Employment Websites Adopt a Code of Ethics
The International Association of Employment Web Sites (IAEWS), an association of more than 1,000 employment websites throughout the world, has just published a Code of Ethics setting standards for the whole industry. The aim of this initiative is to provide security to both job seekers and employers by setting forth values that every member of the association agrees to respect. These values include, among others: Confidentiality – personal data will be protected and its use clearly indicated; fairness – products will always be delivered as promised; honesty – marketing and sales materials will report accurately on the performance of services provided; responsibility – interests of job seekers will be tended to with equal priority to those of employers; self-regulation – adherence to the association implies a total compliance with the Code. The Code was created because of the ever-growing number of newcomers to the market. It allows consumers to differentiate between the employment sites that respect the highest standards of quality, and those that do not.
The Inception of handicapemploi.com
A new specialized employment site has just been created in Canada: www.handicapemploi.com is a service for handicapped workers that enables them to find a job in consideration of their handicap. The search engine only produces listings of jobs directed at persons with visual, auditory, cognitive or physical disabilities. All products (job postings, CV bank…) are offered for free to recruiters until June 1st. This site hopes to offer a wealth of information regarding training for handicapped people and the companies open to them. Its primary concern is to dispel existing prejudices against handicapped individuals by giving candidates an opportunity to demonstrate their talents.
The Best Employers in Canada are…
Canadian Business magazine has unveiled the 50 Best Workplaces in Canada, a list compiled by TheGreat Place to Work Institute in San Francisco. The winning companies manage to achieve both high economic performance as well as exceptionally respectful workplace cultures for their employees. This year’s three winners are:
- Back in Motion Rehab – This company offers staff promotion services and shares 30% to 50% of distributed profits with its employees.
- 1-800-GOT-JUNK? – This removal company based in Vancouver encourages staff to fulfill their dreams and share their “101 Personal Life Goals.”
- Urban Systems – This consultancy firm offers a “University of Urban Systems” to its entire staff, who may take all courses for free.
Monster Canada has been chosen as the 48th Canadian Best Workplace to Work this year.
Hcareers.com Freshens Up
Hcareers is the first job site servicing the hospitality and catering sector in North America. Since its 1998 launch in Vancouver, the site has grown considerably and is now active in the U.S., Canada and Great Britain. On May 1st, Hcareers will put its brand new version online. Totally revamped, the new graphic charter is more dynamic and modern. It highlights the content as a whole and grants access to key services in just a few clicks. Hcareers was bought last year by onTargetjobs, a network of job sites specialized in accounting, biotechnology, finance, health and insurance jobs.
Market Regulators Require Greater Transparency of Upper Management Remuneration
The CSA (Canadian Securities Administrators) and the AMF (Autorité des Marchés Financiers) want to improve transparency of the remuneration of upper managers and board of directors members of listed companies in Canada. A draft amendment of the “regulation on the obligations of continous information” has thus just been proposed. The companies will have to declare in tabular form the total remuneration paid to each member of top management and each administrator. This remuneration will include salaries, premiums, share and option awards, severence pay, pensions, etc. This motion is the consequence of the debate surrounding upper management remuneration, often seen as staggering by small shareholders who see a lack of relationship between remuneration and performance. The new rules will apply to companies as of 2007, and will feature in their final reports to be published in the spring of 2008.
Google Flirts With Newspapers
Google and PennySaverUSA.com, a division of Harte Hanks Inc., have just signed a wide-ranging commercial deal allowing for better synergy between online and print advertising. PennySaver’s 5,000 publications range from small local papers to mass distribution operations like Flyers in Florida, which is distributed for free to millions of people every week. Now, newspaper sales reps will be able to sell Google products like Google Adwords to their clients. The ads of the 400 participating papers will then be systematically added online to the Google ads site, Google Base. By the end of the year, nearly 1,000 papers should be taking part in this exchange. The alliance between Web giants and newspapers is a hot topic these days: Yahoo has already signed an agreement with 215 newpapers in the U.S., expanding the reach of job offers on its recruitment site, Hotjobs.com.
Vurv Looks Into Offboarding Management
Vurv, the Florida-based provider of HR softwares, continues its active policy of expansion by acquiring People Business Network. This acquisition enables it to supplement its already broad fuctions by offering a new module of offboarding management as well as human capital analytics and dashboards. The offboarding tool formulates questions to pose at the time of an employee’s departure. The goal? To determine the real reasons for a departure and learn more about organizational problems in order to set up a better policy on securing the loyalty of workforce talent.
Monster’s Stock Falls 13.2%
Monster Worldwidehas just announced that its first-quarter revenue views are likely to be lower than forecasted. Instead of the $330 million-$338 million predicted, they are now expecting sales of just $328 million-$329 million. Monster attributes its pared view to the reduced growth rate of its activities in North America. This announcement caused the company’s stock to fall 13.21% to $42.10 on Wall Street. Its objective for 2007, however, would not be called into question. The concurrence of the stock slump with the arrival, last April 12, of a new CEO, Sal Iannuzzi, was enough to revive recurring rumours of a tender offer on Monster. The site has indeed always been independent and would be of great interest to Internet giants, powerful media groups and even investment funds… Sal Iannuzzi is well-familiar with mergers and acquisitions : after his arrival as head of Symbol in January of 2006, the company was resold a few months later to Motorola for $3.9 billion!