Banco Popular de Puerto Rico

This morning on the train, I read a Washington Post article detailing serious prescription drug shortages nationwide — and immediately thought of the potential impact on your employees and prescription drug plans.

As I was going through my inbox searching for a topic to post about, I came across an invite to an upcoming audio conference: “Business Communication Etiquette Part 1: How to Deal with Technology.” I was twice stunned. Once, by the notion that people might actually need a seminar on how to apply the golden rule with technology in the workplace. And twice, that even if such a seminar is needed, that it needs to be conducted in multiple parts.

As HR/benefits pros, you’re generally your company’s first line of defense in preventing a discrimination lawsuit. How do you counsel managers against making skin-deep selections or relying solely on gut feeling, with millions of dollars potentially on the line in replacement, training and productivity costs if a hire doesn’t work out, or if a rejected candidate decides to sue?

As she promotes her new book, "Versatility: A Prerequisite for Leadership Success," workplace consultant Francie Dalton outlines seven different types of workplace personalities and how managers can skillfully mesh them to create productive, harmonious teams.

I think maybe there’s more than goodwill at work among employers who allow top-performing and long-tenured workers to take lengthy sabbaticals or service missions abroad. It stands to reason that for employees who embark on such journeys are even better workers when they return and the benefit extends to their colleagues and company at large.

The federal definition of marriage — as laid out in the Defense of Marriage Act — and the consequences of the law being challenged in court, potentially can affect how you do your job.

This week, the post “New partnership brings Subway to worksite lunch & learns” contained false information about the intentions of Clique, the supposed wellness vendor behind a program that sent a physician to worksites to provide free wellness information, and the involvement of Subway, which was purported to provide a free meal for the lunch & learn session.

The Small Business Administration and ADP this week launched a new video series that shines a bright spotlight on six companies that began with little more than an idea and an entrepreneurial spirit and now are among well-known brands in their respective industries.

For the first time in almost 10 years, the Department of Labor is reviewing its rules on electronic disclosures in ERISA plans. Help drag DOL into the 21st century by providing your comments on how you use electronic media to provide benefit plan information to participants and beneficiaries.

In just the last week, two professionals — one in the wellness industry, the other a benefits practitioner like yourselves — have told me that starting wellness programs can be cheap, incentives are unnecessary and HRAs are flawed and in fact, can be dangerous for your wellness efforts. Cue the Twilight Zone theme song.