Best Blogs Of April

Our Best Blogs of April post includes stories on banning after-hours emails, San Diego supporting local tech talent and ways to close the tech skills gap within a company. That’s a lot of great stuff to read while sitting down and soaking in some sunshine!

Banning after-work emails in NYC

If you’ve ever thought it should be illegal for your employer to email you after you’ve gone home for the day, you’re not alone. New York City Councilmember Rafael Espinal recently introduced a bill that would prohibit contacting employees over email or text when they are not on the clock.

According to recent reports, the Disconnecting from Work bill would only apply to companies with at least 10 employees. It would not pertain to those who work overtime and those who agree to be on call around the clock.

Read the whole story here.

San Diego’s big effort to increase tech talent diversity

TechHire is a program from the San Diego Workforce Partnership targeted at growing the number and diversity of tech talent in San Diego.

Advocates say the program represents a chance to develop a more inclusive tech talent pipeline. Having to bring in talent at a high cost is a major challenge for San Diego companies in this competitive labor market. TechHire is meant to enable residents from a wide range of communities and backgrounds to contribute to the expansion and durability of San Diego’s innovation economy.

By subsidizing tech internships, TechHire gives aspiring tech professionals their first job in the industry, where they can apply what abilities they have and build up their professional network. The program gives people an opportunity to get their foot in the door of the tech industry and start a fulfilling career. In fact, some, businesses have offered TechHire interns full-time employment after seeing what they are capable of doing.

Through TechHire, companies can source interns for particular projects, with SDWP taking care of wages and admin. This allows companies to give people from nontraditional tech backgrounds an opportunity at no cost and with minimal overhead.

As more organizations have positive experiences through TechHire, the thinking goes, they will widen their hiring practices to include bigger and more diverse talent pools, creating a cycle of greater access to technology jobs for more San Diegans.

Read the whole story here.

Closing the tech skills gap

US companies currently face a labor market where over 6 million jobs are unfilled, and where education is not providing graduates with the skills that businesses want. Partly, this abilities gap is a result of the detachment between higher education, where teaching is based heavily in theory, and business, which wants more graduates with “real world” skills. The skills gap is also partly due to the tech industry’s inability to identify and train the talent it needs.

Thankfully, there are a number of steps that proactive corporate tech leaders can take, including partnering with an educational institution, sponsoring internships and participating in job fairs.

Read the whole story here.