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The article reports on a study that describes the association between nighttime awakenings and workplace functioning, performance, and productivity in the U.S. Employees at four U.S. companies who described their sleep patterns have been the subject of the study. Findings of the study revealed that workers who experienced greater than, or equal to three nighttime awakenings manifest poorer work productivity and performance compared to workers who experience fewer awakenings.

The accountability movement in public policy hails a new programme for US foreign assistance – the Millennium Challenge Account established in 2004 with the aim of ‘picking winners’ for grants among developing countries based on their demonstrated quality of governance. This article uses the MCA's own rating system to dispute its claim to know in advance which countries are best positioned to meet major development goals. High governance scores alone bear little or no relationship to growth in national income or decline in poverty. Attempting to measure public-policy performance limits the range of choice available to policy-makers, and may inadvertently limit true performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we examine the impacts of toxic chemical releases on labor productivity. The hypothesis is that exposure to releases results in chronic or acute illnesses, which increases number of work days lost. To test the hypothesis we combine data from the National Health Interview Survey with data from US Environmental Protection Agency’s Toxic Release Inventory, using an instrumental variable approach to control for endogeneity of subjective binary health status. We find that the survey respondents are significantly more likely to have increased work days lost as their exposure to toxic releases increases and that work days lost increase at an increasing rate with diminished health status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study that shows how routinely collected data can be used to inform strategies intended to incorporate a growing orientation in clinical training and practice in interventions related to health and productivity loss in workplace settings in the U.S. It uses data provided by a health risk appraisal's (HSA) developer. Results of the study indicates that the effectiveness of such interventions will be increased if they resolve health in the broader context of work, mental well-being and the demands of family and work life.

The article discusses methods with which universities in the United States can effectively serve the social and economic ends demanded by the institution while simultaneously adhering to classical academic norms that encourage the free and open exchange of research and ideas. To effectively achieve this end, universities must be measured not against the traditional yardstick of productivity, since they have never produced tangible objects besides people, and instead should focus on the production of students and research.

This paper presents an analysis of the impacts of extended duration overtime on construction labor productivity. The results show a decrease in productivity as the number of hours worked per week increase and/or as project duration increases. The research focuses on labor intensive trades such as the electrical and mechanical trades. Overtime in this research is defined as the hours worked beyond the typical 40 h scheduled per week. The paper begins by presenting the effects of overtime and the need for an updated overtime productivity model. Data for the quantitative analysis was collected from 88 projects located across the United States by means of a questionnaire. Various statistical analysis techniques were performed to develop quantitative relationship curves, including multiple regression, P-value tests, and analysis of variance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents information on the attitude of employers in hiring disabled workers in the U.S. Although positive attitudes towards the employment of disabled people did not necessarily result in the actual employment of these people, these attitudes did relate significantly to previous experience with the disabled. On the other hand, the positive attitudes of employers did not seem to be a function of external pressures to conform. Accordingly the authors stressed the importance of selective placement of disabled people. The topics of this investigation were employers approach to the employment of disabled people, and their experience with individual disabled employees, including people who had become disabled while in their employ. A semi-structured interview schedule was used but any further comments made by the employers were also noted. The employers were asked the reason for the most and least successful employee. Poor work performance was the reason given by ten employers for their choice of the least satisfactory disabled employee.