Latest news with #FairPoliticalPracticesCommission
Yahoo
04-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
63% of employers say skill gaps are the biggest hurdles to AI adoption
As organizations everywhere race to integrate AI into their ways of working, a significant barrier persists: skill gaps. According to a recent Accenture report, 63% of employers identify these gaps as the primary obstacle to adopting AI technologies. And this doesn't just apply to worker bees. While 97% of executives believe AI will fundamentally reshape their industries, 65% also admit they lack the technological expertise to lead these transformations effectively. Enforcement Division Chief, Fair Political Practices Commission, Sacramento Director of Policy – North America, Ellen MacArthur Foundation, Washington D.C. or New York City Senior Campaigner (17-Month Fixed Term), Amnesty International USA, New York City / Washington D.C. Legislative Director, Council of Large Public Housing Authorities, Washington D.C. Director of Government Affairs, Blueprint Biosecurity, Washington D.C. At the same time, there's a clear disconnect between employers and workers. Though most employees (82%) feel confident in their ability to grasp AI technology, and an overwhelming 94% express confidence in their ability to develop the necessary AI skills, employers remain skeptical about their readiness. A 'trust gap' is brewing between leadership and their workforce, says Accenture. Its research outlines that successfully leveraging AI requires more than simply deploying new tools as 'digital coworkers', though that is a 'compelling start'. Moreover, it recommends that organizations fundamentally reimagine how traditional workflows, functions, and even jobs are defined. And this means holistically integrating technology, talent, and processes. Unlike traditional upskilling, Accenture says that the half-life of skills (the time period in which skills are relevant to an organization) will plummet. Continuous and tandem human and AI agent learning will be important. As people and intelligent agents co-learn, the report says they will begin to innovate together. It's up to leadership to create structure and incentives for this new way of continuous upskilling, and this means breaking innovation out of tightly-managed centers of excellence (CoE). It asks: 'What if innovation were not prescribed to a place and time, but rather bubbled up from the edges of the organization, where individuals and teams have direct insights into customer needs?' Individual and team innovation sounds positively utopian, but what practical steps can be taken to get there? It doesn't really explain how 'connective intelligence tissue' will be set up — perhaps that's a selling point for their consultancy services — but does say when it's combined with AI agents, employees will need to develop new skills inline with these capabilities, integrating them into their everyday working practices. Organizations must enable employees to acquire and apply skills, quickly and continuously. With the rise of AI, it's predicted that job advertisements will become more focused on skills, and HR departments will need more focus on predictive workforce planning as the nature of work, tasks, and skills continually evolve. Ethan Mollick of Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania is cited in the report as saying 'In the AI future, HR becomes your R&D department.' However, this is already the case in many forward-thinking organizations who have deployed advanced-AI recruiting tools, like Robin, and Dash. Both feature easy integration with existing Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS), Teams, and Slack. And it's this kind of easy integration that needs to become the standard to help overcome hurdles to AI implementation. In the coming years, across sectors, curious and inquisitive individuals who demonstrate strong learning agility, and an ability to fuse human and machine skills will become top talent. Organizations will require a 'high degree of ambidexterity', so Accenture believes that both generalists and specialists will remain essential. Workers seeking to AI-proof their careers should focus cultivating uniquely human expertise, and fusing human and machine skills. When it comes to upskilling, Accenture comes down hard on on-demand, self-service learning as lacking in personalized guidance, tailored to an individual's role, context, and learning preferences. Instead it favours AI learning agents. 'Aware of an employee's changing role, experience and ambition, the agent could proactively suggest upskilling / reskilling paths that are highly tailored to the individual's professional goals, needs and unique learning preferences.' It also outlines that L&D functions will be responsible for nurturing continuous learning by embedding it into job roles, which requires collaboration between business and HR leaders. Ultimately, the future of AI adoption lies in its ability to create seamless, intuitive experiences that enhance human capabilities, rather than replace them. By integrating these solutions with existing workflows and systems, organizations can overcome the skill gaps that currently impede AI transformation, but there needs to be a plan. With 57% of employees seeking clarity on what gen AI means for their careers, it's essential for leaders to prioritize transparency. And if this is lacking in your organization, it could be time to look elsewhere. Ready to get your job search underway? Browse thousands of jobs on The Hill Job Board Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
28-03-2025
- Yahoo
1 in 3 Americans have seen their boss insult or humiliate an employee
A new study that surveyed Americans in several of the country's largest cities reveals the alarming prevalence of toxic management across the U.S.. According to learning platform Preply, almost one-third of American workers have witnessed their boss publicly insulting or humiliating an employee. And that's not all. One in four Americans have considered quitting their job to get away from their boss, and again, one in four say their boss has cussed out people in the workplace. An equal proportion describe their workplace environment as fundamentally toxic. Enforcement Division Chief, Fair Political Practices Commission, Sacramento Director of Policy – North America, Ellen MacArthur Foundation, Washington D.C. or New York City Senior Campaigner (17-Month Fixed Term), Amnesty International USA, Washington Legislative Director, Council of Large Public Housing Authorities, Washington Director of Government Affairs, Blueprint Biosecurity, Washington Bad bosses are ubiquitous; one in nine Americans reported experiencing frequent mistreatment from their management. As well as uncovering the types of toxic management employees are experiencing, the research also uncovered the most-commonly cited cities for mean bosses. Its researchers discovered that Chicago, IL was the city where mean managers were encountered most frequently. Furthermore, employees in this city are the most likely to claim that their manager has cussed at people in the workplace. In terms of mean boss metropolises, the Windy City is followed by Virginia Beach, VA, and Las Vegas, NV, in second and third place. Nearly two in five workers in Sin City say they have seen their boss insult or humiliate an employee in front of others, and one in four Las Vegas workers consider their job to be in a toxic workplace. Washington D.C., and Los Angeles, CA, came in fourth and fifth places, respectively. Completing the top ten are Baltimore, MD, Pittsburgh, PA, Cleveland, OH, Atlanta, GA, and Seattle, WA. On the flip side, the five cities with the kindest bosses were also found. Wichita, KS, is the kindest, with one in two workers saying their boss is never mean to them. Omaha, NE, is in second place, where 67 percent of respondents said their boss never uses harsh language. While in Philadelphia, PA, one in four workers say their boss positively impacts their mental health. Minneapolis MN, and Oklahoma City, OK, complete the top five kindest boss cities. Certain industries demonstrate more pronounced challenges. Food services, construction, and manufacturing consistently ranked as sectors with the most aggressive management styles, though food services is by far and away the worst with a mean boss score of 99.47. Construction scored 90.48, and manufacturing sits at 70.96. Retail, media, entertainment and creative arts, engineering, hospitality and tourism, healthcare, government, professional services, and technology and information all ranked in the sixties. While ranking in the fifties were science and research, transportation, child and elder care, education and training, and finance and insurance. The nonprofit sector was the only industry with below fifty on the mean boss index, at 46.08. Workers earning less than $45,000 annually, and Gen Z employees appear particularly vulnerable to workplace mistreatment. Survey researchers also asked employees about their managers' communication styles. Some 37.15 percent said their boss was blunt, 26.29 percent said critical, and 25.58 percent said sarcastic. A further 14.92 percent said their manager was aggressive, while 12.33 percent said their boss was demeaning. Though over a third (34.21percent) said their manager was none of the above. These findings underscore the critical need for comprehensive reviews of workplace communication, and where necessary, leadership training. Tackling toxic management practices is essential for maintaining both individual wellbeing, and organizational productivity, so if your company is lacking, do speak to HR, and start putting change in you might be better off finding something new. If that's the case, visit The Hill's Job Board today, which is updated daily. Ready to get your job search underway? Browse thousands of jobs on The Hill Job Board Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
04-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Ethics violation lodged against former CalRecycle director
For lawmakers and lobbyists who worked on ensuring the passage of California's landmark plastic waste law, Rachel Wagoner's abrupt career shift was nothing short of jaw dropping. The former director of CalRecycle — who oversaw, wrote and promoted the single-use plastic legislation known as SB 54 — is now the executive director of the Circular Action Alliance, a coalition of plastic and packaging companies determined to delay, if not derail, the law. And it's not clear her pivot is legal. On Feb. 19, an anonymous whistleblower submitted a formal complaint to California's Fair Political Practices Commission, asking the agency to investigate Wagoner on the grounds that she violated a 'switching sides' ban that prevents former regulators from receiving compensation to work against the state on matters they once oversaw. "It's pretty egregious," said Sean McMorris, transparency, ethics and accountability program manager for California Common Cause, a political watchdog group. "I don't know how else to say it, regardless of whether any laws were broken or not, the public's going to look at that and say, 'What's going on here? This is pretty suspicious.'" Read more: California banned polystyrene. Has the plastic industry spooked the governor into silence? Others say Wagoner was instrumental in pushing for regulations and language she is now calling problematic. "It certainly raises a lot of concerns," said Sen. Ben Allen (D-Santa Monica), who authored and sponsored the original legislation. Wagoner did not respond to questions from The Times, but in an email exchange from Feb. 12, she did said she was proud of the time she worked for the state government and feels privileged to have been asked to advise companies and to provide "information on SB 54 and California environmental and regulatory laws and processes." She said she does not advocate for the companies she represents in her new role — which include some of the world's largest producers and distributors of plastic packaging, including Amazon, Coca-Cola, Conagra, Procter & Gamble and Target. She said she just provides them with information. Larine Urbina, a spokesperson for the coalition, said the state's political practices commission had not reached out to her organization, and therefore "it wouldn't be appropriate for me to comment at this time." SB 54, the plastic waste law Wagoner helped craft, was designed to reduce single-use plastics and packaging and shift the responsibility of plastic waste to the companies that manufacturer, market or sell those products — and away from the consumer and local jurisdictions. That can be done either by reducing the amount of single-use plastics these companies create and sell, or by manufacturing products that can be recycled or composted. According to one state analysis, 2.9 million tons of single-use plastic and 171.4 billion single-use plastic components were sold, offered for sale or distributed during 2023 in California. Single-use plastics and plastic waste more broadly are considered a growing environmental and health problem. In recent decades, the accumulation of plastic waste has overwhelmed waterways and oceans, sickening marine life and threatening human health. While the bill was signed into law in 2022, regulations designed to govern it had not yet been finalized. For the past two years, stakeholders representing plastic manufacturers and producers, packaging companies, environmental groups and waste haulers have hashed out and negotiated proposed regulations — debating such things as the definition of "producer," or where on food service items the words "reusable" or "refillable" must be displayed. Read more: Trump targets paper straw purchases by federal government — and won't stop there Throughout this period, CalRecycle — which was led by Wagoner until March 2024 — helped guide the discussions and incorporated feedback into several proposed drafts of those rules. For instance, in early June 2022, as the stakeholders were hammering out the first set of regulations, it became apparent that someone — the state or the industry — would periodically need to assess the state's waste infrastructure to ensure material was getting to where it needed to go and was being properly disposed of according to the law. The industry is responsible for meeting those targets — which include, among other requirements, that 65% of all single-use plastic packaging in the state is recycled by 2032. The stakeholders had initially agreed this costly, time- and personnel-intensive evaluation should be conducted by the industry. This would allow the industry to evaluate the assessment as it was being conducted and be responsible for it. But according to sources, Wagoner — who was director of the state agency — decided that responsibility should fall to CalRecycle. Several drafts of the proposed rules and changes were shared with The Times. Now, Wagoner and her industry coalition are complaining that the state is taking too long to do the assessment — which is expected to be completed in January 2026 — and, as a result, she said, it is compromising the ability of her organization to develop a program to meet their targets, which they need to have finalized by April 2026. "This timeline is challenging even under ideal conditions," she said in a Feb. 12 email. "The planning process will have to start without this required data and will be difficult to complete because of this delay." In addition, Wagoner's critics say she oversaw regulation changes that some experts say would have potentially opened the door for certain kinds of chemical recycling technologies — technologies that superheat plastics and turn them into fuel or other kinds of plastics — including one from Eastman Chemical Co., a company that Wagoner began consulting for a few months after she stepped down from CalRecycle. The changes in the regulations — which included wording about hazardous materials — have since been corrected and addressed. On Feb. 7, Eastman Chemical ran a sponsored ad in the Sacramento Bee heralding the benefits of recycling technologies. They also spent $177,500 in the fourth quarter lobbying CalRecycle on the SB 54 regulations. Read more: As global plastic production grows, so does the concentration of microplastics in our brains The Circular Action Alliance and other industry-friendly groups, such as the California Chamber of Commerce, have also been actively lobbying the governor's office since mid-December, urging Newsom to delay finalization. In a Dec. 15 letter to Newsom, the Chamber claimed the new law would cost California consumers more than $300 per year, a number that he said came from the state's own economic analysis. A Times review of that analysis shows just the opposite, however. The state's economists said they anticipated an increase in personal income — starting with a $3 bump in 2024 and climbing to $131 by 2032. In 2020, Wagoner was picked by Newsom to run CalRecycle. Prior to that, she had worked in the governor's office as a senior legislative strategist alongside Ann Patterson — who until Friday was Newsom's Cabinet secretary. Patterson stepped down soon after her husband, Nathan Barankin, became the governor's chief of staff. Wagoner served as CalRecycle director through March 2024, when she resigned, she said, for personal reasons. She became the executive director of the Circular Action Alliance on Dec. 4, after consulting for Eastman Chemical for several months. The Fair Political Practices Commission has not yet determined whether they will conduct an investigation or not. According to a Feb. 25 letter addressed to Wagoner, the former CalRecycle director has until March 11 to provide the agency with information to support her case, at which time, the agency will decide how to proceed. "What happened may not be illegal, and I am not a lawyer, but I don't think the public believes this is how it should work in California," said Heidi Sanborn, director of the National Stewardship Action Council. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Los Angeles Times
04-03-2025
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
Ethics violation lodged against former CalRecycle director
For lawmakers and lobbyists who worked on ensuring the passage of California's landmark plastic waste law, Rachel Wagoner's abrupt career shift was nothing short of jaw dropping. The former director of CalRecycle — who oversaw, wrote and promoted the single-use plastic legislation known as SB 54 — is now the executive director of the Circular Action Alliance, a coalition of plastic and packaging companies determined to delay, if not derail, the law. And it's not clear her pivot is legal. On Feb. 19, an anonymous whistleblower submitted a formal complaint to California's Fair Political Practices Commission, asking the agency to investigate Wagoner on the grounds that she violated a 'switching sides' ban that prevents former regulators from receiving compensation to work against the state on matters they once oversaw. 'It's pretty egregious,' said Sean McMorris, transparency, ethics and accountability program manager for California Common Cause, a political watchdog group. 'I don't know how else to say it, regardless of whether any laws were broken or not, the public's going to look at that and say, 'What's going on here? This is pretty suspicious.'' Others say Wagoner was instrumental in pushing for regulations and language she is now calling problematic. 'It certainly raises a lot of concerns,' said Sen. Ben Allen (D-Santa Monica), who authored and sponsored the original legislation. Wagoner did not respond to questions from The Times, but in an email exchange from Feb. 12, she did said she was proud of the time she worked for the state government and feels privileged to have been asked to advise companies and to provide 'information on SB 54 and California environmental and regulatory laws and processes.' She said she does not advocate for the companies she represents in her new role — which include some of the world's largest producers and distributors of plastic packaging, including Amazon, Coca-Cola, Conagra, Procter & Gamble and Target. She said she just provides them with information. Larine Urbina, a spokesperson for the coalition, said the state's political practices commission had not reached out to her organization, and therefore 'it wouldn't be appropriate for me to comment at this time.' SB 54, the plastic waste law Wagoner helped craft, was designed to reduce single-use plastics and packaging and shift the responsibility of plastic waste to the companies that manufacturer, market or sell those products — and away from the consumer and local jurisdictions. That can be done either by reducing the amount of single-use plastics these companies create and sell, or by manufacturing products that can be recycled or composted. According to one state analysis, 2.9 million tons of single-use plastic and 171.4 billion single-use plastic components were sold, offered for sale or distributed during 2023 in California. Single-use plastics and plastic waste more broadly are considered a growing environmental and health problem. In recent decades, the accumulation of plastic waste has overwhelmed waterways and oceans, sickening marine life and threatening human health. While the bill was signed into law in 2022, regulations designed to govern it had not yet been finalized. For the past two years, stakeholders representing plastic manufacturers and producers, packaging companies, environmental groups and waste haulers have hashed out and negotiated proposed regulations — debating such things as the definition of 'producer,' or where on food service items the words 'reusable' or 'refillable' must be displayed. Throughout this period, CalRecycle — which was led by Wagoner until March 2024 — helped guide the discussions and incorporated feedback into several proposed drafts of those rules. For instance, in early June 2022, as the stakeholders were hammering out the first set of regulations, it became apparent that someone — the state or the industry — would periodically need to assess the state's waste infrastructure to ensure material was getting to where it needed to go and was being properly disposed of according to the law. The industry is responsible for meeting those targets — which include, among other requirements, that 65% of all single-use plastic packaging in the state is recycled by 2032. The stakeholders had initially agreed this costly, time- and personnel-intensive evaluation should be conducted by the industry. This would allow the industry to evaluate the assessment as it was being conducted and be responsible for it. But according to sources, Wagoner — who was director of the state agency — decided that responsibility should fall to CalRecycle. Several drafts of the proposed rules and changes were shared with The Times. Now, Wagoner and her industry coalition are complaining that the state is taking too long to do the assessment — which is expected to be completed in January 2026 — and, as a result, she said, it is compromising the ability of her organization to develop a program to meet their targets, which they need to have finalized by April 2026. 'This timeline is challenging even under ideal conditions,' she said in a Feb. 12 email. 'The planning process will have to start without this required data and will be difficult to complete because of this delay.' In addition, Wagoner's critics say she oversaw regulation changes that some experts say would have potentially opened the door for certain kinds of chemical recycling technologies — technologies that superheat plastics and turn them into fuel or other kinds of plastics — including one from Eastman Chemical Co., a company that Wagoner began consulting for a few months after she stepped down from CalRecycle. The changes in the regulations — which included wording about hazardous materials — have since been corrected and addressed. On Feb. 7, Eastman Chemical ran a sponsored ad in the Sacramento Bee heralding the benefits of recycling technologies. They also spent $177,500 in the fourth quarter lobbying CalRecycle on the SB 54 regulations. The Circular Action Alliance and other industry-friendly groups, such as the California Chamber of Commerce, have also been actively lobbying the governor's office since mid-December, urging Newsom to delay finalization. In a Dec. 15 letter to Newsom, the Chamber claimed the new law would cost California consumers more than $300 per year, a number that he said came from the state's own economic analysis. A Times review of that analysis shows just the opposite, however. The state's economists said they anticipated an increase in personal income — starting with a $3 bump in 2024 and climbing to $131 by 2032. In 2020, Wagoner was picked by Newsom to run CalRecycle. Prior to that, she had worked in the governor's office as a senior legislative strategist alongside Ann Patterson — who until Friday was Newsom's Cabinet secretary. Patterson stepped down soon after her husband, Nathan Barankin, became the governor's chief of staff. Wagoner served as CalRecycle director through March 2024, when she resigned, she said, for personal reasons. She became the executive director of the Circular Action Alliance on Dec. 4, after consulting for Eastman Chemical for several months. The Fair Political Practices Commission has not yet determined whether they will conduct an investigation or not. According to a Feb. 25 letter addressed to Wagoner, the former CalRecycle director has until March 11 to provide the agency with information to support her case, at which time, the agency will decide how to proceed. 'What happened may not be illegal, and I am not a lawyer, but I don't think the public believes this is how it should work in California,' said Heidi Sanborn, founding Director of the California Product Stewardship Council.
CBS News
05-02-2025
- Business
- CBS News
Newsom announces plan to streamline LA wildfire recovery and food benefits for survivors
California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order streamlining Los Angeles' wildfire recovery and announced additional food benefits for survivors. The Tuesday announcements add to the ongoing efforts to expedite the revival of communities ravaged by the Palisades and Eaton fires in early January. Fast-tracked relief Newsom's executive order aims to remove bureaucratic barriers to help survivors access essential recovery services. "As Los Angeles rises, we will continue to remove the barriers that would stand in the way. This executive order provides targeted relief from regulations that impact victims and would otherwise slow this community's quick recovery," Newsom said. The order lists more than a dozen directives focused on extending deadlines to submit paperwork for childcare programs, state-funded preschools, healthcare services, tax relief and welfare benefits. The order also lists extensions for public officials to submit Fair Political Practices Commission reports. It also suspends caps on administrative costs for state-funded preschool programs and Community Development Block Grants, a federal program aimed at helping low-income workers. New food benefits Families and individuals who lived or worked in the areas impacted by the fires can apply for Disaster Calfresh benefits and receive a debit card for food. A family of four could receive a one-time payment of $975 if they make less than $3,530 a month, which is roughly $42,000 a year. "California's response and recovery efforts will continue to be guided by the needs of people throughout the impacted region," Newsom said. "My administration is focused on serving the individuals and families who need our help the most, which means creating new and expanded benefit programs." Eligible applicants must have worked or lived in ZIP codes listed by state officials here. Anyone already enrolled in CalFresh and living in the ZIP codes does not need to apply but could receive more money. The enrollment period begins on Feb. 10 and ends on Feb. 14.
