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What I've Been Reading This Week


Germany Bans Managers From Calling Employees After Hours

This is an interesting article about a recent move by the German Labor Ministry to ban managers from calling or e-mailing staff outside of work hours, except in cases of emergency.  The Labor Ministry based this reasoning on the grounds that employees need not be under this undue stress from always having to be on call.

In a related note, France has also taken similar measures by banning employers from e-mailing their employees after hours (France Bans After Hours E-mails to Employees).

While this probably would not happen across the board in this country, it is still interesting to note the move by Germany.  Should any employers institute a policy similar to this in the United States, it would more likely be predicated on the grounds of avoiding potential wage and hour issues, rather than minimizing stress on employees. 



This article by Billy Haisley walks through how unions would work in NCAA sports, should that become the norm (for additional reading on NCAA athletes and their attempt to unionize:  Northwestern Football Players Seek to Unionize - Blog; Northwestern Football Players Given Green Light to Unionize - Blog).  While this is not a relatively easy topic to sort through, this article makes it a point of walking through some of the common questions that have arisen since the Northwestern football players were given the authorization to unionize a few weeks ago.



David Zaleski has 9 helpful workplace policies that employers should consider adopting.  While several, such as having zero tolerance for intolerance, are somewhat common sense, Zaleski has thoughts on a more accepting work from home policy that make sense.  While not employers will find these policies to be a good fit with their company, it is good food for thought.

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