Search results

This paper analyses the effect of a particular Active Labour Market Policy, the hiring incentives, on firms hiring policies. The effects of a programme on firms' behaviour have in fact rarely been evaluated.

The analysis is based on micro-data drawn from Rilevazione su Imprese Lavoro (RIL), conducted by Inapp in 2010, 2015 and 2018 on a representative sample of limited liability and partnership firms. The authors apply a policy evaluation framework to investigate the impact of the use of incentives in the short run. The authors infer the counterfactual policy scenario thanks to a survey question that asks about firms' behaviour in the absence of the incentives. The authors also control for firms' unobserved heterogeneity, including firm's fixed effects, and endogeneity issues, estimating a differences-in-differences model that exploit the longitudinal component of the RIL survey.

The authors find that the use of at least one incentive scheme in 2017 is associated with an increase in the share of newly hired of about 0.07 percentage point in the short run. Moreover, hiring incentives have a small positive relationship with the share of both young workers and temporary contracts. Finally, these results are robust to endogeneity issues.

The analysis provides an updated evaluation of the effectiveness of hiring incentives in Italy by focusing on firms' behaviour rather than on the evolution of individual employment. It identifies the impact by using a rich set of econometric methods as well as counterfactual analysis.

Labor force transitions are empirically examined using Current Population Survey (CPS) data matched across months from 1996 to 2012 for Hispanics, African-Americans, and whites. Transition probabilities are contrasted prior to the Great Recession and afterward. Estimates indicate that minorities are more likely to be fired as business cycle conditions worsen. Estimates also show that minorities are usually more likely to be hired when business cycle conditions are weak. During the Great Recession, the odds of losing a job increased for minorities although cyclical sensitivity of the transition declined. Odds of becoming re-employed declined dramatically for blacks, by 2–4%, while the probability was unchanged for Hispanics.

The objective of this paper was to identify and analyze barriers to hiring persons with disabilities from the perspective of employers and persons with disabilities.

A scoping review was used to evaluate both evidence and grey literature. An integrative analysis was employed to explicate the most salient macro and meso level barriers that limit the hiring of persons with disabilities.

A total of 38 articles from 6,480 evidence literature and 19 documents from grey literature were included in data extraction. Barriers included: negative attitudes in society, by employers and coworkers (macro and meso); workplace barriers (meso) were about lack of employer knowledge of performance skill and capacity of persons with disabilities, and the lack of awareness of disability and the management of disability-related issues in hiring and retention; and service delivery system barriers (macro) were focused on the lack of integration of services and policies to promote hiring and retention.

Knowledge gained furthers the understanding of the breadth of social, workplace and service delivery system obstacles that restrict the entry into the labor marker for persons with disabilities.

Barriers to employment for persons with disabilities at the macro and meso level are evident in the literature and they remain persistent over time despite best efforts to promote inclusion. Findings in this review point to the need for more specific critical research on the persistence of social, workplace and service delivery system barriers as well as the need for pragmatic approaches to change through partnering and development of targeted information to support employers in hiring and employing persons with disabilities.

The article aims to provide a discussion of societal norms concerning “attractiveness,” the existence of appearance discrimination in employment, the presence of “preferring the pretty”, and then the authors examine important civil rights laws that relate to such forms of discrimination. Finally, the authors apply ethical theories to determine whether such discrimination can be seen as moral or immoral.

It is a legal paper which covers all the laws related to discrimination based on look. Court cases and Americans laws related to this concept are reviewed and critically discussed.

The paper finds that appearance‐based discrimination is not illegal in the USA so long as it does not violate civil rights laws.

This research is limited to Federal and State laws in the USA and may not be relevant in other countries as the local laws might vary.

Managers and employees can protect themselves in the workplace from illegal discriminatory practices.

Employees know their rights and enhance their understanding of laws related to appearance, attractiveness, and why companies look to hire those who are considered “handsome”, “pretty” and “beautiful”.

This is an original and comprehensive paper by the authors.

The purpose of this article is to show the importance of pre‐employment screening for hospitals. Pre‐employment screening in the hiring process is a must for hospitals, especially in the health care industry, where financial damages and lawsuits for hospitals recently increased because of negligent hiring. The information in this article is based on books about human resources in the health care industry, journals about medicine and law, and mostly articles from outsourced screening firms that provide service in the health care field. The scope of the article is to show the effectiveness of employee screening for hospitals in order to prevent or minimise lawsuits because of negligent hiring. Based on information about the benefits of employment screening in the health care industry, it is important for hospitals to implement “due diligence” by including screening programmes in their hiring process. The screening process can be done in‐house or be delegated to outside service providers that match the criteria. It is better to outsource these tasks so that hospitals can focus on other human resources tasks such as managing their employees to improve services for their visitors or customers.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the management of agency workers in Australia and, in particular, to identify the challenges presented to HRM by agency work.

After briefly reviewing the data on the incidence and growth of agency work in Australia, this paper examines the role of agency work in Australia from the perspective of the industry. Then it reviews both the evidence concerning the reasons for client organisations using agency workers and the attitudes of agency workers to their work. The paper concludes by assessing the implications of these findings for both for HR managers and HRM in general.

When the attitudes and preferences of agency workers are compared with those of direct employees it is found that agency workers are no more satisfied with their level of flexibility than direct workers and are in fact less satisfied with their job security, skill utilization and development, pay, autonomy and influence at work. Given these findings, it is argued that agency work may be incompatible with HR strategies that are based on high performance work practices.

This article gives helpful advice to HR managers in any organization that are in the market for agency workers.

Workplace violence has become a national issue in recent years. Statistics have shown an alarming trend of workers injuring or killing other workers. Amid this chaos, a new legal concept is emerging called “negligent hiring”. This law requires employers to thoroughly investigate the background of job applicants to determine if candidates have propensity for violence. Employers are negligent if they fail to follow this requirement. Nevertheless, as a law, negligent hiring is flawed. In substance, it is vague and broad, and in application, it lacks the flexibility to adopt into dynamic of the employment market. Compounding this deficiency are the judges’ lack of concern for the unintended impact of their rulings. These two problems could mean that the law of negligent hiring itself could become a public issue if not addressed by the courts in the near future.

While the words diversity, disparate impact, and discrimination are commonly read and heard by working adults and professionals, they can at times be confusing and fearful to some managers. The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of a specific aspect of US civil rights laws – the disparate impact theory. The authors provide an analysis based on the statute, case law interpreting, and applying the statute, administrative guidelines from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, as well as legal and management commentary. The paper illustrates the requirements of a plaintiff employee’s initial case based on the disparate impact theory. The challenging causation component which requires some degree of statistical evidence is given particular attention. Limitations to the paper are stated at the beginning; and recommendations to managers are explored and provided toward the end of the paper.

It is a legal paper which covers all the laws related to discrimination based on disparate impact and disparate treatment theories. Actual court cases up until this month and Americans laws related to this concept are reviewed and critically discussed.

The salient feature of disparate impact is that this legal theory allows a plaintiff job applicant or employee to sustain a case of illegal discrimination without providing any evidence of a discriminatory motive. As opposed to the disparate treatment liability is imposed based on disproportionate adverse results and not discriminatory intent.

This paper deals with the disparate impact theory pursuant to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. However, it must be pointed out that the disparate impact theory is also applicable to claims arising under the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act. Since the focus of this paper is Title VII federal and state constitutional issues, such as the applicability of the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection clause that may arise in disparate impact cases involving government entities will not be addressed.

Managers and employees can protect themselves in the workplace from illegal discriminatory practices. Initially, employers and managers must be aware of the distinction between a disparate impact case and a disparate treatment case with the latter requiring evidence of intentional discrimination. Evidence, of course, can be direct or circumstantial or inferential. Whereas in a disparate impact case there is no intentional discrimination; and as such proof of discriminatory intent is not required. Rather, the employee has to present evidence that the employer’s neutral on-its-face employment policy or practice caused an adverse disproportionate impact on the employee as a member of a protected class.

Human resources professionals and managers must become educated in diversity laws in order to provide an inclusive workplace for all employees and candidates. Employers have legitimate areas of concern in hiring and promoting employees; and the courts are cognizant of employer responsibilities; and thus the employers must be able to show how specific knowledge, skills, education, training, backgrounds, as well as height, weight, strength, and dexterity are legitimate qualifications that directly relate to successful job performance.

This is an original paper by the authors.

The purpose of the paper is to report on an in‐depth study of “pay‐rolling” agencies. Pay‐rolling agencies are a particular form of employment intermediaries through which employers attempt to bypass statutory obligations concerning workers' benefit entitlements and trade union rights, simply by paying workers through an agency. The paper was prompted by the growing amount of anecdotal evidence suggesting proliferation of pay‐rolling agency systems in Pakistan.

The paper involved a total of 97 interviews were undertaken in six case studies across three industrial sectors with employees, employers, agency and union officials and industry specialists.

Findings revealed sufficient evidence on the use of pay‐rolling agencies. The results confirmed the anecdotal evidence that some employment agencies are not truly genuine. The evidence suggested that there is a growing trend for agencies to be simply a sham arrangement, refuting the notion that temporary agency work has only been a natural and inevitable response to changes in the economy.

The paper furthers the understanding of the motives and characteristics of agency employment beyond the conventional model of genuine agency work.

The formal and informal regulation of employees' appearance is a routine component of organizational life. In our research, we analyze appearance-related employment discrimination lawsuits. These cases involve organizational dress codes, grooming policies, and employers' attempts to regulate employees' appearance with regard to weight, hairstyles, religious attire, body art, and more. Men and women who refuse to comply with appearance norms face termination of their employment, promotion denials, lower wages, transfers, not being hired in the first place, and other workplace sanctions. Our focus on court deliberations and decisions allows us to explore not only the gendered nature of appearance policies themselves but also how the legal system supports, reinforces, codifies, or, conversely, deems unacceptable such policies. Our data demonstrate that organizations and courts are likely to support appearance norms that reinforce traditional ideas about femininity and masculinity.