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April 15 - 21, 2007
Vol. 8  Issue 16

In This Issue ...

Workforce News of the Week:

You Can Do Anything, but Don't Mess With My Health Insurance: Employees in the U.S. consider a health plan to be the most important benefit, and would rather give up wage increases and other benefits to preserve health care coverage.
Click to read more. >>>

Leading Job Board Monster Names New Chief: In addition to replacing William Pastore as Monster's CEO, Sal Iannuzzi will remain chairman of the executive committee of the board, a position he's held since October.
Click to read more. >>>

Rivals Bid to Replace America's Job Bank: For-profit NaviSite will compete with the DirectEmployers Association, a nonprofit consortium of companies that is offering its own version of a replacement for America's Job Bank.
Click to read more. >>>

Skills of Recent U.S. High School Graduates Leave Employers Cold: High school-educated workers lack the level of ability employers seek in everything from writing and work ethic to oral communication.
Click to read more. >>>

Employees Take Investment Advice With a Grain of Salt
Click to read more. >>>

No Little Town Blues: NYC Offers the Most Top Jobs
Click to read more. >>>

Emphasis on Culture Not Leading to Higher Performance
Click to read more. >>>

Know What Employees Want
Click to read more. >>>

Circuit City's 'Wage Management Initiative' Could Affect Its Reputation
Click to read more. >>>

Feature: Balancing act
How to Confront the Elder Care Challenge

The cost to U.S. business from the lost productivity of employees caring for elderly family members is more than $33 billion per year. Experts say the companies that will thrive in the future will adapt to this reality by implementing or strengthening HR policies and practices that improve both the bottom line and the lives of employee caregivers.

Read more about dealing with elder care issues. >>>

Also:
The Costs of Caregiving >>>
10 Steps for Creating a Work Environment That Supports Caregivers >>>
Caregiver Resources for Employers >>>
Caregiver Resources for Employees >>>
Why Child Care and Elder Care Are So Different >>>

Feature: Health care legislation
Workforce Management's Health Care Legislation Scorecard

How do you make sense of all the proposed health care legislation and how the different measures might affect employers? Just print out the table below and tape it to your fridge or filing cabinet. You can keep score. Health care is sure to feature prominently in the 2008 presidential election, and the race for the White House has only just begun.

Read our health care proposal score card. >>>

Also:
Backfire at Boeing: Misadventures in High-Performance Health Care >>>
Consumer-Driven Health Plans See Meager Enrollment Gains, Kaiser Report Finds >>>
How Pitney Bowes Is Turning Its Innovative Health Care Practices Into a New Business >>>

Special report: The future of health care
Twists in the Road to True Consumer-Driven Health Care

The theory of this new model in health care—in which consumers make rational decisions based on cost, quality and an incentive to save money—is hitting up against the realities of a marketplace that has just started changing to meet the demands of health care users.

Read more about consumer-driven health care. >>>

Also:
Melding Managed Care and Health Care Consumerism >>>
Novel Plans Are Aimed at Reducing Costs, Paying for Health Care in Retirement >>>
The End of One-Size-Fits-All Co-Pays >>>

Workplace safety
Resources for Dealing with Workplace Violence

In light of Monday’s shooting rampage at Virginia Tech, Workforce Management has assembled the following list of resources related to workplace violence. The shooting at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University killed at least 32 people.

Useful Information on Workplace Violence and Strategies for Prevention and Response. >>>

Workplace Violence Prevention and Response Policy >>>

Points to Cover in a Workplace Violence Policy >>>

10 Tips on Recognizing and Minimizing Violence >>>

Develop a Workplace Violence Program for Every Site >>>
Preventing Violence: An Organizational Self-Assessment >>>

Emergency Planning and Crisis Management >>>

What to Do in a Catastrophe >>>

Crafting the Crisis Communication Message >>>

Dear Workforce:  We Have a Longtime Employee with a History of Belligerence. Is It Too Late to Reverse His Behavior? >>>

Get a free benchmarking report
Benchmark Your Organization's Performance for Redeploying and Retiring Employees

There is still time to participate in this online benchmarking study sponsored by Workforce Management, APQC (a nonprofit organization internationally recognized as a resource for process and performance improvement) and IBM. You'll be able to see how your key practices measure up to those of top performers. Through this joint initiative, we are able to provide participants with a look into how their focus compares in terms of key cost, productivity and efficiency metrics with assessment questions on such processes as managing the promotion and demotion process, managing retirement, managing expatriates and more.

What Makes This Research Unique?
By participating in this human capital management research project, you will gain insight across multiple dimensions. Although much has been written about how to measure human capital management-related functions, this is the first research initiative to offer organizations from all industries the opportunity to compare themselves with others at NO COST. This research helps organizations better assess their capabilities by comparing and benchmarking their practices using a common set of measures.
 
Click here to preview the research questions, view a sample report and submit your data. You'll receive your complimentary benchmarking report with an overview of the practices and processes that top organizations have in place to achieve peak performance.

To get started, click here. >>>

Discussion
Anonymous Letter

Posted in the General Forum:
A reader writes: "How should you respond to an anonymous letter complaining about a manager? Working with a department that has some morale issues, there is a clear divide in the group, with nearly half not liking or supporting the manager, nearly but not quite half don't seem to have a problem, and a few seem neutral. Trying to facilitate group discussion to work on problems, but an employee keeps sending anonymous letters to the company president about the 'bad manager'—nothing illegal or unethical, pretty much interpersonal. Should you ignore the letter and forge ahead? Acknowledge the letter before the group and tell them anonymous feedback of this type doesn't support the process? Reactions?"

Join the discussion. >>>

Workforce blog: The Business of Management
Job Cuts vs. the 'War for Talent'

It's hard to get shocked anymore by businesses cutting jobs. In some sectors—like newspapers, where The Tampa Tribune in Florida this week announced a cut of 70 staff positions—layoffs and cutbacks have become so common that they have ceased to be newsworthy since they seem to happen every day. And that is exactly why the big layoff announcement from banking giant Citigroup was so surprising."

Click here to read the blog. >>>

Commentary
'Hot Spot' Rules

During your career at work you will encounter situations when the inspiration is flowing. Colleagues chip in with great ideas. There is a real feeling of teamwork, a genuine spirit of collaboration and progress. I label such moments 'Hot Spots.'

Read more about Hot Spots. >>>

Also:
Commentary: HRAs as an Answer to Rising Premiums >>>
10 Steps for Motivation>>>
Drucker Knew Best >>>

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