Click here for an interesting item on the Harvard Business Review site entitled How Sex Hurts the Workplace, Especially Women.

The basic premise: workplace sex doesn’t just hurt the parties directly involved — it can also have collateral damage on the careers of high-achieving female employees who had nothing to do with the harassment.

Brand new research by the Center for Work-life Policy indicates that a woman will most likely fail to achieve executive status “unless she is sponsored by a powerful senior executive — who, more often than not, is male and married.” As the article points out, that is often “where sex enters the picture.”

Some of the key findings:

• 34% of executive women say they know a female co-worker who had an affair with her boss
• 15% of women at the director level or above say they had such an affair themselves
• 37% of those who know of an affair believe that the woman received a “career boost as a consequence”
• 70% of women (versus 61% of men) lose respect for a leader who has an affair
• 56% of women (48% of men) feel “animosity” toward the couple involved
• 65% of women (60% of men) believe that salary increases and other perks are traded for sexual favors
• 37% of women (39% of men) see a productivity drop in the wake of a workplace affair

What Should Employers Do?

You don’t have to be the workplace romance police. However, you absolutely should:

• have a policy that (1) clearly prohibits all forms of unlawful harassment and (2) contains a clear mechanism for reporting potential violations, including alternate paths when the alleged harasser is the complaining party’s boss;
• train all employees on the policy, with a special emphasis for managers on the dangers of workplace romance (particularly of the boss-subordinate variety);
• fully investigate all complaints of harassment, even if (1) the alleged harasser asks you not to and (2) the allegations are against the head of the company or a “superstar”-type employee;
• if the investigation warrants disciplinary action, take it (even if it means firing the CEO or superstar); and
• carefully consider any and all communications related to the investigation, particularly if they concern a high-profile employee (and discuss them with experienced legal and PR counsel).

If an employer fails to take any of the above action , it could easily wind up in court — possibly in a class action — and face humongous morale and productivity problems. Don’t let that happen to you.

To help ensure that you cover all the investigation bases, click here for our handy Investigation Toolkit. Click here for our handy “cheat sheet” on harassment law.

Yesterday, Manpower released a brand new World of Work Insight paper offering solutions to help counter the lack of skilled trades workers around the world. For more on that issue from Reuters, click here.

According to Manpower’s 2010 Talent Shortage Survey, nearly a third of employers worldwide are struggling to find the talent they need, with skilled trades positions ranked globally as the most difficult to fill.

What should you do? Stop reading this right now and download Manpower’s new World of Work Insight paper, Strategic Migration—A Short-Term Solution to the Skilled Trades Shortage. In it, Manpower’s experts examine the underlying causes of this talent shortage and offer both short- and long-term solutions. Click here to visit the Manpower Research Center to access the full report.

Here are the highlights . . .

Why Is This a Big Deal?

Skilled trades work is vital to the maintenance and creation of the physical infrastructure of business, and unlike other positions facing a talent shortage, this place-based work can’t be relocated or offshored. This leaves employers facing a critical talent issue that will only get worse as more experienced workers retire without adequate replacements. If businesses, governments and trade associations don’t work together to develop long-term strategies to deal with this issue, future economic growth will suffer.

The Facts

Manpower’s 2010 survey of 35,000 employers across 36 countries revealed that skilled trades are the hardest jobs to fill around the world. Employers in six of the world’s ten largest economies ranked skilled trades as their #1 or #2 hiring challenge. U.S. employers ranked it #1.

The lack of skilled blue-collar workers can impede the progress of infrastructure projects and jeopardize national growth. Examples where this is occuring right now include transportation in India and power in Brazil, just to name two.

The shortage stems from several problems, including retirement of older workers without adequate replacements, technical training that’s inadequate to meet businesses’ needs and the perceived higher status of “knowledge” work over “manual labor” among those beginning their careers. Indeed, only 10% of young Americans see themselves in a high-skilled blue-collar job by age 30, according to a recent survey by the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

What Should Employers Do?

On a short-term basis, the solution doesn’t lie in the mobility of the actual work. Instead, it lies — at least in part — in the mobility of workers through strategic migration. Manpower’s paper offers loads of practical tips in this area. Long-term approaches where employers and others should look to innovate include (1) promoting positive attitudes toward skilled trades, (2) aligning technical training with business needs, (3) developing international certifications to accelerate mobility and (4) using strategic immigration policies alongside long-term domestic solutions.

Here are several immediate actions employers could take to reduce the impact of the skilled trades shortage in their business:

• Explore the benefits of worker mobility. Many forward-looking employers are either bringing in skilled workers on a temporary or even permanent basis to get the right skills in the right place at the right time.
• Partner with local educational institutions to provide training in key skills to give industry-relevant input into training courses and perhaps offer work experience for current students or grads.
• Work with trade associations to promote a positive attitude to skilled trades. Offer to speak to groups of interested young people, highlighting the benefits of a career in skilled trades and providing case studies of successful individuals from within your organization. Another option is to consider mentoring/shadowing opportunities where young people can see for themselves what’s involved in skilled trades work.

The Bottom Line

In short, as Manpower’s paper so aptly puts it: “employers, trade groups and educators must partner to create a societal mindshift that brings honor back to the skilled trades.” Well said.

First, the good news . . .

According to data released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. workplace fatalities fell 17% in 2009 to an all-time record low. There were a total of 4,340 workplace deaths, compared to 5,214 the previous year. In a similar vein, the National Council of Compensation Insurance reports that workplace injuries have been declining for more than a decade and are at their lowest point in years.

The bad news . . .

When you drill into the numbers, the declines appear to have more to do with record-high unemployment than true gains in worker safety. Depending on whose statistics you believe, it appears that true unemployment is at its highest level in a quarter century. Indeed, new unemployment claims jumped 500,000 in the most recent week of reporting.

On the heels of our discussions about the “Mancession” and recent gains by female employees in the workplace, there is growing evidence that men are getting more and more comfortable about filing discrimination complaints.

Tarascio v. Fallon

As is often the case, a celebrity suit is driving much of the discussion. NBC stage manager Paul Tarascio recently filed a complaint with the EEOC alleging that he was fired from the Late Night With Jimmy Fallon show because he’s a man.

Tarascio claims that when he was demoted from First Stage Manager to Second Stage Manager in July 2009, NBC executives told him that the reason for the change was that “Jimmy just prefers to take direction from a woman.” Tarascio alleges that his complaints to management resulted in him being fired in March 2010 for “fabricated performance issues.” NBC denies Tarascio’s claims and says they are ‘without merit.”

Even Construction Workers?

Another case generating attention is one filed by the EEOC on behalf of a male construction worker who accuses his male supervisor of calling him “sexy,” “blowing him kisses, carressing his hands and back” and threatening not to let him work on the next job if he refused to sleep with him. When the employee reported the conduct to the company’s president, he allegedly was told that “nothing could be done.” The employee says he was forced to quit shortly thereafter.

“Offering employees avenues for reporting harassment and then responding appropriately to employee complaints are critical in maintaining a workplace free from unlawful harassment,” says EEOC attorney Lynette Barnes. “This is true across all industries. Employees in the construction industry have just as much right as persons in any other occupation to a workplace free from unlawful harassment.” Click here for more from the EEOC.

Ignoring Men’s Complaints?

In a similar suit, the EEOC accuses LensCrafters of failing to address sexual harassment complaints from a male employee and of “perpetuating a sexually hostile work environment.”

According to the suit, complaints from female employees were taken seriously while those from male employees were not. The EEOC alleges that a male lab technician was “repeatedly subjected to unwelcome sexual advances, comments, and touching” and that his complaints about the conduct were ignored.

“The EEOC is committed to protecting all employees, including men, from being subjected to a sexually hostile work environment,” says EEOC attorney Nedra Campbell. “Federal law protects the civil rights of men as well as women.” Click here for more.

The Stats

EEOC statistics back up the claim that men are getting more comfortable filing discrimination claims. Since 1990, the percentage of harassment claims that were filed by men has doubled from 8% to 16%.

The Bottom Line?

Discrimination is discrimination is discrimination. Take all claims seriously, investigate thoroughly and then take appropriate action promptly. If you don’t, you may end up in court.

LinkedIn. Facebook. MySpace. Twitter. What are you on?

We recently asked more than 2,000 HR and business professionals the following questions . . .

Do you currently use a social networking tool?

• 68% said “Yes”
• 31% said “No”
• 1% said “What’s social networking?”

Which social networking tools do you use  most?

Here are the responses:

• Facebook: 57%
• LinkedIn:  38%
• Twitter: 1%
• MySpace: 0%
• Other: 4%

Let’s break it down . . .

• The use of social media appears to be growing rapidly (perhaps in response to my annoyingly repetitive urges to “get connected”). This quarter, 68% said they use social media tools versus only 61% in Q2 — an 11% jump.
• Facebook remains the most popular tool. However, LinkedIn gained a bit this quarter, rising from 36% to 38% as the #1 tool while Facebook fell from 62% to 57%.
• Almost no one uses anything other than those two as their primary “go to” tool.

Thanks for your participation! Stay tuned for more on the latest trends affecting the wonderful world of workplace law.

During our last webinar, we asked the following question . . .

Women now make up the majority of the non-farm workforce and the vast majority of college attendees. Recent studies show that wage disparities appear to be narrowing. In the not-so-distant future, the U.S. will be more than 50% non-white. The Supreme Court and even the Oval Office reflect more diversity than ever before. So, when will Title VII be repealed?

Here’s how our audience of 2,000+ responded . . .

a.  By the end of the week (0%)
b.  By the end of the decade (15%)
c.  By 2030 (10%)
d.  By 2050 (4%)
e.  Never (71%)

So, the vast majority of you feel that Title VII will never be repealed. I tend to agree.

Setting aside some of the obvious political reasons (not a whole lot of politicians are likely to want to raise their hand and say “I’m against discrimination laws”), there’s still quite a bit of work to do before true equity will rein in the workplace.

Among other things, women still only earn 77¢ for every $1 earned by men — a whopping $431,000 less over the length of an average career. Despite the fact that women now constitute a majority of the workforce, only 3% of CEOs and 13% of executive officers are women. There are other similarly sobering statistics for other protected classes.

The Bottom Line: Don’t expect Title VII to go away any time soon.

As always, thanks for your participation!

(Sources: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Catalyst, TIME Magazine, Center for American Progress)

It’s time for Manpower’s one-of-a-kind Quarterly Employment Litigation Index.

Each quarter, we conduct a survey to see what’s really going on in the world of employment litigation. We asked the 2,167 attendees at our most recent webinar the following question:

Are you seeing an increase in employment law claims?

Here are the official results (with last quarter’s numbers in parentheses):

• Yes, substantial increase: 6% (6%)
• Yes, modest increase: 29% (31%)
• No change: 61% (60%)
• No, modest decrease: 3% (2%)
• No, substantial decrease: 1% (1%)

What the Numbers Mean

Once again, far more employers are seeing an increase — as opposed to a decrease — in claims. The good news: that trend may be slowing a bit. The percentage of respondents reporting an increase shrank slightly from 37% last quarter to 35% this quarter.

The not-so-good news: only 4% of our respondents reported a decrease. While that’s a bit better than last quarter’s 3%, it still means that eight times more of our respondents (35% versus 4%) are seeing an increase versus a decrease.

What Should Employers Do?

Given the ongoing increase in litigation, it’s critically important to (1) know the law and (2) take action on key risk areas immediately. We discussed a variety of ways to achieve those goals in our latest webinar. Click here to view the replay if you didn’t get a chance to join us.

As always, thanks for your input and participation. Stay tuned for more on the latest trends in the wonderful world of workplace law.

After 343 votes, we have a clear winner in last week’s question.

Here’s what we asked . . .

Women now make up the majority of the workforce and the vast majority of college attendees. Recent studies show that wage disparities appear to be narrowing. In the not-so-distant future, the U.S. will be more than 50% non-white. The Supreme Court and even the Oval Office reflect more diversity than ever before. So, when will Title VII be repealed?

Here are your responses . . .

a.  By the end of the year (1%)
b.  By the end of the decade (13%)
c.  By 2030 (7%)
d.  By 2050 (3%)
e.  Never (76%)

So, the vast majority of you feel that Title VII will never be repealed. I tend to agree.

Setting aside some of the obvious political reasons (not a whole lot of politicians are likely to want to raise their hand and say “I’m against discrimination laws”), there’s still quite a bit of work to do before true equity will rein in the workplace.

Among other things, women still only earn 77¢ for every $1 earned by men. Despite the fact that women now constitute a majority of the workforce, only 3% of CEOs and 13% of executive officers are women. Given those statistics, it’s not too surprising that 60% of men responded “yes” to a recent poll asking, “Are barriers to female success gone?” Only 50% of women said “yes.”

Thanks for your participation. Our next Question of the Week will be coming your way soon.

(Sources: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Catalyst, TIME Magazine)

Employers (and employees) can learn some valuable lessons from CNN’s firing last week of a reporter over an allegedly inappropriate Twitter tweet.

The Story

CNN fired Mideast correspondent Octavia Nasr — a 20-year employee — after she tweeted her admiration for the recently deceased Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah. Fadlallah, considered a founding father of the Hezbollah movement, was aggressively anti-American and was allegedly linked to bombings that killed several hundred Americans.

In her tweet, Nasr called Fadlallah “one of Hezbollah’s giants I respect a lot.” After negative reactions poured into CNN, the company issued a statement calling Nasr’s tweet an error in judgment.

Nasr apologized, saying in a blog that her tweet was intended to refer to Fadlallah’s record on women’s rights. During his tenure, Fadlallah banned “honor killing” of women and authorized women the right to strike their husbands if attacked. Nasr admitted that using Twitter’s 140-character-max format to comment on the life of such a controversial a figure probably wasn’t the best idea, calling it “something I deeply regret.”

Despite Nasr’s apology, CNN decided that her credibility had been irreversibly compromised. It issued an announcement stating that after it discussed the incident with Nasr “we have decided that she will be leaving the company.”

What This Means for Employers

Employers should be keenly aware of the humongous negative publicity that can be generated by Twitter tweets and other social media activity by employees. Employees should be trained on the potential career-limiting effects of such posts. Time and time again employees get themselves (and their employers) in trouble because they seem to believe that less traditional forms of electronic communication are (1) subject to different workplace rules and/or (2) somehow less permanent. As many employers and employees have painfully discovered in recent months, neither is true.

Here’s  a link to our sample social media policy.