Google People and Innovation Lab analyst Jennifer Kurkoski told Manjoo : Middle managers are incredibly important

Image Source :  Wikimedia.org

Photographer – Eugen Nosko for Deutsche Fotothek

************************************************

Business Insider

Life Is Hard For America’s 10.5 Million Middle Managers

Max Nisen Aug. 7, 2013, 2:00 PM 1,838 5

To many people, middle management is a punchline — the physical embodiment of bureaucracy. It’s also a significant part of the economy, accounting for some 10.5 million jobs, and one of the most fraught and difficult positions in corporate America, reports Melissa Korn in The Wall Street Journal.

The piece profiles Michelle Davis, a 36-year-old analytics director at FICO, who finds herself in the classic middle manager limbo.

She has “many duties but little authority, people to please both above and below, and days when her schedule is just barely under her control, filled with meetings or consumed with sudden crises,” Korn writes.

In addition to the lack of autonomy, the career advancement opportunities are poor. Since companies have slimmed down and cut out many management levels, the leap to the next level is frequently very large and hard to accomplish.

Middle managers are also more subject to turf wars, and rarely a prime focus for their companies. That’s despite them being badly needed in order to execute whatever upper management comes up with.

Read More Here

Related articles

• A treatise for middle management
• David B. Grinberg liked David B. Grinberg’s discussion Does Gov Have Too Many Middle Managers?
• In Charts: Why Middle Managers Matter
• Managers Sound Off on Life in the Middle
• The Life of a Middle Manager (In 60 Seconds)
• Starting in the Middle

A software developer was busted for outsourcing his job to a programmer in China while he surfed the Web at work.

Susanna Kim
ABC News

© ABC News

The case was described by Andrew Valentine, a principal with Verizon Enterprise Solutions, who published a blog post about the incident.

“We’ve seen plenty of employee misconduct cases, but not typically like this,” Valentine told ABC News.

Valentine’s team was contacted by another company based in the U.S. for assistance over “anomalous activity” it noticed in records of employees logging remotely into the company’s IT system.

Verizon Enterprise Solutions is not releasing the name of the company or the employee.

The company’s security team eventually found that someone was logging in from Shenyang, China with the American employee’s credentials — while that employee was staring at a computer monitor in his U.S. office.

In his blog, Valentine described the employee as being in his mid-40s with a “relatively long tenure with the company, family man, inoffensive and quiet. Someone you wouldn’t look at twice in an elevator.”

A search of the employee’s computer found hundreds of PDF invoices from a third party contractor/developer from Shenyang.

Eventually, it was discovered that the employee had outsourced his own job to a Chinese consulting firm, paying about $50,000 to the firm out of his salary of several hundred thousand dollars.

 

Read Full Article Here

Related articles

• The zero-hour work week? Star U.S. programmer outsourced his job to China (ctvnews.ca)
• American gives outsourcing a personal touch! (thehindu.com)
• Computer programmer fired for outsourcing his own job to China (siliconrepublic.com)
• Developer outsources his own job to China, watches cat videos instead (cbc.ca)
• How a ‘model’ employee got away with outsourcing his software job to China (talesfromthelou.wordpress.com)
• U.S. software developer caught outsourcing his job to China (sott.net)
• US employee ‘outsourced job to China’ (bbc.co.uk)
• Log audit reveals developer outsourced his job to China (net-security.org)
• Employee Caught Outsourcing His Job (abcnews.go.com)
• US Software Developer Caught Outsourcing His Job to China (whas11.com)

DOJ: Inspectors General Employ 3,501 Workers Who Can Carry Guns/Make Arrests

By Penny Starr

cnsnews.com

(AP Photo)

(CNSNews.com) – The Census of Federal Law Enforcement Officers 2008, published by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistics in June 2012, shows that of the 120,000 full-time law enforcement officers who are authorized to make arrests and carry firearms as federal employees, 3,501 are in the Offices of Inspectors General (OIG).

Overall, “the number of federal officers in the United States increased by 15,000, or 14 percent, between 2004 and 2008,” the report states, adding that  “33 of the 69 statutory federal IG offices employed criminal investigators with arrest and firearm authority in 2008. Overall, these offices employed 3,501 such personnel in the United States in 2008, 12% more than in 2004. IG offices investigate criminal violations. They also prevent and detect fraud, waste, and abuse related to federal programs, oprations and employees.”

In Table 3 of the report, the number of “full-time personnel with arrest and firearm authority” as of September 2008 is broken down by agency, with the U.S. Postal Service’s Office of Inspector General having the most with 508 armed officers. (Report is here: Federal Law Enforcement Officers, 2008.pdf )

Health and Human Services’ OIG is second with 389 – 44 more than the Department of Defense, which has a total of 345 armed officers.

The Department of Treasury is ranked fourth with 302, while the Social Security Administration is fifth (272) followed by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (228).

The OIG at the Department of Homeland Security is 9th, with 157 workers who can pack guns and arrest people through its Office of Inspector General.

Others making the list are the Department of Education (85), the Environmental Protection Agency (40) the U.S. Railroad Retirement Board (16), and the National Science Foundation (6).

 

Read Full Article Here

IRS Warns Employers: Do Not Try to Avoid ObamaCare Insurance Mandate

By Matt Cover

In this March 23, 2010, file photo, President Barack Obama reaches for a pen to sign the health care bill in the East Room of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)

(CNSNews.com) – The Internal Revenue Service warned employers in a new regulatory proposal not to come up with clever schemes to avoid Obamacare’s employer health insurance mandate.

The IRS said it would soon issue “anti-abuse rules” to discourage employers from taking advantage of any regulatory loopholes.

“The Treasury Department and the IRS are aware of various structures being considered under which employers might use temporary staffing agencies (or other staffing agencies)… to evade application of section 4980H [the employer insurance mandate],” the IRS said in a proposed regulatory announcement issued December 28.

The IRS said it would issue a so-called “anti-abuse rule” in an attempt to prevent employers from using temp agencies to circumvent the mandate, essentially writing into law that even though an employer hires temporary workers and therefore is not technically under the mandate’s jurisdiction, the IRS would fine them anyway for not providing health insurance.

“It is anticipated that the final regulations will contain an anti-abuse rule,” the agency said. “Under that anticipated rule, if an individual performs services as an employee of an employer, and also performs the same or similar services for that employer in the individual’s purported employment at a temporary staffing agency or other staffing agency of which the employer is a client, then all the hours of service are attributed to the employer for purposes of applying section 4980H.”

In other words, if an employer hires someone part-time, then uses an employment agency to bring the same person on for a second part-time shift, the IRS will still hold the employer liable under the ObamaCare mandate.

Similarly, IRS said that if an employer hires the same person for two part-time stints by using two different employment agencies, it will hold either the employer or one of the employment agencies liable for the mandate’s penalties.

 

Read Full Article Here

Related articles

• IRS To Employers: Pay ObamaCare ‘Shared Responsibility’ Or Else (forbes.com)
• IRS Warns Employers: Not to try avoiding ObamaCare Insurance Mandate (jtm71.wordpress.com)
• Regulatory Alert: IRS Issues Proposed Rules on Employer Shared Responsibility for Health Insurance Coverage (weblog.sba.gov)
• IRS Issues Proposed Regulations On Employers’ Shared Responsibility For Health Coverage Under ACA (pattidudek.typepad.com)
• IRS Looks to Force Obamacare on Employers Who Cut Staff (lifenews.com)

Despite resistance from some employees, more state hospitals this year are making flu shots mandatory for all workers, and some have even suspended or dismissed a handful who have not complied.

 

Some Hospital Employees Dismissed, Suspended After Refusing Mandatory Flu Shots

 

 BY WILLIAM WEIR, bweir@courant.com

 

This year, 19 of the 29 acute care hospitals in the state require that all employees get flu vaccinations. It’s a sharp increase from last year, when there were only five. State health officials did not name the hospitals.

There has been dissent from some employees.

At Waterbury Hospital, dozens of employees initially refused to get a flu shot, but after being threatened with unpaid suspension and possible dismissal, only two full-time employees had failed to get a vaccination or exemption by Wednesday. They have been suspended.

“There are a few hardcore people who are holding out, and that’s their prerogative,” said Steven Aronin, chief of infectious diseases at Waterbury Hospital. If those employees get the shot, he said, “they can come back immediately.”

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, hospitals that require flu shots for employees had 95 percent compliance, while those that didn’t had vaccination rates of 68 percent.

Religious and medical exemptions are allowed at most hospitals that have mandatory vaccine policies. Employees with a history of adverse reactions to the shot, have certain allergies or have a compromised immune system can get the medical exemption. Religious exemptions vary. Children’s Medical Center requires a note from the person’s spiritual leader, explaining objections to the vaccines. At Hartford Hospital, the employee can write their own note explaining their objections. Those who do get exemptions must wear masks during flu season.

Earlier this year, the Connecticut Hospital Association adopted a statewide policy endorsing mandatory flu vaccination for hospital staff. Nationally, Nancy Foster of the American Hospital Association said more hospitals appear to be implementing mandatory policies. Her organization doesn’t specifically recommend mandatory programs, but noted that hospitals should do what’s necessary to get high vaccination rates.

 

 

Read Full Article Here

 

Related articles

• Fewer than 10 hospital staff refuse mandatory flu shot|Lone union member faces firing (rep-am.com)
• Hospitals make flu shots mandatory (dispatch.com)
• Liberty Hospital Worker Refuses Flu Shot (fox4kc.com)
• 150 Trihealth Employees Fired for Refusing to Take Mandatory Flu Shot (2012thebigpicture.wordpress.com)
• J G Vibes ~ 150 TriHealth Employees Fired For Refusing To Take Mandatory Flu Shot (shiftfrequency.com)

CEO sends letter to employees of Westgate Resorts telling them they’d better think twice about who they vote for, because if Obama is reelected they may lose their jobs.

Politics, Legislation and Economy News

Politics & Economic News  :  Taxation – Hypocrisy – Jobs

CEO Says He’ll Fire Employees if Obama’s Reelected

 

David and Siegel with his wife, Jackie. Photo courtesy of Magnolia Pictures.

David Siegel, the founder and chief executive of Westgate Resorts, a national timeshare company, became famous this year when a documentary movie, The Queen of Versailles, chronicled his effort to build the biggest home in America, a 90,000-square-foot $100 million mansion. Now he’s got a new claim to fame: sending a letter to his employees telling them they’d better think twice about who they vote for, because if Obama is reelected they may lose their jobs. The letter, which Gawker got hold of and prints in full here, begins:

As most of you know our company, Westgate Resorts, has continued to succeed in spite of a very dismal economy. There is no question that the economy has changed for the worse and we have not seen any improvement over the past four years. In spite of all of the challenges we have faced, the good news is this: The economy doesn’t currently pose a threat to your job. What does threaten your job however, is another 4 years of the same Presidential administration. Of course, as your employer, I can’t tell you whom to vote for, and I certainly wouldn’t interfere with your right to vote for whomever you choose. In fact, I encourage you to vote for whomever you think will serve your interests the best.

However, let me share a few facts that might help you decide what is in your best interest. . . .

The Queen of Versailles: One Family’s Shocking Riches to Rags Saga The ForbesWoman Files Contributor

Excess and Abandonment Inside the Subprime Meltdown Steven Rosenbaum Contributor

He goes on to say that the Obama administration and the press “want you to believe that we live in a class system where the rich get richer, the poor get poorer. They label us the ’1%.’ . . . I’m sure many people think that I live a privileged life. However, what you don’t see or hear is the true story behind any success that I have achieved.” He then tells the tale of his self-made success, and continues:

Just think about this – most of you arrive at work in the morning and leave that afternoon and the rest of your time is yours to do as you please. But not me- there is no “off” button for me. When you leave the office, you are done and you have a weekend all to yourself. I unfortunately do not have that freedom. . . .

Now, the economy is falling apart and people like me who made all the right decisions and invested in themselves are being forced to bail out all the people who didn’t. The people that overspent their paychecks suddenly feel entitled to the same luxuries that I earned and sacrificed 42 years of my life for. . . .

He concludes:

So where am I going with all this? It’s quite simple. If any new taxes are levied on me, or my company, as our current President plans, I will have no choice but to reduce the size of this company. . . .

You see, I can no longer support a system that penalizes the productive and gives to the unproductive. My motivation to work and to provide jobs will be destroyed, and with it, so will your opportunities. If that happens, you can find me in the Caribbean sitting on the beach, under a palm tree, retired, and with no employees to worry about.

Signed, your boss,

When Gawker first came up with the letter, some readers thought it must be a fake. But the website reached Siegel, and he was happy to take credit for it. Not complete credit, though. He admitted that he based it rather closely on a chain letter that went around before the 2008 election. He does think he can make a difference, though. He has previously said he was “personally responsible” for George W. Bush’s election in 2000.

Read his full letter here.

Related articles

• Westgate CEO David Siegel threatens layoffs if Obama is re-elected (thegrio.com)
• The CEO Who Built Himself America’s Largest House Just Threatened to Fire His Employees if Obama’s Elected [Updated: Or Not?] [The Rich] (gawker.com)
• Billionaire CEO Threatens To Fire Employees If Obama Wins (thinkprogress.org)
• Florida Billionaire David a Siegel Threatens Employees to Vote for Romney or Be Fired (bonjupatten.com)
• Report: David Siegel tells workers Obama’s reelection could cost jobs (clickorlando.com)
• Super-Rich CEO To Workers: You’re All Fired If Obama Wins (huffingtonpost.com)
• David Siegel and the billionaire’s sad lament (blogs.ajc.com)
• CEO Of Westgate Resorts Threatens Workers With Unemployment If Obama Elected (addictinginfo.org)
• CEO emails employees: Defeat Obama or else (money.cnn.com)
• Rich, White, Republican CEO David Siegel Threatens Layoffs If Obama Elected (truelogic.wordpress.com)

The Full Employment Debate

Politics, Legislation and Economy News

Jobs

Published on Aug 15, 2012 by TheRealNews

Bob Pollin, author of Back to Full Employment, begins a series examining whether full employment is possible and how to get there

Is Full Employment Possible in Capitalism?

Published on Aug 16, 2012 by TheRealNews

Bob Pollin Pt2: There have been periods of unemployment less than 4%, those conditions could be created if there was intent to do so

Full Employment and the Swedish Model

Published on Aug 17, 2012 by TheRealNews

Bob Pollin Pt3: In the quest for a short term solution to the crisis, there is a lot to learn from Swedish social-democracy

Is Full Employment Possible in the Era of Globalization?

Published on Aug 19, 2012 by TheRealNews

Bob Pollin Pt4: The global “army of the unemployed” weakened American labor, but tariffs are not a solution – a mass mobilization is needed

Related articles

• Michal Kalecki, “Political Aspects of Full Employment” (jdeanicite.typepad.com)
• U.S. Unemployment Rate Rises, Underemployment Falling – Gallup (247wallst.com)
• Why Washington Accepts Mass Unemployment (realclearpolitics.com)
• Fed flouts its mandate – and the jobless suffer (theglobeandmail.com)
• What Is the Status of the Real Unemployment Debate? (thedailybell.com)
• STIGLITZ: The Fed Obviously Mismanaged The Economy (businessinsider.com)