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Difference between excellent and satisfactory managers: Personality and attitude

Managers have an enormous impact on the performance, job satisfaction, engagement, motivation and turnover rates of the employees under their direction, a new study reveals. According to PsychTests.com, which conducted the study, using the Management Skills and Styles Assessment, when a workplace is well-managed, it can look like there is actually very little management going on, and employees seem to manage themselves. However, the firm concludes, to achieve this kind of atmosphere requires a strategic and positive leader.

By Lisa V. Gillespie

Writer

April 11

Benefits Think Less care = more health: Convincing doctors to change gears

Changing physicians' attitudes toward low-value services will mean counteracting a powerful force the profit motive. Physicians, like most economically rational people, generally tend to recommend tests and treatments that reward physicians financially.

April 10

Caterpillar’s recession recovery story offers hope to employers still looking to hire

It hasn't been long since Caterpillar Inc looked like the typical resident of the Rust Belt. Having misjudged how deep the U.S. economy would decline, the world's largest maker of construction machinery reduced its workforce by 33,000 people worldwide in 2009, closed plants and posted lower profits.

By John D. Stoll

April 10

Judge orders Fidelity to pay $1.7M for fiduciary lapse

A federal judge has declared that Fidelity Investments and the American unit of ABB, Inc. violated federal laws by making pension holders pay excessive 401(k) plan fees, and has ordered the defendants to pay $36.9 million in damages.

By Tommy Fernandez

April 5

Benefits Think Trouble in paradise: Expats more likely to be depressed, abuse drugs/alcohol

A new study finds that expatriates face a higher overall risk for mental health problems and substance abuse disorders. Specifically, 50% of expatriates in the study were at high risk for problems like anxiety and depression, a rate 2.5 times their U.S.-based counterparts.

April 5

Benefits Think It could be time to tell employees, Youre not getting a unicorn

According to Glassdoor, for the first time in the four years it has been conducting the employment confidence survey, more employees expect a pay raise than those who do not 43% of employees expect a raise in the next 12 months while 38% and 19% say they dont know (but likely harbor secret hope).

April 4

Traditional interviews give way to hands-on challenges to confirm skill sets, reduce bias

When Will Flaherty, 23, applied for a job as director of communications for SeatGeek, an aggregator of sporting-event and concert-ticket websites, he had to jump through several challenging hoops even before he landed an interview.

By Eileen Gunn

April 3

To keep office peace, talk about ‘Real Housewives,’ not Romney

It's officially springtime, which means two things are on full display – pollen and presidential politics. Although every swing and sway in the 2012 race may seem like fertile ground for watercooler discussion, I – as well as etiquette and HR/benefits experts – strongly encourage you to resist talking politics in the office.

By Kelley Butler

Editor-In-Chief and Conference Co-Chair

Employee Benefit News

April 1

“HR Hotline, how may I help you?” Your top 10 queries revealed.

Employers Resource Association, an organization specializing in HR consulting, news and information, released its list of top 10 questions received by its HR Hotline, which receives more than 8,000 calls each year. "Demands on HR professionals have increased dramatically since the recession began and our members continue to be challenged to handle more tasks and issues with fewer resources," says Dan Chaney, SPHR, director HR advisory services for ERA. "The common questions we receive center around hiring and firing, leave management, access to personnel records, drug testing, immigration rules and classifying independent contractors." (Images: Thinkstock)

March 30

Benefits Think Like a duck in a pond: Reflections on the PPACA Supreme Court hearings

We're glad it's over, but EBN's staff truly enjoyed bringing you coverage of the Supreme Court PPACA hearings from our own D.C. backyard, right alongside the national network media. In case you missed anything, heres a brief wrap-up/rundown of our news and analysis.

March 30

Some employees want out of TDFs and into self-directed IRAs

Despite the surge in popularity of target-date funds, which put retirement investing on autopilot, some aggressive investors are seeking access to self-directed IRAs, to add alternative and sometimes off-beat investments to their retirement portfolios.

By Marla Brill

March 29

Winning vacation benefits and policies

Taking time away from the office has been shown to reduce stress and improve employee productivity. Bolstered by such positive statistics, some employers have taken a renewed look at their vacation policies to better fit increasingly diverse and often dispersed employee populations. EBN has compiled 5 unique approaches to vacation benefits that encourage employees to unwind and return to work with renewed vigor. (Images: Thinkstock)

March 28

Benefits Think The dangers of benefits benchmarking

Comparing one groups health claims to anothers is touted as one way to zero in on cost-saving opportunities. The problem, guest blogger Linda K. Riddell notes, is that benchmarking can hide more cost-cutting opportunities than it shows.

March 28

Benefits Think Hiring Our Heroes initiative takes to the airwaves through national partnership with NBC News

The Chamber of Commerce Hiring Our Heroes program reminds employers to take some time to (re)focus their attention on the issue of veteran unemployment, something that unlike the eventual outcome of this weeks Supreme Court hearings HR/benefits pros actually have a significant amount of influence over.

March 27

Health care reform stirs protests at Supreme Court

In March 2012, the Supreme Court heard six hours of oral arguments over three days on the constitutionality of the individual mandate in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which would require nearly every person in the United States to purchase health insurance, whether through an employer, state exchanges, Medicare, Medicaid or private exchanges. The mandate, the most polarizing provision of the law, brought Americans from both sides of the issue to Washington to converge on the Supreme Court steps to protest or advocate for PPACA.

March 27

Benefits Think Survey: Gen Yers say, Give me an iPad or iQuit!

According to a new survey from Workplace Options, 92% of young workers say that offering access to the latest technology makes employers more attractive than their competition, and 16% indicated that, regardless of compensation, they would quit their job if they did not have access to the latest tech gear.

March 23

Health care among top jobs for young people

Employers in the health care industry looking to fill open positions may do well to consider younger workers. The good pay, flexible hours and job security health sector jobs tend to provide, and that also tend to appeal to younger workers, could make for a successful employment match.

By Patricia Reaney

March 22

Experts make case for maintaining stable-value funds in retirement plans

With worries over fiduciary responsibilities, stable-value funds — which offer steady and predictable returns consistent with a conservative principal protection vehicle — can be a solid retirement plan option for certain segments of a workforce, according to experts who spoke at this week’s 401(k) Summit sponsored by the American Society of Pension Professionals and Actuaries.

By Lisa V. Gillespie

Writer

March 22

Benefits Think Add salary to your companys Know Your Numbers wellness campaign

Knowing a persons annual salary tells you more about his health than you may realize. And unlike much other health-related data, salary information is readily available to employers and not considered sensitive.

March 21