Friday is here. The “perkcession” has us thinking about workplace portmanteaus. How about traveling for “bleisure”? If you ever find yourself wearing athleisure on a workcation with your office bromance, you may have hit the portmanteau jackpot.
In today’s edition:
Sexism settlement
Babies at work
Reader poll
—Courtney Vinopal, Sam Blum
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Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
Goldman Sachs recently settled a longstanding gender discrimination class-action lawsuit filed by former employees. In addition to paying $215 million to a class of more than 2,800 former and current women employees as part of the suit, the bank has also agreed to let independent parties audit its pay and performance review systems.
The settlement is a drop in the bucket for Goldman Sachs, which reported $1.5 trillion in total assets at the end of March. Still, it’s a pricey reminder that HR practices can be subject to scrutiny at a high level should they reveal systems that perpetuate bias or discrimination.
A settlement over 10 years in the making. When three former female employees first sued Goldman Sachs in 2010, their complaint alleged men at the bank “are viewed more favorably, receive more compensation, and are more likely to be promoted.” The complaint cited figures detailing the gender makeup of the bank’s management ranks as evidence of this; in 2008, only 14% of Goldman Sachs partners were women.
At nearly all levels of management, the original complaint alleged, the bank had “paid its female professionals less than similarly situated male professionals.” Goldman Sachs’s performance review system was biased, the women suing the bank alleged, pointing to a process where female employees apparently consistently received lower scores than men.
Keep reading.—CV
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Did you know that for every 100 men who are promoted to manager, only 87 women are promoted?
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Register now.
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Francis Scialabba
Some organizations are scrambling to meet the childcare needs of hourly-wage earning workers, who face a growing scarcity of accessible and affordable childcare options.
The dilemma has a sizable impact on the economy, according to an analysis from Ready Nation, which found that the US suffers “$122 billion in lost earnings, productivity, and revenue every year,” due to a lack of childcare resources for working families.
As schools closed and other childcare options diminished during the Covid-19 pandemic, some companies tried to build their own daycare centers. But such offerings are a rarity, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal. Though onsite childcare can be expensive for employers, it can be used to lure and retain talent, Myriah Sweeney, group manager for people and property services at Toyota, told the WSJ. Though it costs the company $15 million to build a daycare facility for around 140 children in more rural areas with manufacturing plants, “We know it’s the right thing to do,” she said.
The childcare industry took a beating during the pandemic, shedding 10% of its total workforce by September 2021. With that in mind, it may be no surprise that some advocates have argued that bridging the childcare gap could present a boon for the broader economy.
Short of solutions. In its report, Ready Nation implored policy makers to intervene in what it called the “infant-toddler care crisis,” writing: “Federal and state policymakers must support evidence-based policies and programs that enhance the availability and affordability of high-quality childcare.”
The Biden administration is making efforts to address the childcare crisis, albeit in a tangential way: The CHIPS and Science Act avails federal funds to companies in the semiconductor and chip manufacturing space, but only if they plan to integrate childcare centers at their facilities.
Hey, you. Yes, YOU. There in the back. Have any thoughts on how HR can ease the burden on working parents of young children? Does your company have daycare facilities? If not, would you like it if your company did? Get in touch via email or in our LinkedIn group.
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The Office/NBCUniversal via Giphy
The RTO game of tug-of-war between employees and leadership has become a saga of carrots and sticks: Some companies have mandated RTO, while others have been more lenient, sometimes giving up old offices in favor of remote setups and regular offsites.
Employees have made it clear they want to have a say: According to a recent Gartner survey of employees across the US, UK, India, and China, 77% said they’d like to participate in creating hybrid work plans at their companies.
We polled HR Brew readers to find out if they’re constructing hybrid plans based on their employees’ feedback. Among respondents, 42% said they sometimes ask for employees’ input, 28% said they let them heavily influence decisions, and the rest said policies are developed with leadership alone.
RTO, slow. A survey of the office landscape shows that current office occupancy has plateaued since its post-pandemic high in February. In fact, as the Wall Street Journal reported, office occupancy has decreased from 49% to 42% over that three-month period, citing data from Scoop Technologies, which monitors workplace strategies. Initial pushback against RTO was pronounced at some larger companies: Employees at Apple, for example, publicly resisted the company’s efforts to mandate RTO, though reports indicate Apple has been tracking employees’ attendance to ensure they come to the office at least three days a week.
Employees hesitant to return might be enjoying the fruits of work-life balance. A recent survey from the Conference Board found that job satisfaction among US workers is at a 36-year high. “You can find happiness doing other things like exercise and hobbies, and spending time with your friends and family. That’s what remote work has allowed you to do. And it’s what flexible schedules allow people to do,” Joshua White, professor of finance at Vanderbilt University, explained to HR Brew.
What about the buildings? Cities with a dearth of commuters relative to pre-pandemic times have seen the value of former office buildings plummet: In San Francisco, tech giants scrambled to find sublessees for office space late last year, and a 22-story building once worth $300 million has been devalued by 80%, the Wall Street Journal reported in April. It’s a similar story in New York, with corporate landlords facing an exodus of office tenants and rising interest rates, according to the New York Times.
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Today’s top HR reads.
Stat: Over half (56%) of US adults believe organizations focusing on DE&I efforts is a good thing. (Pew Research)
Quote: “You do not get your best ideas out of these freewheeling brainstorming sessions…You will do your best creative work by yourself.”—Sheena Iyengar, Columbia Business School professor, discussing a new movement to eschew group ideation sessions at work (the Wall Street Journal)
Read: It’s not all doom and gloom regarding AI in the workplace, and workers needn’t fear the technology’s rise, say some experts. (BBC Worklife)
Learn: As an HR professional, it’s crucial you understand the business top to bottom. And the Brew’s Financial Forecasting course can help you learn all things business budgets. Sign up now.
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The majority of employees want their employers to publicly denounce racism.
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A recession that many have long feared would hit may never actually arrive.
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A new report reveals how high-level executives get big tax breaks on retirement plans.
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The head of the EEOC wants employers to perform a bias check on software used to monitor workers.
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Catch up on the top HR Brew stories from the recent past:
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