July 30, 2004
Is your company on the list?
Posted by
Sean Kenney
at 2:09 PM
"Many companies offer good benefits, competitive pay, a comfortable workplace and competent management. But great companies create strong, positive company cultures that foster happy, engaged employees who feel empowered to make decisions in their daily work. And here’s how they do it."
Check out HR Magazine's Best Small & Medium Companies to Work for in America
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July 21, 2004
Black men unemployed at twice rate of whites, Hispanics
Posted by
Douglas Eisenhart
at 5:11 PM
A segment today from local NPR affiliate WBUR reports on the higher levels of unemployment among black men:
One out of every four black men in America is out of work for at least a year. So says a new study of black male employment being released in Boston today. It shows the jobless rate of black men is now twice as high as that of Hispanics and whites.
To hear the segment, including an interview with the report's lead author, Andrew Sum, director of the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University,
click here and hit the "Listen" icon.
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Privacy, productivity, and practicality
Posted by
Sean Kenney
at 2:50 PM
"In 1997, 15% of large U.S. companies monitored employees' email, according to the American Management Association. Today, it's 52% -- and much higher than that in the technology sector. In part, the surge is a reaction to heightened regulatory scrutiny in the post-Enron era. The in-the-know employer just wants to make sure he's staying out of Eliot Spitzer's way."
Is there a practical and effective balance between employee privacy and corporate safeguards?
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July 19, 2004
Mass. jobless rate steady, some pick-up in tech
Posted by
Douglas Eisenhart
at 10:25 AM
As reported in Saturday's Boston Globe, the unemployment rate in the state held at the same 5.2% it was previously, some cause for concern as the region struggles to rebound, but still below the national rate of 5.6%:
Employment growth in Massachusetts slowed from its torrid spring pace as the June jobless rate held steady at 5.2 percent.
- - - - -
''The report is a waning of the recent job growth figures," said Michael Goodman, director of economic and policy research at the University of Massachusetts' Donahue Institute. ''It is really too early to start to worry. Most of the indicators have been positive, so this may be a blip."
The state still has a long way to go to restore the 199,000 jobs lost since the downturn began in early 2001. On the bright side, the beleaguered high-technology industry in June showed its first monthly job additions since January.
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July 14, 2004
Looking closer at deferred compensation
Posted by
Sean Kenney
at 5:13 PM
"It behooves all companies to evaluate their deferred compensation arrangements to understand how they fit within the total executive rewards strategy and to ensure that the costs – which are often hidden and substantial – are appropriate relative to the benefits provided. In fact, we believe compensation committees should be reviewing the proxy disclosure of these programs to meet shareholders’ expectations about transparency of executive compensation and benefit programs."
Executive benefit programs have quickly become a governance issue for compensation committees. This Mercer HR Consulting article discusses the hidden costs of deferred compensation plans and evaluates several approaches to structuring these arrangements as part of a total compensation strategy.
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July 13, 2004
Wake-up call: Morgan Stanley pays $54m to settle sex discrimination suit
Posted by
Douglas Eisenhart
at 3:54 PM
If there were ever any doubt that employee training and sensitivity programs are worth it, that doubt is now erased. Wall Street giant Morgan Stanley could have spent up to $54 million on such programs to avoid what they are now paying out to former Morgan bond seller Allison Schieffelin and her co-workers, plaintiffs in a suit they filed along with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC):
Schieffelin, who claimed she was denied promotions at the firm because she is a woman, will be paid $12 million under the settlement, with $40 million earmarked for claims filed by other women at the firm.
Morgan Stanley will also set aside $2 million to pay for diversity training and antidiscrimination programs.
''The consent decree is a watershed in safeguarding and protecting the rights of women on Wall Street," said US District Judge Richard M. Berman, who was to hear the case.
For some firms, this is a much-needed wake-up call in the area of sexual bias - and indeed, any kind of bias - in the organization.
Does your firm have a plan, and a program? Is your firm addressing the issues proactively, not reactively? If you're a CEO, you'd be advised to pay attention to this one, too.
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July 8, 2004
The untallied costs of war
Posted by
Sean Kenney
at 6:01 PM
"Increased reliance in Iraq on the part-time warriors of the National Guard and military reserves is straining U.S. businesses and could cause big problems over time, business leaders and military experts told lawmakers on Friday."
Businesses share in the cost of the war effort by supporting the military leave of their reservists, but the Pentagon does not track this cost or its effect on the businesses themselves or the broader economy.
"The Pentagon doesn't track how businesses are affected, but it recognizes that using reservists "inextricably links the defense of this nation to employers," said Bobby G. Hollingsworth, the director for the Pentagon's National Committee for Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve."
Futher, employers who are trying to
comply with the statutes surrounding military leave are faced with a number of challenges, as was discussed at the recent SHRM conference in New Orleans.
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Benefits are back
Posted by
Douglas Eisenhart
at 1:01 PM
The Boston Globe reports today that, with the job market picking up, wooing candidates with perks is also back in style - but with a new twist:
The economy is coming back and so are the perks.
But forget the fancy cars and foosball tables that dominated the dot-com era. Instead, specialists are predicting that companies eager to recruit and retain workers will offer a slew of lifestyle benefits as the economy recharges. The new perks range from pet insurance and home-buyer assistance programs to ''quiet" rooms to alleviate stress and onsite chiropractors to help workers ease aches and pains.
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July 7, 2004
Common hiring mistakes entrepreneurs can avoid
Posted by
Jason Butler
at 9:37 AM
Startup Journal gives some advice on how to make sure your first hires are your best.
Hiring isn't easy. You need to find people who not only have the experience you need, but also whose personalities complement your own, and who appreciate and can stomach the financial risks and unpredictability that go with working for a fledgling company. And you need to protect yourself by making sure everything you negotiate with your new hires is clear and in writing.
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July 1, 2004
Blogs in Business -- What to do now
Posted by
Jason Butler
at 9:41 AM
Dave Pollard writes an excellent piece on how to start using blogs in business.
1. Blogs are Personal:
Each individual blogger must retain control over the content in his or her blog, and over decisions on what does and doesn't go into it. This is its unique selling point to front-line workers who are used to seeing all the knowledge they contribute disappear into an undifferentiated massive corporate content architecture with no personal ownership or responsibility for quality, currency or completeness.
Is your company ready to unleash the knowledge within your workers?
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