Municipal Government Benefits Practices and Personnel Outcomes: Results from a National Survey
Employee benefits are an essential and costly component of the compensation and human resources management system. This research effort surveyed 358 municipal governments on their employee benefits practices. The survey results clearly indicate that municipal governments are very competitive in terms of traditional benefits (health, pensions, dental coverage, etc.) as all 10 types, except for short-term disability, are provided by a majority of the responding municipalities and exceed private sector rates. Municipal governments lag behind the private sector in the deployment of key family-friendly benefits such as child-care, elder care, flexi-place, flex-time and job sharing.
Work Life Balance: Demystifying the Myth among Modern Day Female Academics
This paper provides a conceptual analysis of the work life balance initiatives adopted by female academics in South Africa. The intersecting identities and roles within home, work, community and society experienced by women pull them in multiple directions. Yet, there is limited research that has examined female academics` ability to balance work and personal life and overcome work life conflict. Therefore, it is necessary to review the facets that influence work life balance and the extent to which these facets can be demystified and the role of leadership. Based upon these important insights,the challenges of females work life balance areembedded in socio-cultural practices, personal variables and institutional factors.The implication of this study is that it will enable leaders, policy makers and the relevant stakeholders to come up with various ideologies, perspectives and interventions that enhance and/or promote work life balance among female academics in SA. Keywords : Work life balance, Myth, Well-being, Females, Academics.
Thymoma mimicking an aortic aneurysm: always expect the unexpected
Thymic epithelial tumours (TETs) are rare lesions that represent less than 1% of all malignancies in adults. Presentation occurs in three ways: asymptomatic, with local thoracic symptoms or with paraneoplastic symptoms. Heterotopic ossifications are rare histological features in neoplasms and non-neoplastic lesions. Here, we present a 49-year-old male patient with a thymoma type B2 mimicking an aortic aneurysm. Alongside the thymoma, a cholesterol granuloma with unusual ossification features was found as well. This clinical presentation and pathological diagnosis are unusual findings.