Perry Work Report: work&labour news&research, November 21, 2014

November 21, 2014

Announcement:

Cornell University's ILR Online Webcast Series: The Workplace and Conflict Resolution: Past, Present and Future

“The December program will focus on conflict resolution, one of the central historical focuses of the ILR School and a major area of its current activities. Experts in the field will discuss how conflict resolution has evolved, both within the traditional realm of labor-management relations and in the expanding areas of individual employment rights and organizational conflict management. The program will also examine the evolution of the neutral profession and the training and development of the next generation of mediators, arbitrators and other neutrals. Looking forward, there will be discussion of new types of conflict going beyond the workplace, such as environmental and complex multi-party disputes, that show the continued need for effective conflict resolution.”

Webcast Date: Wednesday, December 10, 2014
Webcast Time: 12:00 - 1:00 p.m. EST
This webcast is free of charge and will be closed captioned.

Click here to register.

 

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Linden MacIntyre on "Toxic Stardom", CBC Job Cuts, and Leaving CBC

"Last May, as CBC/Radio-Canada announced it would eliminate another 657 positions, [Linden] MacIntyre, now 71, volunteered to be one of the departed. He hoped both to save the positions of one or two younger staffers, and also to put a highly visible face on the cuts."

"On Wednesday [November 19, 2014] afternoon, MacIntyre gave a lecture at the University of Toronto’s Victoria College on ‘Toxic Stardom.’ There’s been a lot of that kind of talk in the wake of the Jian Ghomeshi scandal, but MacIntyre puts it in a very specific context. ‘The larger environment of the CBC workplace right now is set by a feeling established by a sense of crisis, and deterioration, and responses that have involved the increased vulnerability of a larger number of people,’ he notes."

The Globe and Mail, November 19 2014: “Pursuit of truth drives Linden MacIntyre in last Fifth Estate episode,” by Simon Houpt

Excerpts from MacIntyre’s “Toxic Stardom” lecture:

"In a workplace rife with insecurity, the impulse to tolerate abuse can compel a victim to silently allow it to advance along the continuum into a darker zone where it becomes perilous to mental and emotional well-being and physical security."

"The CBC is not unique in the celebration of celebrity, of fostering celebrity with all the entitlement and power that it bestows in order to enhance the prestige of the institution and the reputations of the people with the real power, the managers. But when an institution is in trouble, with diminished job security in a workforce that is often young and vulnerable, celebrity -- infected as it often is by egotism and narcissism -- creates a workplace atmosphere that is toxic for the many people who feel they must put up with it."

"Whatever will be revealed as fact in the Ghomeshi scandal, there are important lessons to be learned about the nature of workplace abuse and the consequences of ignoring it... Instead of tolerating bad behaviour by people who are recognized as ‘stars,’ we should hold them to a higher standard of professionalism and collegiality. And the standard has to be enforced by managers with the guts to act any time the standards of collegiality and civility are violated -- no matter how important the abusive person has become."

The Globe and Mail, November 19, 2014: “The CBC, its billion-dollar question and lessons from the Ghomeshi affair,” by Linden MacIntyre

CBC News, May 14, 2014: “Linden MacIntyre leaving CBC” [video, 4:43 min.]

The Globe and Mail, November 13, 2014: “CBC staff refuse award to protest job cuts,” by Laura Kane

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Canada's Top Earners See Share of Total Income Shrink

"Canada’s top 1 per cent of earners has seen its share of total income fall to a six-year low, while the number of women in the top-earners group has hit a record high, new data show."

"The country’s richest 1 per cent held 10.3 per cent of total income in 2012, down from 10.6 per cent a year earlier, Statistics Canada said Tuesday [November 18, 2014] in a first glimpse of how top earners fared in 2012. Their share peaked in 2006 at 12.1 per cent, though it remains higher than three decades ago, when it was 7.1 per cent."

"The six years between 2006 and 2012 also marked, for the first time since 1982, ‘a prolonged period in which the total income shares of the bottom 90 per cent, 95 per cent and 99 per cent of Canadian taxfilers rose or stabilized,’ Statscan noted."

The Globe and Mail, November 18, 2014: “Canada’s top earners see share of total income shrink,” by Tavia Grant

Statistics Canada’s The Daily, November 18, 2014: “High-income trends among Canadian taxfilers, 1982 to 2012”

"... Why has the income share at the top fallen in Canada, even as it continues to increase in the U.S.?"

"One answer -- and it’s not much more than a conjecture, at this point -- is based on the exchange rate. The Canadian dollar was very weak through the 1980s and 1990s, and this was followed by a strong appreciation. Income concentrated at the top when the Canadian dollar was weak, and this trend was reversed as the Canadian dollar strengthened."

Maclean’s, November 18, 2014: “Is Canada’s one per cent really in retreat?” by Stephen Gordon

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Ontario Retirement Pension Plan Progress

"With a comfortable majority, but unsure about what the future holds in Ottawa, Ontario’s Liberals are pressing ahead with their goal of a provincial pension plan within two years."

"Finance Minister Charles Sousa’s fiscal update Monday put a bit more meat on the bones of the Ontario Retirement Pension Plan (ORPP), a mandatory payroll deduction for the three million Ontarians without a company pension. Background papers accompanying the update promise legislation soon -- though there’s no hard date -- and firmed up what we can expect to pay and what we’ll get.”

"Still to be explained is the cost of setting this up and which Ontario workers must opt in."

"Another unknown is what this [is] all going to cost."

The Toronto Star, November 20, 2014: “Charles Sousa’s economic update gives shape to Ontario pension plan: Mayers,” by Adam Mayers

Ontario Ministry of Finance, November 17, 2014: “2014 Ontario Economic Outlook and Fiscal Review, Chapter I: Building Opportunity, Securing Our Future”

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Recession Drove Toronto's Immigrants to Self-Employment

"The recession of 2008 drove many Torontonians in the direction of self-employment -- with new immigrants taking the biggest brunt of the shrinking job market, according to a new study."

"Between 2008 and 2009, the city’s self-employment rate rose from 15.7 per cent to 17.1 per cent, above the provincial and national benchmarks, says the joint report by Social Planning Toronto and Newcomer Women’s Services Toronto."

"Based on previously unreleased Statistics Canada data and interviews with newcomer entrepreneurs and service providers, the report examined the impact of labour market restructuring on newcomer entrepreneurship in Toronto."

“‘Economic downturns do not impact all groups of workers equally. It is newcomers, particularly those recently arrived, who are more likely to lose their paid employment compared to Canadian-born workers,’ says the 48-page study. ‘These workers are often left to compete for low-paying, part-time and temporary types of precarious jobs to survive.... Some workers are pushed into self-employment as a means to replace lost income from paid employment and due to the failure of government social safety nets.’”

Metro News, November 18, 2014: “Toronto’s immigrants turn to self-employment after recession year”

The Toronto Star, November 18, 2014: “Immigrants took the brunt of recession-year turn toward self-employment,” by Nicholas Keung

Social Planning Toronto & Newcomer Women’s Services Toronto, November 18, 2014: “The Economy and Resilience of Newcomers: Exploring Newcomer Entrepreneurship” (48 pages, PDF)

Click here for the Executive Summary and Key Findings.

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Visible Minority Representation "Continuing To Decline" On Canadian Corporate Boards

"The proportion of women on corporate boards has climbed steadily as regulators focus attention on lagging diversity in senior roles, but the proportion of visible minority directors is continuing to decline sharply."

"Women have climbed slowly but steadily in recent years from 10.9 per cent of directors in 2001 to 13.7 per cent by 2009 and 15.6 per cent in 2013, the study shows. However, visible minorities hold just 2 per cent of board seats, a decline from 5.3 per cent in 2010, and people who report having disabilities fill just 1.4 per cent of board seats, down from 2.9 per cent in 2010. Aboriginal directors hold 0.8 per cent of board seats, a number unchanged from 2010."

"To speed up diversity in senior corporate roles, the council is calling on boards to put three “diverse” people on each long list of potential candidates for open board seats, and to replace at least one of every three retiring directors with a diversity candidate, [diversity council founder Pamela Jeffery] said."

The Globe and Mail, November 19, 2014: “Women gain on corporate boards but visible minority representation dips,” by Janet McFarland

Canada Board Diversity Council 2014 Annual Report Card (17 pages, PDF)

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Statistics Canada's New Beta Website Ready to Test Out

"StatCan is calling on users to take a virtual test drive [of its new beta website]."

"The new beta site design tries to present data to satisfy the different needs of a wide range of users. Those who only want a single number will have faster access to key statistics now found on various pages. For users who need a bit more information, there are simple data tables, dynamically updated when new results are released. From these simple data tables, more detailed information is available for users who wish to dive in and customize large multi-dimensional tables."

"It is important to remember that this is a pilot test site. It is limited to five sections -- Health, GDP, Construction, Census (families, households and housing) and National Household Survey (immigration and ethnocultural diversity, and language)."

"The full launch of the new site is slated for late 2015, following another round of usability testing."

StatCan Blog, November 19, 2014: “Test this site!”

Statistics Canada Beta Site [Homepage]

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Can Canadian Organizations Afford to Ignore Employees' Mental Health?

"The topic of mental health and the workplace is increasingly becoming the focus of conversation in the corner offices of Canada’s businesses. Why? Because ignoring employees’ mental health and well-being is costly -- in lost productivity, higher benefit and disability costs, and increased retention expenses."

"The Mental Health Commission of Canada states that about 30 per cent of short- and long-term disability claims in the country are attributed to mental health problems and illnesses. The overall economic burden caused by mental illness in Canada totals about $51-billion each year, and a staggering $20-billion of that stems from workplace losses."

"Included in the [National Standard of Canada for Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace] are 13 psychological health and safety (PHS) factors, which outline key areas where organizations can improve their workplace environment and their policies in order to reduce stress on workers and help keep them healthier. The 13 factors deal with typical workplace and company culture issues, ranging from psychological support, competencies and protection; leadership; respect; employee development; recognition and rewards; influence and inclusion; workload; engagement; work-life balance; and physical safety."

The Globe and Mail, November 17, 2014: “Can you afford to ignore employees’ mental health?” by Gillian Livingston and Bill Howatt

CSA Group and BNQ, January 2013: “Psychological health and safety in the workplace -- prevention, promotion, and guidance to staged implementation” (75 pages, PDF)

"About 21.4% of the working population currently experience mental health problems and illnesses that potentially affect their work productivity."

Mental Health Commission of Canada, 2013: “Why Investing in Mental Health will Contribute to Canada’s Economic Prosperity and to the Sustainability of our Health Care System” (5 pages, PDF)

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Facebook Targets Workplaces with New Professional Networking Site

"Facebook is taking aim at the likes of Google and LinkedIn with a bid to drive business users to the social networking site.”

"The company is developing a site called Facebook at Work that will allow users to chat and collaborate on documents with colleagues, and connect with contacts...."

"The new site is expected to look very similar to Facebook’s interface, with its newsfeed and groups, but allow users to keep their personal information entirely separate from their work profile."

"For the venture to prove a success, Facebook would have to win the trust of corporate IT chiefs and guarantee that information conveyed could not fall into the hands of rival businesses."

The Guardian, November 17, 2014: “Facebook targets workplaces with new professional networking site”

Criticism is already rolling in.

"Enterprise software is indeed a very lucrative space, but the time, energy, and development resources that it would require for Facebook to meaningfully challenge are simply too high."

"Let’s look at all of these areas where Facebook wants to make a dent:"

  • Connecting people -- “‘Facebook at Work’ is unlikely to tap into Facebook’s entire network, since its rollout is still speculative and would likely be on a small scale.”
  • Communicating with colleagues -- “Facebook might have some strength in consumer-oriented messaging, but it seemingly lacks the deep integrations that rival services like Slack can offer.”
  • Playing well with others -- “This is easily the most important area of enterprise software, since employee collaboration is so critical to productivity. This is also where Facebook likely brings the least to the table. Current providers of collaborative tools offer comprehensive feature sets and have become very entrenched in the enterprise. Facebook will face a steep uphill battle in this area.”

TIME, November 19, 2014: “Why ‘Facebook at Work’ Might Not Work,” by Evan Niu

Re/code, November 19, 2014: “Facebook at Work? Not So Fast.,” by Kurt Wagner

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Why Isn't Academic Research Free to Everyone?

"Scholarly articles, filled with indubitable knowledge and analysis, only exist for the general public behind pricey paywalls. So one lecturer is advocating for them to be free of charge."

"Martin Paul Eve: We’ve spent a long time building mechanisms within the academy that aim to free researchers from the demands of market populism. In other words: Researchers are, in the theoretical ideal model (although the growth of precarious adjunct labor undermines it), paid a salary to produce work. They do not need to sell thousands of copies to earn a living.”

"This gives academics freedom of enquiry. They don’t have to research things that will only sell. They can afford to (and they do) give away their work for free. The desire is to be read and valued so that one can get an academic post, get tenure, get promoted, etc."

"Copyright, on the other hand, is a time-limited monopoly on the right to sell the result of intellectual labor. Because academics do not need to sell their work, they also don’t need the economic protections of copyright. Publishers do (if they sell work) but academics don’t."

"What academics want is reputational protection. They want to be cited. Open licensing provides a way in which academics can let others use their work more liberally than if it were covered totally by copyright but always with the demand for attribution, which fuels their systems of prestige, hiring, etc."

The Atlantic, November 19, 2014: “Why Isn’t Academic Research Free to Everyone?,” by Noah Berlatsky

Education Commission of the States, September, 2014: “Open-source textbooks can help drive down the overall cost of college,” by Maria Millard (6 pages, PDF)

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Diversity and Disparities: America Enters a New Century

“Diversity and Disparities, edited by sociologist John Logan, assembles impressive new studies that interpret the social and economic changes in the U.S. over the last decade. The authors, leading social scientists from many disciplines, analyze changes in the labor market, family structure, immigration, and race. They find that while America has grown more diverse, the opportunities available to disadvantaged groups have become more unequal.”

Contents:

  1. Diversity and Inequality: Recent Shocks and Continuing Trends, by John R. Logan
  2. A Very Uneven Road: U.S. Labor Markets in the Past Thirty Years, by Harry J. Holzer and Marek Hlavac
  3. The Middle Class: Losing Ground, Losing Wealth, by Edward N. Wolff
  4. Median Income and Income Inequality: From 2000 and Beyond, by Richard V. Burkhauser and Jeff Larrimore
  5. Residential Mobility in the United States and the Great Recession: A Shift to Local Moves, by Michael A. Stoll
  6. Cohort Trends in Housing and Household Formation Since 1990, by Emily Rosenbaum
  7. Residential Segregation by Income, 1970-2009, by Kendra Bischoff and Sean F. Reardon
  8. The Divergent Paths of American Families, by Zhenchao Qian
  9. Diversity in Old Age: The Elderly in Changing Economic and Family Contexts, by Judith A. Seltzer and Jenjira J. Yahirun
  10. U.S. High-Skill Immigration, by John Bound and Sarah Turner
  11. Unauthorized Mexican Migration and the Socioeconomic Integration of Mexican Americans, by Frank D. Bean, James D. Bachmeier, Susan K. Brown, Jennifer Van Hook, and Mark A. Leach
  12. Gender Disparities in Educational Attainment in the New Century: Trends, Causes, and Consequences, by Thomas A. DiPrete and Claudia Buchmann
  13. Is Ethnoracial Residential Integration on the Rise? Evidence from Metropolitan and Micropolitan America Since 1980, by Barrett A. Lee, John Iceland, and Chad R. Farrel

Russel Sage Foundation, November 20, 2014: “Diversity and Disparities: America Enters a New Century,” edited by John Logan

Russel Sage Foundation, November 20, 2014: “Diversity and Disparities: America Enters a New Century,” edited by John Logan (492 pages PDF)

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The Public Eye Lifetime Award

"After 15 years of the Public Eye initiative, it is time to take stock. In 2015, the naming & shaming award will be given out in the ultimate category: The Public Eye Lifetime Award. All the nominees are former Public Eye Award winners. One last time, you can cast your vote and have a say in which company should get the ultimate award of shame for its irresponsible business practices.”

You can vote until January 22, 2015.

Public Eye, November 2014: “Your Decision Matters”

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The 2014 Prosperity Index

"Is a nation’s prosperity defined solely by its GDP? Prosperity is more than just the accumulation of material wealth, it is also the joy of everyday life and the prospect of an even better life in the future. This is true for individuals as well as nations. The Prosperity Index is the only global measurement of prosperity based on both income and wellbeing. It is the most comprehensive tool of its kind and is the definitive measure of global progress."

See how Canada stacks up this year (1 page, PDF). Spoiler: we ranked 5th, down a notch from last year.

Explore the data on the The Legatum Institute’s Prosperity Index website.

The Legatum Institute, November 3, 2014: “The 2014 Legatum Prosperity Index” (29 pages, PDF)

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The Power of 1.8 Billion Adolescents, Youth and the Transformation of the Future

"Young people matter. They matter because an unprecedented 1.8 billion youth are alive today, and because they are the shapers and leaders of our global future. They matter because they have inherent human rights that must be fulfilled. Yet, in a world of adult concerns, young people are often overlooked. This tendency cries out for urgent correction, because it imperils youth as well as economies and societies at large."

United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), November 18, 2014: “The Power of 1.8 Billion: Adolescents, youth and the transformation of the future”

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Modern Slavery Affects More than 35 Million People

"More than 35 million people around the world are trapped in a modern form of slavery, according to a report highlighting the prevalence of forced labour, human trafficking, forced marriages, debt bondage and commercial sexual exploitation.”

“The Walk Free Foundation (WFF), an Australia-based NGO that publishes the annual global slavery index, said that as a result of better data and improved methodology it had increased its estimate 23% in the past year.”

"Andrew Forrest, the chairman and founder of WFF -- which is campaigning for the end of slavery within a generation -- said: ‘There is an assumption that slavery is an issue from a bygone era. Or that it only exists in countries ravaged by war and poverty. These findings show that modern slavery exists in every country. We are all responsible for the most appalling situations where modern slavery exists and the desperate misery it brings upon our fellow human beings. The first step in eradicating slavery is to measure it. And with that critical information, we must all come together -- governments, businesses and civil society -- to finally bring an end to the most severe form of exploitation.’"

Click here to view the stats on Canada.

The Guardian, November 17, 2014: “Modern Slavery Affects More than 35 Million People,” by Larry Elliott

The Walk Free Foundation, November 2014: “The Global Slavery Index 2014” (81 pages, PDF)

2014 Global Slavery Index [website]

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Book of the Week

The Good Jobs Strategy: How the Smartest Companies Invest in Employees to Lower Costs and Boost Profits, by Zeynep Ton. Boston : New Harvest, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2014. 229 p. ISBN 9780544114449 (hardcover)

From the publisher: "Almost one in four American working adults has a job that pays less than a living wage. Conventional wisdom says that's how the world has to work. Bad jobs with low wages, minimal benefits, little training, and chaotic schedules are the only way companies can keep costs down and prices low. If companies were to offer better jobs, customers would have to pay more or companies would have to make less. But in The Good Jobs Strategy, Zeynep Ton, a professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management, makes the compelling case that even in low-cost settings, leaving employees behind -- with bad jobs -- is a choice, not a necessity. Drawing on more than a decade of research, Ton shows how operational excellence enables companies to offer the lowest prices to customers while ensuring good jobs for their employees and superior results for their investors. Ton describes the elements of the good jobs strategy in a variety of successful companies around the world, including Southwest Airlines, UPS, Toyota, Zappos, and In-N-Out Burger. She focuses on four model retailers -- Costco, Mercadona, Trader Joe's, and QuikTrip -- to demonstrate the good jobs strategy at work and reveals four choices that have transformed these companies' high investment in workers into lower costs, higher profits, and greater customer satisfaction. Full of surprising, counterintuitive insights, the book answers questions such as: How can offering fewer products increase customer satisfaction? Why would having more employees than you need reduce costs and boost profits? How can companies simultaneously standardize work and empower employees? The Good Jobs Strategy outlines an invaluable blueprint for any organization that wants to pursue a sustainable competitive strategy in which everyone -- employees, customers, and investors -- wins."

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