For this week's Talent and HR News Weekly Roundup, we're sharing the latest in workforce news since there have been quite a few recent mentions of the topic in the news. Enjoy and happy Friday!
1) Yahoo to lay off 15% of workforce amid $400M cost-cutting from USA Today
"Struggling search engine company Yahoo Inc. said it plans to cut about 15% of its workforce as part of a $400 million cost-cutting effort intended to "simplify" the troubled Internet company. Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Yahoo plans to lay off about 1,500 employees and close five offices in Dubai, Mexico City, Buenos Aires, Madrid and Milan — with the bulk of cuts by the end of March, Yahoo said Tuesday. By the end of 2016, the online and mobile advertising company expects to have about 9,000 employees and fewer than 1,000 contractors, down from closer to 12,000 last year."
2) Obama's Budget to Boost Funding for Workforce Programs from US News & World Report
"President Barack Obama will make an ambitious pitch to Congress next week in his fiscal 2017 budget, asking lawmakers to approve nearly $6 billion to help more than 1 million young people gain work experience and nab their first job. The U.S. is in the midst of the longest streak of private-sector job growth ever, according to the administration, with more than 14 million new jobs created during the past 70 months and 5 million jobs currently ope. Yet 1 in 7 young people ages 16 to 24 are either not in school or don't have a job. "The challenge is that if employers are looking for experience, how does a young person convince a company to give her a first shot to show what she can do," Jeff Zients, director of the National Economic Council, said on a press call Wednesday afternoon."
3) Mobile Workforce Management: Embracing New Technologies to Drive Your Bottom Line from Huffington Post
"In 2014, smartphone shipments hit 1.3 billion units worldwide. While growth is expected to slow slightly this year due to China's economic downturn, our use of technology is only expanding, both at work and at home, particularly in the blurred lines of the demarcation between the two. "By one estimate, telecommuting has risen 79 percent between 2005 and 2012 and now makes up 2.6 percent of the American work force, or 3.2 million workers, according to statistics from the American Community Survey," said The New York Times in Aline Tulgend's "It's Unclearly Defined, but Telecommuting is Fast on the Rise." This mobile workforce of telecommuting individuals applies to anyone who works outside the office: sales reps and managers, construction workers, plumbers, and so on and so forth."
4) Intel Discloses Diversity Data, Challenges Tech Industry To Follow Suit from NPR
Intel has a new report out today. It's not about semiconductors. It's about diversity: how Intel is doing when it comes to women and underrepresented minorities on its staff. The results are mixed — some strong and some, frankly, failures. Still the sheer amount of information is exceptional, and a direct challenge to other Silicon Valley giants who've chosen to hide their data. Intel set a goal last year: Of all new hires, 40 percent have to be women or underrepresented minorities (black, Latino, Native American). The company had never hit that level in the past. So for Intel, it was an ambitious goal. And the company reports today: It managed to exceed it, hitting 43.1 percent.
Lexi Gordon is a Lead Consultant for exaqueo, a workforce consultancy that helps organizations build their cultures, employer brands and talent strategies. Contact exaqueo to learn more about our employer brand innovation, workforce research, and recruiting strategy offerings.