From the Toledo Blade | The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration fined Wilson Sporting Goods $37,800 for safety violations at its Ada, Ohio plant known for making the football used in the Super Bowl.
Get the full story: toledoblade.com
Filed under: Work culture
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Registration open for Bike to Work Week
By Julie Wernau | If that bicycle is still in winter storage, The Active Transportation
Alliance wants you to take it out and bike to work.
Registration is open for the Alliance’s annual Bike to Work Week, June
12-18, and about 250 Chicagoland companies — including Bank of America,
Google and United Airlines — have registered to forgo motor vehicles
and public transit in favor of bicycles.
Americans more loyal to soda than company
From Reuters | Most Americans said they are more committed to their favorite television shows, soft drinks and car brands than the company where they work, according to a joint Reuters/Ipsos poll. Respondents said they were most committed to their country, families and doctors.
Get the full story: reuters.com
Chicago office workers: 12 years in an elevator?
By Wailin Wong | Chicago
office workers have spent a collective 12.2 years trapped in an
elevator or waiting for one in the last 12 months, technology company
IBM said in a new survey released today.
One of the questions asked respondents if they’ve gotten stuck in an
elevator in the last 12 months. In Chicago, 15 percent of workers said
they had been trapped, roughly on par with workers in the other cities
covered in the survey. Of that Chicago group, 57 percent reported being
stuck longer than five minutes.
Workers wired to jobs during weekends, vacations
By Kiah Haslett
| More workers feel that staying connected means staying in a job, according to a new survey from InterCall, a conferencing communication company located in Chicago.
Nearly a third of workers feel the need to be connected to work during weekends, vacations and holidays, and a quarter admitted fearing the perception they’re not committed to their jobs if they don’t stay connected to work during their time off.
Muslim woman files McDonald’s EEOC complaint
From the Royal Oak, Mich. Daily Tribune | A Muslim woman filed a complaint with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleging that she was denied the chance for a job at McDonald’s because of her religious head scarf. McDonald’s had no comment on the complaint.
Get the full story: dailytribune.com.
Kraft to Cadbury workers: Pension or pay raise?
From the Financial Times | Kraft Foods has asked about 3,600 people at British confectioner Cadbury Plc to choose between their present pension plan or possible pay increases.
Get the full story: ft.com.
Figuring out if mom can stay home with kids
By Gail MarksJarvis | I was at a gathering the other day and talking to a former lawyer, who told me she is having second thoughts about deciding years ago to stay home to raise her three children. The couple has been saving money for college, but likely not enough for elite schools. And while their children are happy and well adjusted the woman wonders if they made a mistake trying to live on one income.
For many couples, the financial challenges of living on a single income are greater than this family’s. That’s why a worksheet developed by Jean Chatzky, author of “Money 101,” could help a couple trying to decide whether to dare live on one income.
Get the full story: MarksJarvis on Money
Pilots on Prozac can fly as FAA lifts ban
Associated Press | Some pilots taking medication for mild or moderate depression will be
able to fly as early as next week under a new government rule aimed
partly at getting those taking antidepressants to disclose the
treatment.
The new policy, which takes effect Monday, reverses a ban on flying for
pilots taking medications like Prozac. Federal Aviation Administration
officials said the old rule was based on outdated versions of
antidepressants that could cause drowsiness and other side effects.
It’s walk to work day in Chicago
Associated Press | It’s walk to work day in Chicago and for once the weather is cooperating. The Active Transportation Alliance is urging workers to hoof it to the office as a more healthy and environmentally friendly alternative way to commute.
The Chicago-based group set up meet-up sites at several CTA stops to encourage riders to get off and walk the rest of the way to work, or to an 8:30 a.m. rally at Daley Plaza. With temperatures expected to reach into the 70s by afternoon, walking home might not be a bad idea, either.
Obamas to push for workplace flexibility
By Katherine Skiba | President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama will push for flexible workplace policies on Wednesday at a White House forum for business leaders, academics and policy experts.
“Millions of women and men across the country struggle to balance the demands of their jobs and the needs of their families,” the president said in announcing the Forum on Workplace Flexibility.
Several dozen participants are expected, ranging from small-business owners to the leaders of major firms, including the Sara Lee Corp., which is based in Downers Grove, and has 41,000 employees worldwide.
Get the full story: The Swamp
Survey: Sports pools can lift morale at work
By Patricia
Montemurri | Yeah, sure, they’re illegal and make a dent in March productivity, but NCAA office pools are a reality of the workplace — and not bad for morale, according to a survey of human resources professionals.
Many of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament brackets games — 32 of
them to be held Thursday, March 18, and Friday, March 19 — will be
broadcast during office hours, a tempting, money-on-the-line distraction
for those who want to check scores or Web broadcasts.
In 2009, some 45 percent of Americans said they planned to enter a NCAA
pool, according to the MSN Hoops Hysteria survey. A 2009 CareerBuilder
survey of 8,000 workers found that nearly 1 in 5 have entered a March
Madness office pool. Among men, nearly 1 in 4 played the brackets,
compared to 11 percent of women.
CEO turnover hits 17-month high
By Michael Oneal | Chief executives are flying out the door in
the wake of the economic downturn, according to data compiled by
Chicago outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc.
A 17-month high 132 CEOs left their companies nationwide during
February, the survey indicated, 48 percent more than the 89 CEO changes
announced in January and 61 percent higher than the outflow in February
of last year.
Women earn 74% of what men do, report says
Associated Press | Women with children earn almost a third less
than men and still face too many career obstacles, a global trade union
said in a report released Monday.
The persistent imbalance in household chores can hurt women’s careers,
the study of the International Trade Union Confederation concluded.
Women with kids earn on average 68 percent of what men make, and
overall, women make 74 percent of what men bring in, according to the
report.
Survey: 37% of workers have dated a colleague
Survey finds there are a lot of Jim and Pam’s out there having office romances. (Paul Drinkwater/NBC Entertainment)
By Mary Ellen Podmolik | Companies may have taken away expense accounts and overtime but there’s one thing they can’t take away: the office romance.
Some 37 percent of workers said they’ve dated a co-worker at some time
in their careers and 32 percent of people said they eventually married
the person they dated at work, according an annual poll of of 5,200
people by CareerBuilder.
