Excerpts-ICC Newsletter-March 2023
Business News & Trends –
March 2023 Newsletter
Hey Insider Family!
This is our Spring issue and Easter is coming. Get your Easter bonnets and baskets out. The year has been interesting so far with more tech layoffs, threats by the Fed to raise interest rates, 2 bank failures, and maybe a conviction for the 44th President of the US. Fingers and toes crossed! The war in Ukraine still looms on and March Madness thus far seems to be a triumph of the underdogs.
BUSINESS NEWS
Get comfortable, put your feet up, and have a cuppa. Here are some of the latest and most interesting news stories.
The NLRB Voids Nondisclosure Agreements
HR Dive reports The National Labor Relations Board doubled down on its stance that employers violate the law when they offer severance packages that require employees to waive certain National Labor Relations Act rights — and has made clear that its position applies retroactively.
The NLRB issued its decision on Feb. 21, holding that severance agreements cannot offer benefits on the condition that workers forfeit a statutory right. In that case, severance benefits hinged on agreeing to a nondisclosure provision that prohibited talent from “making statements that could disparage or harm the image of the employer, its parent and affiliates, and their officers, directors, employees, agents and representatives,” per the board’s memo.
To be clear, the NLRB affirmed that “simply offering employees a severance agreement that requires them to broadly give up their rights under Section 7 of the Act” violates the NLRA. The employer’s offer itself is a move to bar workers from exercising their rights, NLRB asserted.
GOOD NEWS
From HR Dive:
After reporting success with its Returnship Program in select cities, PepsiCo Beverages, North America will expand the offering to include 12 to 15 positions in supply chain, sales and commercial fields — more than double the number of positions available in 2022, the company announced Jan. 10 .
The program provides returners professional development, networking, and mentor support. Successful participants may also receive a full-time job offer upon completion; 80% of program participants in 2022 accepted such an offer, the announcement said.
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In recent years, returnships have emerged as one way to bring caregivers — especially women who take time off to care for children — back into the workforce. PepsiCo’s program specifically targets women with at least five years of work experience who have taken at least two years off for caregiving.
Various companies , including Amazon, IBM, Microsoft and Schneider Electric , offer some form of returnship, many of them specifically targeting women. Many women were driven out of the workforce during the pandemic amid the closure of day cares and schools, putting immense pressure on caregivers to stay at home.
Microsoft began implementing unlimited paid time off for salaried employees in the U.S. on Monday, a company spokesperson confirmed in an email to HR Dive.
According to an internal memo obtained by The Verge , Microsoft will still offer 10 corporate holidays alongside the unlimited PTO — termed “Discretionary Time Off,” or DTO — as well as leaves of absence; sick and mental health time off; jury duty time off; and bereavement leave. Employees with unused vacation balances from the company’s previous framework will receive a payout in April 2023, The Verge reported.
THE ECONOMY & JOBS
Hybrid Work Here to Stay
Hybrid work appears here to stay, and employers are coming up with a whole new class of catchphrases to promote their flexible-work options. At KPMG, it’s “Flex with Purpose,” while “Amex Flex” plays off that company’s well-known brand. GM tells staff to “Work Appropriately.” Others have loftier aspirations, like the “New Era of Agility” from Stellantis or Accenture’s “Omni-connected.” They’re all illustrative of the ways companies see the plans shaking out—and how hard it is to get them right.
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