November 30, 2006

Employee retention an issue as retirement benefits evolve
Posted by Douglas Eisenhart at 10:11 AM

A recent Veritude article considers the challenge of employee retention in light of the growing number of retirement benefits options:

Defined-benefit retirement plans have long been a cornerstone of employee retention strategies for thousands of companies. Indeed, almost half of employers with pensions cite retention as their top reason for offering the benefit, according to a 2005 survey by Fidelity Management Trust Co.

But with the advent of the Pension Protection Act of 2006, questions loom for employers: Should we continue to offer a defined benefit plan? If the answer is no, how should we design our retirement benefits to maximize retention?

Read the full piece from Workforce Insights.

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November 29, 2006

What the Candidate Thinks
Posted by at 11:32 AM

I stumbled upon The Evil HR Lady blog. Her November 13 post is a call against bleeding candidates for free services. It's a good (and needed reminder) that candidate perceptions of our practices often vary widely from our intentions.

They got some free data analysis off me and a free executive seminar off her. And that is why I don't like recuiters. Have the decency to follow up with anybody you bring in for an interview. And don't leech off your candidates. Sure, it's reasonable to want to view how someone trains, but you have two or three people view it, not the entire team. That's just cheap and tacky. Pay for your own training. And call people back.

posted by Maureen Crawford Hentz, HR Blogger

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November 28, 2006

Balance schmalance
Posted by Diane Danielson at 8:20 AM

Carol Hymowitz of the WSJ CareerJournal focuses on women at the top and how they want to banish the word balance from their vocabulary, as it does nothing more than create guilt for women with careers.

The word "balance" should be banished from women's vocabularies, said Carol Bartz, executive chairman of the board of Autodesk. "Balance equals perfection, which none of us are, so I think we just have to get over it, otherwise [women] spend all their time being guilty," which causes stress and limits their goals.

Having both a demanding career and children are not mutually exclusive -- as long as women stop trying to evenly balance these spheres all the time.

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November 27, 2006

Everybody with green eyes
Posted by Douglas Eisenhart at 11:25 AM

Worforce Management magazine relays notes from various recent HR conferences, including Recruiting 2006 held at the Javits Center in NYC earlier this month.

Here's a snippet:

Recruiters are the most powerful individuals within a company, according to Rusty Reuff, CEO of digital music clearinghouse Snocap and co-author of Talent Force, a New Manifesto for the Human Side of Business. Reuff arrived at this realization while working as a recruiter at Frito-Lay.

"I realized that I was the gatekeeper to everyone that came into the company. If I wanted everybody in the organization to have green eyes, I could eventually make that happen," said Reuff, drawing laughter from the audience.

Read the whole piece.

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November 21, 2006

Giving thanks
Posted by Douglas Eisenhart at 3:28 PM

A story came across the news ticker on Boston.com this morning about a sinking fishing boat that was rescued off Nantucket yesterday:

The Coast Guard rescued a 50-foot boat off the coast of Nantucket Monday that had sprung a leak and was taking on water.

The "Susan Marie" of New Bedford began to flood Monday afternoon when it was 32 miles east of Nantucket. At 2:55 p.m. the Southeastern New England branch of the Coast Guard received a distress call from the vessel.

At 4:52 p.m. a helicopter arrived on scene with a pump. After locating the leak, the "Susan Marie" and its crew were escorted to Stage Harbor in Chatham.

There were no reported injuries.

There's a Thanksgiving story in the making. Imagine those families around their dinner tables later this week. Happy just to be alive, and together. Kind of puts things in perspective.

Think about the jobs these folks do day in and day out. Fishing is among the most dangerous occupations one can undertake. We should thank them for the dangers they endure, every day, putting themselves in harm's way, for our benefit.

So next time you think about complaining about your boring desk job in a tiny cubicle, maybe you'll remember that it is also in a heated space, with plenty of light, and a comfortable chair, with colleagues nearby, and probably a cafeteria upstairs or a coffee shop a few steps around the corner.

Even though it may not be ideal, it's keeping you going. And isn't that something to be thankful for?

From all of us here at BostonWorks, have a Happy Thanksgiving.

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November 20, 2006

Study: Mass. healthcare costs 4th-highest in US
Posted by Douglas Eisenhart at 1:35 PM

From a new study by Mercer Health & Benefits consulting group, to be released today, comes the not so welcome news that Massachusetts healthcare costs are among the most costly in the nation:

Average healthcare costs for an individual employee, including medical, dental, dependent coverage and worker premium contributions, reached $9,428 this year. That is the fourth-highest in the nation, after Alaska, New Hampshire, and Wisconsin.

The article also states that costs in the Bay State have risen at least 10% a year over the past six years, but that this year the increase is expected to moderate to well below that figure.

Read the whole article from today's Globe.

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November 15, 2006

Of start-ups, immigrants, and H-1B visas
Posted by Douglas Eisenhart at 1:34 PM

According to a new study released today by a venture capital trade association, through their role in founding start-ups, immigrants to the US have a big impact on our economy:

Immigrants have fueled the US entrepreneurial economy, starting one in four venture-backed companies since 1990 and two in five in high technology, according to a study being released today by the National Venture Capital Association trade group.

The timing and intended target audience for the trade group study is none other than the US Congress, as the start-up firms and their vc backers seek to raise or lift the hiring limits on foreign-born workers:

The study, which is set to be hand-delivered to members of Congress this morning, marks the group's first attempt to quantify the contribution of immigrant executives and engineers. It comes at a time when start-ups are clamoring to hire more talented employees from overseas and to boost the cap on the H-1B visas used by companies to hire foreign-born professionals, often from US college campuses.

Read the whole piece from today's Globe.

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US lags behind the rest of the world when it comes to maternity leave
Posted by Diane Danielson at 1:36 AM

One of my favorite facts from the 20/20 piece on working moms:

We found that the United States lags far behind when it comes to family-friendly policies.

For example, of 168 countries surveyed in the world, only four offer no national maternity-leave program: Lesotho, Swaziland, Papua New Guinea, and the United States of America.

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November 10, 2006

Plugging the brain drain
Posted by Douglas Eisenhart at 12:11 PM

It's not news that the Greater Boston area has more college students than anywhere else in the country, if not the world. But how much of this young talent makes the Hub home after graduation?:

Half of all college students in the Boston area leave after graduation, according to a 2003 chamber study, and 15.8 percent of the area's 20- to 34-year-olds left between 1990 and 2000, a "brain drain" that became the catalyst for the [Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce Hub Crawl] program, the goal of which is to keep as many students here after graduation as possible.

Read the full piece from today's Globe about the GBCC's efforts and other programs, such as those of minority-focused group The Partnership, to retain the best and the brightest here in the region.

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November 8, 2006

Diversity at the top
Posted by Douglas Eisenhart at 11:22 AM

This is huge. And we don't even know how huge it is yet.

But the simple act of electing a minority candidate as Governor of the Commonwealth has far-reaching and long-lasting implications. It was not lost on the candidate, either, who, in reaching out not just to his supporters but to his broader constituents-to-be, stated the following in his acceptance speech late last night:

"You are every black man, woman, and child in Massachusetts and America and every other striver of every other race and kind who is reminded tonight that the American dream is for you, too," Patrick told the jubilant crowd.

It is not hyperbole to say that there is new hope and a new era ahead for minorities in the state, especially for minority youth and most especially African-American male youth, who now see one of their own in the highest position in the state. That means it can be done, because it has been done. And that means new hope for the formerly disenfranchised.

To their everlasting credit, Patrick and his campaign managers never made race an issue in the campaign. And rightly so. And it paid off, big time.

But now that he has been elected, we can see how big this really is. Patrick will be only the second Black governor in the history of the US. And having lived through this, it truly was the fulfillment of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s dream, that the content of the candidate's character mattered more than the color of his skin.

Patrick was elected - and resoundingly so, not just as any opposition Democrat - for his experience, his ability and his outlook. Yes, his candidacy mobilized the minority voting population. But for the majority of the electorate, race was simply neutralized. It was a non-issue.

By visibly placing a minority in the most senior executive position in the land, the people's choice also has implications for business organizations and their leaders in the Bay State. For one, it may attract more minority businesses to the state. It will also give renewed hope to all other minorities in the hiring process and in workforce development. The message to job seekers: skills count. You better have some that are employable.

And while we're at it, maybe we should note that "minority" is a term that will dramatically shift in meaning shortly, as well. Sometime around 2050, the collective population of African-Americans, Hispanics, and Asians will outnumber those of purely Caucasian descent in the US, thereby placing them in the minority.

Massachusetts, welcome to the future. If we didn't already know it, we now officially live in a diverse world. Now let's get on with the business at hand.

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November 7, 2006

Generational competence in three pages or less
Posted by at 4:23 PM

Members of every generation want work that provides satisfaction. So a manager’s job as a career coach should be easy, right? Not quite. Each generation has a distinct attitude and approach to careers. Savvy managers tailor their career conversations to the needs of the individual – keeping in mind some significant generational influences. ----Career Systems International

As you know, millennials are the hottest topic among recruiters. WE all know that this generation (like the ones before) has a specific culture to it, with singular cultural referents, reaffirmed behaviors and expectations. Are your hiring managers up to speed?

On the off chance that you have not yet gotten through to your hiring managers about the importance of understanding and demonstrating generational competence, here is a quick resource from Career Systems International to which you can direct them. It's short, easy to read, and may provide your hiring managers with some ah ha moments. The more ah has, the fewer oh nos......

HR Blogger Maureen Crawford Hentz

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November 6, 2006

US jobless rate hits 5-year low
Posted by Douglas Eisenhart at 1:56 PM

More good news on the economic front:

WASHINGTON -- The US unemployment rate unexpectedly fell to a five-year low of 4.4 percent in October and growth in service industries accelerated, countering speculation the economy is headed for recession.

Siezing on the news just prior to the mid-term elections, White House officials had this to say:

"The great news for the American worker is that there are lots of jobs out there, and that's good for America," said Allan Hubbard, director of the White House's National Economic Council . "The American worker is enjoying the benefits of this economy."

Gains were strong in finance, education, healthcare, and leisure and hospitality.

Read the entire piece from the Globe.

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