Toward an integrated workforce planning framework using structured equations

Strategic Workforce Planning is a company process providing best in class, economically sound, workforce management policies and goals. Despite the abundance of literature on the subject, this is a notorious challenge in terms of implementation. Reasons span from the youth of the field itself to broader data integration concerns that arise from gathering information from financial, human resource and business excellence systems. This paper aims at setting the first stones to a simple yet robust quantitative framework for Strategic Workforce Planning exercises. First a method based on structured equations is detailed. It is then used to answer two main workforce related questions: how to optimally hire to keep labor costs flat? How to build an experience constrained workforce at a minimal cost

Speech and language therapy for aphasia following stroke

Background  Aphasia is an acquired language impairment following brain damage that affects some or all language modalities: expression and understanding of speech, reading, and writing. Approximately one third of people who have a stroke experience aphasia.  Objectives  To assess the effects of speech and language therapy (SLT) for aphasia following stroke.  Search methods  We searched the Cochrane Stroke Group Trials Register (last searched 9 September 2015), CENTRAL (2015, Issue 5) and other Cochrane Library Databases (CDSR, DARE, HTA, to 22 September 2015), MEDLINE (1946 to September 2015), EMBASE (1980 to September 2015), CINAHL (1982 to September 2015), AMED (1985 to September 2015), LLBA (1973 to September 2015), and SpeechBITE (2008 to September 2015). We also searched major trials registers for ongoing trials including ClinicalTrials.gov (to 21 September 2015), the Stroke Trials Registry (to 21 September 2015), Current Controlled Trials (to 22 September 2015), and WHO ICTRP (to 22 September 2015). In an effort to identify further published, unpublished, and ongoing trials we also handsearched theInternational Journal of Language and Communication Disorders(1969 to 2005) and reference lists of relevant articles, and we contacted academic institutions and other researchers. There were no language restrictions.  Selection criteria  Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) comparing SLT (a formal intervention that aims to improve language and communication abilities, activity and participation) versus no SLT; social support or stimulation (an intervention that provides social support and communication stimulation but does not include targeted therapeutic interventions); or another SLT intervention (differing in duration, intensity, frequency, intervention methodology or theoretical approach).  Data collection and analysis  We independently extracted the data and assessed the quality of included trials. We sought missing data from investigators.  Main results  We included 57 RCTs (74 randomised comparisons) involving 3002 participants in this review (some appearing in more than one comparison). Twenty-seven randomised comparisons (1620 participants) assessed SLT versus no SLT; SLT resulted in clinically and statistically significant benefits to patients' functional communication (standardised mean difference (SMD) 0.28, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.06 to 0.49, P = 0.01), reading, writing, and expressive language, but (based on smaller numbers) benefits were not evident at follow-up. Nine randomised comparisons (447 participants) assessed SLT with social support and stimulation; meta-analyses found no evidence of a difference in functional communication, but more participants withdrew from social support interventions than SLT. Thirty-eight randomised comparisons (1242 participants) assessed two approaches to SLT. Functional communication was significantly better in people with aphasia that received therapy at a high intensity, high dose, or over a long duration compared to those that received therapy at a lower intensity, lower dose, or over a shorter period of time. The benefits of a high intensity or a high dose of SLT were confounded by a significantly higher dropout rate in these intervention groups. Generally, trials randomised small numbers of participants across a range of characteristics (age, time since stroke, and severity profiles), interventions, and outcomes.  Authors' conclusions  Our review provides evidence of the effectiveness of SLT for people with aphasia following stroke in terms of improved functional communication, reading, writing, and expressive language compared with no therapy. There is some indication that therapy at high intensity, high dose or over a longer period may be beneficial. HIgh-intensity and high dose interventions may not be acceptable to all

The added worked effect and intra household aspects of unemployment

The added worker effect states that unemployment of a household member leads to an increase in labour supply of another household member. This paper investigates whether there is such an effect in a developing country. We use a rich data set for urban Ethiopia. We first give a brief description of who is unemployed within the household and find that they are mostly related to the household head. Men are not more likely to be unemployed than women once we control for being family in law. The eldest remaining sons in the household are more likely to be unemployed, but this may be due to a selection bias. The oldest remaining unemployed have no higher job aspirations than their younger brothers, suggesting that if older brothers have more entitlements, waiting in unemployment for a good job is not one of them. We carry out two separate analyses to investigate the added worker effect. First we analyse the effect using actual labour supply and find no evidence for an added worker effect once we take unobserved individual effects into account. We then investigate whether there is an added worker effect using desired labour market participation and find that there is none. The combined evidence indicates that there is no added worker effect. This suggests that households have other ways to cope with unemployment and is consistent with results from previous analysis which shows that the use of savings (by selling assets) and consumption smoothing are important mechanisms to cope with unemployment.household behaviour, labour supply, unemployment, added worker effect

A model for cost efficient Workforce Organizational Dynamics and its optimization

This paper presents a workforce planning model scalable to an entire hierarchical organization. Its main objective is to design a cost optimal target which leverages flexible workforce solutions while ensuring an efficient promotional flux. The value of this paper lies in its proposal of an adequate flexibility rate using various solution types and in its discussion about external hiring ratios. The mathematical structures of the models are analyzed and numerical simulations illustrate the theoretical background

Handling Attrition in Longitudinal Studies: The Case for Refreshment Samples

Panel studies typically suffer from attrition, which reduces sample size and can result in biased inferences. It is impossible to know whether or not the attrition causes bias from the observed panel data alone. Refreshment samples - new, randomly sampled respondents given the questionnaire at the same time as a subsequent wave of the panel - offer information that can be used to diagnose and adjust for bias due to attrition. We review and bolster the case for the use of refreshment samples in panel studies. We include examples of both a fully Bayesian approach for analyzing the concatenated panel and refreshment data, and a multiple imputation approach for analyzing only the original panel. For the latter, we document a positive bias in the usual multiple imputation variance estimator. We present models appropriate for three waves and two refreshment samples, including nonterminal attrition. We illustrate the three-wave analysis using the 2007-2008 Associated Press-Yahoo! News Election Poll.Comment: Published in at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/13-STS414 the Statistical Science (http://www.imstat.org/sts/) by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org

The Added Worker Effect and Intrahousehold Aspects of Unemployment

The added worker effect states that unemployment of a household member leads to an increase in labour supply of another household member. This paper investigates whether there is such an effect in a developing country. We use a rich data set for urban Ethiopia. We first give a brief description of who is unemployed within the household and find that they are mostly related to the household head. Men are not more likely to be unemployed than women once we control for being family in law. The eldest remaining sons in the household are more likely to be unemployed, but this may be due to a selection bias. The oldest remaining unemployed have no higher job aspirations than their younger brothers, suggesting that if older brothers have more entitlements, waiting in unemployment for a good job is not one of them. We carry out two separate analyses to investigate the added worker effect. First we analyse the effect using actual labour supply and find no evidence for an added worker effect once we take unobserved individual effects into account. We then investigate whether there is an added worker effect using desired labour market participation and find that there is none. The combined evidence indicates that there is no added worker effect. This suggests that households have other ways to cope with unemployment and is consistent with results from previous analysis which shows that the use of savings (by selling assets) and consumption smoothing are important mechanisms to cope with unemployment.household behaviour, labour supply, unemployment, added worker effect

Two-Method Planned Missing Designs for Longitudinal Research

We examine longitudinal extensions of the two-method measurement design, which uses planned missingness to optimize cost-efficiency and validity of hard-to-measure constructs. These designs use a combination of two measures: a “gold standard” that is highly valid but expensive to administer, and an inexpensive (e.g., survey-based) measure that contains systematic measurement bias (e.g., response bias). Using simulated data on four measurement occasions, we compared the cost-efficiency and validity of longitudinal designs where the gold standard is measured at one or more measurement occasions. We manipulated the nature of the response bias over time (constant, increasing, fluctuating), the factorial structure of the response bias over time, and the constraints placed on the latent variable model. Our results showed that parameter bias is lowest when the gold standard is measured on at least two occasions. When a multifactorial structure was used to model response bias over time, it is necessary to have the “gold standard” measures included at every time point, in which case most of the parameters showed low bias. Almost all parameters in all conditions displayed high relative efficiency, suggesting that the 2-method design is an effective way to reduce costs and improve both power and accuracy in longitudinal research

Origin of Scaling Behavior of Protein Packing Density: A Sequential Monte Carlo Study of Compact Long Chain Polymers

Single domain proteins are thought to be tightly packed. The introduction of voids by mutations is often regarded as destabilizing. In this study we show that packing density for single domain proteins decreases with chain length. We find that the radius of gyration provides poor description of protein packing but the alpha contact number we introduce here characterize proteins well. We further demonstrate that protein-like scaling relationship between packing density and chain length is observed in off-lattice self-avoiding walks. A key problem in studying compact chain polymer is the attrition problem: It is difficult to generate independent samples of compact long self-avoiding walks. We develop an algorithm based on the framework of sequential Monte Carlo and succeed in generating populations of compact long chain off-lattice polymers up to length $N=2,000$. Results based on analysis of these chain polymers suggest that maintaining high packing density is only characteristic of short chain proteins. We found that the scaling behavior of packing density with chain length of proteins is a generic feature of random polymers satisfying loose constraint in compactness. We conclude that proteins are not optimized by evolution to eliminate packing voids.Comment: 9 pages, 10 figures. Accepted by J. Chem. Phy