NewsLink

Links to Internet news items and other information related to diversity and inclusion, provided every week by the Office of Diversity Management and Equal Employment Opportunity (06), a program office within VA's Office of Human Resources and Administration.

Volume 7, Issue 29                           April 16, 2008

This Week's Web Highlight
40 Years Later: The Unrealized American Dream

More Employers Broaden Diversity Due to Globalization. More employers have broadened their diversity efforts because of the impact of globalization, according to a survey of more than 2,500 senior HR and training executives in the U.S. and Canada by Novations Group.

Building Buy-In for Diversity. Successful diversity and equality strategies should incorporate five themes: developing a vision, taking a strategic approach, sharing ownership, changing behavior, and measuring and evaluating progress.

Companies Must Set Goals for Diversity. While many people think diversity in the workplace is a numbers game—think headcounts and quotas—the truth is measuring diversity involves more than simple math.

The Summit on Leading Diversity. The Summit on Leading Diversity is the nation's premiere diversity event and plays an integral role in creating and sustaining inclusive work environments that enable organizations to operate more effectively in a global marketplace.

Fostering Innovation. By recognizing employees who think innovatively and by encouraging communication and cooperation both inside and outside their agencies, Federal IT managers can eliminate some of the roadblocks and get their agency back on track to finding tomorrow's solutions.

Managers Advised to Plan for Transition. When should agency information managers start working toward next year's presidential transition? If you have to ask, you're already behind.

Talent Management Named Top Global Challenge. Managing talent is the most critical people challenge worldwide and will remain at or near the top of executive agendas in every region and industry for the foreseeable future, according to a new global study.

2008 Top Five Total Rewards Priorities Survey. The 14th annual “Top Five Total Rewards Priorities Survey” points to increasingly sophisticated efforts to harness the potential of total rewards programs to help drive organizational strategy and goals.

A Diverse Workforce Reaches Out to Employers. For the sixth consecutive year, MetLife has surveyed employers and employees on pressing issues facing the U.S. benefits industry today and compiled the results in its annual Study of Employee Benefits Trends.

Being Selfish About Altruism. Employer-supported volunteering benefits companies in many ways—from boosted morale and good public relations to customer loyalty and help in recruiting socially conscious college grads.

A Simple Employee Incentive. Taking the time to give people your undivided attention can do more for retention and engagement than gift cards and other goodies.

Want to Change Careers? Maybe Tell Your Boss. More companies are trying to help employees grow both at and outside of work. Their reasoning: employees may stick around if they feel they have a balanced life.

Many Employees Want Financial Planning and Advice at Work. About half of employees want their employers to provide retirement advice and almost as many would like to receive access to general financial planning advice at work.

Managing Stress Where You Work. Closeness with co-workers improves work performance and decreases stress and job turnover while helping us maintain more harmony between work and all our other roles in life.

Ego Massage Does Your Business More Harm than Good. According to new research, not only is giving phony encouragement to slackers a soul-withering experience for managers, it can also backfire and hurt the business.

Fine-Tuning Corporate Social Responsibility. Companies around the world are confronting a growing chorus of demands to articulate their corporate social responsibility strategies, yet 76 percent of top executives acknowledge they don't truly understand their customers' concerns.

Companies Find Ways to Retain Expertise of Older Workers. Historically, senior workers have received incentives to leave their jobs early to make room for the next generation. But a change in thinking is under way.

Generation Gaps Challenge Managers. Younger workers, contrary to impressions, are not unmotivated slackers. However, they are motivated by different things and in different ways than the older managers trying to supervise them.

Managers Must Adapt to Millennial Mindset. Due to the large influx of millennial workers in recent years, the newest trend among organizations and corporations is to find ways to not only attract the newest generation of workers, but also to retain and motivate them.

The Truth about Gen Y. Just as with previous generation—Boomers, Gen X, and so on—the clichés assigned to the latest generation inevitably overreach.

Leisure generation? Being busy and bragging about it may lose its luster as members of Generation X and Generation Y start pushing a more balanced approach to work and leisure and baby boomers retire.

Generation X Glum on Retirement Prospects. Baby boomers say they are worried about achieving a comfortable retirement, but a new study suggests Generation X is even more pessimistic.

Why Your Boss Doesn’t Want You to Telework. The goal of any would-be teleworker is to show your boss how working from home will benefit him and the company. If you’re having trouble getting your point across, here are some possible reasons he wants you in the office.

VA Pay Hurts Recruiting of Medical Personnel, Panel Says. Pay systems pose significant challenges to the Department of Veterans Affairs’ efforts to hire enough doctors and nurses to meet the growing health care needs of veterans.

Medics Told Patient Culture Key in Treatment. To deliver better medical treatment for what ails patients from different racial and ethnic groups, health-care providers need to understand the cultural climate that shapes how diverse groups look at health care.

GAO to Seek Input from Employees on Changes to New Pay System. The Government Accountability Office is seeking input from its employees on potential changes to its controversial pay-for-performance system next year.

How Well Do You Get Along? Sometimes generation gaps make it difficult for one age group to relate to another, a fact noted by many observers of the gulf between Baby Boomers and Millennials.

Fear of Messing Up May Undermine Interracial Contact. A provocative new study from Northwestern University suggests that Whites who are particularly worried about appearing racist seem to suffer from anxiety that instinctively may cause them to avoid interaction with Blacks in the first place.

Senate OKs Study for Latino Museum. A national Latino museum came one step closer to reality as legislation passed the Senate that calls for setting up a commission that will study its potential creation.

Services Help Disabled Veterans Achieve Success in College. Dmitri Tsabai and Mark Schneider are living proof that disabled veterans can overcome their challenges with the help of SUNY Buffalo's Disability Services and the Serviceman's Readjustment Act.

VA Granting First-Time Disability Claims to Veterans in Their 80s. As World War II veterans have aged and reflected on the dreadful experiences of war and carnage, more and more exhibited the symptoms of a malady unheard of when they went off to battle 65 years ago: post traumatic stress disorder.

Minority Veterans Committee Visits Winston-Salem. Directors of the Veterans Benefits Administration regional office in Winston-Salem met recently with the Advisory Committee on Minority Veterans, an advocacy group that reports directly to Veterans Affairs Secretary James Peake.

Cisco WebEx Helps Prepare Injured Soldiers for New Careers in Technology. As a part of its ongoing efforts to support injured soldiers, the Walter Reed Equal Employment Opportunity Office has begun to offer online classes to help prepare injured veterans for careers in information technology and tech support.

Map of the World Plots LGBT Rights. A global gay rights federation is celebrating its 30th anniversary with an updated map of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender rights across the globe.

Speaker Says Disability is not a Tragedy. Even though she has a disease that makes her unable to stand or even sit up straight in her wheelchair, Harriet McBryde Johnson is an author and attorney in Charleston, S.C., where her practice focuses on civil rights claims for people with disabilities.

Xerox Settles Lawsuit over Alleged Race Discrimination. Xerox Corp. and representatives of current and former Black sales representatives have settled a $12 million class action lawsuit accusing the office equipment manufacturer of race discrimination.

Class-Action Lawsuit Against Walgreen Co. Finalized. A Federal judge in Illinois has given final approval of Walgreen Co.’s plan to pay a $24 million settlement following claims that the company discriminated against African American employees nationwide.

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