Written by Tracey de Morsella on 12-22-2006
Giving same-sex couples marriage rights will be good for the economy, according to a new study, The Effect of Marriage Equality and Domestic Partnership On Business and the Economy,” from UCLA’s Williams Institute. The study documents gains to businesses from happier and healthier workers that would outweigh new costs for benefits. The economy would also gain from the positive effect of equality on state government budgets.
Written by Tracey de Morsella on 12-14-2006
As the baby boomer generation moves towards retirement there are insufficient younger workers to take their place, let alone satisfy the requirements of a growing economy for more labour and different skills. Couple that with the regulatory imperative for UK Age Regulations compliance and it seems pretty obvious that tapping into—rather than shying away from—the older worker talent pool is the smarter strategy.Taleo has partnered with The Age and Employment Network (TAEN) on a paper that digs deeper into these issues and provides practical strategies for organisations to recruit older talent into their workforce.
Written by Tracey de Morsella on 12-13-2006
The Hispanic unemployment rate reached a historic low of 5.2% in the second quarter of 2006 according to a report published by the Pew Hispanic Center. The gap between the seasonally-adjusted unemployment rates for Latinos and non-Latinos was just 0.6 percentage points–the smallest since 1973, when employment data on Latinos first became available. Wages for Latino workers also rose between the second quarters of 2005 and 2006, and at a faster rate than for other workers. Those developments reflect significant improvement in the labor market for Latinos in 2005-06 and indicate that the jobs recovery from the recession in 2001 is nearing completion for Hispanic workers.
Written by Tracey de Morsella on 12-12-2006
A new national Work Trends survey published by the John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development finds that nearly 7 in 10 American workers plan to continue to work full- or part-time for pay following retirement from their main job. Another 14% plan to work as volunteers, while only 13% expect to stop working entirely. This new report, based on a poll of 800 American workers between May and mid-June 2005, also finds that older workers believe they are treated unfairly by employers, and also raises workers’ concerns about the financial soundness of Social Security and Medicare.
Written by Tracey de Morsella on 12-08-2006
Americans for Secure Retirement (ASR) and the Latino Coalition released a poll thas month whose results show that America’s Hispanic community faces significant challenges in preparing for a financially secure retirement because of low level of savings and limited access to employer retirement plans such as 401(k)s.
Written by Tracey de Morsella on 12-07-2006
Heidrick & Struggles International, Inc. last month announced the formation of its Hispanic Marketing Practice. The newly-formalized Practice specializes in helping U.S. companies capture share of the U.S. Hispanic market, whose purchasing power is expected to reach more than $1 trillion by 2010. Heidrick & Struggles’ Hispanic Marketing Practice works with leading companies in industries ranging from consumer goods to financial services to technology to understand the specific talent they require and proactively build a team that can capitalize on the enormous and immediate growth potential this market offers.
Written by Tracey de Morsella on 12-07-2006
Employees are scaling back their expectations and ambitions for life in retirement, as they recognize that they are not saving enough to support the lifestyle they envisioned. This is according to the latest version of the Mercer Workplace SurveyTM, a national study of employee attitudes and behaviors around their company sponsored benefits plans conducted annually by Mercer HR Services. In response, Mercer HR Services is launching the “Stress Less Retirement Program” to help 401(k) plan participants take immediate steps to get back on track to achieving their retirement goals.
Written by Dave Pallone on 12-06-2006
On November 30, 1988, at 11:30 in the morning, I learned what diversity truly meant. On that day and time, Major League Baseball fired me as a National League Umpire because of my sexual orientation. I never thought growing up that I could ever be discriminated against. I was a white male, somewhat middle class and longed for a career in professional baseball. When my dream came true at the age of nineteen, I was working as an umpire in professional baseball. My ultimate goal was achieved in 1979, when I became a major league umpire. It was hard to believe I wasn’t dreaming.
Written by Tracey de Morsella on 12-06-2006
The following is from a discussion thread that took place on the American Affirmative Action Association discussion list in which Affirmative Action Program Coordinator for Arkansas State University asks participants whether or not their affirmtive action office reports directly to human resources.
Written by Shannon King-Nash on 12-05-2006
You have followed the practical suggestions made in Part 1 of Diversity: Attracting & Retaining Tax Professionals. As a result, your department is more “diverse”.¹
Attracting diverse talent to your department, however, is simply not enough. The complete package requires development and retention.
Written by Tracey de Morsella on 12-05-2006
Dr. Johnnetta Cole has already announced that when her tenure as Bennett College for
Women’s 14th president ends, she will be focus on her role as Chair of the Board of
Directors of the Johnnetta B. Cole Global Diversity and Inclusion Institute. The Institute’s Board of directors held its organizational meeting last month. The eighteen member board is made up of some of the nation’s top leaders in the profit and non-profit arenas.
Written by Tracey de Morsella on 12-05-2006
The Office of Disability Employment Policy of the U. S. Department of Labor and the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) signed an agreement last month establishing an Alliance to provide information, guidance, and access to resources that will help encourage / promote the employment of persons with disabilities. The new relationship between SHRM and ODEP will target areas in training and education, outreach and communication, technical assistance, and promote a national dialogue. The partnership will also provide the recruitment, hiring, and advancement information through various educational, access and research activities.
Written by Christopher Metzler on 12-04-2006
Most organizations have diversity efforts in place but simply cannot figure out how to make them effective. One of the main reasons they are not successful is that organizations lack effective ways of holding people accountable for these efforts. Many organizations have instead developed a half-hearted process that links results to compensation. This link to compensation is quite the rage in diversity circles. The fundamental flaw with this approach is that in application it is a quota in disguise. Consider the following example:
Written by Tracey de Morsella on 12-04-2006
Two studies released on October 11, National Coming Out Day show that more Americans are becoming personally acquainted with gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people, and thereby are also increasingly becoming more supportive of equality. These two new studies quantify the GLBT march for equality moving in a direction of increased support for equal rights under the law as more GLBT Americans live their lives more openly
Written by Tracey de Morsella on 12-01-2006
Research released last month by specialist recruitment consultancy Robert Half Finance and Accounting reveals that women in finance are losing out on millions of pounds per year. The latest figures show that in the last 12 months female finance workers have missed out on over £31 million – almost 20 per cent more than in 2005.
Written by Tracey de Morsella on 12-01-2006
Where is the new generation of women directors? While women are achieving non-executive positions at a slow but steady pace, the percentage of women in executive roles on UK boards is still miniscule in relation to the percentage of women in the workforce (46%), according to the 2006 Female FTSE report from Cranfield School of Management.
Written by Tracey de Morsella on 12-01-2006
Last month, the American Gaming Association (AGA) and five of its largest member companies announced a new Tier II Diversity Reporting program for suppliers. The program, which will begin in early 2007, requires suppliers of participating gaming companies to submit quarterly reports detailing the amount of business they contract with minority-, women-, and disadvantaged-owned enterprises (MWDBEs).
Written by Tracey de Morsella on 12-01-2006
Dr Jillian Todd Weiss on the Transgender Workplace Diversity blog discusses how times have changed for transgender people with regard to how the government addresses issues of gender identity. potential issues arising. Read the U.S. federal bill for gender identity protection post.
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