Israeli Workers Research Articles

HR under fire—The role of HR in war time

On the morning of the 7th of October, the Hamas organization launched an attack on Israel, causing over 1200 casualties and kidnapping over 250 Israeli citizens. Israeli workers, their families, and the country’s economy were all directly impacted by the war. The effects of the war were vast and created many challenges for the HR departments in various organizations. The HR departments had to respond to these issues with promptness, determination, and thoroughness. I will discuss the functions of HR departments during times of war in this opinion piece. They include eliminating ambiguity and uncertainty; providing managers with the tools they need to handle such circumstances; maintaining resilience and high morale; overseeing volunteer programs; maintaining contact with the reserve forces; providing support to war-affected families; carrying out an effective workforce reduction without jeopardizing the company’s ability to continue operations; and managing workplace tensions.

DELAYED RETIREMENT IN ISRAEL: FACTORS THAT CONTRIBUTE TO THE NEW POLICY SUPPORT

Abstract Policies that defer retirement age are fiscally justifiable, but not unanimously supported by the citizens. Studies in other countries (United Kingdom, Sweden, and Norway) show that occupational environment (feeling unappreciated at work, having a physically demanding job) affects workers’ support for pension reform. Israel is a unique national context for this question because of the high proportion of immigrants who had not spent their working lives in Israel. This study used The Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) Israel (2005-2006) to examine how the current job conditions (having a physically demanding job, having a job that allows workers to develop new skills, receiving support from the supervisors, job satisfaction) affect Israeli workers’ attitudes towards delayed retirement age. The analysis was limited to 482 respondents. The average age of the participants was 64.1 (SD=10.1) years. The participants included veteran Jewish-Israelis, Arab-Israelis, and new immigrants from the former Soviet Union. Nearly 40 percent of the respondents were very interested in working until the new retirement age yet 24.73% were not interested at all. Multiple correlation showed that low job satisfaction, having a physically demanding job, and having a job that does not allow one to develop new skills were associated with low interest in prolonged retirement age. Gender, birthplace, and having adequate support at work were not associated with workers’ support for delayed retirement. These findings indicate that older adults in demanding, low-reward work most strongly oppose extended working life.

Are public sector organizations still relevant for poverty reduction? Frontline workers’ personal resources and the centrality of trust

This study draws on 214 in-depth interviews with frontline Israeli workers providing services in the public sector to investigate whether organizational embeddedness helps individuals living in poverty accumulate resources from public organizations in times of reduced government support. Findings show that public sector workers provide clients with informal, personal resources that allow better coping with poverty. Beyond local, short-term assistance, these personal resources are provided in the hopes of strengthening trust among low-income populations, thereby achieving long-term improved well-being and social inclusion. Findings expose new dimensions in the relations between organizations and their low-income clients, as well as the importance of organizational embeddedness in coping with poverty.

How do high-tech industry remote team employees learn to manage their emotions?

ABSTRACT High-tech employees, need to manage their emotions on a daily basis, given their interactions with culturally different colleagues; nonetheless, they are not given much direction about such issues. Based on interviews with 75 Israeli workers employed by 25 high-tech companies, this study explains the display rules in high-tech organizations and the ways employees learn to manage their emotions. The results indicate that high-tech, global team employees engage regularly in emotional labor with co-workers while experiencing tremendous difficulties. Concurrently, their organizations do not communicate clear and detailed display rules such that the employees tend to learn about emotional labor, either independently via observation of others or via hard-earned experience. In addition to the emotional-rational dichotomy that has been discussed previously, we have identified individualism and personal responsibility as key premises explaining minimal or the absence of explicit display rules, and the ways that individuals learn emotional labor.

The assessment of heavy work investment: Psychometric properties of the WI-10 on a sample of Israeli workers.

Heavy Work Investment (HWI) is a construct that covers both positive and negative behaviors characterized by a high investment of time and energy in working (work engagement and workaholism, respectively). In the literature, it has been introduced, recently, the Work-related Inventory (WI-10) that allows evaluating four types of worker, three of which are HWIs: disengaged workaholics, engaged workaholics, engaged workers, and detached workers. This study aims to validate the Hebrew WI-10 on Israeli workers. We recruited a convenient sample of 459 workers (about half females and half males) with a mean age of 37.12±10.33. We performed Confirmatory Factor Analysis, convergent and divergent validity analyses. Finally, we calculated the cut-off scores corresponding to high and low workaholism and work engagement. We found support for the 10-item (2 filler) and 2-factor structure (Workaholism and Work Engagement) of the WI-10, as well as for its good psychometric properties. The WI-10 may be used in future research aimed at disentangling the question about the positive and adverse effects that might be associated with different types of HWI.

Occupational Welfare in Israel: A Study of Collective Agreements and Benefits

Welfare regimes differ in how they supply social benefits such as pensions, disability allowances, and unemployment funding. In several regimes, the social partners – employee unions and employers’ associations – provide social benefits for workers. These regimes promote occupational welfare. This article aims to study the advantages and limitations of occupational welfare through the case study of Israel – a country in which the social partners promote occupational welfare by means of collective agreements. It examines the ways collective agreements – directly and indirectly – advance occupational welfare in Israel. The research includes a quantitative study of all collective agreements concluded in Israel in the period 1957-2016 and a qualitative study of Israeli collective agreements at the national level. The study shows that although Israel’s social partners lost much of their power during this period, they are still able to promote occupational welfare, and that Israeli social partners promote innovative workplace policies through collective agreements. Several occupational welfare arrangements first introduced in collective agreements were later extended through legislation or extension orders to all Israeli workers. Without collective bargaining, important occupational welfare benefits might have not been introduced. However, state legislation was needed to fix the flaws of these arrangements, including enforcement problems and lack of coverage of the self-employed. Occupational Welfare, Social Welfare, Collective Agreements, Employee Unions, the Social Partners, Pension, Disability Benefits, Minimum Wage, Israel

Does the Cost of Foreign Workers Affect the Wages of Local Agricultural Workers? Evidence from Israel

Modern agriculture often relies on foreign workers. Critics claim that it hinders investments in labor-saving techniques, and leads to unemployment of unskilled native workers. Proponents highlight the contribution of foreign workers to growth, especially in rural areas. This paper investigates whether the inflow foreign workers really affect the demand for local workers in agriculture. We exploit an 8% tax that was assessed on the wages of foreign workers in 2003. If foreign workers are substitutes to local unskilled workers, the demand for local unskilled workers should increase as a result of the tax, and their wages should increase, unless their supply is perfectly elastic. On the other hand, if unskilled workers, foreign or local, are complements to skilled agricultural workers, the demand of the latter should decline, and their wages should decline as well. We found, using a difference-in-difference regression approach, that the wages of local unskilled agricultural workers in Israel increased about 9% following the taxation of foreign worker wages, but the effect is not statistically significant, perhaps because of the small sample size. No changes in wages were found for skilled workers. To conclude, this research provides some support to the hypothesis that there is substitution between foreign workers and local unskilled Israeli workers in agriculture, but this conclusion is not strong enough statistically.

Inhabiting the Self-Work Romantic Utopia: Positive Psychology, Life Coaching, and the Challenge of Self-Fulfillment at Work

Much has been said about the rise of work as a central identity marker in modern society. With the recent popularization of self-help and positive psychology, this identity marker broadened its signification to include new emotional needs such as love and passion, creating a new cultural imaginary: the “self-work romantic utopia.” Sociological studies have criticized this utopia as a myth that serves capitalist neoliberal structures, leading to frustration and self-blame. However, little is known about how workers themselves confront this myth and the strategies they employ when attempting to inhabit it in today’s precarious job market. Based on 60 in-depth interviews with upper-middle class Israeli workers who hired life coaches to improve their work experience, the author identifies five strategies used to inhabit this romantic utopia: starting over, healing, idealization, polygamy, and vision. Through the analysis of these strategies, the author illustrates how even the relatively privileged workers need to adapt the self-work romantic utopia to their life circumstances, inhabiting the myth in partial degrees. Such flexible implementation turns the “myth” into a cultural tool that directs workers’ lives and actions even in a precarious, unstable job market, maintaining subjective experiences of agency in a sphere characterized by growing structural constraints. Yet paradoxically, these strategies eventually strengthen the precarious, noncommitted, and individual-oriented structure of the job market, yielding flexible, individualistic solutions that replace workplace responsibility.

Estimation and development of 10- and 20-year cardiovascular mortality risk models in an industrial male workers database.

We examined the performance of the Framingham Heart Study (FHS) and the European Systematic Coronary Risk Evaluation (SCORE) models for cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality prediction in Israeli industrial workers, and developed and validated new risk prediction models for CVD mortality incidence in the same population. Our database was a longitudinal Israeli industrial cohort (CORDIS cohort) of 4809 adult males followed-up for 22years. Performance of the FHS and the SCORE prediction models was analyzed by insertion of the CORDIS cohort measurements to each model separately. The standard prognostic variables and results obtained from the new refined Cox regression analyses were used to construct two new 10- and 20-year CVD mortality risk scoring systems: a modified FHS model (FHS/Cox) and an omnibus model with Cox regression (Omnibus/Cox). The SCORE model of high-risk and low-risk charts yielded 10-year mortality mean risks of 1.12% and 0.64%, respectively, for male subjects aged>30years. The new FHS/Cox and Omnibus/Cox models generated a mean predictive 10-year risk of 1.12% and 1.50%, respectively. The mean 20-year risk predicted by the new FHS/Cox and the Omnibus/Cox models was 2.66% and 3.75%, respectively. Internal validation of both models demonstrated a high and stable area under the receiver operating characteristic curve>0.85. No significant differences were found between the two models. In conclusion, the CVD mortality risk prediction scoring systems tailored for the Israeli workers population demonstrated good performance. Additional studies to externally validate these algorithms will indicate which of these quantitative risk estimation platforms should be used in specific settings.

Citybook Services, Ltd

One of Israel's most important assets was its relatively highly educated population, which included many native English speakers. The founders of CityBook Services, Ltd., determined that one of the greatest untapped sources of potential workers was the female population of the ultra-Orthodox Haredi community, most of whom did not hold jobs outside the home. By structuring a work environment that met this labor market's unique needs and providing extensive training specific to each task and client, CityBook cultivated the work force necessary to grow rapidly, while retaining those employees. Its main challenge was balancing the needs of its workers and those of its existing and potential clients: Could CityBook continue to expand and still maintain its reputation as a singular employer of Haredim? Excerpt UVA-om-1508 Rev. Mar. 24, 2014 CITYBOOK SERVICES, LTD. CityBook Services, Ltd. (CityBook), was founded in Israel in 2003 by three real estate professionals who owned a title agency in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Founders Joseph I. Rosenbaum, Abish Brodt, and Elliot S. Zaks were looking to outsource title searches and other paralegal work from their agency, and they knew that these specialized tasks necessitated a work force that was highly educated and had a strong facility with the English language. For these and other reasons, they determined that Israel, which had a large population of professionally educated U.S. expatriates and other native English speakers, would be a perfect location for their new venture. The time zone difference between the United States and Israel was also beneficial: attorneys and other clients could place orders during the U.S. workday or evening, Israeli workers could complete the requests while the clients slept, and the finished work could be virtually placed on clients' desks by morning. Founders Rosenbaum, Brodt, and Zaks determined that one of the greatest untapped sources of these educated, English-speaking workers in Israel was the female population of the ultra-Orthodox Jewish Haredi community (plural Haredim). All three founders were themselves Haredi. Male members of the Haredi community were, according to religious custom, charged with intense, daily religious study of Jewish texts. Haredi women typically took care of the household and children and also earned the family income, meaning they had to successfully balance their job hours with significant primary parenting and household-management responsibilities, on top of adhering to other important religious lifestyle customs. By structuring a work environment in accordance with this labor market's unique needs and providing extensive training specific to each task and client, CityBook cultivated the work force necessary to grow rapidly from its initial 8 employees to more than 350 workers in 2013. An astronomical 95% employee retention rate meant that CityBook's significant investment in training and customized client solutions did not walk out the door along with an employee who was moving on, but rather stayed with the company as it grew. Israel and the Haredi Population . . .

Reliability and Validity of the Hebrew Form of the Revised Workaholism Battery (WorkBAT)

The present study assessed the reliability and factorial structure of the Hebrew form of the Revised Workaholism Battery (WorkBAT), and examined the construct validity of its Work Drive and Work Enjoyment scales. The sample consisted of 266 full-time Israeli workers. Exploratory factor analysis produced Work Drive and Work Enjoyment as two distinct factors. Reliability (as internal consistency) of the Hebrew form of the Revised WorkBAT as a whole, as well as of each of its two scales, was found to be adequate. The two scales seemed to have satisfactory construct validity, as follows: Work Drive and Work Enjoyment were positively related to absolute work centrality, thinking about work during non-worktime, emotional involvement in work, work effort, and organizational citizenship behavior. Work Drive was positively related to weekly work hours and work interference with leisure. Work Enjoyment was positively related to job satisfaction and viewing work as compensation for unsatisfactory leisure. On the other hand, it was negatively related to viewing leisure as compensation for negative experiences at work and fatigue. All in all, the present study's findings support the use of the Hebrew form of the Revised WorkBAT.

A Novel Alternative to Environmental Monitoring to Detect Workers at Risk for Beryllium Exposure-Related Health Effects

The purpose of this study was to describe a methodology for surveillance and monitoring of beryllium exposure using biological monitoring to complement environmental monitoring. Eighty-three Israeli dental technicians (mean age 41.6 ± 1.36 years) and 80 American nuclear machining workers (54.9 ± 1.21 years) were enrolled. Biological monitoring was carried out by analyzing particle size (laser technique) and shape (image analysis) in 131/163 (80.3%) induced sputum samples (Dipa Analyser, Donner Tech, Or Aquiva, Israel). Environmental monitoring was carried out only in the United States (Sioutas impactor, SKC, Inc., Eighty Four, Pa.). Pulmonary function testing performance and induced sputum retrieval were done by conventional methods. Sixty-three Israeli workers and 37 American workers were followed up for at least 2 years.Biological monitoring by induced sputum indicated that a >92% accumulation of <5 μm particles correlated significantly to a positive beryllium lymphocyte proliferation test result (OR 3.8, 95% CI 1.2–11.4, p = 0.015) among all participants. Environmental monitoring showed that beryllium particles were <1 μm, and this small fraction (0.1–1 μ) was significantly more highly accumulated in nuclear machining workers compared to dental technicians. The small fractions positively correlated with induced sputum macrophages (r = 0.21 p = 0.01) and negatively correlated with diffusion lung carbon monoxide single breath (DLCO-SB r = 0.180 p = 0.04) in all subjects. Years of exposure were positively correlated to the number of accumulated particles 2–3 μ in diameter (r = 0.2, p = 0.02) and negatively correlated to forced expiratory volume in one second/forced vital capacity findings (r = −0.18, p = 0.02). DLCO was decreased in both groups after two years of monitoring.Biological monitoring is more informative than environmental monitoring in the surveillance and monitoring of workers in beryllium industries. Induced sputum is a feasible and promising biomonitoring method that should be included in the surveillance of exposed workers.

“Do Foreigners Deserve Rights?”—Revisited: The Role of Familiarity and Satisfaction with Foreign Home Care Services

The present study examines the role of familiarity and satisfaction with foreign vs. Israeli home care as predictors of attitudes towards social rights to foreigners. A random stratified sample of home care recipients in the center of Israel was drawn. A total of 388 older adults and 686 family members were interviewed. Of these, 666 relied on foreign home care services, and the remaining sample relied on Israeli home care services. Satisfaction with services was a stronger predictor of one's willingness to grant rights to foreigners among those who employ foreign home care workers than among those who employ Israeli workers. The findings are discussed within the frameworks of the contact theory and in relation to the global trend of foreign home care services to older adults.

A Longitudinal Analysis of Changing Job Quality and Worker Satisfaction in Israel

Prior research has indicated that the nature of work has changed dramatically in recent years in response to economic shifts and an increasingly global economy. This study used non-panel longitudinal data from the International Social Survey Program (Work Orientations I and II: 1989 and 1997—survey questions on job characteristics and job quality) to examine the changing job quality and job satisfaction determinants in Israel, while exploring the country contextual and cultural shifts that impacted this change. Descriptive statistics and regression analysis show that there were many significant changes in the intrinsic and extrinsic job characteristics and perceived job satisfaction of Israeli workers from 1989 to 1997. The study found workers’ job satisfaction impacting firm performance and workers’ well-being. The results affirm the need for firms to be cognizant of differences and unique challenges facing Israeli workers and thus tailor their management philosophy and policies to create an organizational environment mutually beneficial to the firm and the employees. Key words: Job Satisfaction, Work Quality

Occupational Exposure to Solar UVB and Seasonal Monitoring of Serum Levels of 25‐hydroxy Vitamin D3: A Case–Control Study

To characterize the relationship between occupational sun exposure and seasonal variations in serum 25-OH-D3, four consecutive measurements of 25-OH-D3, one per season, were taken in 122 outdoor and 104 indoor Israeli workers. Continuous UVB measurements, taken in Beer Sheva, Israel, provided the average daily standard erythema dose (SED) of ambient solar UVB. The average daily exposure of the outdoor and indoor workers to solar UVB was 4.4+/-1.6 h (4.0-37.6 SED) and 0.9+/-0.5 h (0.6-8.2 SED), respectively. At each season mean 25-OH-D3 were significantly higher among outdoor workers than among indoor workers. Mean 25-OH-D3 increased significantly from spring to autumn in both gender and occupational groups. Adjusting for confounders, high (>median) 25-OH-D3 among males was significantly associated with occupational sun exposure in the autumn (odds ratio [OR] 4.31; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.4-13.3), and among females in the spring (OR 3.35; 95% CI 1.53-7.32). Among this working population optimal vitamin D status (>or=30 ng mL(-1)) was approached only in summer by males working either outdoor or indoor. In the rest of the year 25-OH-D3 ranged between >or=20.0 and 29.0 ng mL(-1). Monitoring 25-OH-D3 may disclose undesirable vitamin D status following reduced sun exposure for skin cancer prevention among outdoor workers.

Values and work environment: Mapping 32 occupations

The study addresses the relationship between values and occupations. Israeli workers (N=652; mean age=47; 43% male) in 32 occupations reported their values using the Portrait Value Questionnaire (Schwartz, Melech, Lehmann, Burgess, Harris, & Owens, 2001), and value scores were aggregated within occupations. Occupations were classified according to the Holland (1985) typology. Enterprising work environments correlated negatively with universalism values. Social environments correlated positively with benevolence and universalism values and negatively with power and achievement. The artistic environment correlated negatively with conformity values. Investigative environments correlated positively with self-direction values and negatively with tradition. A COPLOT analysis of occupational value priorities yielded meaningful clusters of occupations, each characterized by a distinct value profile, and fitting the Holland typology. The findings point to the importance of values in vocational behavior.

State Formation, Ideological Competition, and the Ecology of Israeli Workers' Cooperatives, 1920–1992

We investigate the effect of community-wide political and ideological interests on the failure rate of Israeli workers' cooperatives. Political order may be provided by the state or through membership in a federation. Independently, both conditions should reduce organizational failure, but when they coexist, the influence of the state should dominate due to its comparative advantages as a supplier of order. Organizations that represent rival ideologies cause ideological competition, which should increase failure, while organizations that represent shared ideologies cause ideological mutualism, which should decrease failure. The context of Israeli workers' cooperatives provides a natural laboratory for testing these ideas, as it spans the formation of the Israeli state. It also includes a powerful federation, the Histadrut, to which many cooperatives belonged, as well as significant populations of organizations representing both capitalist and socialist ideologies. The analysis supports all of the above arguments, indicating the relevance of interdependence, broadly defined, for the evolution of organizational populations.

Smoking, diet, and health behaviors among lead-exposed blue-collar workers.

The objectives of the study were to compare dietary intake by smoking levels in blue-collar Israeli workers occupationally exposed to lead and thus identify additional areas for health-enhancing intervention in addition to smoking cessation. One hundred and eighty-seven male industrial employees who were exposed to lead through their work were screened at the worksite to evaluate health status and dietary intake. Smokers had higher intakes of fat, cholesterol, calcium, riboflavin, and vitamin E per day. They were consuming more meat and high-fat dairy products. Dose-response relationships were shown for fat and energy intake by smoking level. Thus, smoking is associated with other adverse health behaviors. When conducting epidemiologic or occupational studies, analyses should include adjustment for the fact that the lifestyles of smokers may also be unhealthy in other ways.

A Structural Analysis of Behavior in Work Situations Shared by Group Members

Abstract Behavior of group members in work situations is often guided by work norms. Traditionally, work norms (entitlement and obligation) and work attitudes (job satisfaction and organizational commitment) have been investigated separately. In the present study, a multifaceted definition of work norms was proposed, and it was suggested that people's work norms are more highly related to organizational commitment than to job satisfaction. Data gathered from 138 Israeli managers and workers were used to examine the construct validity of this definition. An exploratory factor analysis and Guttman's smallest space analysis (SSA) showed that the hypotheses were generally supported. Three facets of the norm definition were verified: norm referents (superiors, co-workers, and the environment), behavior modality (instrumental, affective, and cognitive), and norm type (entitlement and obligation). The work norms were also more highly correlated with organizational commitment than with job satisfaction.

Why Do Workers Join Unions? The Case of Israel

The author argues that because almost all Israeli wage earners were covered by collective agreements in the early 1980s, neither the “collective voice” hypothesis nor the earnings premium hypothesis—the two prevailing explanations of workers' decision to join unions—was then applicable to Israel. Using 1982 survey data on Israeli workers, he examines four alternative explanations of unionization in Israel: non-work benefits; political ideology; social values, especially workers' attitude toward unions as a means for solidarity; and work and demographic attributes, such as employing unit size, gender, ethnicity, education, and age. He finds that Israeli workers' decision to join the Israeli Federation of Labor—the Histadrut—can be explained in part by non-work benefits of the Histadrut (health insurance and legal aid, for example) and by the workers' social values.