COVID-19 Restrictions in a Nature Reserve Reveal the Costs of Human Presence for the Threatened Nubian Ibex (Capra nubiana)

The increasing pressure of ecotourism on wildlife in their natural habitats leads many wild animals to alter their behaviors. The restrictions issued in many places due to COVID-19 provide a rare opportunity to examine wildlife behavior in nature reserves with reduced human presence, and to reveal the impact of human visitation on the behaviors and fitness of local wildlife species. In 2019 and 2020 we placed trail cameras next to two natural springs in the Israeli Negev Desert, Ein-Avdat and Ein-Shaviv, located 9 km apart. Both sites serve as the main water source for local Nubian ibex (Capra nubiana) populations, but Ein-Avdat is situated within a popular national park into which visitors’ entrance was restricted due to COVID-19 regulations in 2020, while Ein-Shaviv is more remote and thus attracts only few visitors regardless of COVID-19 regulations. Our study revealed that during 2020, ibex in Ein-Avdat arrived to drink earlier in the day and the population’s Female:Kids ratio more than doubled. These changes were not observed in Ein-Shaviv. We found that the daily number of visitors in Ein-Avdat affected the arrival time of ibex to the water pool. We conclude that the reduced number of visitors to Ein-Avdat in 2020 compared to 2019 may have allowed ibex to arrive in preferred hours, and may have contributed to the increased kid-to-females ratio. Our study shows that behavioral adaptions to human visitation in nature reserves might carry a high fitness cost.

Attitudes towards working in retirement: a latent class analysis of older workers’ motives

One of the fastest growing labour market groups is working pensioners, meaning those who work past the statutory retirement age whilst receiving a pension. Previous research has investigated the motives of this group and found very heterogeneous reasons for employment in retirement. However, little is known about the expectations and preferred work arrangements of older workers regarding a potential post-retirement employment. Using data from the German survey transitions and old age potential, we explore older workers’ motives, preferences and expectations towards working in retirement. Results show that about half of the respondents plan to work in addition to receiving a pension; however, the share is higher amongst men and those with higher levels of education. The motives for staying in post-retirement employment vary as well: using latent class analysis, we find four distinct patterns of motives that can be classified as (1) financially-driven, (2) status-driven, (3) contact and fun-driven, as well as (4) generativity-driven, underlining the complexity of retirement decisions. Furthermore, preferences regarding arrangements when combining work and retirement are very heterogeneous. Whilst highly educated men want to work as self-employed, women and those with lower qualifications want to stay in their old jobs. Only small differences were found regarding preferred hours (about 17) and days per week (2.24). In summary, the results show that the rapidly growing group of working pensioners and their preferences should be seen as characterised by differences by those responsible for creating these post-retirement employment opportunities.

Underemployment in the United States and Europe

The authors produce estimates for a new and better rate of underemployment for 25 countries using the European Labor Force Survey that is based on workers’ reports of their preferred hours at the going wage. Both voluntary and involuntary part-time workers report they want more hours. Full-time workers who say they want to change their hours, mostly say they want to reduce them. When the Great Recession hit, the number of hours of those who said they wanted more hours increased, and the number of hours of those who said they wanted fewer hours decreased. The percentage of workers in both categories remains elevated. The authors provide evidence for the United Kingdom and the United States as well as from an international sample that underemployment lowers pay in the years after the Great Recession, but the unemployment rate does not. They also find evidence for the United States that decreases in the home ownership rate have helped to keep wage pressure in check. Underemployment replaces unemployment as the main influence on wages in the years since the Great Recession.

“We are like a family!”: Flexibility and Intention to Stay in Boutique Hotels in Turkey

This study focuses on a unique type of small business—boutiquehotels in Istanbul, Turkey—, and aims to understand whetheremployers’ use of internal flexibility strategies is associatedwith boutique hotel employees’ intention to stay in theirorganization. Internal flexibility strategies refer to shiftwork, longworkweeks, unpaid overtime, and working preferred hours. Our study focuses on the experience of employees in boutique hotels in Turkey, which is one of the largest economies globally with its hospitality sector being the eighth largest in the world (Zeytinoglu et al., 2012a and 2012b). We test the conceptual model of internal flexibility strategies and intention to stay using data from 20 interviews and 122 surveys with employees in 32 boutique hotels. As our qualitative and quantitative study shows, shiftwork decreasesboutique hotel employees’ intention to stay, but long workweeksand working unpaid overtime do not affect the intention to stay.Furthermore, as our qualitative study shows, the close family-like workenvironments that exist in boutique hotels contribute to theemployees’ intention to stay. As our respondents said in thequalitative part of the study: “‘We’re like afamily!’ and cannot leave our ‘home’!”, despitenot liking the shiftwork. By examining the relationships between flexibility and intention tostay in small workplaces such as boutique hotels, our study contributesto both the academic literature on internal labour flexibility and tothe model of intention to stay. For practitioners, this study providesevidence on the use of the type of internal labour flexibilitystrategies used in boutique hotels, contributing to the understandingof how boutique hotels can be successful in retaining valuable staff.

Effects of Disability on Job Search Among Older Workers

This article examines the impact of disability and related variables (age, gender, and education level) on job search behaviours and employment outcomes. Data are from a two-wave study of 681 Australians between the ages of 45 and 65 who were not in paid employment. Regression modelling indicates that disability impedes job search at several stages of the employment process. Although is it unrelated to job search intensity, disability is negatively associated with the probability of engaging in job search, preferred weekly hours of work, and the likelihood of finding work. Gender and age are related to the probability of engaging in job search and gender is also associated with preferred hours to work. These findings indicate that older workers with a disability face multiple disadvantages when seeking employment.

Returning to work after maternity leave

In the UK, the implementation of flexible working is seen as a key strategy in retention of nurses in the National Health Service (NHS) once they have children. However, Preference Theory argues that the majority of women returners are driven by motivations other than career or work, and that part-time workers are not as committed as full-timers, a perception held by some managers in the NHS. This article examines the motivations of 112 nurse returners after their first child, the differences between nurses returning part time or full time and between nurses preferring to work full time, part time or not at all.The findings suggest that neither hours worked nor preferred hours are good indicators of whether nurses are committed to work or a career, except for respondents who prefer not to work. The main differences are between nurses who would prefer not to work and all others.The findings that nurses returning part time at their preferred hours are motivated by their work and career challenge the view that they are not committed.The policy implications point to the importance of NHS organizations providing both flexible working and flexible career and training opportunities to retain returners’ commitment to nursing.