PwC study shows that 20 percent of workers plan to change jobs in the next 12 months.
From removal of non-compete clauses to a civil rights audit of workplace policies, Microsoft announces changes to its approach to human resources. Meanwhile, US financial services company Wells Fargo reportedly conducted fake job interviews of minority candidates to adhere to diversity guidelines and Volkswagen offers financial compensation and medical insurance until the end of 2022 to workers who voluntarily quit Russian assembly plant.
US bank’s hiring approach may be under scrutiny
US financial services company Wells Fargo is taking a knock to its share price after a report that the bank is the target of a criminal investigation into whether it violated federal law by conducting fake job interviews of minority candidates to satisfy in-house diversity guidelines.
The San Francisco-based firm is reportedly being investigated by the civil rights unit of the Manhattan US attorney’s office.
The New York Times reported last month that current and former bank employees said supervisors in the wealth management division had instructed them to interview black and female candidates for positions that had already been promised to someone else.
Finances driving people to change jobs
PwC’s recent Global Workplace Hopes and Fears Survey shows that one in five employees is likely to change jobs in the next 12 months.
The survey, which was released at the World Economic Forum, shows that finances are driving the decision, with pressure on pay highest in the tech sector and lowest in the public sector. Other leading reasons to change jobs include finding fulfilment, opportunity for creativity and flexibility.
Women are less likely to be satisfied with their pay, although the survey notes that women are also less likely to ask for an increase and less likely to feel listened to by their managers.
Microsoft announces major HR changes
Microsoft will stop enforcing existing non-compete clauses in the US, while also committing to a civil rights audit of its workforce policies in 2023.
The software giant said changes to the enforcement of non-compete clauses would not apply to the company’s most senior leadership, adding that the audit would be conducted by a third party and a report would be published.
The organisation also aims to have salary ranges in all of the company’s internal and external job postings across the US by at least January 2023, and will no longer include confidentiality language in its US settlement and separation agreements that prohibits workers from disclosing conduct they perceive as illegal.
Volkswagen plans to pay Russian workers who quit
Volkswagen is offering payouts to its employees at a car assembly plant in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, if they agree to quit voluntarily.
The offer of financial compensation and medical insurance until the end of 2022 was available to the around 200 people working at the plant, a Volkswagen spokesperson said, confirming an earlier report by Kommersant paper.
