- Report: Workers Increasingly Dissatisfied, Job-Searching
- Fed Agencies Receive Guidance to Boost Hiring Experience
- Florida City HR Director Suspended for Improper Bonuses
- Illinois Passes Law Targeting Employer Anti-Union Meetings
- More Employers Offering Flexibility Around Work Hours
- U.K. Report Quantifies Hidden Annual Cost of Worker Illness
- California Approves Indoor Heat Protections for Workers
Report: Workers Increasingly Dissatisfied, Job-Searching
The proportion of American workers who admitted searching for a job in the past four weeks rose to 28.4% from 19.4% one year ago, marking the highest reading since March 2014, according to an Aug. 19 labor market report from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
The New York Fed’s Survey of Consumer Expectations showed the expected likelihood of a U.S. worker moving to a new employer increased to 11.6% in July 2024 from 10.6 percent in July 2023. Year-over-year satisfaction with wage compensation, nonwage benefits and promotion opportunities at respondents’ current jobs fell to 56.7% (down 3.2 percentage points), 56.3% (down 8.6 points) and 44.2% (down 9.3 points), respectively.
Conditional on expecting an offer, the average expected annual salary of job offers in the next four months declined to $65,272 from $67,416 in July 2023, though it remains significantly higher than pre-pandemic levels. The decline was broad-based across age and education groups.
The average reservation wage — the lowest wage respondents said they would be willing to accept for a new job — increased to $81,147 from $78,645 in July 2023, though it is down slightly from a series high of $81,822 in March 2024.
Fed Agencies Receive Guidance to Boost Hiring Experience
The U.S. government’s Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued a joint memorandum Aug. 14 to provide guidance to federal agencies on how to improve the hiring experience for job applicants, managers and HR professionals.
“We aim to continuously improve the federal government’s ability to recruit, hire and retain a diverse and skilled workforce to strengthen the way agencies deliver on their missions for the American people,” OPM acting director Rob Shriver stated in a press release. “This memorandum builds on that success and is a culmination of years of data-driven and innovative thinking about the federal hiring experience.”
The memorandum will provide guidance to federal agencies to:
- Strengthen strategic workforce planning, recruitment, hiring and data analytics.
- Improve the federal applicant experience, including expanding recruitment efforts to bring in diverse skills and experiences, and developing improved application processes that are user-friendly, accessible and efficient for the public.
- Provide hiring managers with tools and training to improve their hiring strategies, processes and internal customer experience.
- Empower HR professionals with innovative actions and hiring strategies that enable them to recruit, retain and advance talent to support agency missions, programs and requirements.
Agencies will be asked to track and share progress on improving the hiring experience and present implementation results to the President’s Management Council. Additionally, OPM will monitor progress through key hiring experience metrics.
Florida City HR Director Suspended for Improper Bonuses
The City of St. Petersburg, Fla., suspended its HR director on Tuesday, Aug. 20, after he approved $250,000 in bonuses for city employees involved in the deal for a new professional baseball stadium, the Tampa Bay Times reported.
Christopher Guella received a five-day suspension without pay one day after Mayor Ken Welch described Guella’s actions as “negligence and inefficiency in the performance of assigned duties.” In addition, Welch announced he has ordered the 17 employees who received bonuses, which ranged from $10,000 to $25,000, to return the payments. Recipients included the city administrator and assistant city administrator, city attorney and assistant city attorney, chief of staff, and development administrator.
Most of the money Guella used for the bonuses came from the city’s general fund, which is supported by tax dollars and used for many of the city’s operating expenses. In most cases, each employee received money budgeted to the department and division they work in.
Illinois Passes Law Targeting Employer Anti-Union Meetings
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker recently signed the “Worker Freedom of Speech Act,” legislation aimed at curtailing a specific practice businesses sometimes use to dissuade workers from forming a union.
When the law takes effect on Jan. 1, 2025, Illinois will become the eighth state to make it illegal for organizations to punish their workers for opting out of a “captive audience” meeting or reward workers for attending one. In such meetings, workers are typically subject to the employer’s views on unionization or other divisive matters.
Under the law, workers may sue their employer if they believe they were unfairly retaliated against for not attending such meetings. Workers may also report their employer to the Illinois Department of Labor, which can levy fines of $1,000 per violation.
Business groups have sued over similar laws in Minnesota and Connecticut, claiming they infringe upon employers’ First Amendment rights.
More Employers Offering Flexibility Around Work Hours
The number of jobs in the United Kingdom offering “a little flexibility” around working hours (whereby workers can start and finish work a little earlier or later, but otherwise work regular hours) more than tripled between June 2024 and the same time last year, according to an August report from digital payments provider Flexa. In June 2023, a quarter of job vacancies advertised “a little flexibility” around working hours. This same benefit was advertised on 79% of job posts last month — an increase of 216%.
During the second quarter of 2024, the number of roles advertising this benefit increased 58% vs. Q1 2024.
U.K. Report Quantifies Hidden Annual Cost of Worker Illness
Workplace sickness is increasingly costing U.K. businesses, according to a new report by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR).
The think tank’s “Healthy Industry, Prosperous Economy” paper revealed the annual hidden cost of employee illness has risen by £30 billion (roughly $39 billion) since 2018. Most of this increased cost (£25 billion) is from lower productivity, with only £5 billion due to a rise in sick days.
Employees now lose the equivalent of 44 days of productivity on average due to working through sickness, up from 35 days in 2018, and lose a further 6.7 days taking sick leave, up from 3.7 days in 2018.
The report showed U.K. workers are among the least likely to take sick days, especially compared to other Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries. However, they are more likely to persevere at work through illness, which can have a productivity cost.
“Too often, U.K. workers are being pressured to work through sickness when that’s not appropriate — harming their wellbeing and reducing productivity,” said IPPR senior research fellow Jamie O’Halloran in a press release announcing the report. “This can be because of a bad workplace culture, poor management, financial insecurity or just weak understanding of long-term conditions among U.K. employers. [The] ‘hidden’ productivity costs of working through sickness should catalyze a change in approach.”
California Approves Indoor Heat Protections for Workers
California’s Office of Administrative Law (OAL) recently approved indoor heat protections for workers in the state.
Cal/OSHA’s Heat Illness Prevention in Indoor Places of Employment regulation applies to most indoor workplaces, such as restaurants, warehouses and manufacturing facilities. For indoor workplaces where the temperature reaches 82 degrees Fahrenheit, employers must take steps to protect workers from heat illness, such as providing water, rest, cool-down areas and training.
For indoor workplaces where the temperature reaches 87 degrees, employers, where feasible, must implement methods to cool the work area, implement work-rest schedules and provide personal heat-protective equipment. These requirements apply at 82 degrees where workers wear clothing that restricts heat removal or work in high-radiant heat areas.
Editor’s Note: Additional Content
For more information and resources related to this article, see the pages below, which offer quick access to all WorldatWork content on these topics:
