Employment Practices Research Articles

Soft Skills and Hard Skills their Impact on Employment in Urban and Rural Areas

Purpose: This paper discusses the concepts of hard skills and soft skills and their importance for future development. The article intends to study the influence of hard skills and soft skills in employment in urban areas and rural areas and to explore the differences in employment policies in those areas. Case of Albania.
 
 Theoretical framework: The literature review is done to create the base for our research. It is so important to understand the impact of soft skills and hard skills on both areas in urban and rural ones in a developing country.
 
 Method: Based on the literature review the questionnaire is set up. It is filled out by managers and by those who are involved in recruiting employees. Data was collected from a random sample of 182 respondents in the rural area and a total sample of 179 respondents in the urban area. Statistical analysis is done by using SPSS. Regression analysis is used to empirically evaluate the hypothesis by using SPSS, version 23.
 
 Findings, result and conclusion: The results of the empirical research conducted by the authors are presented in this paper. Findings highlighted that in the urban area and rural areas, hard skills and soft skills are both important, and have a great impact on employment, but soft skills have a greater influence in recruiting employees. In urban areas, this influence is obviously higher than in rural areas. Those skills are influential not only to find a job but also to stay in the market labor force. However, in rural areas is given priority to diplomas. According to the conclusion of this study, education represents a fundamental tool, and it represents a great opportunity to find a job, but to remain in the labor market you need to have soft skills.
 
 Implications of research: This paper will be of value to all those who are directly involved in the recruitment process. This study is beneficial to employers and employees.
 
 Originality/value: The originality of this paper is employment practices in urban areas and rural areas. Bringing here, the experience of Albania, as a developing country.

Paying Aboriginal Rural Workers: Racism, the Labour Market and Worker Agency

Research into experiences of Aboriginal workers on pastoral stations in Queensland has revealed systemic slave-like conditions and underpayment, primarily focusing upon northern regions of the state. This article reveals details of Aboriginal workers’ employment on one station in the less examined southern districts of Queensland, specifically the South Burnett region, that suggest calibrated payments were well above the (later) legislated rate of pay, but less than rates awarded to white men on the same property. We adopt micro-historical and socio-linguistic methods to examine the Kilkivan station diary of 1898. By conducting a close reading of employment practices adopted by station owner, Aubrey Jones, we reveal how linguistic management of cultural difference intersected with the agency of Aboriginal workers. The level of business risk apprehended by Jones impacted the level of trust he exercised and the autonomy he granted to Aboriginal workers. The spare but unguarded prose of the diary reveals how Jones mobilised anonymising racist language or chose to individuate Aboriginal workers, depending on their compliance and perceived reliability. This article thus extends previous understandings of crossracial relations, the racialised pay gap, and Aboriginal agency in the Australian pastoral industry.

Combined Lifestyle Intervention to reduce overweight at the workplace: opinions of stakeholders

Abstract Background Overweight is a risk factor for employee health and sustainable employability. Multifactorial interventions, addressing both the employee's individual lifestyle and the work environment, are expected to be most effective in overweight reduction. In the Netherlands, primary care patients with overweight are referred to Combined Lifestyle Interventions (CLI), but this is not yet common in occupational health. This study explores the attitudes, intentions and perceived facilitators and barriers of three groups of stakeholders (employees, employers and occupational physicians (OP's)). Methods A cross-sectional survey focusing on attitudes, barriers and facilitators was conducted among a convenience sample of, varying in age and gender, Dutch OPs (n = 267), employers (n = 401) and employees (n = 1,023) in 2021/2022. Results Preliminary results indicate that 32% of the employers would offer CLIs if accessible and 25% of the overweight employees intend to participate in a CLI. For employers, the main reasons to offer a CLI were reduction of sick leave (42%) and good employment practice (37%), barriers were the conviction that employees would not be interested (33%), lack of finance (21%) and lack of time (21%). Employee's main reason for attending was boost for good lifestyle (27%), facilitators were alignment with working hours (24%) and employer's payment for the CLI (25%). Barriers were ‘I already do enough for my health’ (22%). The main barriers for OPs to refer to a CLI were lack of knowledge (66%) and a preference for known professionals (40%), while a facilitator was having more time during their consultations. Conclusions Although not yet common in the Netherlands, a relative large portion of participating employers is willing to invest in lifestyle interventions to reduce overweight. The shared barrier of lack of time needs to be tackled in combination with strengthening of attitudes and facilitators to achieve a successful CLI implementation. Key messages • Employers are willing to invest in a combined lifestyle intervention to reduce or prevent employee’s overweight. • Implementation requires sufficient time for referral and participation, employers to pay and OPs to be informed about the combined lifestyle intervention.

The Application of the Likelihood Ratio Test and the Cochran-Mantel-Haenszel Test to Discrimination Cases

In practice, the ultimate outcome of many important discrimination cases, for example, the Wal-Mart, Nike and Goldman-Sachs equal pay cases, is determined at the stage when the plaintiffs request that the case be certified as a class action. The primary statistical issue at this time is whether the employment practice in question leads to a common pattern of outcomes disadvantaging most plaintiffs. However, there are no formal procedures or government guidelines for checking whether an employment practice results in a common pattern of disparity. This article proposes using the slightly modified likelihood ratio test and the one-sided Cochran-Mantel-Haenszel (CMH) test to examine data relevant to deciding whether this commonality requirement is satisfied. Data considered at the class certification stage from several actual cases are analyzed by the proposed procedures. The results often show that the employment practice at issue created a common pattern of disparity, however, based on the evidence presented to the courts, the class action requests were denied.

Exclusion and inaction: Academic precariat experiences of union representation in Aotearoa New Zealand

During the last 40 years, neoliberal reforms to the tertiary sector have led to the casualisation of academic labour and the emergence of an academic precariat in Aotearoa New Zealand. Despite the increasing size of the academic precariat, it does not appear that their voices, concerns, or interests have been adequately represented by the national tertiary union. By drawing on open-text responses from the Precarious Academic Work Survey (PAWS) about what unions could do to improve precarious academic working conditions, we discuss the issues created by the under-representation of precarious academics by the sector union. We communicate the results via four key themes of exclusion, participation, voice, and organising. Most participants articulated frustration and disaffection with the union, suggesting the need for a shift in strategy. This study adds to the growing body of employment relations research recognising that employee voices are multiple, diverse, and fragmented; indicating that unions must attend to the differential experiences of people working in the tertiary sector attributable to employment practices.

Culturally Respectful and Competent Practice: What It Looks Like for Organisations Providing Services to Migrant Youth within the Illawarra Region of New South Wales, Australia

The question of culturally respectful and competent practice is important for human services, particularly in Australia, which is characterised by a highly culturally diverse population as a result of migration. On arrival in Australia, migrants start using local services which they anticipate to be appropriate to their culture, situations and aspirations. This study explored what culturally respectful and competent practice looks like for organisations working with migrant youth in the Illawarra region of the state of New South Wales using in-depth interviews and focus groups. Although our focus was youth, responses were more broad to reflect the day-to-day roles of participants. From the responses, themes that came out included awareness of own culture as a practitioner and understanding the cultures of service users; paying attention to service user views of the dominant culture; employing staff from refugee and migrant communities; interpreter services; supporting practitioners in addressing agency limitations; and use of a strengths-based approach. What is central to these themes is capacitating human resources with cultural knowledge and a tendency towards prioritising service users’ interpretation of their culture and addressing the disadvantage and injustice that arise from cultural differences. For the organisations, a key barrier to achieving this is inadequate financial resources. In view of these findings, we conclude that, in relation to the topic and organisations we investigated, culturally respectful and competent practice means embedding service user cultural interpretations and priorities in organisational employment practices, staff skilling and service delivery in order to achieve the best and sustainable cultural, social and economic settlement outcomes.

Gender Bias in Promotions: Evidence from Financial Institutions

Abstract We test for gender bias in promotions at financial institutions using two central predictions of Becker’s (1957, 1993) model: firms with bias will (1) raise the promotion bar for marginally promoted female workers, and (2) incur costs from forgoing efficient employment practices. We find support for both of these predictions using a new nationwide panel of mortgage loan officers and their managers encompassing approximately 72,000 workers from over 1,000 shadow banks from 2014 to 2019. Overall, our findings provide evidence that gender bias is an important factor in gender gaps at financial institutions. Authors have furnished an Internet Appendix, which is available on the Oxford University Press Web site next to the link to the final published paper online.

Overwork Impacts on Low-Wage Workers: Insights from the Food Manufacturing Sector in Oregon and Washington

Unstable scheduling refers to such employer practices as last-minute schedule changes, lack of advance notice, requiring employees to be on-call, split shifts, “clopening,” and variable hours and shift times. Evidence has shown that such practices can lead to underwork, or involuntary part-time hours, particularly for service-sector workers. But another, less-explored dimension of unstable scheduling practices—and the focus of this analysis—is overwork. Overwork stems from practices that can limit the ability of workers to get adequate rest and can heighten the bodily and emotional hazards that workers experience. We identify the following forms of unstable scheduling practices that constitute overwork: • Long work days of over eight hours/day • Long work weeks of over 40 hours/week and/or over five days/week • Long stretches of over seven days without days off • Lack of sufficient breaks during shifts These multiple dimensions of unstable scheduling are sometimes layered together. For instance, workers can experience both optional and mandatory overtime, which can extend both their work day and/or their work week. When workers are assigned mandatory overtime, they face risk of penalty if they refuse to work these extended hours, including potential loss of employment. In addition, workers may experience combinations of overwork, underwork, or other unstable scheduling practices within one job, or as they move between multiple jobs to cobble together full-time, year-round employment, especially if working in an industry with high turnover and widespread seasonality. These combinations compound the strain that workers experience.

Factors of Gig Job Involvement and the Effect on B40 and M40 Socio-economic Sustainability

The emergence of information and communication technology (ICT) creates new means that permit interaction between employers and employees via apps and systems. The gig economy has arisen as a key theme in a recent independent review of modern employment practices. However, most of the existing literature focused on the implications of growth in these arrangements for workers and their families. Realizing the importance of the research on job involvement for Malaysian citizens specifically among B40 and M40 to opt for gig work is still largely unexplored, hence, this study aims to explore the factors influencing the involvement of a gig worker among B40 and M40 while examining the effect on the enhancement of the B40 and M40 segment’s socio-economic sustainability. Using a purposive sampling method, the data were collected through a survey among gig workers in Malaysia. A total of 1415 valid questionnaires were gathered from the gig workers in 14 states of Malaysia. Additionally, SPSS 28.0 was applied to test the hypotheses. The results indicated that circumstances, earnings, risk, prospects, and workload had a positive relationship with the B40 and M40 socio-economic sustainability while flexibility is not significant toward B40 and M40 socio-economic sustainability. The result also shows that there is a significant difference between B40 and M40 income groups toward socio-economic sustainability. Findings from this study contributed new knowledge on the gig economy in Malaysia. The research also assists policymakers in understanding holistically the current job scenario of gig workers to formulate policies, incentives, and development programs.

The March on Washington Movement, the Fair Employment Practices Committee, and the Long Quest for Racial Justice

Abstract In the summer of 1941, the March on Washington Movement (MOWM), led by the civil rights and labor leader A. Philip Randolph, planned to march tens of thousands of African Americans on Washington, DC, to pressure President Franklin Roosevelt to abolish discrimination in the federal government and defense industries. After intensive negotiations, Roosevelt issued Executive Order 8802, banning those forms of discrimination and creating a federal agency to oversee this work: the Fair Employment Practices Committee (FEPC). Randolph and his allies use of pioneering pressure tactics coincided with a critical period of institutionalization of the modern presidency, ultimately resulting in executive action that significantly advanced civil rights and economic opportunity for Black Americans. Many scholars, focusing only on civil rights activists’ fraught relationship with Roosevelt and the Southern Democrats’ stubborn defense of Jim Crow in Congress and the states, have seen the highly contentious battles over the authority and policies of the FEPC as constituting a major defeat for MOWM’s state-centered civil rights strategy. Yet Randolph and his allies continued to believe that the most practical path to reform ran through the executive branch. In this article, we draw a contrast between the actions first taken by President Roosevelt with his wavering commitment to the FEPC and the stronger and more definitive actions taken by President Truman to desegregate the military and civil service, which broke open public-sector employment for African Americans. Beyond strategic considerations, the New Deal expansion of jobs in the national service and military made the modern executive an essential target of Randolph’s campaign to join the battles for civil rights with economic freedoms. Randolph’s decision to focus on employment in the rapidly expanding defense industries, federal workforce, and military thus marked a critical episode in the fight for the economic rights of Black Americans.

Defending the Status Quo: Prevalence of System Justification Attitudes in the Radio Industry

ABSTRACT This study employs system justification theory to investigate how current and former radio broadcasting professionals perceive the equity and fairness of the industry’s homophilous hiring and employment practices. Results of a survey (N = 143) of radio professionals found men view current employment patterns within the radio industry to be equitable, while women found radio hiring practices to be discriminatory. White men were more likely than other groups to blame women for their own lack of representation, but perceived the underrepresentation of people of color as a systemic problem. Higher levels of system justification were positively related to higher levels of stereotyping.

Secondary employment of modern students (on the example of AltSU students)

Currently, a student who simultaneously receives a higher education and works somewhere is becoming quite commonplace. Moreover, the tendency to combine study and work is characteristic of the whole world. Secondary employment allows students not only to improve their financial situation, become financially independent from their parents, but also to acquire a number of communicative and professional competencies that can be successfully applied in the future. Moreover, the practice of secondary employment allows you to form a certain work experience, which can be an advantage in employment after graduation. The phenomenon of secondary employment of a student is difficult to assess unambiguously, on the one hand, there is an accelerated professional socialization of an individual, his rapid inclusion in a new social reality, into which a young person will have to move fully after graduation. The student becomes more responsible, manages his time more competently. On the other hand, secondary employment is realized precisely in their free time from study, negatively affecting the amount of time allocated to prepare for classes, sessions, etc. The key problem of secondary employment of a student is that often the specialty of study is in no way connected with the place of work. This fact increases the likelihood that an individual after graduating from university will go to work not in his specialty, which makes it more difficult for the demands of the labor market and the education system to produce necessary quantity of specialists a certain domain. Also, not all students are able to correctly prioritize work and academic activities, as a result of which there are distortions that negatively affect educational activities.

Career Bridge Employment Intentions Among Academic Staff in Higher Education Institutions in Thailand: Understanding the Interactive Effect of Bridge Employment Practices and Work Passion

Career Bridge Employment Intentions Among Academic Staff in Higher Education Institutions in Thailand: Understanding the Interactive Effect of Bridge Employment Practices and Work Passion

Factors influencing COVID-19 testing among Native Americans and Latinos in two rural agricultural communities: a qualitative study.

To examine factors influencing decisions to test for COVID-19 among Native Americans on the Flathead Reservation in Montana and the Latino community in the Yakima Valley of Washington state. We conducted 30 key informant interviews with community leaders and six focus groups with community members to examine factors impacting decisions to test for COVID-19 during the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic from May 2021 to June 2021. Three major themes that impacted testing for COVID-19 were identified: (1) Social factors, including the influence of families and friends and employment practices; (2) health factors, including testing procedures, home-based testing, and health communication; and (3) contextual factors, including distrust for government and medical communities and the impact on cultural practices and celebrations. Social, health, and contextual factors influence the decision to test for COVID-19. Understanding the community's perception is critical for successful implementation of preventive strategies.

The Association between the Percentage of Female Law Enforcement Officers and Rape Report, Clearance, and Arrest Rates: A Spatiotemporal Analysis of California.

Rape is an underreported violent crime that frequently remains uncleared (open) in the legal system. Rape disproportionately affects women, with 91% of rape victim-survivors estimated to be female. However, law enforcement agencies, the entry point into the criminal justice system, are predominantly comprised of male officers. According to the theory of representative bureaucracy, groups with greater representation in a bureaucratic system are more likely to have their interests protected. This study aims to determine if California law enforcement agencies with a higher percentage of female officers are more likely to have higher rates of rape reporting, clearances, and arrests. No previous study has examined this relationship using statewide data. Crimes and Clearances, Monthly Arrest and Citation Register, and Uniform Crime Reporting data for California (2013-2016) were aggregated into 499 Law Enforcement Reporting Areas (LERA). Bayesian space-time Poisson regressions controlling for LERA demographics and crime produced scaled relative rates for three outcomes: (a) rape report rate: number of reports relative to population ages 18+; (b) rape clearance rate: number of clearances relative to reports; and (c) rape arrest rate: number of arrests for rape relative to reports. A 5% increase in the percentage of female officers within an agency was associated with a 6.2% increase in the rape report rate (ARR: 1.062, 95% credible interval (CI) [1.048, 1.077]), a 2.9% decrease in the clearance rate (ARR: 0.971 95% CI [0.950, 0.993]), and no change in the rape arrest rates (ARR: 1.010; 95% CI [0.981, 1.039]) across all LERA. Thus, increased female officer representation was associated with an increase in rape reporting rates but associated with a decrease in rape clearance rates. The theory of representative bureaucracy was only partially supported, and these relationships may not be causal. The quantity of rape reports received by an agency, employment and promotion practices of agencies, and victim-survivor's attitudes toward officer's gender should also be considered.

Freedom, domination and the gig economy

ABSTRACT Employment practices in the gig economy have routinely been defended through the language of individual freedom. Indeed, this particular model of on-demand employment is often presented as removing constraints on the freedom to choose when, where and how to sell one’s labour, enabling individuals to exercise greater self-authorship over their working lives. In this article, however, I show how the particular conception of freedom that underpins this pro-gig work discourse functions to obscure significant threats to the liberty of gig workers. An alternative perspective, inspired by the republican tradition of political thought, reveals instead how the structural vulnerability of gig workers exposes them to extraordinary forms of domination, compromising their freedom. Relative to typical employees in advanced capitalist labour markets, the precarious legal and economic status of gig workers leaves them less free, with fewer institutionalised resources to disarm the multiple forms of dominating, arbitrary power to which they are vulnerable. To maximise freedom within existing capitalist labour markets, on this republican view, we should seek to (re)build the rights and protections available to workers, rather than promote the further normalisation of under-regulated and precarious gig work.

Pengaruh Persepsi PKL Dan Motivasi Memasuki Dunia Kerja Terhadap Kesiapan Kerja Siswa Kelas XI

This study aims to (1) determine the effect of perceptions of field work practices on the work readiness of class XI students of SMK Wikarya Karanganyar; (2) determine the influence of motivation to enter the world of work on the work readiness of class XI students at SMK Wikarya Karanganyar; (3) determine the effect of perceptions of field work practices and motivation to enter the world of work together on the work readiness of class XI students at SMK Wikarya Karanganyar. The research design used is descriptive research with a quantitative approach. The results of the study are as follows: (1) there is a positive and significant effect of perceptions of field work practices on students' work readiness. This is indicated by the value of tcount>ttable (4.609>1.985) and for a significance value of 0.000 (Sig<0.05); (2) there is a positive and significant influence of motivation to enter the world of work on students' work readiness. This is indicated by the value of tcount>ttable (3.537>1.985) and for a significance value of 0.001 (Sig<0.05); and (3) there is a positive and significant influence simultaneously on the perception of employment practices and motivation to enter the world of work on student work readiness. This is indicated by the value of Fcount>Ftable (65.881>3.091) and for a significance value of 0.000 (Sig<0.05). This study aims to (1) determine the effect of perceptions of field work practices on the work readiness of class XI students of SMK Wikarya Karanganyar; (2) determine the influence of motivation to enter the world of work on the work readiness of class XI students at SMK Wikarya Karanganyar; (3) determine the effect of perceptions of field work practices and motivation to enter the world of work together on the work readiness of class XI students at SMK Wikarya Karanganyar. The research design used is descriptive research with a quantitative approach. The population in this study were 131 students of class XI at SMK Wikarya Karanganyar. The research sample consisted of 99 students who were taken using the proportional random sampling technique. The data collection technique used was a questionnaire used to measure the effect of perceptions of field work practices and motivation to enter the world of work on work readiness. The data analysis technique used is descriptive statistical analysis and multiple linear regression analysis. The results of the study are as follows: (1) there is a positive and significant effect of perceptions of field work practices on students' work readiness. This is indicated by the value of tcount>ttable (4.609>1.985) and for a significance value of 0.000 (Sig<0.05); (2) there is a positive and significant influence of motivation to enter the world of work on students' work readiness. This is indicated by the value of tcount>ttable (3.537>1.985) and for a significance value of 0.001 (Sig<0.05); and (3) there is a positive and significant influence simultaneously on the perception of employment practices and motivation to enter the world of work on student work readiness. This is indicated by the value of Fcount>Ftable (65.881>3.091) and for a significance value of 0.000 (Sig<0.05).

Temporary academics in South African higher education institutions: Their lived precarity experiences

Temporary academic appointments are increasingly prevalent in higher education institutions across the globe. The lived experiences of temporary academic staff within South African higher education institutions were explored. Twenty-six temporary academic staff (females = 69%, black = 75%, white = 25%, other = none) participated in semi-structured interviews on their lived employment experiences. Six themes emerged from the thematic analysis: (1) negotiating desire versus despair; (2) living in limbo, (3) stunted career growth, (4) disillusionment and emotions of exploitation, (5) marginalised as an outsider, and (6) dehumanised work experience. The temporary academics stated a desire for fair human resource support, recognition, and being valued for their contribution to the academy similar to their permanent/full-time counterparts. These findings indicate that employment precarity for temporary academics should be addressed with employment practices and policies to improve their quality of work life.

Fair Machine Learning Post Affirmative Action

The U.S. Supreme Court, in a 6-3 decision on June 29, effectively ended the use of race in college admissions [1]. Indeed, national polls found that a plurality of Americans - 42%, according to a poll conducted by the University of Massachusetts [2] - agree that the policy should be discontinued, while 33% support its continued use in admissions decisions. As scholars of fair machine learning, we ponder how the Supreme Court decision shifts points of focus in the field. The most popular fair machine learning methods aim to achieve some form of "impact parity" by diminishing or removing the correlation between decisions and protected attributes, such as race or gender, similarly to the 80% rule of thumb of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commision. Impact parity can be achieved by reversing historical discrimination, which corresponds to affirmative actions, or by diminishing or removing the influence of the attributes correlated with the protected attributes, which is impractical as it severely undermines model accuracy. Besides, impact disparity is not necessarily a bad thing, e.g., African-American patients suffer from a higher rate of chronic illnesses than White patients and, hence, it may be justified to admit them to care programs at a proportionally higher rate [3]. The U.S. burden-shifting framework under Title VII offers solutions alternative to impact parity. To determine employment discrimination, U.S. courts rely on the McDonnell-Douglas burden-shifting framework where the explanations, justifications, and comparisons of employment practices play a central role. Can similar methods be applied in machine learning?

Deepening precarity – the impact of COVID-19 on freelancers in the UK television industry

ABSTRACT This article explores the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on freelancers in the UK television industry. Precarious careers are a dominant feature of the sector and the result of deregulation in 1990s. Employment and working practices which reproduce precarity lead to exploitation of workers, and discrimination and exclusion of those who do not fit perceived norms. Drawing on in-depth interviews with television workers based in northern England, we demonstrate how precarity is reproduced and increased within television when the sector was placed under pressure due to COVID-19 and established structure developed to help the industry function had been eradicated overnight. We find that economic imperatives of those with the power to control production trumped the needs of freelancers with less experience, without access to intermediaries and unable to maintain networks. The most precarious felt they had to take financial, personal and health risks to maintain relationships and gain new work.