Search results

The present paper aims to outline the case for diversity gains for employers via virtual internships, while recognizing the role of government and educational support.

In the context of Australian employment statistics about people with disabilities, the actors, key issues and barriers to utilizing virtual internships are explored.

The results of an online survey with 24 career, access and inclusion service officers at Australian universities suggested that the large majority were unfamiliar with virtual internships, as many shared concerns about what kind of learning and mentoring opportunities such computer-mediated internships may provide to their students.

Employers embracing new e-HR developments may be particularly well situated to adopt virtual internships and combine these effectively with existing diversity initiatives, many of which already include mentoring and learning opportunities. A closer dialogue with career, access and inclusion services may further support a fruitful knowledge exchange and reduce the concerns of educational representatives about virtual internships and their usefulness to increase the employment prospects of people with disabilities.

At present, virtual internship programs remain the exception, and are often not connected with diversity initiatives, nor are virtual internships well known among student services. However, virtual internships represent a promising opportunity for employers who wish to access untapped national (or even international) talent pools and thus candidates that would benefit from and contribute to their diversity initiatives.

More and more organizations have resorted to the employment of monitoring software to keep track of employees’ everyday performance and task completion. The current paper aims to outline the capabilities, pros and cons of monitoring for employees. Several recommendations for Human Resources (HR) professionals are outlined to inform best practice.

This paper summarizes recent literature and trends on electronic monitoring aimed at remote workers, focusing specifically on trends observed in the UK and the USA.

The number of pros and cons, as well as the resulting recommendations for HR professionals, outline how technology may aid – but also undermine – performance.

The summary of capabilities, pros and cons represents a snapshot of current monitoring practices. The recommendations will give readers an overview of all the aspects and factors that ought to be considered when monitoring software and related tools are selected.

Trainers and organisations in heavily regulated industries face a number of training-related HR challenges. The purpose of this paper is to examine barriers and propose solutions in such circumstances.

The paper briefly outlines the results of a case study involving multi-method data collection (interview, survey, focus groups, etc.) to explore barriers to training effectiveness in a pharmaceutical company in Germany.

The case study suggests that the company in question experienced several time and resource pressures to accommodate internally and externally required training needs. Other issues pertained to negative effects of these circumstances on employee motivation, engagement and relevance of training.

Based on the case study and existing work, a number of general practical recommendations are outlined for trainers working in regulated industries. These include suggestions such as the need for situation awareness in the design of the training strategy, co-creation in training, the benefit of linking training to reward systems, training accreditation and the benefit of reviewing existing training approaches in the regulated industry.

The paper provides one starting point for those leading and managing training activities in regulated industry settings to manage the internal and external training challenges.

The purpose of this paper is to outline unique learning experience that virtual/e-internships can offer small and medium-sized enterprises and start-up organizations.

The authors interviewed 18 experts on e-internships (interns and managers of internships) across several countries to learn more about the learning experiences for both organizations and interns. The information from these interviews was also used to formulate a number of recommendations.

The interviews outlined the various development opportunities that e-internships may produce for interns, managers and staff within these organizations. One important benefit pertains to the skill development of both interns and managers. The interns get unique working experiences that also benefit the organizations in terms of their creativity, input and feedback. In return, managers get a unique learning experience that helps them expand their project management skills, interpersonal skills and mentoring.

The authors outline a number of recommendations that consider skill development, the benefit of diversity in numerous forms as well as mutual benefits for enterprises and start-ups.

The discussion of the various benefits and conditions under which virtual internships will succeed in organizations provides practitioners an insight into the organizational opportunities available to them given the right investment into e-interns and internship schemes.

Many employers experiment with virtual working modes for project-based work. Virtual internships are one such mode that is gaining increasing popularity worldwide, particularly e-internships that require remote working with employers. However, little is known about the extent to which e-internships present learning opportunities to such e-interns.

The current study examined mentoring experiences among a cross-sectional sample of 158 e-interns working for different companies. Data were collected using an online survey in two data collection rounds.

The length of the e-internships did not increase mentoring satisfaction, but the likelihood of e-interns having a mentor was higher the longer the e-internships. Mentoring was offered irrespective of working hours per week. Mentoring increased reported skill development, particularly in relation to their communication skills and their ability to think strategically about problems. In addition, mentored e-interns were more likely to have opportunities to cooperate with and help others. They likewise had opportunities to share information, knowledge and experiences.

The study recruited interns from various countries. Potentially relevant cultural differences were not explored as part of this study.

The results demonstrate that the benefits of mentoring observed in relation to traditional internships can be fostered in e-internships. E-internships represent an opportunity for managers and employees, regardless of company size, to become mentors. E-internships thus represent another work-integrated as well as work-applied learning and skill development opportunity that creates additional options for many interns and organisations alike.

The evidence suggests that mentoring is becoming a regularly available feature for virtual and temporary workers such as e-interns, many of which are hired for short-term projects. As remote working has become a standard practice, e-internships are on the rise – and worthy of further study in order to promote best practices.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the opportunities and limitations of computer-mediated internships (CMIs) for higher education providers (HEPs) and to outline how HEPs may maximize the benefits that arise from CMIs through strategic choices.

The paper provides a systematic assessment of the benefits, opportunities and limitations of CMIs. A particular focus of the paper concerns ways in which HEPs may utilize CMIs to maximize student learning as well as institutional benefits in terms of the use of expertise, collaborations and the achievement of institutional targets.

Benefits of CMIs include the more inclusive access of previously disadvantaged student groups to internship opportunities, as well as fewer restrictions for HEPs and employers. Given the right design, CMIs can provide a number of important learning opportunities to students while providing extensive opportunities for HEPs. However, the benefits of CMIs need to be viewed in line with the challenges that arise, such as the skill and expertise required to implement CMIs, the required investment of resources, and the currently limited acceptance of CMIs by employers.

The findings of the paper highlight that CMIs have the potential to be highly beneficial for HEPs and students. In addition, the paper showcases how HEPs may address the limitations of traditional internships, as well as the challenges that arise in relation to CMIs, through the systematic and well supported application of technological solutions.

The paper makes an important contribution to the literature because it is the first to evaluate the potential of CMIs for the providers of higher education programs.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a student learning outcome focussed assessment of the benefits and limitations of traditional internships, e-internships, and simulated internships to evaluate the potential of computer-mediated internships (CMIs) (e-internships and simulated internships) within higher education from a student perspective.

The paper undertakes a systematic conceptually based assessment of the extent to which CMIs are able to replicate the cognitive, skill-based and affective learning outcomes of traditional internships. In addition, the key limitations of traditional internships from a student perspective are identified, and the potential ability of CMIs to address these limitations is assessed.

The findings of this paper highlight that CMIs are able to replicate most of the benefits of traditional internships, whilst concurrently addressing many of their limitations. However, the current paper also identifies a number of important limitations for student learning in CMIs, and provides advice that aims to assist students in maximising their learning outcomes in these situations.

The paper is the first to provide a systematic student learning outcome focussed comparison of traditional internships and CMIs. In addition, the paper establishes the high potential of simulated internships for student learning in higher education, and provides students, higher education providers and researcher with learning outcome focussed criteria sets that enable the empirical evaluation of CMIs in future research.

It is well-known that stereotypes on aging and perceptions about the suitability of certain jobs for certain age groups can influence performance ratings. However, it is unclear whether and how subjective views on aging are associated with judgment on someone else’s performance. The purpose of this study is to explore the role of aging perceptions and images of aging on performance ratings for a fictitious set of male candidates with different age and job profiles. Ratings of interest were job suitability, developmental potential, interpersonal skills and performance capacity.

Using an online survey format, data was collected from 203 Irish and UK employees to assess how they evaluated different fictitious candidates for a local development committee. The age and mentorship status of the candidates were also manipulated.

The age or mentoring status of the candidate did not play a significant role in how they were rated. Multiple regression analyses indicated, however, that participants’ aging perceptions and aging images had a significantly positive influence on how they rated the fictitious candidates (after controlling for participant variables such as age and experience). However, positive images of aging and aging perceptions on the part of the participants predicted more positive overall job suitability ratings, developmental potential, interpersonal skills and performance capacity. When the participants had more negative views on aging, they would also allocate lower ratings.

The results indicate that employee attitudes about aging play a role in how they will rate others. Given the importance of potential rating bias, the authors propose a number of training interventions that human resource professionals may be able to carry out to positively shape the informational basis for more negative aging attitudes.

This conceptual article outlines the known effects of employee monitoring on employees who are working remotely. Potential implications, as well as practitioner suggestions, are outlined to identify how practitioners can create more supportive employee experiences as well as apply these to workplace health management scenarios.

This overview is based on a selective and practically oriented review of articles that hitherto considered the health implications of remote workers being monitored electronically over the last two years. This overview is subsequently complemented by a discussion of more recent findings that outline the potential implications of monitoring for remote employees, employees' work experience and workplace health management.

Several practitioner-oriented suggestions are outlined that can pave the way to a more supportive employee experience for remote workers, who are monitored electronically by their employers. These include the various health and social interventions, greater managerial awareness about factors that influence well-being and more collaboration with health professionals to design interventions and new workplace policies. Organizations would also benefit from using audits and data analytics from monitoring tools to inform their interventions, while a rethink about work design, as well as organizational reviews of performance and working conditions further represent useful options to identify and set up the right conditions that foster both performance as well as employee well-being.

The article outlines practitioner-oriented suggestions that can directly and indirectly support employee well-being by recognizing the various factors that affect performance and experience.

The onboarding stage of new hires represents a unique opportunity for mutual learning between the new hires and the organisation regardless of the company size. The current paper aims to address these learning opportunities.

The authors reflect on current practice, draw on recent literature and their experience with recruitment and selection processes in the industry to generate new insights and identify opportunities for practitioners and new hires alike.

Today's new hires expect onboarding experiences that allow for a much greater degree of flexibility, customisation and personalisation. Similarly, many new hires expect hiring, onboarding, and learning and development to be interconnected to generate new learning and career opportunities. However, these expectations require changes in the way in which onboarding is implemented, evaluated and connected to other human resource practices, specifically with the dramatic (and successful) increase in remote work arrangements in 2020 in response to the global impact of the pandemic.

The current paper provides readers with an overview of potential learning opportunities, outlines specific success factors and highlights a variety of pointers for practice and further professional development.