#6Things: Truck Drivers, Olive Garden and Overtime Pay

Chances are…you know a truck driver

This piece on Atlantic gives phenomenal insight into an industry that rarely gets discussed at the latest conference. Truck drivers, you should know, ensure that all the stuff available at your grocery store, gas station, big box store and department store is…there. We are heavily reliant on truck drivers for pretty much every transaction. So if they’re getting stiffed, we should probably try fixing it:

 

This is the experience of many truckers. They are convinced to work as independent contractors by trucking carriers trying to rid themselves of the financial responsibilities of employers and shift the risk of owning and operating trucks to workers. In the course of 10 years of research on the trucking industry, I met many drivers who had tried their hand at contracting and been wiped out by it, financially and personally. Yet, I continually met new drivers eager to give it a shot.

 

After working on the employer brand and retention program for a large trucking operation, it seems like this is problem that needs to be solved. (The Atlantic)

 

This is some crazy LinkedIn stuff

Sandra McCartt dusted up some, um, dust around “fraudulent postings” happening between ZipRecruiter and LinkedIn. She outlines the story on RecruitingBlogs (after blowing up facebook with her experience) and at first glance, it looks pretty bad. What is really interesting is the sub-conversation around “Part B” of her issue (it starts with a posting she never entered and that is her real beef, but Part B is that she — and other recruiters — are also bent out of shape around the other jobs that ZipRecruiter then sends to applicants, essentially on the recruiter or job poster’s dime). Matt Charney says:

 

“I’m going to stand up for Zip Recruiter here – this isn’t new, and while it’s not the most ethical practice, all they’re doing is scaling what the RHIs and Aeroteks of the world have been doing for decades. Their entire marketing approach has been B2C, which means that they’re actually laying the groundwork for this to be a viable business model by going direct to the hiring managers primarily within the SMB space (and end users like their product, btw) – and it’s far less nefarious than the “HR Tech” companies who do nothing but scrape jobs and make money off PPC margins. It sucks this happened, but I don’t know that being an unnecessary intermediary in the hiring process is really anything except recruiting – with a little rusing thrown in, but still, this is just beating staffing at its own game”.

 

There are various arguments going around about this, but it feels like it has not yet been resolved. (RecruitingBlogs.com)

 

Everybody steals

Wait… what? Well, not everybody but a SHRM article estimated 1 in 38 retail employees were arrested for theft in 2014. Survey results from 25 large retailers also revealed that about $15 billion dollars of total losses were attributed to employee theft. That’s a little more than a third of all reported loss due to theft.

I know all this because Performance I Create ran an article by Keirsten Greggs where she goes into slightly lesser known examples of theft: time, office supplies and pretty much everything in the damn kitchen. Compare and contrast (I guess, or just add to that) Sharlyn Lauby’s Friday Distraction post where she discusses distractions at work and offers up an infographic that delineates them. Check her findings:

 

Employers seem to be anti-technology with social media and the internet ranking in the top five things that hinder productivity. I’m reminded that technology itself isn’t the problem. It’s holding people accountable. If an employee isn’t getting their work done because they spend too much time on the internet, it’s not the internet’s fault. I also thought the “talking with friends” falls into the same category. Having friends at work is a good thing and can enhance employee engagement. It’s about holding employees accountable for getting the work done.

 

What I think is interesting is how we’re looking at these things. As a business owner, I certainly see time wasters as theft, because I know, to the penny, what I spend on payroll. On the other hand, as a manager, I try to build welcome distractions (walks, eatin’ meetin’, quick meet ups) into our days so we have “steam valves”. So…how does HR see it? (Performance I Create)

 

Sign-in to Google

Jeremy Hogan has often said that he knows if someone will be a good hire if they can sign into their google mail application with no issue. Every single person who has had trouble…has had trouble here at Red Branch Media. So he, and all of us who wrestle with technical issues on the regular, loved this article. Read it. Then apologize to your IT guy. (Quartz)

 

The Biggest News in Labor? You KNOW.

Everyone gets more money!! WOOHOO! Just kidding, only people working 60 hours and getting paid for 40. If you are treating your workers like ish, then you’re gonna hate these new regulations. If your team barely cracks the 40 hours per week and still gets more done than an agency twice its size, you’re fine. You can guess which category we’re in 🙂 (ERE)

 

I swear it’s because everyone is on low-carb diets

The Olive Garden (and all its Darden pals) are screwing over workers with pre-paid cards, again. (Think Progress)