Quebec company Machinex, established in Plessisville for over 50 years, has just opened a subsidized private daycare next to its facilities to help its employees better balance family and work. Machinex, which develops and manufactures its own recycling technologies with advanced sorting solutions used around the world, invested $4.3 million in this project. The facility includes a triple nursery for babies aged 5 to 18 months, six multi-age groups from 18 to 48 months, and two preschool groups from 48 to 60 months. According to Machinex, the Les Petits M daycare, which can accommodate 85 children, is another way of contributing to sustainable development. The daycare’s opening hours are adapted to work schedules, and parents do not have to travel extra kilometres to drive their children morning and evening.
Only 22% of the 262,800 information and communications technology professionals in Quebec are women. This is indicated in the 2021-2024 report Portrait of the workforce in the information and communications technologies sector in Quebec from TECHNO Compétences, the sectoral workforce committee in information and communications technologies. information and communications. The Quebec company Cofomo, which offers information technology (IT) and business consulting services, wanted to stand out in its industry by appointing a woman to the management of the organization for the first time. Lyne Lazure, who was hired at Cofomo in 2003, therefore becomes president and head of operations. Lyne Lazure is one of the top 50 women leaders 2024 of Women We Admire, an organization of women executives and leaders in the United States and Canada. According to her company, Lyne Lazure is recognized for her local leadership promoting collaboration and she wants to include more women in the IT environment.
It’s not just employees who are playing the ghost role, employers are too with “ghost jobs”. These are advertised positions that an employer has no intention of filling – or that have already been filled – ABC News Australia reports, adding that there are potentially thousands of these bogus positions across the country. According to the Australian media outlet, this strategy not only wastes people’s time, it also risks harming mental health and distorting labour market figures. Up to a third of all job postings could be ghost jobs. Advertisements that are more than 30 days old are an indicator of a fake job, as is a lack of response to an application and a vague job description. What’s the point of ghost work? Isn’t it a huge waste of everyone’s time? No. For employers, there are benefits. Advertising these fake jobs helps give the impression that an organisation is successful. Listing ghost jobs can also be a tactic to appease overworked staff, who believe that the employer is really planning to hire staff to help them.
First, don’t sit still if you see an opportunity to grow your business, advises Forbes magazine. Don’t wait for an interest rate drop that might not happen right away. Consider the opportunity costs of inaction. Will you miss the opportunity to purchase property or sign a lease to build a new facility because you think the cost of capital is too high? If you had borrowed money last summer, your facility might already be up and running. If the location was lucrative, you lost a big opportunity by trying to wait. Then, compare prices. Whether the country is in a high or low interest rate environment, always shop around for the best deals. Finally, streamline your operations. If you need to borrow money to replace aging equipment, expand your operations, or open a new location, it’s important to understand that high interest rates will be around for some time. Look for ways to reduce costs in other areas.
Nearly half of Dell’s full-time employees in the United States have chosen to sacrifice the hope of getting a promotion to continue working remotely. Last February, the tech giant asked workers to formally classify themselves as hybrid or remote workers. Those who have chosen to work remotely are no longer eligible for promotion and cannot change roles. Meanwhile, hybrid workers must come to the office 39 days per quarter, or about three days per week, and their attendance is monitored. Months after the return-to-office policy was announced, it appears it hasn’t worked, according to internal data on the entire full-time workforce seen by Business Insider. Rather than hoping to move up the company, employees preferred spending time with family, exploring hobbies and meeting friends outside of the workplace. Returning to the office equates to a pay cut considering the costs of transportation, meals and clothing, according to employees interviewed by Business Insider.
