Weekly Wrap: Firing by Blackberry, Illegal Layoffs, and Dave Ulrich Speaks

I like to use Friday to catch up on things I might have missed during the past week, and if you’re like me, you do, too. That’s why I try to highlight some of those interesting news items that may have slipped by last week.

I‘ve been getting decent feedback to this weekly wrap-up, but would love more – either as a comment here, or via e-mail. And once again, here’s another dose of news and trends from the world of HR and people management that I found interesting, readable, and thought-provoking this week. I round them up so you don’t have to:

Seniors outnumber teens in the workforce. You probably have heard how hard it is for teens and younger workers to find a job, but here’s more proof from a story in the San Francisco Chronicle. Not only do senior citizens outnumber teens in the workplace for the first time on record, but the trend has driven teen unemployment rates to levels not seen since the Great Depression.
A firing due to Blackberry error. You haven’t lived until you accidentally sent an e-mail to the very person you DON’T want to see it. How about an e-mail about removing two executives that gets sent via Blackberry to both the two executives in question along with 400 other people in the company? That’s what Starz President Chris Albrecht – a talented and creative executive with a penchant for getting himself into the trouble – did earlier this month, according to the Los Angeles Times’ Company Town blog . It’s just another example of how easy with modern technology to send something by accident to the very last person you ever want to see it .

And now a few words from Mr. HR, Dave Ulrich. Although I didn’t see my friend Dave Ulrich at the SHRM annual conference in San Diego last month, I know he was there because he did this video interview with Mary Ellen Slater. She talks to Dave about his new book, The Why of Work, and some other HR and management issues. As good a writer as Dave is, he is even better as a speaker – something you will get a good sense of from this video. Great insights from a great HR thinker.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63I2pedUks4

A payout in Chicago for illegal layoffs. HR professionals have nightmares about getting socked with a big lawsuit for some labor law violation, so view this one in Chicago for illegal layoffs at the Blackstone Hotel as a cautionary tale. The potential payout is already at $250,000 and growing, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

How much vacation is the right amount? A new study by the University of the Rockies shows that the benefits of vacation length for employees peak at about 10 days – and a lot more than that doesn’t really increase job satisfaction, retention, or professional well-being.