Kamis, 21 Oktober 2010
Women in the Workplace
In August, Reuters reported that attractive women were being overlooked for certain jobs. The study by the University of Colorado Denver Business School published in the Journal of Social Psychology concluded "Attractive women faced discrimination when they applied for jobs where appearance was not seen as important. These positions included job titles like manager of research and development, director of finance, mechanical engineer and construction supervisor."
Then, earlier this month, the New York Post reported that skinnier women earn significantly more than those who are of average weight or classified as obese. The study published in the Journal of Applied Psychology found that "being 30 pounds below the average American female weight of 164 pounds can result in roughly $10,719 more in annual salary -- above the average woman's pay of $40,000. Being 30 pounds overweight can mean making $9,873 less than average." I think that this may be more of a case of skinnier people being more energetic, healthier, and confident than the case of discrimination, but it is interesting indeed.
Lastly, the EU parliament voted in favor of a number of measures to strengthen maternity protection in Europe including a 20-week full maternity pay for new mothers according to HR Magazine. The proposal also contains "rules employers will be banned from dismissing pregnant workers until six months after the end of their maternity leave."
Selasa, 19 Oktober 2010
Astronology - 2011 Compensation Budget Forecasts
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Kamis, 14 Oktober 2010
Back to New York and Collaboration
"Cool-aboration" was a fun term for a presentation about collaborating with others. While most companies preach this, the conference had a big difference to talk about: actually listening to other people. When we discussed the great things each group had done the past year, it was all because of collaborative efforts--but even more important it was the communication and the listening of our associates that allowed for these great things to continue. Being able to feed off others and work with them in a collaborative manner is a sign of a great organization.
The other term I used above--the "GFC"--was a term I learned that the rest of the world was using for this recession which either stood for the Great Financial Crisis or Global Financial Crisis. But the important takeaway here was to understand the impact of Dodd Frank and other international regulations to your organization. Just because you are not located in your European office does not mean that what they are doing there doesn't effect your job, especially if you work in Human Resources and deal with employees' whistleblowing or executive compensation.
Although there were many other things I took away from the conference, those are two that I wanted to share here on the Astron blog. Although many companies are already thinking about it, some "cool-aboration" is always needed to make sure good policies and procedures are implemented and enforced.
-Andrew