More About Disgruntled Workers

Last week we talked about Steven Slater here at the Welcome to the World of HR blog, but obviously he's not the only disgruntled worker out there. Let's take a look at a few other articles:

First we have the other "famous quitter" of this past week, "Jenny" who quit her job via job erase board "leaked" to The Chive. The whole thing ended up being a farce, but Jenny became as big of a cult hero as Slater for a few hours. What does it show when Slater and "Jenny" become "working class heroes"? People are frustrated at their current jobs.

With that in mind, Slate tells us that employers should be glad that candidates won't take their crummy, low-wage jobs, even in a bad economy: "Hiring is a negotiation between employers and employees over the terms at which they'll agree to come to work—wages, benefits, working conditions, length of commute, relocation requirements. Maybe some of these employers just aren't offering terms that are good enough."

TLNT follows by telling us that even people who have jobs aren't ready to settle for those crummy, low-wage jobs and that 40% of workers are going to be ready to find a new job this fall.

Lastly, we have a Wall Street Journal Careers Q&A where someone asks about quitting a job...before they've even started.

The lesson of all this: make sure that your current co-workers and you candidates are, well, "gruntled"

$25 an Hour Jobs

Great post from The New York Times Freakonomics Blog (and a true, but funny ending as well):

Yahoo! recently ran a story entitled “Surprising Jobs that Pay $25 an Hour.” The author writes,

But you don’t necessarily need a post-graduate degree to qualify for a job that pays several hundred dollars a day. While it may be true that helicopter pilots, high-tech administrators, and civil engineers earn $25 an hour or more, so do many other professionals in careers that require only an associate or bachelor’s degree to leap onto the playing field.

The jobs listed are electrical and electronic engineering technician, human resources recruiter, paralegal, respiratory therapist, police officer, advertising sales agent, and interior designer.

One profession that certainly qualifies, but was wrongfully omitted from the list: street prostitute.

One of the jobs on the list as Steven Levitt points out? Human resources recruiter! So there may be money in your job, yet.

Other great Freakonomics posts for HR to read:

• Italian workers who were able to trade overtime
• A look at what has happened to wages in the past 3,000 years.
• Levitt tries to determine the economic value of popularity
• If you give your employees a raise, will they start watching TV in the bathroom?
• Levitt reviews Michael Lewis' NFL book Blind Side and salaries in the NFL
  

Enjoy!

What I'm Hearing...More on Ledbetter

Sent out today by the SHRM Government Affairs department: "Employers should note that it will allow not only aggrieved employees but other 'affected' individuals, including spouses and children, to file a claim, even after the employee has died."

You can read the whole article here: http://messaging.shrm.org/ct/0daBMYp1SRxH/

Pay discrimination is, of course, wrong. This approach to remedying the situation, however, seems to merely open the door to a myriad of lawsuits, many probably without merit.

Wall Street and Astronology

It's Astronology Tuesday (another Super Tuesday)...and while we encourage you to click on the link on the right and check out the newsletter, we have some other articles on our blog this Tuesday...

First from the Wall Street Journal, an article that states that relocation benefits are often negotiable: click here

Next, also from the Journal, some warning to Human Resources that when the job market improves, job hopping will heat up: click here

Lastly, Human Resources Blog, a division of Labor Law Center, has some Q&As about FMLA in small office (click here) and unfair treatment and wage manipulation (click here)=

To Tattle?

The Washington Post, in its "How to Deal" section, has an article that says that when asked to tattle, to tell the truth: click here

The Washington Post follows up with an article that says the rising healthcare costs are cutting into workers wages: click here

Lastly, the New York Times has an article about tension building (and it's almost Monday): click here