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The purpose of this paper is to assess how employees from historically marginalized groups (men and women of color and white women) perceive Fortune’s “100 Best Companies to Work For”® (BCWF) in terms of two outcomes that are related to diversity and inclusion: fairness and camaraderie. The authors focus on fairness as a way to measure perceptions of general treatment with respect to demographic characteristics associated with bias and discrimination, and on camaraderie as a way to measure perceptions of the inclusiveness of coworker relationships.

Hierarchical linear regression models are used to analyze survey responses from 620,802 employees in 1,054 companies that applied for the BCWF list between 2006 and 2011 in the USA. The authors compare the perceptions of employees in firms that are selected for the list to those of their demographic counterparts in firms not selected for the list. The authors also compare the perceptions of employees from historically marginalized groups to those of white men within firms that make the list and examine how these differences compare to the same differences within firms that do not make the list.

The findings reveal that the perceptions of men and women of color and white women in companies that make the “best” list are more positive than their demographic counterparts in companies that do not make the list. The authors also find, however, that the perceptions of employees from historically marginalized groups are more negative than those of white men in the “best” workplaces, and these patterns are similar to those in firms that do not make the list. For perceptions of fairness, the differences between employees from historically marginalized groups and white men are smaller in companies that make the list.

The findings are based on average effect sizes across a large number of companies and employees, and the data do not provide insight into the actual organizational processes that are driving employee perceptions. In addition, the employee survey data are self-reported, and may be subject to recall and self-serving biases. Finally, the authors use measures of fairness and camaraderie that have not been rigorously tested in past research.

Managers seeking to improve experiences of fairness and camaraderie should pay particular attention to how race/ethnicity and gender influence these experiences, and how they do so intersectionally. Attending to these differences is particularly important to the extent that experiences of fairness and camaraderie are related to organizational trust, the key metric on which companies are selected for the “best” workplaces list, and a quality of organizational relationships that previous research has found to be positively related to key individual and firm-level outcomes.

The paper provides the first assessment of demographic variation in the outcomes of employees in companies selected for the BCWF. Since selection to this list is based on the presence of trust, the authors’ findings also provide potential insight into how informal organizational processes that are associated with trust, such as leadership behaviors, peer relationships, and workplace norms, are viewed and experienced by men and women of color and white women. Finally, the authors analyze outcomes relating to camaraderie, a construct that has received little attention in the literature.

Factors for successful workplace health promotion (WHP) are well described in the literature, but often sourced from evaluations of wellness programmes. Less well understood are the features of an organisation that contribute to employee health which are not part of a health promotion programme. The purpose of this paper is to inform policy on best practice principles and provide real life examples of health promotion in regional Victorian workplaces.

Individual case studies were conducted on three organisations, each with a health and wellbeing programme in place. In total, 42 employers and employees participated in a face to face interview. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and the qualitative data were thematically coded.

Employers and senior management had a greater focus on occupational health and safety than employees, who felt that mental/emotional health and happiness were the areas most benefited by a health promoting workplace. An organisational culture which supported the psychosocial needs of the employees emerged as a significant factor in employee's overall wellbeing. Respectful personal relationships, flexible work, supportive management and good communication were some of the key factors identified as creating a health promoting working environment.

Currently in Australia, the main focus of WHP programmes is physical health. Government workplace health policy and funding must expand to include psychosocial factors. Employers will require assistance to understand the benefits to their business of creating environments which support employee's mental and emotional health.

This study took a qualitative approach to an area dominated by quantitative biomedical programme evaluations. It revealed new information about what employees really feel is impacting their health at work.

Organizations ought to provide a congenial workplace for employees, particularly females, to get optimum performance. This study aims to investigate the congeniality of libraries’ human environment for female library and information science professionals (LIPs). Regarding the human environment, the manager’s support, relationship with colleagues and informal communication have been studied.

For this quantitative study, the researchers use a survey research method based on a self-constructed questionnaire. The questionnaire consisted of closed-ended questions, which were used to collect the data; however, the open-ended question entitled comments was also added to take the opinion of respondents. The sampling includes the female LIPs working in the university libraries of Punjab, Pakistan.

The results highlight that female LIPs were satisfied with the human environment at their workplaces. Participants not only appreciated the role and support of their immediate managers in terms of respect, feedback, task allocation and approachability but also recognized the role of colleagues and informal communication (social interaction) in making their workplace congenial and comfortable to work by establishing a positive relationship with supervisors, colleagues or subordinates at the workplace. However, some open-ended comments reveal that females face leg-pulling, favoritism, male colleagues’ indecent behavior and managers’ critical behavior at the workplace.

Because of the sensitivity of the topic and limitedness of an instrument, the respondents might have been hesitant to give real opinions. This study was limited in terms of participants as data was collected only from one province of Pakistan.

Workplaces for females in a male-dominated society like Pakistan impede their commitment to giving their best. Despite an increased number of females in the profession, it is surprising that so little empirical research has been conducted on the topic. Therefore, this study is an excellent addition to the dearth of literature on the subject. The findings may help in sensitizing the management and authorities to control the human environment at workplaces as this study will also bring into light the prevailing working environment for females.

Libraries as a workplace have been studied internationally (Farler and Broady-Preston, 2012; Ocholla, 2002; Oud, 2008). From the local perspective, the only study concerning the workplace issues of libraries is by Yousaf et al. (2013), which was limited to the managerial problems faced by female librarians working at the University of the Punjab. Hence, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study will be one of its nature.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between unions, employee relations and the adoption of high performance work practices (HPWP). Design/methodology/approach – This study uses survey data collected from the senior members of the human resource management (HRM) function in 189 large Australian organisations. Findings – It was found that unions, when coupled with good employee relations, facilitate the adoption of HPWP and consequently have a positive impact on organisational competitiveness, contradicting the simplistic notion that unions are “bad for business”. Research limitations/implications – This study used cross‐sectional survey data from HRM managers, who while being the best single source of information, may have distorted their responses. Further research is required to confirm these results using several data sources collected from a larger sample over more than one time period. Practical implications – This research has implications for Government and organisation approaches to union presence and management in organisations. Social implications – This research contributes to HRM and organisational competitiveness, which has implications for GDP. Originality/value – This paper contributes to the debate on whether the individual and direct voice provided by HPWP is a substitute for union collective voice, with the associated implication that unions are unnecessary and even destructive to organisation competitive advantage.

The purpose of the paper is to provide recommendations for medium- and large-sized workplaces on how to support HIV-positive employees. Supporting HIV-positive workers is an issue of social responsibility and an economic necessity for employers. HIV-positive workers can remain productive and healthy for many years if able to access appropriate HIV management support.

Recent (2000-2010) academic and grey literature on HIV workplace management was reviewed and a qualitative study of nine workers receiving antiretroviral treatment (ART) in Zimbabwe was conducted by the authors. Results from both the literature review and qualitative study were used to develop recommendations.

Carefully considered organizational support is of primary importance in the following areas: workplace HIV policy, voluntary testing and counselling, HIV management, HIV treatment uptake and adherence, day-to-day assistance, peer education, nutrition support, opportunistic infection (OI) monitoring and support to temporary/contract workers. Confidentiality is a key element in achieving positive outcomes in all areas of organizational support for HIV-positive workers.

The paper provides a source of information and concrete advice for workplaces seeking to implement or augment HIV management and support services for their employees. The paper offers vital insight into workplace intervention strategies shown work best for workplaces and employees.

The paper fills a need for comprehensive documentation of strategies for effective HIV management at medium- and large-sized workplaces.

The purpose of this paper is to explore how traditional Jewish sources view workplace relations, with particular attention to how those sources may aid individuals to best meet the challenges of the contemporary organizational world.

This work examines the desired nature of employer‐employee relations via an examination of pertinent Jewish sources from a variety of time‐periods and locations.

Traditional Jewish sources address a wide array of topics associated with the respective obligations and rights of employers and employees at the workplace. These sources allow for an additional way to meet the challenges of a workplace plagued by the lack of trust and common purpose often associated with the contemporary business organization.

The paper provides a conceptual framework through which to understand workplace relations. It presents and explicates various aspects of employer and employee responsibilities, while suggesting possible means by which business leaders can best organize and maintain workplace relations.

There currently exists both an increasing interest in spirituality at the workplace and the acknowledgement that traditional sources may provide important insights into the challenges of contemporary organizations and those who lead them. The paper is the first piece of research addressing how traditional Jewish wisdom can be leveraged to advance on of the most vexing problems in contemporary organizations: the advancement of mutual trust between employer and employee.

The purpose of this study is to describe the success story of a software company, Adobe, in redesigning the workplace environment from cubicles to a connected collaborative workplace, which helped the organization optimize workplace usage. The goals were to design an innovative work environment to optimize the usage of the office portfolio, improve workplace service quality and infrastructure facilities of the portfolio, increase employee productivity, reduce technology costs, engage employees in a better way to enhance employee satisfaction, align workplace design with the brand, mobilize technology and enable a globalized workforce to facilitate higher productivity.

An exploratory research design method was adopted using the purposive sampling technique to collect data through semi-structured interviews with a team of nine property professionals from the operations team responsible for workspace redesign at Adobe in India.

The main observations of the corporate real estate (CRE) manager were on what value parameters drive workplace redesign and how different software companies were creating strategies to manage workplace design or redesign change for optimal use of the organization portfolio. To discuss the CRE strategies of global software leaders, IBM and SAP were pointed out in this case.

The number of interviews were limited. The related parameters for workplace transformation are not necessarily complete. However, the parameters are regarded to include the most important aspects of workplace redesign.

This study provides useful insights into how benchmarking in the workplace transformation function of the CRE industry can be applied to address portfolio-related challenges, divergent employee needs and improve workspace usability following energy-efficient policies. Practitioners can use this study as a guide to develop more effective workspace designs.

This study may guide other firms on successful workspace design initiatives that may overcome many obstacles in the workplace transformation process to have their intended impact on workplace efficiency and employee satisfaction. The case can be used as an inspiration for developing specific user-focused innovative workspace design in practice.

Adopting the theoretical background of the person–environment fit theory, this study adds to the understanding of the operational model of a digitally connected workspace designed as per real estate needs and strategies to manage the CRE portfolio of the company.

The office is considered as a strategic resource that can support knowledge‐based organisations to gain competitive advantage and operational efficiency. Although the modern scholar emphasises the role of user involvement in workplace design and management, there is little evidence showing how it can be linked to occupancy cost performance. The purpose of this paper is to investigate benefits of a user‐centric workplace practice by focusing on working time and space utilisation practice of office users.

A scenario‐based approach was designed to analyse office occupancy cost performance. A questionnaire survey was conducted from a number of UK‐based offices to create three workspace utilisation scenarios, namely, existing, property‐centric and user‐centric. Key comparison criteria include potential areas of savings, potential total cost savings and cost saving per person.

It was found that a user‐centric approach reflects an opportunity to save annual occupancy costs in terms of total costs and cost per person where users indicated how they utilised working time and space. In return, the organisations can gain more productivity from office users who are likely to perform better when they can work in the preferred workplace practice.

By adopting this approach, organisations can understand the occupancy characteristics of the offices from multi perspectives, leading to better management in office premises.

This paper is concerned with the analysis of how to achieve higher office efficiency by focusing on office user's working time and space utilisation practice.

The purpose of this paper is to review the literature and call for additional research into the human, operational, and regulatory issues that contribute to workplace safety in the supply chain.

Following the safety typology of Brown, this paper identifies several potential research opportunities that can increase awareness of the importance of improving a firm's workplace safety practices. To inform the Brown typology, the paper follows the procedures described in Carter et al. and Maloni and Carter to conduct the comprehensive review of the safety literature across six logistics and transportation journals.

This paper identifies 108 articles which inform the Brown typology. The paper reports how the logistics and transportation safety literature has evolved across the human, operational, and regulatory safety domain across the following journals: International Journal of Logistics Management, International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management, Journal of Business Logistics, Journal of Supply Chain Management, Transportation Research Part E, and Transportation Journal. The paper identifies 14 future research opportunities within the workplace safety in the supply chain domain.

The 14 future research opportunities that have been identified can have a positive effect on practitioners confronted with safety issues.

Given the importance of workplace safety, it is important that firms across all echelons of the supply chain improve their safety practices. This paper contributes to the literature and highlights important managerial and public policy concerns on workplace safety performance in the supply chain.