is stronger. Next to building a middle range theory on public service motivation, the article also reveals that public service motivation is present at a pre-entry level. [source] INTERNAL LABOUR MARKETS: EVIDENCE FROM TWO LARGE AUSTRALIAN EMPLOYERSAUSTRALIAN ECONOMIC HISTORY REVIEW, Issue 2 2009Andrew Seltzer Australian firms; banks; internal labour markets; railroads; salaries This paper examines internal labour markets in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century using personnel records from the Union Bank of Australia and the Victorian Railways. Both employers hired young workers and offered them the possibility of very-long-term employment. Salaries were determined by impersonal rules, such as being attached to tenure and to position. Workers rarely received nominal pay cuts. This approach to human resources was designed to retain and motivate workers. We show that all of the classic features of internal labour markets used to describe American firms in the 1970s were present dating back to the Victorian period. [source] Employment Laws and the Public Sector Employer: Lessons to Be Learned from a Review of Lawsuits Filed against Local GovernmentsPUBLIC ADMINISTRATION REVIEW, Issue 1 2009P. Edward French Numerous aspects of the day-to-day operations of local governments are subject to legal scrutiny; public managers and officials must be keenly aware of the legal rights and protections that extend to both citizens and employees of local governments. This research evaluates several areas of concern in the human resource administration of municipal governments with respect to the management of public employees within the protections set forth by the legislative and judicial branches of the federal government. Sample cases filed from 2000 to 2007 against local governments in Tennessee involving Title VII violations, retaliation, hostile work environment, Family and Medical Leave Act violations, and other employee grievances are detailed. The intent of this analysis is to highlight many of the laws and legal principles that relate to municipal human resources management and to provide scholars and practitioners with a brief overview of the liabilities that may arise from the employment relationship between local governments and their employees. [source] The Shift in the Work Ethic and Implications for EmployersEMPLOYMENT RELATIONS TODAY, Issue 2 2001John Izzo First page of article [source] Employers' Attitudes to Employment of People with Epilepsy: Still the Same Old Story?EPILEPSIA, Issue 12 2005Ann Jacoby Summary:,Purpose: One area of life quality known to be compromised by having epilepsy is employment, and one factor contributing to the employment problems of people with epilepsy (PWE) is employer attitudes. Much research on this topic is now outdated and given the changing legal, medical, and social contexts in which PWE live, we therefore reexamined employer attitudes in the united Kingdom. Method: A mail survey of a random sample of U.K. companies selected to be representative of the 14 U.K. economic regions and proportional to the number of employees. Findings: The overall response rate was 41% (n = 204). Twenty-six percent of respondents reported having experience of employing PWE. Sixteen percent considered that there were no jobs in their company suitable for PWE; 21% thought employing PWE would be "a major issue." Employers were uniformly of the view that PWE, even when in remission, should disclose their condition to a prospective employer. Seizure severity, frequency, and controllability were all considered important features of epilepsy in the context of employment. Epilepsy created high concern to around half of employers, including the likelihood of it being linked to a work-related accident. Employers were willing to make accommodations for PWE, in particular job sharing, temporary reassignment of duties, and flexible working hours. Attitudes to employment of PWE were influenced by company size and type and previous experience of doing so. Conclusions: We conclude that it is still the same old story for employers' attitudes toward PWE, though happily for PWE, with some room for optimism. [source] The Onset of Health Problems and the Propensity of Workers to Change Employers and OccupationsGROWTH AND CHANGE, Issue 3 2003Jodi Messer Pelkowski Although many studies have investigated how poor health affects hours of work and labor force participation, few have examined the extent to which individuals adapt in order to remain in the labor market. Individuals experiencing health problems may move to different types of work in order to remain in the labor force or to reduce the negative labor market consequences of illness. This paper investigates the movement between employers, and among occupation categories when changing employers, using data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS). One advantage of the HRS is that its questions on life-cycle employment and health patterns permit a long-term perspective on job mobility that is unavailable in most other datasets. Workers with health problems are more likely than healthy workers to remain with their current employer than to switch employers. But among those who switch employers, those with health problems are more likely to change broad occupational categories than are healthy workers. While many individuals remain with the same employer after the onset of health problems, many do switch employers and occupations, even in the presence of ADA legislation. [source] Employers, Quality and Standards in Higher Education: Shared Values and Vocabularies or Elitism and Inequalities?HIGHER EDUCATION QUARTERLY, Issue 3 2007Louise Morley This paper is based on a research project funded by the Higher Education Funding Council for England which investigated employers' needs for information on higher education quality and standards. A key issue was identifying the type of knowledge that employers utilise in graduate recruitment. A finding of the study was that information on quality and standards was being used by some employers in a way that could undermine equity and widening participation initiatives. Whereas employers reported that, in initial recruitment, they placed least emphasis on information about quality and standards and most emphasis on graduates' interpersonal and communication skills, over a quarter used league tables/Top 20 lists in their decision-making processes and 80 per cent of employers cited the importance of the reputation of the higher education institution in their decision making about marketing and individual recruitment of graduates. Reputation was based on real or imagined league tables, ,grapevine' knowledge, personal, regional and professional networks, performance of past graduates and prejudice against new universities. The hierarchy of opportunity within the labour market often appeared to correspond to a highly stratified higher education sector. [source] The Implications of ADA Litigation for Employers: A Review of Federal Appellate Court DecisionsHUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT, Issue 1 2001Barbara A. Lee Analysis of litigation outcomes indicates that most plaintiffs who sue under the Americans with Disabilities Act are unsuccessful. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission enforcement data and six years of federal appellate court decisions were reviewed, as well as recent rulings of the United States Supreme Court. The courts are interpreting the ADA very narrowly, and very few plaintiffs prevail. The results of this research suggest that if employers engage in an individualized assessment of whether an individual is protected by the law and whether the requested accommodation is reasonable, legal liability will be minimized. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. [source] Do Unions Benefit from Working in Partnership with Employers?INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS, Issue 4 2008Evidence from Ireland Advocates and critics of voluntary workplace partnership have presented a series of theoretical arguments as to the potential consequences for unions working under partnership arrangements. A survey of Irish employees' views is used to assess these competing claims. The study is timely on two counts: first, empirical investigations of the effects of partnership on union influence and members' commitment to unions are rare; and, second, it is 11 years since employers, unions, and government in Ireland first signed a national framework agreement to promote the diffusion of partnership as a means for the handling of workplace change. The evidence provides support for the arguments as advanced by advocates. [source] How Workers Fare When Employers InnovateINDUSTRIAL RELATIONS, Issue 1 2004Sandra E. Black Complementing existing work on firm organizational structure and productivity, this article examines the impact of organizational change on workers. We find evidence that employers do appear to compensate at least some of their workers for engaging in high-performance workplace practices. We also find a significant association between high-performance workplace practices and increased wage inequality. Finally, we examine the relationship between organizational structure and employment changes and find that some practices, such as self-managed teams, are associated with greater employment reductions, whereas other practices, such as the percentage of workers involved in job rotation, are associated with lower employment reductions. [source] Measuring Employment Security in Europe Using Surveys of EmployersINDUSTRIAL RELATIONS, Issue 1 2001Julian Morgan Using results from surveys in which employers were questioned about their freedom to shed staff, we develop a measure of employment security in Europe. We seek to identify which institutional factors are correlated with the responses of employers and find that they appear to reflect the strength of legal restrictions and trade unions and the prevalence of atypical employment. Our results are used to compile an index of employment security that has both a temporal and a cross-country dimension. [source] Nordic policies on active ageing in the labour market and some European comparisonsINTERNATIONAL SOCIAL SCIENCE JOURNAL, Issue 190 2006Hannu Piekkola Nordic countries have implemented general programmes for active ageing and well-being in the workplace, promoted by tripartite cooperation between employees, employers and the state. The purpose for this is to influence work practices, which are seen as a natural extension of the wide coverage of health services provided for workers. Employers, particularly in the public sector, are starting to respond positively to age-management principles, given the anticipated future labour shortages. Active ageing policies in Nordic countries and in Finland, in particular, may show the way for the whole of Europe, although they have so far been strictly limited to labour market issues. [source] Curing The Dutch Disease?INTERNATIONAL SOCIAL SECURITY REVIEW, Issue 4 2000Sickness Absence, Work Disability in The Netherlands The purpose of the current paper is to provide an overview and evaluation, covering the past decade, of developments and experiences in the Netherlands with respect to the prevention and reduction of sickness absence and work disability. The government has made various attempts to restrict expenditure in this area by increasing the (financial) responsibility of employers. It is concluded that the legislative changes do not seem to have long-lasting effects on sickness absence and work disability rates and have not worked out in practice as well as was foreseen. Employers , particularly small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), often buy minimum service packages from occupational health services (OHSs), show risk-avoiding behaviour, and primarily undertake procedural and person-oriented measures. Some lessons may be learned from the Netherlands' approach, concerning (1) the principle of self-regulation; (2) the position of SMEs; (3) the privatizing of OHSs; (4) examples of good practice. [source] Multidisciplinary perceptions of the role of nurses and healthcare assistants in rehabilitation of older adults in acute health careJOURNAL OF CLINICAL NURSING, Issue 11 2006Anita Atwal PhD, DipCOT Aim., This paper describes the perceptions of nurses, healthcare assistants, doctors and therapists of rehabilitation and the role of nurses and healthcare assistants on an acute older adults ward in a London teaching hospital. Background., The role perception, education and training and attitudes towards the older adults have been identified as barriers that have an impact upon the nurses' role within rehabilitation. However, little is known about the role of nurses and healthcare assistants in rehabilitation of older adults in acute health care. Design., Action research study. Method., Twenty-four semi-structured interviews were conducted and audio recorded about healthcare professionals' understanding of rehabilitation, the type of skills needed and their perceptions of the role of nurses and healthcare assistants in rehabilitation. The interview transcripts were analysed using the thematic content analysis. Results., The findings suggest that the therapists relied on nurses and healthcare assistants for therapy carry-over. Healthcare assistants were perceived as the professional group who could deliver therapy carry-over. There was an evidence of role hierarchy as healthcare assistants perceived that they were not actively involved in decision-making or discharge planning. Conclusion., This paper suggests that healthcare assistants and nurses are viewed as the professional group best placed to deliver therapy carry-over. However, whilst there is an acknowledgement of their role, there remains a reluctance to acknowledge healthcare assistants as a professional group and to involve them within decision-making and discharge planning Relevance to clinical practice., Employers must be seen to advocate, support and implement education and training programs for healthcare assistants. However, whilst nurses and healthcare assistants have an integral role in rehabilitation, there needs to be more research into the how they are supported by therapy professionals. [source] Assessment of the Joint Food Science Curriculum of Washington State University and the University of Idaho by Graduates and Their EmployersJOURNAL OF FOOD SCIENCE EDUCATION, Issue 1 2006Stephanie Clark ABSTRACT: Thirty-two recent graduates from the joint food science program of Washington State Univ. (WSU) and The Univ. of Idaho (UI) and 12 of their employers participated in a survey study to assess food science program outcomes. The objective of this study was to assess the joint curriculum in its ability to prepare undergraduate students for critical thinking, problem solving, and technical competence in the food industry. Two survey tools, 1 for graduates and 1 for their employers, were designed to assess job preparedness and the skill set attained by food science program graduates. Graduates of the joint food science program generally indicated satisfaction with their food science education and suggested that they were adequately prepared for their jobs. Both students and employers indicated that most of the identified Success Skills are used daily on the job, and that graduates were well prepared with Success Skills. Graduates and employers reported adequate preparation in Food Processing and Engineering competence. Some significant differences (P < 0.05) were found in perceived and assessed competence. Specifically, while student indicated that they were well prepared with Food Chemistry and Analysis, Food Safety and Microbiology, and Applied Food Science competence, employers indicated only adequate preparation in Food Chemistry and Analysis, and Applied Food Science competence, but poor preparation in Food Safety and Microbiology competence. The findings suggest that students should be given opportunities for self-evaluation in undergraduate courses. Because the survey models are based on Institute of Food Technologists requirements, it is expected that the surveys can be readily adopted by other institutions to assess student learning and program effectiveness. [source] A hospitalist postgraduate training program for physician assistants,JOURNAL OF HOSPITAL MEDICINE, Issue 2 2010Kristen K. Will MHPE PA-C Abstract Many hospitalist groups are hiring physician assistants (PAs) to augment their physician services. Finding PAs with hospitalist experience is difficult. Employers often have to recruit PAs from other specialties or hire new graduates who have limited hospital experience. Furthermore, entry-level PA training focuses on primary care, with more clinical rotations centered in the outpatient setting. In light of these challenges, our institution created a 12-month postgraduate training program in Hospital Medicine for 1 PA per year. It is the first reported postgraduate PA hospitalist fellowship to offer a certificate of completion. The program's curriculum is based on the Society of Hospital Medicine (SHM) "Core Competencies," and is comprised of 12 one-month rotations in different aspects of hospital medicine supplemented by formal didactic instruction. In addition, the PA fellow completes "teaching modules" on various topics not directly covered in their rotations. Furthermore, this postgraduate physician assistant training program represents a model that can be utilized at almost any institution, academic or community-based. As the need for hospitalists increases, so will the need for trained physician assistants in hospital medicine. Journal of Hospital Medicine 2010;5:94,98. © 2010 Society of Hospital Medicine. [source] An Examination of the Factors that Influence Whether Newcomers Protect or Share Secrets of their Former Employers*JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES, Issue 4 2007David R. Hannah abstract This research investigated the factors that influence a decision that is often faced by employees who have made a transition from one organization to another: the decision about whether to protect secrets of their former employer or to share them with their new co-workers. A total of 111 employees from two high-tech companies participated in interviews. Their comments were analysed and, based on both relevant literature and the results of that analysis, a theory of the factors that influence newcomers' protect vs. share decisions was developed. According to that theory, newcomers first decide whether or not information is a trade secret of their former employer by considering (1) whether the information is part of their own knowledge, and (2) whether the information is publicly available, general, and negative (about something that did not work). If newcomers decide the information is a trade secret, they then evaluate (1) the degree to which their obligations are biased towards their former or new employer, and (2) the degree to which they identify more strongly with their former or new employer. Newcomers whose obligations and identifications are biased towards a new employer are more likely to share secrets. If these obligations and identifications are balanced, newcomers may share information in a way that allows them to believe they are fulfilling their responsibilities to both their former and their new employers. [source] Language preference and non-traumatic low back disorders in washington state workers' compensationAMERICAN JOURNAL OF INDUSTRIAL MEDICINE, Issue 2 2010David K. Bonauto MD Abstract Background Workers in the United States with limited English proficiency likely perform more hazardous work, experience higher rates of work-related injury and illness, and have worse disability outcomes. Methods We conducted a descriptive study of employment characteristics, timeliness and utilization of workers' compensation (WC) insurance benefits, cost and occupational health outcomes for Washington State WC state fund, non-traumatic low back disorders (LBD) claimants by language preference. Results A greater proportion of Spanish language preferring (SLP) LBD claims filed were accepted and resulted in lost work time than English language preferring (ELP) LBD claims. There were significant differences in the demographic, employment, and occupational characteristics between the SLP and ELP compensable claimant populations. The SLP LBD compensable claimants had greater time loss duration, greater medical and total claim costs, more use of physical therapy and vocational services than the ELP LBD compensable claimants. With the exception of the timeliness for providing the first time loss payment, the time periods for provision of insurance benefits did not differ between the SLP and ELP populations. SLP compensable claimants received less back surgery and had comparable permanent partial disability payments to the ELP population. Employers were more likely to protest the acceptance of a SLP compensable than one in an ELP LBD compensable claim. Conclusion For those injured workers accessing the Washington State WC system, we observed differences based on language preference for pre-injury, and workers compensation outcomes. Further research is needed to explain the observed differences. Am. J. Ind. Med. 53:204,215 2010. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Impact of implementing the washington state ergonomics rule on employer reported risk factors and hazard reduction activityAMERICAN JOURNAL OF INDUSTRIAL MEDICINE, Issue 1 2009Michael Foley MA Abstract Background In Washington State an ergonomics rule was adopted in 2000 that focused on primary prevention. The implementation process followed a 6-year phase-in schedule where employers came into compliance based upon their size and industry. In late 2003 the rule was repealed by an industry-funded voter initiative. Evaluating the implementation of this rule offers a unique opportunity to observe the general deterrent effect of a new public health regulation and to study how employers and workers responded to new requirements. Methods Weighted survey regression methods were used to analyze the results from three employer surveys covering more than 5,000 workplaces administered in 2001, 2003, and 2005. These were compared to a baseline employer survey conducted in 1998 before the rule was promulgated. Questions covered the following topics: WMSDs experienced at the workplace; levels of employee exposure to musculoskeletal hazards; steps being taken, if any, to address these hazards; results of these steps; and sources of ergonomic information/assistance used. Results From 1998 to 2003 there was a reduction in reported exposures among workplaces in the highest hazard industries. Following the rule's repeal, however, hazard exposures increased. While more workplaces reported taking steps to reduce exposures between 1998 and 2001, this gain was reversed in 2003 and 2005. Employers who took steps reported positive results in injury and absenteeism reduction. Large workplaces in the high hazard industries were more active in taking steps and used a wide variety of resources to address ergonomics issues. Small employers relied more on trade associations and the state. Am. J. Ind. Med. 52:1,16, 2009. © 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Employers as Mediating Institutions for Public Policy: The Case of Commute Options ProgramsPOLICY STUDIES JOURNAL, Issue 4 2005Leisha DeHart-Davis Scholars have recently noted the role that employers can play as "mediating institutions" for public policy. Mediating institutions connect the private lives of individuals with public policy concerns by communicating societal norms to members and providing social contexts that encourage a commitment to these norms. Despite the potential importance of employers as mediating institutions for public policy, little scholarly attention has been devoted to employer mediation behavior. Accordingly, this study examines two research questions. What factors influence an employer's willingness to mediate policy problems? And how effective are employers as mediating institutions? The mediation behaviors of interest relate to employer efforts to mitigate traffic congestion and air quality problems by enabling employee "commute options," which are alternatives to single-occupancy vehicle commuting to work. Drawing on theories of organization behavior, the study hypothesizes that self-interest, organizational control, and association membership will affect willingness to provide commute options. The study also hypothesizes that employers providing commute options will have lower percentages of employees that drive to work alone. Both sets of hypotheses are supported by statistical analyses of data from a cross-sectional mail survey of metropolitan Atlanta organizations. [source] Meeting the challenges of an aging workforceAMERICAN JOURNAL OF INDUSTRIAL MEDICINE, Issue 4 2008Michael Silverstein MD Abstract Background Demographic, labor market and economic forces are combining to produce increases in the number and percentage of U.S. workers 55 and older. In some ways these workers will be our most skilled and productive employees but in others the most vulnerable. Methods The literature on aging and work was reviewed, including demographic trends, physical and cognitive changes, safety and performance, work ability, and retirement patterns. Results and Conclusions Older workers have more serious, but less frequent, workplace injuries and illnesses than younger ones. There is evidence that many of these problems can be prevented and their consequences reduced by anticipating the physical and cognitive changes of age. Many employers are aware that such efforts are necessary, but most have not yet addressed them. There is a need for implementation and evaluative research of programs and policies with four dimensions: the work environment, work arrangements and work-life balance, health promotion and disease prevention, and social support. Employers who establish age-friendly workplaces that promote and support the work ability of employees as they age may gain in safety, productivity, competitiveness, and sustainable business practices. Am. J. Ind. Med. 51:269,280, 2008. © 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Pesticide illness among flight attendants due to aircraft disinsection,AMERICAN JOURNAL OF INDUSTRIAL MEDICINE, Issue 5 2007Patrice M. Sutton MPH Abstract Background Aircraft "disinsection" is the application of pesticides inside an aircraft to kill insects that may be on board. Over a 1-year period, California's tracking system received 17 reports of illness involving flight attendants exposed to pesticides following disinsection. Methods Interviews, work process observations, and a records review were conducted. Illness reports were evaluated according to the case definition established by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. Results Twelve cases met the definition for work-related pesticide illness. Eleven cases were attributed to the "Residual" method of disinsection, i.e., application of a solution of permethrin (2.2% w/w), solvents (0.8%), and a surfactant (1.4%); the method of disinsection could not be determined for one case. Conclusions The aerosol application of a pesticide in the confined space of an aircraft cabin poses a hazard to flight attendants. Nontoxic alternative methods, such as air curtains, should be used to minimize disease vector importation via aircraft cabins. Employers should mitigate flight attendant pesticide exposure in the interim. Am. J. Ind. Med. 50:345,356, 2007. © 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Experiences and concerns about ,returning to work' for women breast cancer survivors: a literature reviewPSYCHO-ONCOLOGY, Issue 7 2010Corine Tiedtke Abstract Objective: To explore how female breast cancer patients experience work incapacity during the treatment and return-to-work phases and how interactions between patients and stakeholders affect this experience. Method: Database search for full text articles published between January 1995 and January 2008 that focused on employed female breast cancer patients, factors related to work incapacity, and returning to work. Only results based on self-report data were included. Studies focusing on treatment, financial factors, rate of return, or absence were excluded. Results: Six articles met the inclusion criteria. Women with breast cancer receive varied reactions but little advice about returning to work. Women were primarily concerned with disclosing the diagnosis to their employer and to relatives. Uncertainties about physical appearance, ability to work, and possible job loss affected the women's decisions about working during the treatment phase. After treatment, most women wanted to regain their ,normal life', but concentration and arm or fatigue problems potentially interfered. Although supportive work environments were helpful, the individual needs of women differed. Employers and employees need to find a balance in defining accommodating work. Many women received favourable support, but some reported feeling discriminated against. Many women re-evaluated the role of work in their lives after being confronted with breast cancer. Conclusion: Work adjustments could help women to keep their jobs during illness and recovery. To resolve women's concerns about returning to work, employers, physicians, and insurance institutions should consider increasing and improving communication with breast cancer patients and playing a more active and supportive role. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Friendship, Identity, and Solidarity.RATIO JURIS, Issue 3 2003An Approach to Rights in Plant Closing Cases My focus is on the problem of plant closings, which have become increasingly common as the deindustrialization of America has proceeded since the early 1980s. In a well-known article, Joseph William Singer proposed that workers who sued to keep a plant open in the face of a planned closure might appropriately be regarded as possessing a reliance-based interest in the plant that merited some protection. I seek to extend this sort of argument in two ways. In the first half of the paper, I point to the way in which "tacit obligation" emerges in friendship between persons in the absence of explicit commitments. Employers and employees are of course not as such friends. But I argue that the development of tacit obligations binding friends provides a useful analogy for understanding the growth of similar tacit obligations binding plant owners to workers and local communities. In the second half, I draw on Margaret Radin's work on property and identity to ground a related argument. I suggest that the potential contribution of plants,and the traditions and networks of relationships they help to create and sustain,to the identities of workers and communities provides reason for at least some legal protection of employee and community interests. [source] Are Older Workers Less Productive?THE ECONOMIC RECORD, Issue 2010A Case Study of Aged Care Workers in Australia Employers are reluctant to employ older workers. Is this because they are less productive than equivalent younger workers? This paper uses data from a 2007 census of residential aged care homes in Australia to examine the productivity differentials of workers at different ages. We estimate production functions that take into account the age profile of the workforce in each aged care residential facility. We find that for the facilities having high care residents only, the productivity of nurses, whose work is more demanding of specialist knowledge, keeps increasing with age while the rate of increase declines after age 50. In contrast, the productivity of carers, whose work is more demanding of physical capacity, is highest in middle age. The facilities with low care residents only provide a much lower level of services because their residents are less frail and more independent. In this case, none of the coefficients regarding the impacts of age on productivity is statistically significant , suggesting that older workers are good substitutes for younger ones. [source] Purchasing Cooperatives for Small Employers: Performance and ProspectsTHE MILBANK QUARTERLY, Issue 4 2000Elliot K. Wicks Health insurance purchasing cooperatives were established in the early to mid-1990s for the purpose of making health insurance more affordable and accessible for small employers. Extensive interviews at six cooperatives reveal that while some cooperatives enrolled large numbers of small employers, most have won only small market shares and a number have struggled for survival, not always successfully. They have allowed small employers to offer individual employees choice of health plans, but none has been able to sustain lower prices than are available in the conventional market. Among the important impediments to their success are limited support from health plans and conflicts over the role of insurance agents. [source] Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance: Are Employers Good Agents for Their Employees?THE MILBANK QUARTERLY, Issue 1 2000Pamela B. Peele Employers in the United States provide many welfare-type benefits, such as life insurance, disability insurance, health insurance, and pensions, to their employees. Employers can be viewed as performing an agency role in purchasing pension, health, and other welfare benefits for their employees. An exploration of their competence in this role as agents for their employees indicates that large employers are very helpful to their employees in this arena. They seem to contribute to individual employees' welfare by providing them with valued services in purchasing health insurance. [source] The New Economy and Transforming Employment Relations: A Review EssayANTHROPOLOGY OF WORK REVIEW, Issue 1 2005David Karjanen The State of Working America 2004/2005. Lawrence Mishel, Jared Bernstein, and Sylvia Allegretto. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2004. The Betrayal of Work: How Low-Wage Jobs Fail 35 Million Americans. Beth Shulman. New York: The New Press, 2003. Low-Wage America: How Employers Are Reshaping Opportunity in the Workplace. Eileen Appelbaum, Richard J. Murnane, and Annette Bernhardt, editors. New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 2003. The Working Poor: Invisible in America. David K. Shipler. New York: Knopf, 2004. [source] Contested Resources: Unions, Employers, and the Adoption of New Work Practices in US and UK TelecommunicationsBRITISH JOURNAL OF INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS, Issue 3 2007Matias Ramirez The pattern of adoption of high-performance work practices has been explained in terms of strategic contingency and in terms of union presence. We compare the post-deregulation/privatization changes in work practice at AT&T, Bell Atlantic and British Telecom. On the basis of these cases, we argue that the choice of new work practices should be understood as a consequence not only of the company's resources or changes in its environment, nor of a simple union presence, but also as a consequence of the practices' effects on union power, the nature of the union's engagement, and the union's strategic choices. [source] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||