This week, Virgin Atlantic announced an update to its gender identity policy and removed the requirement
for its people to wear gendered uniform options.
Effective
immediately, the British airline said employees
can “wear the clothing that expresses how they
identify or present themselves.” In
addition to the policy, the
airline also announced wider
updates including the introduction of optional pronoun badges,
ticketing system amends to allow for passport holders with gender neutral
gender markers to use their gender codes and titles, and
mandatory inclusivity training for staff.
“At
Virgin Atlantic, we believe that everyone can take on the world, no matter who
they are,” Juha Jarvinen, the airline’s chief commercial officer, said in a
statement. “That’s why it’s so important that we enable our people to embrace
their individuality and be their true selves at work. It is for that reason
that we want to allow our people to wear the uniform that best suits them and
how they identify and ensure our customers are addressed by their preferred
pronouns.”
Launched
as part of its “Be Yourself”
agenda, the airline has already
unveiled a series of inclusivity initiatives for its people to ensure they can
truly be themselves at work and feel comfortable in their roles. This latest
addition follows a decision in 2019 to offer cabin crew the choice whether to
wear make-up as well as the option to wear trousers and flat shoes. More
recently, the airline lifted restrictions around
allowing visible tattoos for crew members and its frontline
people.
California Workers Won’t Have to Worry About Off-the-Clock Marijuana Use
According
to the Los Angeles Times, California
Gov. Gavin Newsom recently signed
into law a bill that makes California the seventh state in the U.S. that will not
allow employers to discriminate
against workers who smoke weed “off the job and away from the workplace.” The
law goes into effect Jan. 1, 2024.
The law
prohibits employers from making hiring, firing or other employment decisions
based on a drug test that finds “nonpsychoactive cannabis metabolites” in someone’s hair or
urine, which do not indicate current impairment, but that someone consumed
cannabis recently, up to weeks prior, according to Assembly Bill 2188 that
Assemblymember Bill Quirk (D-Hayward) sponsored.
The
new law provides for exceptions for people working in building and
construction, as well as people applying for or working in roles that require a
federal background clearance.
The
law still allows employers to require drug screening as a condition of
employment, as long as the tests “do not screen for nonpsychoactive
cannabis metabolites.” After the use of cannabis, the chemical compound that
can cause psychoactive effects, tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, becomes a nonpsychoactive
cannabis metabolite, which can remain in the system for weeks. That metabolite
does not indicate current impairment.
Jim
Araby, the director of strategic campaigns for the
United Food and Commercial Workers Local 5, called the new law a “victory for
all workers.”
“No
employee deserves to feel stigmatized and unsafe at work because of an outdated
testing method,” Araby said. “There are much more accurate,
modern-day cannabis testing methods, like oral swabs, that are able to detect
recent use and increase workplace safety.”
Citi Enhances Education Program to Support Employee Career and Financial Mobility
Citi
recently announced it
is
investing in the professional and personal success of its employees through a
new education benefits program, managed in partnership with EdAssist
by Bright Horizons. Citi
has collaborated with Bright Horizons for 30 years to provide its employees with benefits
to support work/life balance.
Available to Citi employees across the U.S., the
new education program builds upon a previous tuition reimbursement offering to
provide more robust education and financial support to those obtaining degrees
or professional certifications. Citi is proactively removing barriers to
education access to ease the financial burden by offering no-cost, fully funded
degrees from five partner schools (CSU Global, University of Maryland Global
Campus, Walden University, Alamo, and Western Governor’s University) and
tuition assistance for bachelor’s, graduate, and certificate programs to
employees. Program participants also have access to success
coaches to support them along the way to encourage degree or certificate
completion.
“At Citi, we are committed to empowering our talent to reach their full potential. By covering upfront tuition costs and removing financial strain, we are giving employees greater opportunity to gain the skills they need to grow their careers,” said Cameron Hedrick, Citi chief learning officer. “This education offering adds to Citi’s extensive set of benefits that support our colleagues personally and professionally.”
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