plus 2, Ohio is 1st site of series of 48 AARP-sponsored career fairs to help job seekers 50 and older - Cleveland News - Fox 8

Ohio is 1st site of series of 48 AARP-sponsored career fairs to help job seekers 50 and older - Cleveland News - Fox 8
On-the-job arrangements changing - Tulsa World
Tennessee inmates to be tested in job skills - Memphis Commercial Appeal

Ohio is 1st site of series of 48 AARP-sponsored career fairs to help job seekers 50 and older - Cleveland News - Fox 8

Posted: 16 Mar 2010 04:47 PM PDT

By Associated Press

7:52 PM EDT, March 16, 2010

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On-the-job arrangements changing - Tulsa World

Posted: 14 Mar 2010 12:19 AM PST

Jeremy Lesniak owns a small Web design firm in Randolph, Vt. He has 10 employees and hundreds of clients. Sick isn't an option.

"I have two cell phones and a pager" he said. "I have taken partial sick days or just worked from home, but I haven't had a real one in over six years."

The swine flu epidemic had employers desperately trying to keep sick workers at bay, calling into question companies that didn't. But the economic meltdown has stepped up pressure on worker bees and bosses alike to produce from home rather than heal in bed, said Dave Couper, a career coach and corporate human resources consultant in Los Angeles.

"There's an implicit requirement to be at work — partly because of the fear of losing your job if you're not there," he said. "Before, companies were OK about people being out sick. Now I don't see that as much. I've known people who have e-mailed from their hospital room or been on conference calls where they can hardly speak they're so sick. The recession has made it worse."

The self-employed — those with access to technology and connectivity, anyway — and employees in small companies with fewer prospective subs really feel the squeeze with the sneeze.

Ashleigh Harris gives her San Francisco startup, which makes a new type of training wheel for kid bicycles, high marks for flex time. But with only three full-time positions, herself and the CEO included, calling in sick means work languishes.

"Things need to get done when they need to get

done when it comes to building a successful startup," said Harris, the marketing director. "So if that means hopping on a conference call from my cell when I'm in bed, or sending a few key e-mails to hit deadlines, I'm more than happy to do it."

Some workers fear demerit systems for calling in sick — or they're up against policies that allow no sick pay at all. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 39 percent of private-sector employees fall into the latter category, including many millions in the service industry.

A survey of U.S. workers conducted in 2008 by the Families and Work Institute, found that 63 percent received at least five paid days off per year for personal illness.

"What it comes down to is a need to refine corporate policy," said Cary Landis, chief executive of Virtual Global, a Morgantown, W.Va., provider of "cloud computing" systems that help employees work at home.

"Managers and HR executives need to take a look at those policies to make sure that we're getting the most out of it without tying a virtual rope around people who are home sick or on vacation."

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Tennessee inmates to be tested in job skills - Memphis Commercial Appeal

Posted: 10 Mar 2010 12:59 AM PST

NASHVILLE — Testing that verifies state prison inmates have job skills as they complete their sentences is aimed at keeping them from returning behind bars.

A new networking effort is also expected to help, as is a program teaching job skills.

The Tennessean newspaper reports that 4,000 state inmates will be tested over the next 18 months under the National Career Readiness Certificate program, which is new to Tennessee prisons.

The state also is backing a private effort to create a statewide network for men and women who are trying to adjust to life outside of a cell.

Ex-convicts need every advantage they can get to find jobs, said Tim Dempsey, chairman and CEO of Chattanooga Endeavors, a charity that works with ex-offenders. He said about two in 10 companies will knowingly hire someone who has a felony conviction.

"That's the problem we really have," Dempsey said. "It's not skills training. It's employer training."

Getting more companies to take on former inmates is an aim of a new nonprofit effort called Out4Life.

"All the job training and certification is good, but there has to be someone out there willing to hire you," said Mark Earley, president of Prison Fellowship, the privately funded nonprofit group that runs Out4Life.

Statistics suggest a decline in recidivism has already begun. Figures from 2007 show 39 percent of inmates released from state prisons were sent back within three years, down from 42 percent in 2001.

Jim Cosby, assistant commissioner for rehabilitative services for the Tennessee Department of Correction, sees that as the influence of department efforts to get inmates ready for jobs. Between 800 and 1,000 state prisoners receive specialized training each year in trades like carpentry, welding, cosmetology and auto repair.

Reducing the number of people who are sentenced to prison again can have an effect in the community.

"Take a burglar, for instance, that can easily go out and commit three burglaries a day," said Robert Nash, commander of the Metro Nashville Police Department East Precinct. "If you can get that person on the right track, making an honest living, you can have a powerful impact."

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