Toward a Disposable Workforce


Book Description







Yvain


Book Description

The twelfth-century French poet Chrétien de Troyes is a major figure in European literature. His courtly romances fathered the Arthurian tradition and influenced countless other poets in England as well as on the continent. Yet because of the difficulty of capturing his swift-moving style in translation, English-speaking audiences are largely unfamiliar with the pleasures of reading his poems. Now, for the first time, an experienced translator of medieval verse who is himself a poet provides a translation of Chrétien’s major poem, Yvain, in verse that fully and satisfyingly captures the movement, the sense, and the spirit of the Old French original. Yvain is a courtly romance with a moral tenor; it is ironic and sometimes bawdy; the poetry is crisp and vivid. In addition, the psychological and the socio-historical perceptions of the poem are of profound literary and historical importance, for it evokes the emotions and the values of a flourishing, vibrant medieval past.




Charles Pettigrew, First Bishop-elect of the North Carolina Episcopal Church


Book Description

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. To ensure a quality reading experience, this work has been proofread and republished using a format that seamlessly blends the original graphical elements with text in an easy-to-read typeface. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.




Managing Contingent Workers


Book Description

The use of contingent labor is one of the most rapidly growing and hotly contested trends in American business today. This vast pool of unattached, "on call" workers currently accounts for nearly 25% of the U.S. workforce, and the number continues to skyrocket. Yet, despite the increasing dependence on temporary labor, there are few thorough, research-based studies that show you how to accurately assess both the benefits - and the drawbacks - of using contingent workers...how to measure the true cost-effectiveness...how to capitalize on the advantages while reducing the risks involved. Managing Contingent Workers provides far-reaching, hard-hitting answers. Written by two human resources experts and based on years of in-depth research and analysis, the volume challenges the prevailing myth that contingent workers are always a cost-effective alternative to using "core" workers. Instead, before blindly populating the workplace with people who have very little attachment to their jobs, employers are urged to address a series of complex, cost-related questions: Is there a limit to how many contingent workers you can use effectively? How will they relate to the regular workforce? How much training is required to get them up to speed? Will they uphold customer service and product quality standards? Step by step, the volume shows you how to accurately analyze the cost-effectiveness of using contingent labor and determine when it will save money - and when it won't; measure the cost-effectiveness of training; manage contingent workers, or a "blended" workforce of core and contingent workers, for greater effectiveness; understand legal, tax, and social implications; and avoid over-reliance oncontingent labor. It then gives you practical tools for determining all of the costs involved, both the obvious ones and the hidden ones. Further, it supplies five invaluable case studies that document the experiences of companies that have relied on contingent labor - and achieved mixed results.