<p> This dissertation examines how neoliberalism and immigration enforcement between 1980 and 2010 changed the nature of &lsquo;sweated&rsquo; work in the U.S. This dissertation focuses on the particular case of Latino undocumented workers in New York State and the organizations fighting to win them protections. In order to answer my research questions, I conducted 30 semi-structured interviews over the course of 2 years (2013&ndash;2015), examined immigration enforcement data, and analyzed U.S. immigration and welfare policies between 1980 and the present. Research interviews made clear that both the lack of social and legal protections alongside the threat of immigration enforcement have a definitive impact on working conditions in low-wage sectors. Staff and volunteers from worker justice centers and immigration rights organizations also emphasized the fact that some of the old protections that were hard fought and won by prior generations of labor activists are ill-suited to address the needs of low-wage, non-citizen workers who face a number of new challenges. By focusing on undocumented Latino workers and worker centers in New York State this dissertation shifts the conceptual lens from a particular &lsquo;worksite&rsquo; to the forces&mdash;historical, legal, and social&mdash;which make sweating possible once an individual enters a workplace. This dissertation contends that the specters of wagelessness and deportation collaborate to ensure the flexibility of undocumented labor and that these are the distinctive features of the contemporary U.S. sweatshop.</p><p>

<p> Employee turnover and retention is a common issue among many corporate organizations. Although companies invest time and money to increase workforce diversity, results of existing research suggest a lack of effective retention strategies for Hispanic employees in large corporations. This qualitative phenomenological study focused on exploring the lived experiences of Hispanic employees as these experiences related to the retention efforts of their current or former <i>Fortune</i> 500 employers. Conceptually, the study was framed around the idea of turnover and retention in order to understand the factors that influence turnover, to examine the factors that relate to retention, and to evaluate multiple retention strategies and incentives. The data collection process consisted of in-depth interviews of ten participants who identified themselves as being of Hispanic (or Latino) origin and who were current or former employees of <i>Fortune</i> 500 companies. All interviews were audio recorded, transcribed, and imported into NVivo for organization and ease of data management. The analysis of extracted key words, phrases, and blocks of statements from the transcription subsequently led to the identification of prevalent themes. When it came to the experiences of Hispanics currently or formerly employed at <i>Fortune</i> 500 companies, participants felt that <i>company culture, training, compensation, management</i>, and different types of <i>incentives</i> were factors that played vital roles in retention efforts. The results of the study provided a clearer understanding of the strategies and incentives that corporate leaders can use in order to retain Hispanic employees in the corporate workforce.</p>