Proximity bias existed long before COVID-19 relegated many employees to work at home, but with more and more returning to the office that bias is raising concerns for those who want to continue to work remotely.

The idea or assumption behind proximity bias is that employees who share or are near the same physical space as their managers and senior leaders will be seen as superior workers and be rewarded with better perks and even higher pay and promotions than their remote peers.

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, a big concern was presenteeism, where employees often logged-in long hours in the office under the often mistaken notion that they would be seen as more productive, Raconteur reports. With the shutdown sidelining many to work remotely last year and the growing emergence of a hybrid workplace this year post-COVID-19, proximity bias is a growing worry.

“Essentially, if workers are seldom or no longer in the office, how do they get noticed and get their contribution recognised?,” Raconteur notes. “And how do managers overcome their natural and unconscious bias of favouring colleagues who are either in the office with them or collaborating on a project remotely?”

Stephen Ravenscroft, head of employment at law firm Memery Crystal, tells Raconteur that proximity bias is not widespread now, but he sees it becoming a “rising concern” as more and more employers set-up hybrid workplaces. And employers need to be on the lookout for potential changes in the law.

“It has been proposed the [draft] Employment Bill [due to be debated] this year will make flexible working the kind of expected standard for businesses that can cater for it and the employer will have to show why it isn’t appropriate in certain circumstances,” Ravenscroft notes. “That’s a 180-degree turn from now, where the employee has to explain why they should be allowed it and the employer has a set of reasons under which they can refuse it.”

Companies that have not done so yet will need to come up with ways to ensure that all their employees are “visible,” says Sally Todd, partner at flexible working consultants DuoMe. “If a manager can’t rely on people being at their desk now to keep up with what’s going on, it will be harder to gauge how people are progressing without systems in place to allow people to document progress, record actions, and share and retrieve work at different times.”

It has become easier for employers to develop a hybrid workplace as the U.S. population approaches close to 60% of adults being fully vaccinated against COVID-19, MarketWatch reports. But experts note that disparities for who is best suited to return to the office could lead to unintended consequences that foster inequities with career advancements.

Employers can continue practices that took off during the pandemic, such as telework, that could head off future potential problems around inequities. The ability for people to continue telework can be “transformational,” especially as this work arrangement last year allowed many to enter the workforce for the first time, says Kathryn Zickuhr, a labor-market policy analyst at the Washington Center for Equitable Growth, a research and grantmaking nonprofit.

Remote work can be crucial for those with disabilities as well as workers who have caregiving responsibilities. Employers also may have a tougher time demanding their workers come back to the office post COVID-19, such as working mothers and people with disabilities “who could most benefit from greater location flexibility,” Michelle Travis, a professor at the University of San Francisco School of Law, tells MarketWatch.

“Before the pandemic, courts frequently upheld legal challenges to employer demands for on-site office presence, despite the disparate impact that these policies have on women with significant caregiving responsibilities and some individuals with disabilities, among others,” Travis said.

“Courts readily accepted employers’ assertions that on-site presence was a business necessity driven by teamwork, productivity, and supervision demands, and that allowing employees to work from home would pose an undue hardship to the company,” she adds. But post-pandemic, it should be “…easier for working moms or individuals with disabilities to pursue discrimination claims if employers refuse requests to continue to work remotely.”

Katica Roy, CEO of Pipeline Equity, writes that while 82% of business leaders support a hybrid work setup, only 13% worry about making sure there is parity between their on-site office staff and their remote workers post pandemic. Her firm helps businesses see how improved gender equity can bolster their bottom lines.

“As it stands, 64% of managers believe office workers are higher performers than remote workers,” Roy notes. “Why aren’t more leaders taking steps to neutralize the outdated notion of employee presenteeism?” Roy also points out that “men with children who worked remotely during the pandemic received promotions at nearly 3x the rate of women in the same situation."

“And, 26% of men with children received a pay raise while working remotely during the pandemic,” she adds. “Only 13% of women with children said the same thing.”

For one employer that has fully embraced remote working, there are still some questions on how employees who are allowed to continue working remotely once their companies adopt a hybrid setup will fare, Protocol reports.

The world’s largest asset manager is pledging to establish new support channels for its employees and to begin reviewing senior leaders’ conduct following a legal review that called out the firm for failing workers. So reports Reuters.

BlackRock CEO Larry Fink counted himself among senior leader who would be subject to evaluation. The law firm of Paul, Weiss conducted the review, with partner Loretta Lynch, a former U.S. Attorney General, leading the effort.

The review came after BlackRock vowed in February to improve how it investigates racial and sexual harassment complaints after employees posted about their experiences on social media.

The law firm's review "highlighted things I wasn’t happy about,” Fink noted in a memo provided by a company spokesman to Reuters. “These included instances where people at BlackRock had experiences that did not meet what we all should expect of BlackRock.”

Read the full article from Reuters. 

An Illinois nursing home ran afoul of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission when it required its women staff to disclose about their pregnancies. So reports HR Dive.

The EEOC charged in a lawsuit that Symphony of Jolient documented its pregnancy disclosure requirement as a written policy, while not requiring other workers to disclose their medical information. The requirement is in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the EEOC noted.

The nursing facility also required its pregnant employees to obtain a doctor’s note stating they were allowed to work without restrictions even if they did not ask for accommodations, according to the suit. If a worker had been at the nursing home for less than one year and had a restriction, they were fired and tagged as “ineligible for rehire,” the EEOC charged.

"Pregnant women are frequently subjected to harmful, paternalistic stereotypes," EEOC Regional Attorney Gregory Gochanour said in a statement. "Pregnancy is no reason for an employer to assume that an employee cannot continue to work, nor is it a blank check for employers to seek invasive medical information or to subject pregnant employees to less favorable employment conditions than their non-pregnant co-workers.”

Read the full article from HR Dive.

Sony Electronics is facing a lawsuit from a Black former employee who alleges that her former manager undermined her career and directed racist comments at her. So reports CNN Business.

Duwanikia "Monica" Hill alleges that her firing as an account manager came after she submitted an abuse complaint against her manager earlier in the year. Hill alleges in the suit that her former manager, a white woman, made disparaging, racist remarks, according to the suit filed this month.

"We always take complaints seriously and investigate properly and thoroughly," Sony spokesperson Rosemary Flynn Smith told CNN Business. "We hire all of our employees with a committed focus to their success.”

CNN Business could not reach Hill’s manager, who is named in the suit, for comment. The news outlet received an out-of-office response from the manager’s email noting she was on “extended leave.”

Hill’s suit also blasted HR and notes that an employee in the department who worked with Hill’s manager for two decades “summarily dismissed” Hill's complaints and “ramp[ed] up the retaliation” against Hill, the suit notes. The suit also requests that the court issue an injunction order mandating Sony to fix HR.

"It's not just a broken system. It's a system that they intentionally have broken," said Hill's attorney Nancy Abrolat. "They have HR acting as an arm to help cover up what they're doing instead of serving as a liaison between management and employee.

Read the full article from CNN Business. 

Companies are being urged to play a more proactive role in tackling workplace issues with their Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) employees as that population faces increasing violence in the U.S.

In one of the latest acts of violence, Atlanta police charged Robert Aaron Long, 21, with eight counts of murder and homicide last month, alleging that he killed eight people, including six Asian women, in what many have called a hate crime, The Washington Post reports.

Hate crimes reported against AAPIs in the U.S. shot up 150% last year even as overall hate crimes dropped, Korn Ferry reports. And while these acts of violence have occurred outside the workplace, diversity and inclusion experts say it is long past due for employers to take action on the challenges AAPI workers encounter at their companies.

From not locking down high-profile assignments and not asking for their opinions, to facing questions about their cultural background and being asked to repeat themselves as they don’t have an “American accent,” AAPIs face these and other hurdles at work, Korn Ferry notes. While employers may be powerless to stop violence committed against AAPIs outside the workplace, they can improve their corporate environments to help these employees feel more valued and respected, Korn Ferry chief diversity officer JT Saunders says. “Everyone should be able to learn, stretch, and grow.” 

AAPIs also have to contend with the negative consequences of being labeled the so-called model minority (intelligent, hardworking and quiet). This trope frustrates many AAPI employees with Jaya Pathak, an associate principal in Korn Ferry’s Assessment and Succession practice, noting that “because of that broad stereotype, we don’t get to have our voices heard.”

Michelle Kim, CEO of the diversity training provider Awaken, says employers should feel obligated to recognize the anti-AAPI violence happening outside their workplaces and the damage it may be causing to their employees, CNBC reports. Kim also concurs that employers are doing their AAPI employees a big disservice by subscribing to the model minority perception and how they may not see AAPIs as victims of racism.

“Part of the myth is that we stay quiet, we’re apolitical, that issues we’re experiencing are not valid or are not attached to our race,” Kim says. “There’s a continual investment in upholding this myth, and we need to question who benefits from it, because it’s not us or other marginalized people.”

Andrés Tapia, Korn Ferry’s global diversity and inclusion strategist, points out that the model minority stereotype can hurt AAPIs’ careers as companies may deem it “fine to have them, but just in technical roles, not in a management role.” AAPIs comprise just 2.5% of Fortune 500 CEOs, just a bit higher than the number of Black CEOs. However, AAPIs make up 5.6% of the U.S. population.

“If you haven’t gone out to your employees to show your commitment and support to them, you need to do it today,” says Sunny Wang, consultant, diversity, equity and inclusion for Korn Ferry.

AAPI employees who may have been impacted by the violence against their communities outside the workplace are not getting sufficient support from their employers, advocates tell CNBC. Many employers also are failing to acknowledge their own anti-AAPI discrimination at work. “First and foremost, you should absolutely have these conversations with your employees,” says Kim Tran, a consultant and author. “I don’t think enough people have conversations about what’s happening in real life and how that impacts your ability to do your job.”

A year ago as the pandemic started to gain momentum, Society For Human Resource Management noted how AAPIs were being blamed for COVID-19 and how they were experiencing this bigotry in the workplace.

Melissa Peters and Alka Ramchandani-Raj of law firm Littler Mendelson say that “when [employers] hear things in the workplace that may seem to target those members of a specific protected class… [they must] take proper action, including reiterating and reviewing its anti-discrimination, harassment, bullying and retaliation policies and conducting investigations where needed.”

Companies are being urged to play a more proactive role in tackling workplace issues with their Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) employees as that population faces increasing violence in the U.S.

In one of the latest acts of violence, Atlanta police charged Robert Aaron Long, 21, with eight counts of murder and homicide last month, alleging that he killed eight people, including six Asian women, in what many have called a hate crime, The Washington Post reports.

Hate crimes reported against AAPIs in the U.S. shot up 150% last year even as overall hate crimes dropped, Korn Ferry reports. And while these acts of violence have occurred outside the workplace, diversity and inclusion experts say it is long past due for employers to take action on the challenges AAPI workers encounter at their companies.

From not locking down high-profile assignments and not asking for their opinions, to facing questions about their cultural background and being asked to repeat themselves as they don’t have an “American accent,” AAPIs face these and other hurdles at work, Korn Ferry notes. While employers may be powerless to stop violence committed against AAPIs outside the workplace, they can improve their corporate environments to help these employees feel more valued and respected, Korn Ferry chief diversity officer JT Saunders says. “Everyone should be able to learn, stretch, and grow.” 

AAPIs also have to contend with the negative consequences of being labeled the so-called model minority (intelligent, hardworking and quiet). This trope frustrates many AAPI employees with Jaya Pathak, an associate principal in Korn Ferry’s Assessment and Succession practice, noting that “because of that broad stereotype, we don’t get to have our voices heard.”

Michelle Kim, CEO of the diversity training provider Awaken, says employers should feel obligated to recognize the anti-AAPI violence happening outside their workplaces and the damage it may be causing to their employees, CNBC reports. Kim also concurs that employers are doing their AAPI employees a big disservice by subscribing to the model minority perception and how they may not see AAPIs as victims of racism.

“Part of the myth is that we stay quiet, we’re apolitical, that issues we’re experiencing are not valid or are not attached to our race,” Kim says. “There’s a continual investment in upholding this myth, and we need to question who benefits from it, because it’s not us or other marginalized people.”

Andrés Tapia, Korn Ferry’s global diversity and inclusion strategist, points out that the model minority stereotype can hurt AAPIs’ careers as companies may deem it “fine to have them, but just in technical roles, not in a management role.” AAPIs comprise just 2.5% of Fortune 500 CEOs, just a bit higher than the number of Black CEOs. However, AAPIs make up 5.6% of the U.S. population.

“If you haven’t gone out to your employees to show your commitment and support to them, you need to do it today,” says Sunny Wang, consultant, diversity, equity and inclusion for Korn Ferry.

AAPI employees who may have been impacted by the violence against their communities outside the workplace are not getting sufficient support from their employers, advocates tell CNBC. Many employers also are failing to acknowledge their own anti-AAPI discrimination at work. “First and foremost, you should absolutely have these conversations with your employees,” says Kim Tran, a consultant and author. “I don’t think enough people have conversations about what’s happening in real life and how that impacts your ability to do your job.”

A year ago as the pandemic started to gain momentum, Society For Human Resource Management noted how AAPIs were being blamed for COVID-19 and how they were experiencing this bigotry in the workplace.

Melissa Peters and Alka Ramchandani-Raj of law firm Littler Mendelson say that “when [employers] hear things in the workplace that may seem to target those members of a specific protected class… [they must] take proper action, including reiterating and reviewing its anti-discrimination, harassment, bullying and retaliation policies and conducting investigations where needed.”

A Trump Administration executive order that took aim at some corporate efforts to promote diversity is likely to be rescinded after President-elect Joe Biden assumes office January 20.

Donald Trump released his executive order on Combating Race and Sex Stereotyping September 22 in part to “combat offensive and anti-American race and sex stereotyping and scapegoating…”

“Instructors and materials teaching that men and members of certain races, as well as our most venerable institutions, are inherently sexist and racist are appearing in workplace diversity trainings across the country, even in components of the Federal Government and among Federal contractors,” the order reads.

Trump’s executive order impacts government agencies, Fortune 500 companies, educational institutions, nonprofits and others entities that tap federal contracts or plan to, USA Today reports. The Biden campaign could not be reached for comment, but “it’s highly probable that this executive order will be rescinded in fairly short order,” Franklin Turner, partner with law firm McCarter & English, tells USA Today.

Civil rights groups wasted no time in filing a lawsuit in late October alleging the order violates free speech rights in an "extraordinary and unprecedented act by the Trump administration to undermine efforts to foster diversity and inclusion in the workplace.”

The White House in a September memo targeted diversity training material and suggested eliminating keywords including "white privilege," "systemic racism," "intersectionality" and "unconscious bias.”

Microsoft and Wells Fargo are among the corporations that have seen their diversity initiatives questioned by the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs as potentially violating federal laws that bar discrimination stemming from race. In both instances, these initiatives look to double the number the Black managers and executives over the next five years. “I suspect that a future President Biden would be more inclined to issue orders and/or to adopt policies that cultivate and encourage a diverse and inclusive American workforce that is fully informed by relevant, accurate information," Turner said.

The executive order also united many organizations in rejecting the measure, ranging from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, The Washington Post reports. The American Hospital Association, in an October 14 letter to Trump, wrote that “prohibiting federal agencies from conducting and funding trainings that promote racial reconciliation is counterproductive to addressing racism.” The group represents almost 5,000 hospitals and health systems.

Jason Oxman, president of the Information Technology Industry Council, blasted the executive order. His group represents software and tech giants including Apple, Samsung and Amazon, which all co-signed a letter noting concerns about businesses’ First Amendment rights. “The federal government should not be in the business of dictating to companies how to talk to their employees about important societal issues and should certainly not be dissuading employees from endeavoring to address issues of systemic racism and racial discrimination,” Oxman said.

Jeff Neal, who runs the blog ChiefHRO.com, called the executive order one of five that Biden should immediately cancel once he officially becomes president January 20. Neal had earlier served as the chief human capital officer at the Department of Homeland Security and the chief human resources officer at the Defense Logistics Agency. Neal called the order “a hyperpartisan appeal to President Donald Trump’s base…”

“It denies the realities of systemic racism, using inflammatory language and, ironically, stereotyping the views of proponents of diversity and inclusion training,” Neal wrote. “It interferes with the ability of agencies and contractors to promote diversity and inclusion. Given the substantial research that demonstrates the benefits of a diverse workplace and the measurable effects of systemic racism, this EO is a significant step backwards. It should be rescinded and any actions taken to implement it reversed.”

David J. Goldstein, co-chair of Littler Mendelson P.C.’s office of federal contract compliance programs practice group, writes in Bloomberg Law that while the executive order is likely to be rescinded quickly under the Biden Administration, its issuance has likely caused damage. “Unfortunately, even after rescission, there will likely be some repercussions, as at least some employees continue to feel empowered to disrupt or resist training as a result of the rhetoric in and surrounding the order,” Goldstein writes.

As tense as the leadup to the November 3 election has been, there’s unlikely to be an immediate let up afterwards.

Employers will welcome more than 100 million Americans back to work after November 3 and human resources teams will need to prepare for what most certainly will be an uncomfortable environment, Harvard Business Review reports. If the election results between President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden are close, the tension could extend for weeks or more.

A Monmouth University Poll conducted last month found that 38% of 758 registered voters believe it is very likely that the Trump campaign will try to cheat if they see it as necessary to win, with 14% saying it is somewhat likely. A quarter of these registered voters say it is very likely that the Biden campaign will cheat to win, while 14% say it is somewhat likely. Of these voters, 64% believe it is at least probable that Russia’s government is trying to meddle in the election, while 57% say the same of China’s government.

“Even in the best-case scenario, in which the race is clearly decided on election night, lingering bitterness and resentments will likely spill into the workplace,” Bob Feldman, vice chair of ICF Next, a global marketing, communications, and digital transformation agency, writes for Harvard Business Review. “But if, as many experts predict, the counting of mail-in ballots continues well beyond November 3, attended by cries of fraud, lawsuits, and possibly even dueling slates of electors (i.e., members of the Electoral College), companies will face the potential of a roiled workplace for weeks and possibly even months.”

Companies cannot afford to wait until after November 3 if they hope to maintain a certain amount of civility in their workplaces, Feldman notes. But he points to some efforts by U.S. corporations to foster positive change.

One of those efforts is the Better Arguments Project started by the Aspen Institute in partnership with Allstate and Facing History and Ourselves, a worldwide education program. The effort gathers participants in cities to hear from speakers on hot button issues, but they must pledge to five principles, including:

• Taking winning off the table
• Being present and listening
• Connecting and being respectful
• Being forthright and embracing honesty from other participants
• Being open to new ideas

General Mills’ Courageous Conversations series has started its fifth year where they bring their employees together to listen to speakers discuss tough issues and then break up the employees into tables of 10 people to discuss. In its first year, there were 30 participants and that is now up to 3,000 employees with conversations done online.

Employers can take the lead in acknowledging the elephant in the room and encouraging civil communication after the election with the expectation that these discussions will be difficult, Feldman notes. They also can encourage employees to actively listen, have senior leaders model good behavior, and show empathy.

Companies will run into trouble if they think they can ignore potential negative fallout in the workplace post-election because their staff works from home, Sidney Bruce, head of customer success and HR at Eversee, a payroll company, writes for Forbes.

When home, “employees may feel they have more time to discuss these issues and feel even more pressure from the uncertainty and challenges presented by the pandemic,” Bruce writes. “With more time at home, workers may be making more of these comments. When employees are friends on social platforms outside of work, there’s no policy that can intervene when potentially offensive things are said.”

Gartner, a research and advisory company, noted in February that 78% of employees talked about politics at work, and 47% said the presidential election interfered with getting their work done. One-third of employees said they spent more time scouring for political news at work and 36% said they stopped talking or working with a co-worker due to political views. Gartner surveyed 500 employees in the U.S.

While some private employers may be tempted to bar political talk at work, which they are legally allowed to do, they need to assess the potential fallout on their business and employee morale, according to employment law firm Fisher Phillips.

“Restrictive workplace rules on politics and social discourse could turn off customers or lead to a boycott,” according to the firm. “In our highly political and digital age where people are ready to take a stand against a company based on political, social, and moral issues, you might need to collaborate with company decision makers at all levels to determine what’s right for your organization.”

Company CEOs “need to lean heavily on the skills of HR professionals trained to have difficult conversations and to facilitate them,” Johnny Taylor, Jr., SHRM-SCP, president and chief executive officer, writes for Chief Executive. He too encourages that companies avoid trying to shut down political speech, especially in today’s climate where social and racial justice have taken center stage.

“Our human instinct—and the way many of us were taught—is to be conflict avoiders,” Taylor writes. “But the 21st century workplace demands that you manage conflict, not avoid it—that you force people to be uncomfortable to get to a better, more authentic place.”

Australian employers and human resources departments are facing new worker compensation challenges as they contend with major workplace disruptions from the coronavirus. So reports Insurance Business Australia.

“As the Australian business community faces the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, business owners, managers, and human resources (HR) teams are also tackling the ongoing responsibilities to workers and protecting our workplaces,” according to the workplace risk team at insurance broker Gallagher Australia. “Even with new arrangements to work off site, employers must still comply with relevant work, health, and safety (WHS) and workers’ compensation (WC) legislation.”

One immediate challenge is how companies and HR leaders successfully convey how their employees can file a Covid-19 compensation claim for an injury or illness when they are working remotely, according to the article.

While it may be hard for a worker to prove they contracted the virus based on their working conditions at a remote location, “as an employer you still have an obligation to provide safe work duties, so you need a management plan that enables this in terms of working from home and performing appropriate tasks,” Gallagher Australia notes.

Read the full article from Insurance Business Australia.

Costco Australia is handing out an A$750 (US$478) bonus to 4,000 employees who have worked during the coronavirus pandemic. So reports Human Resources Director.

The bonus payments are happening as supermarket chains in the country rush to recruit thousands of workers to deal with the tremendous demand for groceries now. Costco also has provided a temporary pay boost of A$3 per hour for all employees who worked from March 2 to April 5.

“Costco’s action sets an example for the others,” says Gerard Dwyer, retail union SDA’s national secretary. “It is an acknowledgement of the service Costco workers are providing–an acknowledgement of the risks they are taking to keep the community fed and healthy.”

Read the full article from Human Resources Director.

Human resources teams in Asia Pacific cited their management's ability to oversee crisis and to implement business continuity plans as their top concerns in a Covid-19 world, according to a recent survey. So reports Human Resources Online.

Aon’s APAC Pulse Survey is entitled “Navigating the impact of COVID-19 on workplace and rewards practices.” Nearly 70% of the 304 companies surveyed cited management's ablity to oversee the crisis and business continuity as their biggest challenges. The survey included companies in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam, China, Japan, Korea and the Pacific region.

Actions taken by firms to deal with the pandemic include holding off on hiring and freezing pay and promotions as well as having more employees work remotely and providing them with financial help. Overseeing flexible work arrangements and boosting employee awareness were cited by 63.5% and 55.6%, respectively, as challenges HR are tackling. About 13% noted inadequate employee medical insurance as a problem.

Just over 42% of companies gave their respective HR departments a three rating (scale of 1 to 5) for being properly trained, equipped and ready to handle challenges from the pandemic, while 27.6% gave their HR teams a four rating.

Read the full article from Human Resources Online.

A number of Indian companies are providing their employees with online/virtual tools to keep their children entertained as they work from home. So reports The Economic Times.

Genpact, Accenture, Deloitte, AMD and other firms have introduced programs intended to keep their employees’ children occupied so their parents can get in a few hours of relatively uninterrupted work. Daycare centers in India, as in other parts of the world, are not an option as these facilities are shut down, meaning parents and their children are together the whole day.

Employees can tap into parenting communities online to get tips on how to keep their children engaged, set up virtual playdates with kids of their colleagues, have them participate in virtual summer camps and offer online classes on coding. “Employee engagement has now assumed new dimensions to include family engagement as well,” says SV Nathan, chief talent officer at Deloitte India. That firm provides parents with webinars on how to do activities, including crafts and cooking, with their kids.

Meanwhile, IBM India notes that 99% of it workforce is now able to work from home. So reports Business Standard. “What has been different in the past few months is embracing this approach at scale, not just among our sizeable employee population in India, but around the world,” says Sandip Patel, managing director, IBM India and general manager for India/South Asia region.

“Our information technology (IT), human resources, business units, crisis management, legal, government relations, corporate social responsibility, operations and security teams have quickly come together to make (work-from-home) a reality for over 99% of IBM India employees,” Patel adds. “The remaining 1% of our people are focused on critical assignments and we are taking every possible precaution to ensure their safety.”

Rolls-Royce, a manufacturer of aero engines, has decided to eliminate more than 4,000 jobs that will include human resources, finance and purchasing positions. So reports The Guardian.

The goal is to boost profits by cutting out mid-management jobs.

"We are proposing to move to a considerably simplified staff structure, with fewer layers and greater spans of control across the group," a company spokesman said.

The company is expected to cut 4,600 positions globally, HRM Asia reports, with one-third of those cuts expected to be carried out by year-end. The firm has a global workforce of 55,000, with 26,000 in the UK.

The former CEO of France Telecom and six other executives will face trial over allegations that they had a role in at least 19 employee suicides. So reports BBC News.

The executives are accused of "moral harassment." Former CEO Didier Lombard and the other executives deny that restructuring efforts they undertook in 2006 led to the suicides. Lombard had tried to eliminate 22,000 jobs and retrain at least 10,000 workers.

"I'll get them out one way or another, through the window or through the door," Lombard was quoted telling senior managers in 2007. Starting in 2008, at least 19 workers killed themselves,12 attempted suicide and eight suffered depression. Guilty verdicts could result in two years in prison and $35,000 in fines.

France Telecom, a multinational telecommunications corporation, became Orange in 2013. "As it has always said, Orange rejects the accusations and will make its case during the public hearing which will be scheduled in the coming months," an Orange spokesman said.

Read the full article from BBC News. 

A London court sentenced a UK financial analyst to 16-weeks in jail in May for harassing a colleague and posting porn photos purporting to be her. So reports CPS.

Davide Buccheri, 25, was convicted of harassment stemming from actions that lasted eight-months long from September 2016 to May last year. The harassment began after the colleague refused to go on a date with him.

Buccheri then uploaded photos of the woman he took from her social media site onto an adult porn website alongside actual pornographic photos. Actresses in those pornographic images resembled the coworker.  

Buccheri then reached out to managers at his firm, M&G Investments, and reported the photos in an effort to get the woman in trouble.

"This was a sustained campaign of harassment against a young woman beginning her career in the financial services industry," says Aimee Emby, from the Crown Prosecution Service. "Not only did Buccheri's actions cause this victim considerable distress and anxiety, his denial of guilt forced her to relive her ordeal."

Buccheri also was ordered to fork over US$6,705 in compensation to the woman.

Read the full article from CPS. 

Breakfast cereal giant Kellogg's is allowing the 420 workers at its Salford headquarters to clock out of work by noon on Fridays this summer as long as they finish their work. So reports Metro.

The summer hours are designed to improve productivity and give workers more flexibility with a longer weekend.

"Flexible working is something we take very seriously and we encourage all our UK office-based employees to make the most of the summer hour scheme," says Sue Platt, Kellogg's UK human resources director. "Summer hours is part of a package we offer to ensure we provide work-life balance opportunities to all employees."

Read the full article from Metro.