Showing posts with label workforce. Show all posts
Showing posts with label workforce. Show all posts
Friday, September 13, 2024
What could the Future of Organized Labor hold?
What could the Future of Organized Labor hold?
The structure and organization of the labor movement has changed. The tried and true method of organizing labor into unions has not changed in the past several decades. Unions have changed with technology to get their message out, but the message has not changed. The economy of the US has changed. In 1970 about 25% of the US workforce was in manufacturing, which is roughly where it was in 1950. By 2009 it was halved to 11%. The number one industry in 1947 was manufacturing, by 2009 it was number four. Manufacturing and the Finance, Insurance, and Real estate (FIRE) industry have swapped spots with FIRE being the number one industry with 21.4% of the workforce. The FIRE industry is not an industry that is known for unions. Outside of the Government sector, white-collar jobs do not fall under a collective bargaining agreement. Maybe it is time for that to change. Another industry that is just starting to see union involvement in a more public way is the foodservice industry. There are more than 10 million workers in the foodservice industry. Foodservice is a sector with lower-paid workers. In 2019 the number of people working as waiters and waitresses was almost two million, but the average salary was under $18,000 a year. On the other hand, what benefit would organized labor have for these workers? One benefit could be better working conditions, but I am not sure if a substantial increase in pay would be possible. The goal would be to convince the workers that working conditions are worth the fight. Businesses tend to use the argument that union dues are too high and not worth it. In this case, they may have a point. If they need to pay for unions and not receive a raise, they will be paying to possibly get better working conditions. Smaller, more streamlined, collective bargaining units may be better suited to negotiate with these smaller businesses. The two main arguments that unions use are the need to pay dues and that they may oppose restrictions. Collective bargaining incurs a cost, so some level of dues are required.
All eyes are on the Starbucks location in Buffalo that was recently unionized. It will be interesting to see how many details of the contract become publicly available. The first contract that is agreed to with Starbucks may cast the die on what future contracts will be. If Starbucks is able to agree to few concessions, it may not bode well for future unionizing with Starbucks. One of the points that is brought up in Johnson’s article “No longer a tall order: Coffee shops unionize: Breakthrough at Starbucks is latest win for baristas” is, that some of what these workers may want is changes in social policy. If they get this in the contract at the Buffalo Starbucks, and the policy is company-wide, there is one less reason for other locations to unionize. Additionally, if any other concessions are made more wide-spread, it will have the same effect on future unionizing efforts with Starbucks.
Starbucks is not the only national company to face local unionizing efforts. Amazon workers recently voted against unionizing at its plant in Alabama. In Jay Greene's article “Labor board calls for revote on union at Amazon warehouse in Alabama”, he notes that amazon used several tactics that the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) found illegal. The workers will have a second vote. For Amazon, there is much on the line. The company is using the fallacy that with a union, managers and employees can not communicate. They make it sound like day-to-day activities would need to go through a union rep., or that managers and employees could not have social conversations. If this is how union contracts worked, teachers would never speak to a principal. Some teachers I know may wish for a clause like that in their next contract, but that would be unreasonable. If the unions want to discredit this argument, they need to work harder to show how unrealistic it is. The main issue that the NLRB found was that Amazon had placed a mailbox in a location where they (the NRLB and the union) felt caused intimidation for the workers. The same article mentioned that the amazon facility has frequent employee turnover. So, not only does the union need to convince the workers that may have voted against unionizing in the first vote, but they need to convince the new employees. Without interviewing the employees that left since the last vote, it is difficult to say how they voted in the first election. I would say it is fair to say that if the employees enjoyed the status-quo at amazon, they are not likely to leave.
Unions are making headways into two major national companies. If the union is able to get a favorable result from the second Amazon vote in Alabama, there could be major changes throughout the company’s labor force. And the outcome of the first contact with the workers at the Buffalo Starbucks may set the tone for how unions deal with Starbucks.
References
Finance & Insurance, and Real Estate, Rental & leasing. (n.d.). Datausa.Io. Retrieved December 20, 2021, from https://datausa.io/profile/naics/finance-insurance-and-real-estate-rental-leasing
Greene, J. (2021). Labor board calls for revote on union at Amazon warehouse in Alabama. In The Washington Post (Vol. 18). https://www.proquest.com/docview/2604257316/A984FA3F8F604FE0PQ/41?accountid=8067
Johnson, K. (2021, December 17). No longer a tall order: Coffee shops unionize: Breakthrough at Starbucks is latest win for baristas. Boston Globe. https://www.proquest.com/usnews/docview/2610719129/fulltext/D0A33E46E074413CPQ/1?accountid=8067
Restaurants & Food services. (n.d.). Datausa.Io. Retrieved December 20, 2021, from https://datausa.io/profile/naics/restaurants-food-services
The Economist. (2005, September 29). Industrial metamorphosis. Economist (London, England: 1843). https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2005/09/29/industrial-metamorphosis
Thompson, D. (2012, January 26). Where did all the workers go? 60 years of economic change in 1 graph. The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/01/where-did-all-the-workers-go-60-years-of-economic-change-in-1-graph/252018/
WeGotEd [WeGotEd]. (2011, June 15). Target Stores Anti-Union Propaganda. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2j3ZNUxqo9M
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Tuesday, May 3, 2022
Post-Covid World
In the Covid / Post-Covid world, there are many changes. Some of these changes are temporary (hopefully). Others may become permanent. In the workforce / business world some of these changes may be for the better; at least in the long run. I say in the long run because in the short term there are growing pains. Some of these changes may be good for businesses but not for workers. Others will be good for workers and not for businesses. Yet some will benefit both workers and businesses. Only time will tell.
The idea / concept of remote work / telework / work from home is not new. The scale of workers working remotely is new. As of 2022 the amount of workers that work from home has contracted from the peak in 2020. Information Technology plays a large part in how effective telework is. Almost every industry can utilize remote work, but many need to be creative. A plumber can’t work from home, but their support staff can work remotely. All a receptionist needs is a computer and a phone to get service requests from customers and potential customers.
This notional plumber could just say: “use your own computer and we will forward calls to your cell”. This may work as a temporary fix until a functional system can be put in place. The upfront expenses to get a remote worker setup don’t need to be very high. Each company needs to balance what their employees need to complete their work against the cost to get them the tools they need. Proper planning is key.
Let's take two office based businesses in the same field and see how their choices in tools made a difference. Let's start in the spring of 2019. Both companies decide to upgrade their computers and network. Company A decides to get all their employees new Windows 10 desktop computers. They decided that laptops are too expensive, harder to maintain, and need docking systems to work well in an office environment. They decide to replace their aging standalone server with a similar but newer model. They decided that the server will have limited access to the internet; mainly for system updates. They feel that adding VPN access to the server and routing ports to the server leaves it open to security threats. And they decide to just add a few more extensions to the company's hardwired PBX phone system.
Now Company B took a different approach. They noticed that they tended to have several call-outs any time the weather acted up. So, they decided to give their workforce more flexibility and mobility. In the spring of 2019, they also upgraded their systems. They decided to replace the existing desktop computers with laptops and docking stations. To defer costs they decided to do this in stages over the next 18-24 months. The oldest computers were switched out first. They also decided that their server should have VPN access and the ability to remote print. They decided their existing server just needed a memory upgrade and one of the hard drives needed to be replaced, but their server could not easily be upgraded to allow for VPN access. It was decided that a dedicated VPN server would be added to the network. A dedicated device also allowed for greater security. In December of 2019, a large ice storm came through. Even Though they could work remotely, they had a hard time forwarding calls. Right after the new year of 2020, they decided to switch to a VOIP phone system. They carefully chose a system that was not too pricey and had the features they needed. Initially, the expense was mainly the cost of all new VOIP phones. Luckily they were able to find some price-sensitive phones for under $60 each for most employees. The receptionist and some of the owners need more expensive phones. On average the new phones were cheaper than their old PBX phones. And they did not need to maintain their PBX hardware. Because of their careful consideration, their new monthly bill was slightly less than their old phone bill. By late February 2020 they had all the phones replaced, the server was upgraded, the VPN was set up, and 60% of the desktop computers had been replaced with laptops. Then came March.
They say March comes in like a lion and leaves like a lamb. March of 2020 came in like a wrecking ball, and as of 2022 still has not left. In the flurry of march madness, both these companies faced obstacles they never imagined. As the world stood on its head, companies around the world had to figure out a way, or close shop. No company was positioned to ride out the storm right out of the gate. Some companies did find a way to thrive while others faltered. Many of the technology companies found they had more customers almost overnight. App delivery companies found that more and more people choose to have their food (and other essentials) delivered and not leave the house. And these app companies found drivers as the gig economy received an influx of new workers as other parts of the economy collapsed. Restaurants that could no longer serve customers on-premises offered takeout and eventually delivery either with their own staff or with one of these apps. These delivery apps did not offer much help to company A and company B.
Productivity was a main concern with both company A and company B. Company A had a hard time moving forward. They decided to have their employees use their own computers to remote desktop into their work computers. This lead to various problems. The biggest one is security. The company and its IT team had little control over the employees’ personal computers. They also did not have time to make sure all the personal computers had all the security credentials they needed. And each computer was different. That was the second problem. There was no standard. Some employees had personal computers that were similar to the companies. But most had older computers or none at all. It is difficult to do work from a tablet. Some employees chose to purchase computers with their own money. While other employees refused (or were unable to) pay out of pocket for something the company needed. With the decline in business, the company chose to furlough these employees. Not every employee needed to have access to their office phone. But those that did had a major problem. There was almost no way to transfer an individual extension to a cell phone with their existing phone system. They ended up purchasing prepaid cell phones for the receptionists to receive calls and forward them to the other employees’ personal cell phones. This was a disaster; they started losing the few customers they had left.
Company B lost business too, but their productivity was higher. They were able to get most of their employee’s setup from home with some headaches. They scrambled to get laptops to replace the remaining desktops. Unfortunately, supply was down and demand went up because pretty much the whole world was in the same boat. There was not so much price gouging as there was a lack of deals for computer equipment. They did not need the full 40% of the remaining computers right away. Due to related issues with the pandemic some employees took a leave from the company. With the help of government assistance they did not need to lay off or furlough employees. Their new VOIP phone system allowed employees to take calls through an app or website on their computer using a headset or they could forward calls to their cells. They next looked for productivity and workflow tools. Over the next few months, they went through several. With the exception of the loud family member in the background, most of their clients did not even notice a difference. Internally they were issues, but nothing catastrophic. They did need to hire some part-time workers to help with the transition. Mainly digitizing paper documents that were needed. The building management set up strict rules for entering the building. So they decided to have 5 key people go in when needed. It was almost always 1 person in the office at a time. And if the office was visited 3 times a week, that was standard. Sometimes they did not need to go into the office. They just went to the bay door by the mailroom. Called and picked up the mail contactless. And once a week someone would pick up documents from the office and deliver them contactless to one of the new part-time employees who would scan them and upload them to the document management system.
Company A had the same building management company in a different building with the same restrictions. Unfortunately, they had an added issue. Since their employees used remote desktop, if the computer (in the office) locked up, someone would need to go in person to reboot it. This happened about twice a week. The company was too busy dealing with other IT issues that they did not realize (or could not bother with) they did not have a document management system. Each employee kept their files on their own network drive. They did have a great deal of paper documents. Initially what they would do is each day an employee would go into the office, retrieve any documents that were needed, reboot any computers, and deliver the documents to the employee. They would also pick up any documents that the employee was done with to be returned to the office the next day. This was made worse by the fact that several employees lived over an hour away. Sometimes they would meet at a rest stop halfway. This was not productive.
Once restrictions were lifted company A immediately started having employees come back to the office. With required distancing still in place, this meant they needed to redesign the office to meet health regulations and guidelines. Company B had to redesign their workspace too but they decided to only have a reduced staff report back to work. Even though it was not perfect, Company B had a decent work from home workflow. Some employees preferred to be back in the office so for the most part, they were the ones that came back.
Companies around the world need to decide how they are going to handle their workforce. Some companies have discovered that they can have workers operate remotely with a decent amount of productivity. A key part is the tools they decide to invest in. being able to know if an employee is being paid to surf the internet may be of concern. But office employees have found ways to mask their lack of productivity for decades. Additionally, having too many restrictions and policies may restrict the way the employees work. Many companies did not have a reliable way to gauge employee productivity prior to the pandemic, while others had convoluted metrics that employees learn to manipulate.
The idea / concept of remote work / telework / work from home is not new. The scale of workers working remotely is new. As of 2022 the amount of workers that work from home has contracted from the peak in 2020. Information Technology plays a large part in how effective telework is. Almost every industry can utilize remote work, but many need to be creative. A plumber can’t work from home, but their support staff can work remotely. All a receptionist needs is a computer and a phone to get service requests from customers and potential customers.
This notional plumber could just say: “use your own computer and we will forward calls to your cell”. This may work as a temporary fix until a functional system can be put in place. The upfront expenses to get a remote worker setup don’t need to be very high. Each company needs to balance what their employees need to complete their work against the cost to get them the tools they need. Proper planning is key.
Let's take two office based businesses in the same field and see how their choices in tools made a difference. Let's start in the spring of 2019. Both companies decide to upgrade their computers and network. Company A decides to get all their employees new Windows 10 desktop computers. They decided that laptops are too expensive, harder to maintain, and need docking systems to work well in an office environment. They decide to replace their aging standalone server with a similar but newer model. They decided that the server will have limited access to the internet; mainly for system updates. They feel that adding VPN access to the server and routing ports to the server leaves it open to security threats. And they decide to just add a few more extensions to the company's hardwired PBX phone system.
Now Company B took a different approach. They noticed that they tended to have several call-outs any time the weather acted up. So, they decided to give their workforce more flexibility and mobility. In the spring of 2019, they also upgraded their systems. They decided to replace the existing desktop computers with laptops and docking stations. To defer costs they decided to do this in stages over the next 18-24 months. The oldest computers were switched out first. They also decided that their server should have VPN access and the ability to remote print. They decided their existing server just needed a memory upgrade and one of the hard drives needed to be replaced, but their server could not easily be upgraded to allow for VPN access. It was decided that a dedicated VPN server would be added to the network. A dedicated device also allowed for greater security. In December of 2019, a large ice storm came through. Even Though they could work remotely, they had a hard time forwarding calls. Right after the new year of 2020, they decided to switch to a VOIP phone system. They carefully chose a system that was not too pricey and had the features they needed. Initially, the expense was mainly the cost of all new VOIP phones. Luckily they were able to find some price-sensitive phones for under $60 each for most employees. The receptionist and some of the owners need more expensive phones. On average the new phones were cheaper than their old PBX phones. And they did not need to maintain their PBX hardware. Because of their careful consideration, their new monthly bill was slightly less than their old phone bill. By late February 2020 they had all the phones replaced, the server was upgraded, the VPN was set up, and 60% of the desktop computers had been replaced with laptops. Then came March.
They say March comes in like a lion and leaves like a lamb. March of 2020 came in like a wrecking ball, and as of 2022 still has not left. In the flurry of march madness, both these companies faced obstacles they never imagined. As the world stood on its head, companies around the world had to figure out a way, or close shop. No company was positioned to ride out the storm right out of the gate. Some companies did find a way to thrive while others faltered. Many of the technology companies found they had more customers almost overnight. App delivery companies found that more and more people choose to have their food (and other essentials) delivered and not leave the house. And these app companies found drivers as the gig economy received an influx of new workers as other parts of the economy collapsed. Restaurants that could no longer serve customers on-premises offered takeout and eventually delivery either with their own staff or with one of these apps. These delivery apps did not offer much help to company A and company B.
Productivity was a main concern with both company A and company B. Company A had a hard time moving forward. They decided to have their employees use their own computers to remote desktop into their work computers. This lead to various problems. The biggest one is security. The company and its IT team had little control over the employees’ personal computers. They also did not have time to make sure all the personal computers had all the security credentials they needed. And each computer was different. That was the second problem. There was no standard. Some employees had personal computers that were similar to the companies. But most had older computers or none at all. It is difficult to do work from a tablet. Some employees chose to purchase computers with their own money. While other employees refused (or were unable to) pay out of pocket for something the company needed. With the decline in business, the company chose to furlough these employees. Not every employee needed to have access to their office phone. But those that did had a major problem. There was almost no way to transfer an individual extension to a cell phone with their existing phone system. They ended up purchasing prepaid cell phones for the receptionists to receive calls and forward them to the other employees’ personal cell phones. This was a disaster; they started losing the few customers they had left.
Company B lost business too, but their productivity was higher. They were able to get most of their employee’s setup from home with some headaches. They scrambled to get laptops to replace the remaining desktops. Unfortunately, supply was down and demand went up because pretty much the whole world was in the same boat. There was not so much price gouging as there was a lack of deals for computer equipment. They did not need the full 40% of the remaining computers right away. Due to related issues with the pandemic some employees took a leave from the company. With the help of government assistance they did not need to lay off or furlough employees. Their new VOIP phone system allowed employees to take calls through an app or website on their computer using a headset or they could forward calls to their cells. They next looked for productivity and workflow tools. Over the next few months, they went through several. With the exception of the loud family member in the background, most of their clients did not even notice a difference. Internally they were issues, but nothing catastrophic. They did need to hire some part-time workers to help with the transition. Mainly digitizing paper documents that were needed. The building management set up strict rules for entering the building. So they decided to have 5 key people go in when needed. It was almost always 1 person in the office at a time. And if the office was visited 3 times a week, that was standard. Sometimes they did not need to go into the office. They just went to the bay door by the mailroom. Called and picked up the mail contactless. And once a week someone would pick up documents from the office and deliver them contactless to one of the new part-time employees who would scan them and upload them to the document management system.
Company A had the same building management company in a different building with the same restrictions. Unfortunately, they had an added issue. Since their employees used remote desktop, if the computer (in the office) locked up, someone would need to go in person to reboot it. This happened about twice a week. The company was too busy dealing with other IT issues that they did not realize (or could not bother with) they did not have a document management system. Each employee kept their files on their own network drive. They did have a great deal of paper documents. Initially what they would do is each day an employee would go into the office, retrieve any documents that were needed, reboot any computers, and deliver the documents to the employee. They would also pick up any documents that the employee was done with to be returned to the office the next day. This was made worse by the fact that several employees lived over an hour away. Sometimes they would meet at a rest stop halfway. This was not productive.
Once restrictions were lifted company A immediately started having employees come back to the office. With required distancing still in place, this meant they needed to redesign the office to meet health regulations and guidelines. Company B had to redesign their workspace too but they decided to only have a reduced staff report back to work. Even though it was not perfect, Company B had a decent work from home workflow. Some employees preferred to be back in the office so for the most part, they were the ones that came back.
Companies around the world need to decide how they are going to handle their workforce. Some companies have discovered that they can have workers operate remotely with a decent amount of productivity. A key part is the tools they decide to invest in. being able to know if an employee is being paid to surf the internet may be of concern. But office employees have found ways to mask their lack of productivity for decades. Additionally, having too many restrictions and policies may restrict the way the employees work. Many companies did not have a reliable way to gauge employee productivity prior to the pandemic, while others had convoluted metrics that employees learn to manipulate.
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