November 15, 2018

Last year, Amazon announced that it would build a second headquarters somewhere in the United States. Known as “HQ2,” the project generated instant interest among dozens of cities that wanted to attract the e-commerce giant to their communities. After all, Amazon said the headquarters would bring in at least 50,000 high-paying tech jobs, which could have a significant economic impact anywhere in the country. Cities then offered generous benefits and tax breaks in an effort to woo the company. While Continue reading

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November 13, 2018

A couple of weeks ago, more than 20,000 Google employees staged a walkout to protest the search giant’s handling of sexual harassment claims. Along with demands to improve the process for reporting harassment, the protesters also called for Google to end forced employee arbitration. This controversial tactic requires staffers to settle any legal disputes out of court, usually through an independent arbitrator rather than a judge and jury.

Critics of the policy say that this system protects serial harassers by Continue reading

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November 6, 2018

Today millions of Americans will head out to vote in the midterm elections, and hopefully you’ll be one of them. Of course, not everyone can easily find time during the day to perform this important civic duty. According to a Pew Research Center survey from 2014, 35 percent of respondents said they were registered to vote but couldn’t make it to the polls due to “work or school conflicts.” In that particular election year, only 37 percent of eligible voters Continue reading

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November 2, 2018

Yesterday, we took a look at the thousands of Marriott employees who are currently striking against the hotel chain for improved wages and better working conditions. Shortly after we published that post, though, another major labor action began to take place at one of the world’s largest companies. Starting early Thursday morning, thousands of Google employees in offices across the globe walked off their jobs to protest the search giant’s handling of sexual assault claims.

A week before the walk Continue reading

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November 1, 2018

With about 6,700 hotels operating under 30 brands in more than a hundred countries, Marriott International is by far the world’s largest hotel chain. Last year the company earned profits totaling $1.37 billion as guests from around the globe checked in and out of properties like Sheraton, Ritz-Carlton, and Westin. Over the last few weeks, however, 23 hotels owned by Marriott have not been operating as usual. That’s because since October 8th the employees at these locations have been on Continue reading

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October 5, 2018

Finding and keeping qualified employees is a constant struggle for companies across the nation. That’s why some businesses require staffers to sign non-compete clauses, which basically prevent them from jumping ship to a competitor. In the fast food industry, though, there’s another type of employment restriction that has long kept workers tied to a single location within a franchise. Called “no poach” policies, these strict guidelines prohibit staffers from switching jobs within a national chain.

For instance, say that a Continue reading

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October 4, 2018

Amazon’s market capitalization recently hit $1 trillion, placing the e-commerce giant on a level of success shared only with Apple. What’s more, last year the company’s revenue topped out at $178 billion, about a 40 percent increase from 2016. These factors allowed CEO Jeff Bezos to claim the title of world’s richest person as his net worth climbed past the $150 billion mark.

According to critics, though, Amazon’s workers have been largely left out of this bonanza of profit. Continue reading

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September 27, 2018

With more than 2 billion monthly active users, Facebook appears to be succeeding in its mission to “bring the world closer together.” But as anyone who has spent time casually scrolling through their news feed knows, not everything posted on the social network is positive and unifying. Along with heated political arguments and unflattering pictures of friends, users can also post violent or offensive content that is far too extreme to be allowed on the site. Fortunately, users can report Continue reading

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September 21, 2018

Depending on which way you look at it, the rise of automated labor in the workplace can serve as either a source of optimism or anxiety. On the pro side of the argument, robotic workers will be highly efficient and more willing to perform monotonous tasks than their human counterparts. Of course, matters of “efficiency” don’t mean much to people who could lose their jobs because of automation. And according to a new study published by the World Economic Forum, Continue reading

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September 11, 2018

When a company releases a notice about a new job opening, it can receive hundreds of responses from potential candidates. And before the detailed portion of the interview process begins, somebody has to call all those people to ask them basic questions about the job and their interest in it. This can be a grueling procedure, as Russian entrepreneurs Alexei Kostarev and Alexander Uraksin know quite well. In 2010 the pair had to screen more than 1,500 candidates over the Continue reading

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