Unemployment Insurance and Underemployment

Should unemployment insurance (UI) systems provide coverage for underemployed job seekers? Based on a statistical analysis of Norwegian unemployment spells, we conclude that the answer to this question is yes. Allowing insured job seekers to retain partial UI benefits during periods of insufficient part‐time work not only reduces UI expenditures during the part‐time work period, but it also unambiguously reduces the time until a regular self‐supporting job is found. Probable explanations are that even small temporary part‐time jobs provide access to useful vacancy information and that such jobs are used by employers as a screening device when hiring from the unemployment pool.     

12 HRM and Distributed Work

Abstract

The phenomenon of managing work that is distributed over geographical distance is not new but is increasing in both frequency and intentionality as a function of globalization and knowledge-centric strategies. I review the literature on geographically distributed work, both that which highlights liabilities of loss of proximity and more recent research that emphasizes “virtual teams” as an intentional organizing device. I explore the adaptations, remedies, and countervailing strategies deployed to support such teams, contrasting those that minimize distance with those that increase individual and group capacity for coping with distance. I also emphasize that other dimensions of distance—cultural, administrative, and economic—affect the organization of work, the experiences of those doing the work, and individual and organizational outcomes. Here I highlight the “blended workforce” in which standard (traditional employees) and nonstandard (temporary and contract) workers are organized to accomplish interdependent tasks—and again contrast problems of distance with emergent adaptations. Finally, I explore the implications for human resource management (HRM), first considering which HR systems are best suited to work distributed over different types of distance, and then reviewing literature on specific HR practices—selection, training, task/job design, compensation, and performance appraisal. I close by arguing that HRM research must reach beyond its past focus on managing employees within a single firm over a prolonged career under collocated conditions. As the world generates countless new distance-related phenomena, our research must tackle the challenges of managing both standard and non-standard workers engaged in interdependent tasks of limited duration across multiple employers/clients and involving multiple dimensions of distance.     

Attitudes,Expectations and Sharing

Forward Links to Citing Articles

Apology . Labour 19:4 801 .
Online publication date: 16‐Dec‐2005. Abstract. We explore the relationship between performance‐related pay and the attitudes and expectations of a representative sample of British workers. Our results suggest that employees who participate in productivity‐linked bonus schemes, discretionary bonus schemes, share ownership or profit sharing are more optimistic about future employment and pay and are generally more satisfied with their work environment. However, employees participating specifically in profit‐sharing schemes are less likely to work as hard as they can, ceteris paribus. This is an intriguing finding, insinuating as it does that group‐sharing schemes are unable to rout the temptation to free ride and thereby ensure a first best cooperative equilibrium.     

The Role of Profit Sharing in Dual Labour Markets with Flexible Outsourcing

We combine profit sharing for high‐skilled workers and outsourcing of low‐skilled tasks in a partly imperfect dual domestic labour market, which means that only low‐skilled labour is represented by a labour union. In that framework we analyse how the implementation of profit sharing for high‐skilled workers influences the amount of outsourcing and the labour market outcome for low‐skilled worker. By doing this, we use some specific assumptions, e.g. exponentially increasing outsourcing costs or the wage for low‐skilled workers will be determined by a union whereas the wage for high‐skilled workers is given. Assuming that low‐skilled labour and outsourcing are interchangeable we show that profit sharing has a positive effect on the wage for low‐skilled workers and helps to decrease wage dispersion. However, under these circumstances, profit sharing enhances outsourcing. Concerning the employment effects for high‐ and low‐skilled workers, we show that there is an employment reducing effect due to higher wages for low‐skilled work, which can be offset by higher productivity of highly skilled workers, as the domestic labour inputs complement each other.     

Explicit versus Implicit Profit Sharing and the Determination of Wages:

ABSTRACT: This paper considers the claim that explicit profit sharing reduces the marginal cost of labour This is contrasted with the view that implicit profit sharing occurs through wage bargaining Using a microeconomic data set from the UK we find no evidence that the introduction of profit sharing reduces base wages and hence the marginal cost of labour However firm profitability is found to have a positive effect on wages which supports the hypothesis of implicit profit sharing through wage bargaining These findings suggest that it is hard to justify the favourable tax treatment of profit related pay found in the UK     

The Contingent Effects of Role Ambiguity and Role Novelty on Expatriates' Work‐related Outcomes

Research on work stress has highlighted its negative outcomes for both individuals and their employers. Overseas assignments are more stressful than domestic assignments, and their relatively high failure rates are well documented. We suggest, however, that certain types of stress can positively affect expatriate performance. Based on role theory and the distinction between hindrance and challenge stressors, we develop hypotheses regarding the influence of role ambiguity and role novelty on expatriate success. We also conceptualize and empirically investigate the moderating influence of expatriates' perceptions of organizational support and supervisor support. Our hypotheses are tested using a sample of 125 Japanese expatriate managers in Germany. We find that role ambiguity is a hindrance stressor and negatively affects job satisfaction and work adjustment, while role novelty acts as a challenge stressor and positively affects job satisfaction, task performance and work adjustment. Our findings also show that perceived organizational support attenuates the negative effects of role ambiguity on work adjustment and strengthens the positive effect of role novelty on job satisfaction. We also find that supervisor support positively moderates the positive effect of role novelty on job satisfaction and work adjustment.     

Increasing flexibility in shiftwork arrangements

Renewed interest in increasing flexibility in working time arrangements derives from both social and economic changes. The dominant reasons for greater flexibility in shiftwork arrangements relate to diverse business demands resulting from competitive pressures and rapid technological change, modern workers' personal preferences about the timing of work, and the reduction in hours of work. Many new patterns are applied to meet these demands. A review of innovative patterns reveals their close link with shorter working hours and diversifying career needs. Typical patterns include (a) hours averaging schemes, (b) flexible daily hours, (c) individualized free time schemes. (d) flexitime plus shift systems, (e) a combination of full-time and part-time systems, (f) job sharing, (g) temporary transfer to day work, and (h) career break schemes. Attention is drawn to multi-skilling of workers associated with more independent responsibility and closer communication. Changes to a flexible pattern are usually a result of consultations that respond to the conflicting interests of employers and workers. Support is necessary for a process of informed joint planning. Particularly useful are: (1) identification of operational demands and individual preferences about increasing flexibility in work schedules; (2) presentation of available options with information on implications for workers' health and social life; and (3) facilitating training and group consultation. The adjustments required depend greatly on how the tasks of individual workers are reorganized. In increasing the flexibility of shift schedules, it is important to learn from positive experiences of joint optimization of work content and working time arrangements.     

Increasing flexibility in shiftwork arrangements

Abstract

Renewed interest in increasing flexibility in working time arrangements derives from both social and economic changes. The dominant reasons for greater flexibility in shiftwork arrangements relate to diverse business demands resulting from competitive pressures and rapid technological change, modern workers' personal preferences about the timing of work, and the reduction in hours of work. Many new patterns are applied to meet these demands. A review of innovative patterns reveals their close link with shorter working hours and diversifying career needs. Typical patterns include (a) hours averaging schemes, (b) flexible daily hours, (c) individualized free time schemes. (d) flexitime plus shift systems, (e) a combination of full-time and part-time systems, (f) job sharing, (g) temporary transfer to day work, and (h) career break schemes. Attention is drawn to multi-skilling of workers associated with more independent responsibility and closer communication. Changes to a flexible pattern are usually a result of consultations that respond to the conflicting interests of employers and workers. Support is necessary for a process of informed joint planning. Particularly useful are: (1) identification of operational demands and individual preferences about increasing flexibility in work schedules; (2) presentation of available options with information on implications for workers' health and social life; and (3) facilitating training and group consultation. The adjustments required depend greatly on how the tasks of individual workers are reorganized. In increasing the flexibility of shift schedules, it is important to learn from positive experiences of joint optimization of work content and working time arrangements.     

面向供应链协调的利润分享契约及其响应方法研究

针对收入分享契约未能使供应链中的风险在成员企业之间有效分担的情况,提出了一种利润分享契约及其在需求价格弹性变动情况下的响应方法。按照该契约,供应商与零售商之间采用中间产品的单位成本作为结算价格,并在销售期末对供应链系统利润进行适当分配。当需求价格弹性发生变化时,需要调整利润分享契约参数以引导零售商的决策。研究表明,利润分享契约能够协调供应链;对市场需求变化的合理响应,能够促使双方接受新的协调契约,使供应链系统利润始终处于最优水平。仿真实例表明了利润分享契约及其响应方法的有效性。     

Employees’ reactions to customer mistreatment: The moderating role of human resource management practices

This study examined the moderating roles of human resource management (HRM) practices in employees’ reactions to customer mistreatment. Drawing upon the job demands-resources (JD-R) model and stress appraisal theories, this study hypothesised that training and participation could buffer the negative effect of customer mistreatment on service employees’ work outcomes (i.e. emotional exhaustion and job performance). Data were collected from 730 service representatives and their team leaders at two time points. Results showed that customer mistreatment was less positively related to emotional exhaustion in teams where employees were provided with more participation opportunities, and customer mistreatment was less negatively related to performance in teams where employees received more training. The results suggest that different types of HRM practices could effectively buffer the negative impact of customer mistreatment on different work outcomes for service employees. Theoretically, this study extends the customer mistreatment literature by demonstrating the importance of studying HRM practices in the customer mistreatment context, and supports the integration of JD-R model as an overarching framework and stress appraisal theories as an explanatory theory to understand the role of HRM practices. Practically, the findings provide implications to managers in protecting employees from customer-related interpersonal stressors and maintaining a healthy and productive workforce.     

Workplace flexibility and new product development performance: The role of telework and flexible work schedules

This paper investigates the effects of telework and flexible work schedules on the performance of teams in new product development projects. Organizations increasingly introduce workplace flexibility practices that provide flexibility with regard to where or when the employee works. The findings of NPD teams in five cases, situated in two telecommunication firms, show that telework has a positive effect on NPD performance through enabling knowledge sharing, cross-functional cooperation and inter-organizational involvement. This improves the speed and quality of product development, provided that face-to-face contact is not completely replaced by virtual contact. A basic level of face-to face contact is necessary to offset the negative effects of telework on the quality of the shared knowledge, which are larger when the knowledge is sticky. Flexible work schedules and unexpectedly hot-desking were found to increase telework usage. This implies for managers that workplace flexibility needs enablers and cannot do without a sufficient level of face-to-face contact.     

A systematic literature review of the relationship between work hours and sickness absence

The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between work hours and sickness absence: is a higher number of work hours associated with better or with adverse health? A systematic literature review was performed by searching Medline, PsychInfo, and Web of Science. All abstracts were screened to identify papers that empirically investigated the relationship between work hours and sickness absence in a working population. A total of 1072 papers were identified, and 70 papers were included in this review. A simple measure of the strength of effects was applied, and the findings are summarised in narrative form. Evidence supporting a relationship between sickness absence and working part-time or work hours as a continuous variable was inconclusive. These inconclusive findings might be due to heterogeneity in the operationalisation of key variables or to publication bias. Support for a negative relationship between long work hours and sickness absence was moderately strong. Possible explanations for this include the healthy worker selection effect, differences in job characteristics, and differences in job motivation. Empirical testing of these explanations, however, has been limited. Our findings indicate that employers should monitor employee health in times of high work pressure, even if sickness absence is low.     

A STRATEGY FOR RISK REDUCTION IN INCENTIVE CONTRACTING*

An important question with respect to government incentive contracts that has received little attention is: What alternatives to the current practice of making single-stage choices of incentive sharing rates can lead to situations in which these sharing rates can be chosen under reduced risk or cost uncertainty? This paper provides a decision-theoretic framework that illustrates a possibility of reducing risk, from the viewpoints of both the contracting parties, given some negotiated estimate of costs to be incurred. It is shown that such a possibility can arise in a situation in which it is technically feasible to separate or partition the contractual work into closely related tasks or units. Specifically, it is demonstrated that for a given cost estimate (target cost) and target profit, a set of optimal sharing rates (one for each unit) yields a higher risk-adjusted value of the contract than the single-stage sharing rate for the entire contract.     

Wage Bargaining with On‐the‐Job Search: Theory and Evidence

Most applications of Nash bargaining over wages ignore between‐employer competition for labor services and attribute all of the workers' rent to their bargaining power. In this paper, we write and estimate an equilibrium model with strategic wage bargaining and on‐the‐job search and use it to take another look at the determinants of wages in France. There are three essential determinants of wages in our model: productivity, competition between employers resulting from on‐the‐job search, and the workers' bargaining power. We find that between‐firm competition matters a lot in the determination of wages, because it is quantitatively more important than wage bargaining à la Nash in raising wages above the workers' “reservation wages,” defined as out‐of‐work income. In particular, we detect no significant bargaining power for intermediate‐ and low‐skilled workers, and a modestly positive bargaining power for high‐skilled workers.     

基于投资溢出的研发联盟成员投资策略研究

降低投机风险,提高联盟成员的资源投入量,是决定研发联盟能否成功的关键因素之一。论文研究了存在投资溢出时,并行研发联盟和集中研发联盟中联盟成员在平均分配和按投入比例分配收益方式下的投资策略,并分析了投资溢出、联盟结构和利益分配方式对联盟成员投资策略的影响。研究表明,投资溢出能降低投机风险,提高联盟成员资源投入量;市场收益较小时,集中研发联盟优于并行研发联盟,按投入比例分配优于平分收益;市场收益较大时,联盟结构和利益分配方式对联盟成员投资策略无影响,联盟应采取平分收益这种简单分配方式,以促进合作研发的成功。     

Flexible Work Arrangements and Intentions of Unemployed Women in Cyprus: A Planned Behaviour Model

Drawing from the theory of planned behaviour, we use 18 focus groups with 113 unemployed women and 150 mail questionnaires to explore whether and how unemployed Cypriot women's subjective norms, attitudes, perceived behavioural control and job versus career aspirations influence their intentions to adopt employee‐ and employer‐driven flexible work arrangements. To analyse the information gathered, we used a combination of content analysis, an external panel of practitioners and academics, principal components analysis, and regressions. Results show that women's positive attitudes towards child‐caring and self‐enhancement and their subjective norms of organizational inflexibility were positively related mainly with intentions to adopt employee‐driven flexible work arrangements. Further, women who found childcare support and employer requirements limiting were more interested in telework; the latter were also more interested in temporary work. Finally, women's career aspirations were related with weekend work and telework, whilst their job aspirations were associated with temporary work. Results raise issues for employers and policy‐makers in Cyprus, and possibly other southern European countries facing similar challenges, in supporting women to become fully integrated in the labour market.     

Minimum Wages as a Barrier to Entry: Evidence from Germany

This study analyses employers' support for the introduction of industry‐specific minimum wages as a cost‐raising strategy in order to deter market entry. Using a unique data set consisting of 800 firms in the German service sector, we show that high‐productivity employers support minimum wages. We further find some evidence that minimum wage support is higher in industries and regions with low barriers to entry. This is particularly the case in East Germany, where the perceived threat of low‐wage competition from Central and Eastern European countries is relatively high. In addition, firms paying collectively agreed wages are more strongly in favour of minimum wages.     

碳信息不对称下的供应链谎报决策与协调研究

低碳环境下,供应链上下游企业之间面临碳排放量及碳价格信息不对称带来的风险。针对该问题,文章在碳交易环境下,基于"基准法"的碳配额分配机制,构建以制造商为主导的两级供应链模型,在碳信息不对称下分析供应链成员的谎报行为及其对供应链绩效的影响,研究表明,若制造商拥有碳信息优势并在满足最优谎报方程的前提下采取谎报行动,制造商的利润没有得到实质的提升,且其谎报决策并不对供应链绩效产生影响;而当零售商拥有碳信息优势时,一定会为了提高自身利润而谎报碳信息,且在最优谎报方程下能提高零售商及供应链总利润,同时降低制造商的利润,但该谎报行为不能使供应链绩效达到最优。针对零售商的谎报行为,文章采用收益共享契约进行协调,使供应链绩效达到最优,并验证了该契约对激励零售商真实反馈碳信息的有效性。     

多晶硅光伏供应链的竞争、合作与协调

论文研究了多晶硅光伏供应链的竞争、合作与协调,研究结果表明:(1)PSM相互合作情形的利润高于PSM相互竞争的利润;(2)PM在PSM相互竞争情形下的利润高于在PSM相互合作情形下的利润;(3)供应链渠道在PSM相互竞争情形下的总利润高于在PSM相互合作情形下的总利润;(4)相比于竞争、合作情形,采取一种改进的收入分享契约协调机制可以有效地提高供应链渠道总体的利润,同时每个PSM以及PM的利润都有较大的提高。因此,建议多晶硅光伏供应链上游PM和下游PSM协同合作,建立上下游的利润分配协调机制,从而有效提高多晶硅光伏供应链整体的绩效。     

Employability skills: Profiling data scientists in the digital labour market

In the current scenario, data scientists are expected to make sense of vast stores of big data, which are becoming increasingly complex and heterogeneous in nature. In the context of today's rapid technological development and its application in a growing array of fields, this role is evolving simultaneously. The present study provides an insight into the current expectations of employers seeking to hire individuals with this job title. It is argued that gaining a better understanding of data scientists’ employability criteria and the evolution of this professional role is crucial. The focus is placed on the desired prerequisites articulated through job advertisements, thus deriving relevant means for furthering theory and practice. It was achieved by harvesting relevant data from job advertisements published on US employment websites, which currently attract the US market's highest recruitment traffic. The key contribution of this study is to have identified means of systematically mapping skills, experience, and qualifications sought by employers for their data scientists, thus providing a data-driven pathway for employability and avoiding skills gaps and mismatches in a profession that is pivotal in the Industry 4.0.