By Muriel Spark

Дата добавления: 2015-09-15; просмотров: 478

Improving the balance between the working part of the day and the rest of it is a goal of a growing number of workers in rich Western countries. Some are turning away from the ideals of their parents, for whom work always came first; others with scarce skills are demanding more because they know they can get it. Employers, caught between a falling population of workers and tight controls on immigration, are eager to identify extra perks that will lure more “talent” their way. (1) … .

Some companies saw the change of mood some time ago. IBM has more than 50 different programs promoting working balance and Bank of America over 30. (2) … .

The chief component of almost all schemes to promote work-life balance is flexible working. This allows people to escape rigid nine-to-five schedules and work away from a formal office. IBM says that 40% of its employees today work off the company premises. (3) … . Globalization has spread the hours in which workers need to communicate with each other and increased the call for flexible shifts. The spread of flexible work has come about at least partly as a result of initiatives to keep women workers. Companies have had to offer extended periods of leave for them to look after dependents (young and old), and flexible working in between.

Some of these initiatives are spreading even to the citadels of binge working, such as investment banks. Lehman Brothers has just launched a program called “Encore” which is aimed at easing back into the industry people who have spent time out of it (which means mostly women). (4) … The majority will inevitably be mothers wanting to rejoin the workforce. But fathers are also asking for sabbaticals. Working balance “is not just a women’s issue” any more, says Ted Childs, who is in charge of human resources department at IBM. “Men, too, are very concerned about it.”

The demand is being stoked by the “Generation Y”, the under-28s. They look skeptically at the idea of lifetime employment within a single organization and they are wary of the commitment they believe too often drove their parents to the divorce courts. Today’s business-school graduates are looking for a work style to go with their lifestyle, not the other way round. (5) … .

To some extent, the proliferation of work-life balance schemes is a function of today’s labour market. Companies in knowledge-based industries worry about the shortage of skills and how they are going to persuade talented people to work for them. Although white-collar workers are more likely to be laid off, they are also likely to get rehired. (6) … . The same competition for talent is evident in Britain.

Europeans suggest that the reason why so many work-life initiatives come first from America is that American firms have more scope for improvement. Paid holidays there, for instance, are considerably shorter than in Europe. Flexible working and the occasional sabbaticals may be the local alternative to Europe’s longer annual leave.

The introduction of flexible working, of itself, gives no guarantee that employees’ work-life balance will improve. The same technology that enables them to work flexibly from home also prevents them from ever leaving their office. (7) … . At the same time, young skilled workers increasingly write their own terms of employment. In such a labour market, where short-term contracts are the norm, corporate schemes to improve the balance of employees’ lives can become a side-show.

Some argue that in the not-too-long term, the desire of global firms to entice the West’s educated elite may disappear in a flash of enthusiasm for the graduates of India’s and China’s education systems. Even today, less than one in five of the world’s university graduates are white men. However, Liz Ramos, the partner at Bain & Company in charge of human capital, says that though employers are looking to India, it will be a while before India’s business schools produce graduates comparable to those from Europe and America.

(From ‘The Economist’, abridged)

V Read the article again, find the following words and word combinations in the text and learn their meaning. Make it a particular point to use these words in the further discussion of the problem.

Retraining, to lack smth, binge (working), a sabbatical, scarce, rigid, premises, a dependent, to launch a program, workforce, to be in charge of smth, a commitment, to some extent, proliferation of smth, a white-collar worker, terms of employment

Discussion

1. What do you think is meant by “work-life balance” in the article given above?

2. In what way has attitude to work changed in the past decades?

3. What does the term “flexible working” imply?

4. Why do many companies have to switch over to flexible shifts?

5. Why do you think younger people are skeptical about lifetime employment with a single company?

6. In what ways do terms of employment differ in America and Europe?

7. What are the disadvantages of flexible working?

8. Do you think graduates of India’s and China’s universities will ever solve the problem of human resources shortage in knowledge-based industries in the West?

9. Suppose you are an employer. How would you attract young talented people to your firm?

Professional Reading

20. Read the following article very carefully. You must achieve complete understanding of the text, so use a dictionary by all means. While reading find the following words and word combinations in the text and learn their meaning. Use them in the further discussion of the problem.

A workplace, to find smth to be unlawful, the court ruled that …, to receive back pay, (the country) at large, under a court ruling, an illegal alien, social assistance, to receive a refund for overpayment, a retirement benefit, the law covers (smb), to enforce a law, to do smth through a criminal fraud, Chief Justice, to undermine a law, a non-citizen.

Illegal Worker

More Vulnerable

Labour laws don’t cover everyone.

When Jose Castro helped to organize a trade union campaign at his workplace, Hoffman Plastic Compounds in California, he was fired. His firing was found to be unlawful, but on March 27^th the Supreme Court ruled that he could not receive back pay. The reason: Mr Castro is a Mexican, who is in the United States illegally and who used a friend’s ID to get his job.

His case raised the question of the rights of people who are not lawfully residents. The court, which divided five to four on the ruling, was clearly in some confusion, as is the country at large. Under a Supreme Court ruling, children of illegal aliens may attend public schools. Most states provide illegal aliens with emergency medical care and insist that they get their vaccinations. However, they may not give them extra social assistance. People working illegally in America must pay taxes, but cannot receive a refund for overpayment; they must contribute to Social Security (the national pension), but cannot receive retirement benefits. Depending on the state law, they can vote in local elections (such as those of school boards), but not national ones.

Labour laws used to cover everyone, even those people not legally permitted to work. Trade unions provided strong support, preferring immigrants to swell their ranks rather than provide cheap competition. In 1986, hiring undocumented workers was made illegal. But employers resisted becoming, in effect, immigrant agents, and the law was little enforced.

The National Labour Relations Board, which supported Mr Castro, has continued to allow undocumented workers to get back-pay if they are fired. But the Supreme Court jibbed in Mr Castro’s case, saying he had in any case got his job through a criminal fraud, and should not be paid wages he could not legally have earned. Chief Justice William Rehnquist added that this would only encourage violation of the immigration laws.

Writing for the minority, Justice Stephen Breyer argued that stripping labour-law protection from illegal aliens would not only undermine America’s domestic labour law but would lower the cost of illegal labour, drawing more hopefuls in. Whatever happens, it is certain that America’s non-citizens are now more vulnerable than they were.

(From “The Economist”)

Problem solving

You are working for a committee which is collecting material for amending the existing labour law in the part concerning immigrants. You have just started doing this job, so you don’t know much.

On the basis of the given article find contradictions in the existing law. Consider what consequences you will have if you introduce this or that amendment.

To make your arguments convincing you’ll need concrete examples of lawsuits concerning immigrants, so study the information on Jose Castro’s case quite closely.

Vocabulary 2