Global HR headlines: Toxic cultures driving the great resignation

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Researchers warn that extreme heat will affect worker pay.

Employees at tech company Amazon’s Alabama site have another chance to vote for unionisation, while investment banker Morgan Stanley is expected to hand out 20 percent bonuses to high-performing employees.

Meanwhile, researchers raise a red flag on the effect of extreme heat on worker pay and a study based on 1.4 million Glassdoor reviews clearly shows that more than any other factor, toxic cultures are driving people to quit.

Extreme heat will affect worker pay
US workers from farm labourers to builders could lose billions of dollars in earnings each year as extreme heat makes it difficult for them to work outdoors safely, researchers warned this week, calling for urgent measures to protect them.

Americans whose job requires them to be outside could lose about $1,700 (R26,221) on average each year by around 2050 unless planet-heating fossil fuel emissions are slashed, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists, reports Reuters.

Amazon employees to retake union vote
Amazon employees in Bessemer, Alabama, will vote in a re-run election on whether to unionise, the National Labour Relations board has announced.

Ballots will be mailed and must be received back before the counting begins on 28 March, the agency said in an election notice.

The Retail, Wholesale and Department Store union, an affiliate of the United Food and Commercial Workers union, was defeated in a vote last year.

But it appealed the results, alleging Amazon intimidated workers and pressured them to cast votes in a mailbox the company had installed in a tent on its property in view of security cameras, reports Bloomberg. Amazon has denied the allegations.

Toxic culture and the great resignation
Higher wages are certainly an important factor driving millions of people around the world to quit their jobs. But an analysis by CultureX of more than 1.4 million Glassdoor reviews for companies across 38 industries found that company culture is 12.4 times more likely than compensation to predict whether an employee leaves. This held true for workers in both frontline and so-called knowledge worker jobs.

Low-wage industries such as leisure and hospitality are seeing some of the highest turnover rates, as are high-burnout sectors, like health care and education.

The lowest earners have also seen the biggest wage gains in the last 12 months, leading economists to believe that many people are leaving their jobs for better paying ones, reports Bloomberg.

According to the survey, job insecurity, failure to recognise employee performance, and a poor response to Covid-19 were also predictors of high resignation rates.

Morgan Stanley’s 20 percent bonus
Investment bankers Morgan Stanley will raise its annual bonus for top-performing staff by more than 20 percent, people with direct knowledge of the matter said, with a dealmaking boom to usher in bumper payouts by banks this year.

Investment banks globally adjust their bonus pools according to business momentum. Higher bonuses help them to retain talent in a cutthroat competitive business environment, reports Reuters.

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