October 06, 2008

October 6, 2008

World Day for Decent Work is October 7, 2008

The World Day for Decent Work is organized by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and is held on October 7, 2008. For this occasion, Eurofound has put together a summary of some of its recent publications on working conditions, quality of work, and equal opportunities. The ILO has also released a paper on the measurement of decent work.

Links to Eurofound documents on quality of work, October 7, 2008

ILO Measurement of decent work: Discussion Paper for the Tripartite Meeting of Experts on the Measurement of Decent Work, September 10, 2008

 

 

AMAPCEO Responds to Unfair Labour Practice Complaint from OPSEU

The Association of Management, Administrative and Professional Crown Employees of Ontario (AMAPCEO) has filed an Unfair Labour Practice application against the Ontario Public Service Employees’ Union (OPSEU) in response to OPSEU’s earlier filing of an Unfair Labour Practice application against both the employer (the Ontario Ministry of Government Services) and AMAPCEO.

Text of applications to the Ontario Labour Relations Board, AMAPCEO website, October 1, 2008

 

Canada’s Top 100 Employers

Macleans and Media Corp. have released the 2009 list of top 100 employers for workplace benefits. This employee survey looks at work atmosphere, family benefits, vacation and performance management and provides information on the latest trends in workplace perks. Some of the benefits that the winning employers offer include four weeks holidays for new employees, paid sabbaticals, 100% maternity leave top up, subsidized on-site daycare, transit rebates, and free gym access.

A Maclean’s Special Report: Canada's top 100 Employers, October 1, 2008 - articles included are: Evil at work: Bad bosses;  'The worst job I ever had'; Why you won't get Daycare;  and Diversity or Death.

The Top 100, October 1, 2008

Canada's Top 100 Employers website

 

Catalyst Looks at Employee Resource Groups for Women

Catalyst, an organization devoted to building inclusive workplaces and expand opportunities for women and business, has released its 2008 Catalyst Member Benchmarking Report. This report assesses the scope of diversity and inclusion programs of participating member organizations. As well this report focuses on employee resource groups (ERGs) and features three diversity & inclusion practices related to ERGs.

Report, September 2008 (28 pages, PDF)

Press release

 

Generation Y Seeks Job Stability

The From Learning to Work, 2008 Survey, conducted by the research consulting firm DECODE, surveyed college and university students across Canada and found that students placed a high value on job stability. The top companies to work for in descending order were, Government of Canada, Health Canada, Google, Provincial Government, and Apple.

The most desirable places to Work – Top 40

From Learning to Work in the Media (links to articles)

From Learning to Work: Canada’s Campus Recruitment Report blog

Gen Y seek security and balance,” by Alison Martin, Workopolis, September 22, 2008

Co-op Students Perspectives on Employers & Careers (this link gives the best overview of the survey)

 

Where & Why have all the Factories Gone?

In the September/ October issue of the Ivey Business Journal are a number of articles on the disappearance of manufacturing in Canada. The question of whether management practices or public policy initiatives could have helped keep the plants going is addressed.

Ivey Business Journal, September/October 2008 issue.

 

Making Talent Management a Strategic Priority

The fall edition of the Rotman Magazine has an article on talent management that looks at how HR should translate business needs into a talent strategy.

Rotman Magazine, Fall edition, (page 51 of 124 pages, PDF)

 

Intergenerational Education Mobility among the Children of Canadian Immigrants

This Statistics Canada paper provides an analysis of the intergenerational education mobility of Canadian men and women born to immigrants.  It gives a detailed portrait of Canadians and estimates of the degree of intergenerational mobility among the children of immigrants. Persistence in the years of schooling across the generations was found to be rather weak between immigrants and their Canadian-born children, and one third as strong as for the general population. Parental earnings were not correlated with years of schooling for second-generation children and, if anything, were found to be negatively correlated. Finally, it was found that the intergenerational transmission of education has not changed across the birth cohorts of the post-war period.

Research paper, October 3, 2008 (38 pages, PDF)

 

The Anatomy of the Canadian Job Market

This special report from TD economics finds that the Canadian labour market will be weak over the next six to twelve months as hiring continues to slow in all of the provinces. The report looks at Canada’s employment by industry – including and excluding construction – and by province.

Special Report, TD Economics, October 7, 2008 (3 pages, PDF)

 

The US Bureau of Labour Statistics’ Employment Situation

Employment in the United States has declined by 159,000 in September, and the unemployment rate held at 6.1 percent. Employment continued to fall in construction, manufacturing, and retail trade, while mining and health care continued to add jobs. The Economic Policy Institute has released its monthly interpretation of this data titled Job Picture.  The Institute considers two key problems in the current labour market to be the lack of job creation and the over six million workers who work involuntary part-time.

Employment Situation, October 3, 2008(30 pages, PDF) or Access to Tables in HTML

Job Picture, Economic Policy Institute, October 3, 2008

 

Book of the Week

Employment Relationships: New Models of White-Collar Work, edited by Peter Cappelli. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2008. 264 p. ISBN 978-0-521-68408-8(pbk.)

In the last few decades white collar employment has shifted from lifetime tenure, often in very hierarchical work structures, to a new model defined by flatter organizations, job insecurity, shorter tenure, declining attachment between employer and employee, and contingent work. This book describes these developments in employment arrangements and how businesses struggle to respond to the change in management systems and working practices.

About the Author:

Peter Cappelli is the George W. Taylor Professor of Management and Director of the Center for Human Resources at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.

 

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Editor: Vicki Skelton
Designer: Nick Strupat

Copyright © 2008 Centre for Industrial Relations and Human Resources, University of Toronto. All rights reserved.

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