Sexual harassment has been all over the business news lately, with much of it focusing on how all too often complaints are ignored by management or never reported out of fear of retaliation.
Now there’s an app for that. Actually two — Callisto, which so far is used almost exclusively by colleges, and StopIt.
StopIt started out as an anti-bullying tool that got a fast uptake by K-12 schools since launching in 2013. Now Kaiser Permanente is piloting its use for anonymously reporting sexual harassment.
The two apps are similar in that they enable anonymous complaints. Monitoring can occur in real-time — bullying that turns violent or harassment that becomes physical — so immediate action can be taken.
While that may be rare in the workplace, it’s the logging of these complaints that HR — and lawyers — will find useful. A single complaint may not be actionable, but get a number of them and the pattern becomes obvious.
StopIt is also useful for whistleblowing programs and safety concerns.
Switzerland has 4 pricey expat cities
Sending a manager out of the country? Avoid Switzerland if you can.
ECA (Employment Conditions Abroad, Ltd.), which helps companies manage their expat workers, says Switzerland has four of the most expensive cities in the world for expat employees.
“The comparative strength of the franc has contributed to Switzerland remaining as one of the most expensive countries surveyed in the world. Despite prices hardly rising in the previous year, Swiss cities dominate the top of the rankings,” reports ECA.
The most expensive city for expat workers turns out to be Luanda, Angola (pictured). High demand for limited goods and an overvalued currency are the cause.
TeamPlayer finds team players
TeamPlayerHR, which we first wrote about as a candidate selection tool, is reinventing itself with a new front- and back-end, and the company is working on incorporating AI soon. It’s also focusing on selling to HR, not recruiters.
BSO Performance, a German company, is using TeamPlayer to decide not who to hire, but which existing employees to place on particular projects.
We’re told that a large San Francisco consultancy is about to sign with TeamPlayer also, using it in hiring and in putting together internal teams.
“A jobseeker can check their compatibility with a future or potential boss or team members, determining if they are a good fit with that potential boss or team members prior to accepting a position,” says TeamPlayer’s Jim Lanas. “This empowers the jobseekers to make an informed decision.”
In other news
- Amsterdam’s Harver is launching in the U.S. It’s a selection company that’s working with Netflix, Zappos, and OpenTable, and boasts, naturally, that it is “AI powered.” Harver’s opening up a New York office, and raised $8.1 million dollars in new funding, or a total of $11.4 to date.
- Remember Beyond, the job board network? It’s now Nexxt.
- Yello, a talent acquisition platform that promises to solve some of those intractable administrative problems with hiring, closed on a $31 million, Series C.
- For Textio, $20 million, looking to move beyond job descriptions.
- Sense announced $10 million in funding involving Accel and Google Ventures. It’s the “first engagement platform for contingent workers” — automating staffing agencies’ communications with contractors.
- TalentWorks is promising, for $10 a week, to get people interviews.
- Speaking of interviews: Newton’s launching interview scorecards.
- Recruit KARMA is launching with $1.55 million in seed funding. It’s for small/medium-size U.S. companies to hire in India. Says the company: “Within 30 days and for less than $1,000, Recruit KARMA will connect U.S. companies to a shortlist of qualified candidates, provide background checks, negotiate contracts, create offer letters, and handle compensation.”
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