Michigan’s right-to-work repeal, Shopify’s meeting crusade, and tackling total rewards
Shopify is squashing bugs, Michigan repealed right-to-work, and tech layoffs keep coming. It’s been an eventful couple of weeks since our last newsletter. While you settle in for your week ahead, take some time to catch up on the latest industry news.
HR News Roundup
“Meetings are a bug.” How Shopify squashed them.?
Earlier this year, Shopify made waves with their scorched earth approach to clearing their employees’ calendars. On January 3rd, Shopify’s COO Kaz Nejatian tweeted, “Meetings are a bug. Today, we shipped a fix to this bug at Shopify. To start 2023, we're canceling all Shopify meetings with more than two people.” An estimated 12,000 meetings disappeared into thin air overnight. As a remote company, you can imagine the sense of disruption this caused initially.?
Well, three months into their experiment, results have been encouraging. In a report from WorkLife, Shopify’s team noted a 33% drop in meeting time per employee, which they believe will translate to a 25% increase in project completion by year-end. Those are some impressive early numbers. We certainly share Shopify’s enthusiasm for making meetings worthwhile if you’re going to have them. However, this approach, referred to internally as a “chaos monkey,” required some major guts and trust.?
Is your organization suffering from never-ending meetings? Time spent in meetings has been on the rise for 20 years now. Most would agree that a fair amount of those hours would be better spent elsewhere. Do you think Shopify’s approach would work at your organization, or is there a more moderate tactic you can take to mend your meeting malaise??
Michigan passes ‘Restoring Workers’ Rights’ bill package
Michigan’s legislative bodies decided that right-to-work was wrong-for-them. On March 24, 2023, Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed the Restoring Workers’ Rights bill into law. The new legislation went into effect on March 30th. Comprised of Senate Bill 34 and House Bills 4004 and 4007, legislators hope that these bills will strengthen workers’ rights to collective bargaining and workplace safety, as well as uplift the state’s middle class.??
The release cites a study stating that “workers’ wages in states without strong worker protections are 3.1 percent—on average, $1,600—lower per year…” Additionally, House Bill 4007 restored the prevailing wage on all state projects. That means, for instance, contractors working on state construction projects must pay their workers union wages.?
Of course, union leadership is excited about this development. Under the state’s former right-to-work laws, employees at union sites could opt not to pay union dues and fees. That’s all changed with the passage of these new bills. So what should Michigan businesses expect??
Attorneys quoted by HR Dive pointed to a likely push for security clauses in union contracts. These clauses would make union membership and dues a condition of employment under their respective collective bargaining agreements. Naturally, upticks in union membership are also anticipated, though that could take some time to develop.?
Although a widespread rebuke of right-to-work isn’t expected any time soon in the twenty-six other states with those laws, businesses should keep an eye on what happens in Michigan.
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