The generation currently in secondary schools has never known the world without the Internet, has spent thousands of hours each year interacting with video games and social media, and has high expectations for the degree of control and choices they will have regarding employment, entertainment, and the education they receive.The employers of our future graduates have undergone - and will continue to undergo - profound changes in consumer behavior and technology-based marketing and value creation, while simultaneously facing intense global competition, rapid technological advances, and dynamic markets. Employer demands for increasingly flexible, self-motivated, collaborative, communicative, creative, energetic, technology savvy employees will continue to rise. These conditions are fundamentally changing consumer and employer expectations of education and driving the need for ever greater relevance, personalization, flexibility, mobility, and meaningful and relevant outcomes. In many respects, we must work toward and plan for an evolving target and, as such, we should work to create dynamic contexts as well as learning what can change and be modified as needed.
Noncompliance with employment and labor laws can result in compensatory and punitive damages, adversely impacting business profitability. Human Resources (HR) personnel who lack strategies to anticipate and react to changes in employment laws risk penalties for noncompliance, resulting in reduced profitability. Grounded in the top-down model of adaptation and political risk management, the purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore strategies some HR personnel use to anticipate and react to changes in employment laws, to avoid compensatory and punitive damages. The participants included nine HR personnel from nine organizations located in the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia tristate area who implemented successful strategies to align with mandated legislation and other existing and new employment laws. Data were collected using semistructured interviews and review of company documents related to applicable labor laws. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the data. Three themes emerged: (a) strategies to anticipate and react to changes in employment laws; (b) strategies to anticipate and react to changes in "ban the box" legislation; and (c) obtaining feedback on reacting to changes in employment laws. Key recommendations include: (a) providing employment law compliance education and training programs for all supervisors and HR staff; (b) changing the company culture and values, beginning with upper management; and (c) collaborating with the legal team to ensure compliance. The implication for positive social change includes increased employment among marginalized members of society, including persons with criminal histories, which may reduce crime rates, recidivism, and reliance on government assistance programs.
The increased usage of mobile communication devices (MCDs) in the workplace has been controversial regarding whether they increase or decrease productivity, whether work-life balance is affected by use, and whether employers have the right to monitor usage. This paper includes research that addressed each of these three issues linked to employee use of MCDs. Past research provided conflicting results in three areas - work-life balance, productivity, and employee monitoring. A quantitative study of 60 non-supervisory employees in Arizona, Michigan, and Illinois, consisting of an online survey, was carried out to determine perceptions of whether use of MCDs for work purposes affects work-life balance or productivity and perceptions on employers monitoring usage of work-issued MCDs. Sixty-seven percent of respondents stated that their duties require the use of MCDs and, of those 62%, each stated that his or her MCD is a Smartphone. The majority stated that Smartphones were MCDs given to them by the employer. Other MCDs were cell phones and tablets which, combined, accounted for 35% of the responses. Fifty-three percent of the respondents stated that the use of the MCD did not impact work-life balance, eighty-eight percent stated that the use of the MCD increased productivity, and eighty-seven percent stated that their employer does not monitor usage of their MCD. Research findings may vary and depend on participants. Supervisors may have different viewpoints. However, the required use of these devices in the workplace keeps increasing, so it is appropriate for employers to clearly find a benefit for their use.
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