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Administration Loosens Individual Mandate to ‘Un-cancel’ Policies

The Obama administration on Nov. 14 proposed an administrative fix to allow individuals and small businesses losing coverage to keep their plans for another year. The fix was necessary in part because many people who lost coverage: (1) could not enroll for coverage on reform-mandated state-based health insurance exchanges due to problems with the government’s […]

Yahoo embraces stack ranking of employees as Microsoft abandons it

As Microsoft is washing its hands of a controversial employee performance appraisal practice, Yahoo is reportedly adopting it. Stack ranking systems—also known as forced ranking or forced distribution—require managers to rank their employees from best to worst, apply the rankings to a bell curve and use the results to determine pay as well as who […]

Make the Best Use of Your Training Tools

Thorough and effective employee training is recognized as a major key to achieving not only compliance with OSHA and other regulations but also the protection of the company’s assets and the workers themselves. Therefore, the managers, supervisors, and safety professionals involved in the training effort should seek to find and use the best tools for […]

Vendors Segment ‘Fiduciary’ Services as DOL Treads Water on New Definition

While most retirement plan sponsors and their vendors think being deemed a plan fiduciary is an “all-or-nothing” proposition, it is in fact becoming a growing continuum of service-provider job titles and responsibilities, one industry expert suggests. For example, a survey of 100 randomly selected, non-client plan sponsors conducted by retirement planning and wealth management firm […]

Roofer Falls Down in Pulling Off Workers’ Comp Premium Ruse

The owner of a Missoula, Montana, roofing business faced a large fine and a felony charge for employer misconduct for trying to sweep the truth past the Montana State Fund to keep from paying higher workers’ comp premiums. Despite having over 300 roofing permits and purchasing over $1 million in roofing supplies, the roofer classified […]

Selecting Your Outsourcing Vendor

Letke, who is founder and CEO of Integrity HR, Inc., in Louisville, Kentucky, offered her tips at BLR’s Strategic HR Leadership Summit in Scottsdale, Arizona. How Do You Identify Providers/Partners/Vendors? There are a number of helpful sources for finding outsourcing options, says Letke, including: Referrals, networking, colleagues Newspapers and magazines (HRO Today) Internet Mailings Professional […]

4 Essential Components of Workplace Violence Programs

In yesterday’s Advisor, consultant Dick Sem, CPP CSC, covered warning signs of impending violence; today, the essential components of a workplace violence (WPV) program plus an introduction to the all-things-HR-in-one-place website, HR.BLR.com®. The Four Essential Components of a WPV Program #1. Prevention—the most effective and powerful way to avoid violence Put policies, plans, and procedures […]

Violence Prevention: Plain Talk, No Emotion

While most organizations have a fairly robust emergency plan for fire, natural disasters, and spills, they often don’t have a very robust plan for “purposeful emergencies,” that is, violent incidents. And that’s a mistake, says consultant Dick Sem, CPP CSC. Sem’s general observations: Badly handled or emotional discipline, refusal of service, or termination often trigger […]