Recognized in the US the right to criticize the company on social networks.

The National Labor Relations Board of the United States (NLRB in its acronym in English), has recognized the right of workers to express through social networks, their grievances or differences with work or superiors, according to information that has echoed El Periódico de Cataluña. From now on forward will not be grounds for dismissal press 'like' on pages that are not related to the company or share publications manifest personal discontent about the labor situation. They are already considered a right of the worker.

The origin of the story lies in 2011, in Watertown, a town in the State of Connecticut, when a former employee of a bar, called Triple Play Sports Bar and Grille, published on his Facebook account a complaint about the working conditions of the establishment, insulting the Manager. Two employees who worked in the bar at that time put him to 'like' in the publication. When the company learned that they had intervened in the commentary dismissed both with the reason of "lack of loyalty".

The National Labor Relations Board, last September, gave few days so the company returned to hire two employees dismissed, since it considers that what they did was to "discuss a labour problem". This is not the first statement in which it fails in favor of an employee who has been dismissed for criticizing the company on Facebook: In 2011 it was forced to reinstate to a worker who had criticized her directly responsible in this social network. In this case, Triple Play Sports Bar and Grille has appealed the judgment of the Agency because no legitimate justification of the same.

CNN has exposed the case of a lawyer, named Brian Spitz, specializing in employment issues related to social networks and that calls attention to the complication that resides in wanting to apply laws of 20, 30 or 50 years ago to a new generation of technology.

Humble bosses improve the management of the companies

A new study of the WP Carey School of Business, of the Arizona State University shows that the humble CEOs benefit significantly both to the companies for which they work and to its management, probably more proud chiefs acting with sexist stereotypes and that are arrogant leaders that no matter the opinion of anyone more. The study, published in Administrative Science Quarterly has also explained with the participation of researchers from the National University of Singapore, of George Washington University and Renmin University of China.

The CEOs who are humble are more open to joint decision-making and to empower others, explained Angelo Kinicki, Professor at the WP Carey School of Business and one of the authors of the study. "Their behavior positively affects both the senior and as to the Middle, presenting a greater commitment to the company and work, more work and better satisfaction performance of its functions. We see an effect of bit by bit which seems to influence the company in general", it has been described.

Researchers interviewed the CEOs of 63 private companies in China, and also created and distributed surveys that was measured humility and its effects on nearly 1,000 managers of top grade and level means that work with these general managers interviewed. The authors of the study specifically chose China because they needed a context in which CEOs will show a wide variety of levels of humility. However, believe that the findings generalize to many companies in the United States and other parts of the world.

"Our study suggests the 'secret formula' to create managers who are great and humble", explained Kinicki: "they have to be willing to search for information about themselves, have to be more empathetic and look for strengths and weaknesses of others and should be more focused on the common good and the welfare of others above their own".

For Kinicki, leader behavior normally falls cascading down the structure of the Organization, so if the leadership of the organization is characterized by humility, the effects will be noticed in almost all workers of the company.

Which countries will have more unemployment in 2015?

A report by the International Labour Organization, recently released, analyzes the present and the future of unemployment in the world. The prediction is that the year that Mauritania is the country with more unemployment in the world, with a 30.6% of its population without employment, followed by the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and the island of Reunion, with a 29.8% and 29.3% respectively. Lesotho, is located in fourth place with 28.6%, and with half a point, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Then Spain and Greece are 27% and, further away, with a 25.1% South Africa, the island of Guadeloupe with a 24.5% and Swaziland, with 23.5%.

At the other end, the countries that recorded less than 1% of unemployed are Cambodia (0.4%), Qatar and Rwanda (both 0.6%) and Thailand, with a 0.9%.

The Agency experts stressed that both the economies of rich countries as in the European Union, the conditions of the labour market have shown no signs of improvement in 2013. In the countries of Central and Eastern Europe - that are not members of the EU--and former Soviet republics fall in the number of registered jobs since the beginning of the crisis in 2009 was reversed in 2013.

 Opportunities in Latin America and Caribbean

In other regions, such as Latin America and Caribbean, is continued creating employment, in contrast to East Asia, where the figures were much lower. In South-East Asia and Oceania, the increase was 1.6% in 2013 and higher growth is expected in the next few years. In South Asian labor markets still cornered by agricultural jobs and economy, with low-paying jobs and without protection.

In Middle East and North Africa, economic growth was insufficient to generate one sufficient number of jobs and unemployment rates continue to be of the highest in the world. Finally, in sub-Saharan Africa, paid jobs are still very few, with a rate of unstable employment from 77.4% in 2013, the highest in the world.

Five trends in the U.S. labor market

An article published in the section of economy of CNN highlights five trends that, beyond the figures of unemployment, may go unnoticed.

The first is that, currently, 139 million people on payroll in the United States, the figure most ever recorded in the history. The reason is the increase of the population, although 9 million people remain unemployed.

The second key point is that one-third of the workers are self-employed, more than 50 million people: in 2006, the report of the Government Bureau of statistics indicated that the percentage was 31%, which has a 34%, according to a survey of the Freelancers Union. Another study, conducted by Intuit, calculates that it will be 40% in 2020 given the trend of workers under 35 years to become self-employed.

 The third figure is worrying: approximately five million between 16 - 24 years old are NEET: one in seven youths neither studying nor working, said the report by the Social Science Research Council last year. In some neighborhoods, percentage rises to 30%, with racial correlations, especially in young African Americans and latinos. However, the number of unemployed young people of these ages is 13.6%, the lowest since the recession, began as it details the Bureau of labor statistics.

The penultimate data also draws attention, since women still earning less money that men - only 82% - despite the fact that they perform the same work. A report by the Institute of research of policies for women, stresses that females full-time earn less money than men in 101 of the 112 works studied. The salary differences are even greater in many of the best paid jobs as developers of software and CEOs, financial managers.

Finally, the latest trend to take into account is that about 10,000 baby-boomer - generation born in lathe to 1945 - retire every day, which could lead to some 30 million vacancies in 2020. In addition, these pensioners will require medical attention, so new opportunities for doctors, nurses, caregivers and others will come up personal healthcare.

Greater employment flexibility reduces stress

A recent study, published last March in The American Sociological Review and which made echo the New York Times, has tried to explain if the stress of working life conflicts may be alleviated if the employees have more control over their schedules, including the possibility of working at home. As expected, the answer is Yes.

In the study, funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of United States, participated in a large multinational information technology department. The researchers included psychologists, physiologists, economists and academic experts in public health.

As part of the investigation, the heads of department were trained to encourage them to show support for the family and personal lives of employees, said Erin Kelly, Professor of sociology at the University of Minnesota and one of the main authors of the study. Then, gave employees more control over their schedules to what it was before. They "were free to work where and when to prefer, provided that the work was done", explained.

The results were that employees nearly doubled the amount of time working at home, reaching an average of 19.6 hours in front of 10.2 start times. The total number of hours worked remained more or less at the same level. For Professor Kelly, the fact of focusing on outcomes rather than time spent in the office and the reduction in the number of  "low value" meetings and other tasks, helped employees achieve greater flexibility.

In comparison with another group that did not have the same flexibility, workers interviewed by the researchers indicated that they felt happier and were less stressed, they had more energy and were using their time more effectively, added Kelly. There was no sign that the quality of work improved or worsened with the changed times, it concluded.