Total Rewards Software, Inc., the industry leader in on-demand total compensation statement software has developed a best practice methodology called Critical Success Factor 360. This program combines its on-demand software with all of its best practice modules into a systematic, 360-degree recruitment and retention, communication platform.
"Traditionally, employers have provided total rewards statements to their employees and hoped for the best. They had no visibility into whether employees viewed their statements, what improvements they would like to see, or even if they found value in the statements," said Char Ruppel, VP of Business Development at Total Rewards Software. "With our Critical Success Factor 360 best practice methodology, employers can now promote, educate, track, measure, survey and receive feedback about their total rewards' communication efforts. In addition, the HR department can provide current total compensation data analysis to upper management with our HR Executive Dashboard Module."
Besides the Dashboard Module, the Critical Success Factor 360 suite of modules also includes Candidate, Stock Option, Personalized FAQ, Analytics, and Survey/Feedback.
The on-demand total compensation statement software includes several versions -- Free, Professional and Enterprise Editions. A private-label version called the Agency Edition is also available and designed specifically for providers of employer services such as insurance brokers, third-party administrators and payroll providers.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Where the jobs are: location, location, location
by Donna Rosato
The latest news on unemployment was as grim as expected: More than 5 million people have lost their jobs since the beginning of 2008 and the unemployment rate surged to 8.5% in March, the highest in 25 years, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday.
It may seem as if no place in the
Harvard economics professor Edward Glaeser says the disparity in unemployment in regions around the
As in past recessions, there’s also a clear link between unemployment and manufacturing. Industries that have been declining for decades like textile, paper and car manufacturing are more likely to layoff masses of workers during a downturn. You can see that relationship at work in the MSA unemployment report, where old industrial cities like Detroit, Waterbury, Ct. and Youngstown, Ohio have double digit jobless rates.
Most interestingly, Glaeser finds that unemployment also is closely correlated with “job sprawl”. In MSAs where jobs are spread out and people have long commutes to work outside a city core, like
Of course, you can’t always pick where you work. Family ties or a home purchase often keeps you in a particular geographic area. But if you are looking for work and have any flexibility to move, keep a close eye on the monthly MSA report if you want to know where the jobs are. – Donna Rosato
LINE: Employment Expectations at Four-Year Lows
| November 2007—18 months ago as of May 2009—was the last month the Leading Indicators of National Employment (LINE) hiring index was positive, according to the Society for Human Resource Management’s latest LINE data. The LINE Report examines four key areas—employers’ hiring expectations, new-hire compensation, difficulty in recruiting top-level talent, and job vacancies. Its findings are based on a monthly survey of HR professionals at more than 500 manufacturing and 500 private service-sector companies. Together, these sectors comprise more than 90 percent of Employment expectations for May 2009 are at four-year lows for manufacturing and service sectors—down 34.8 percent for manufacturing and 18.1 percent for service—the report found. “LINE’s employment expectations index has been negative since December 2007, which is the month when federal officials say the recession began,” observed Jennifer Schramm, SHRM’s manager of workplace trends and forecasting. “While employment expectations for May 2009 are still showing a net annual decline, the numbers are not as devastating as they have been over the previous few months,” she told SHRM Online. Hiring expectations for May 2009—while down—are not as severe as in previous months, according to the report. Although the employment expectations index is still down compared to spring of 2008, Schramm added, “more members of the manufacturing and service sectors say they will add to their payrolls in May than have in the past several months, so we will be watching this index closely to see if this trend continues.” April 2009 was the first April in four years that more manufacturers reported an easier time recruiting. There even was less difficulty in recruiting talent among the service sector. “With millions of people seeking work and fewer opportunities that exist, the LINE recruiting difficulty index is not likely to reverse this trend in the near future,” the LINE report states. New-Hire Compensation Wages and benefits packages for new hires in April 2009 also dropped dramatically compared to April 2008 for both sectors. “Although many companies have scuttled hiring plans during the recession and are cutting jobs, many are also turning to wage and benefit cuts in an ongoing effort to control costs,” the report says. In April 2009, a net 2.3 percent of LINE respondents noted they would decrease new-hire compensation in the manufacturing sector—the lowest April response total in LINE’s four-year history. As for the service sector, “the trend of slashing salaries and benefits was even more pronounced” during that same period, according to the LINE report. It found a net total of 12.2 percent of companies reporting reduced wages and benefits packages for new hires in April 2009. The SHRM LINE Report is released at 9 a.m. Eastern time on the third Friday following the conclusion of the week containing the 12th of the month. The SHRM employment expectations index describes the same time period referenced approximately one month later in the Employment Situation Report issued by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. |
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Sanders: Recession Requires a Responsibility Revolution
| 4/28/2009 | By Theresa Minton-Eversole |
LAS VEGAS—There’s only one way to shake off the recessionary doldrums that hold the country in an economic vise grip, according to Tim Sanders, best-selling author and former Yahoo! leadership coach and chief solutions officer.
“When times get tough, people go through their own personal recession. And when attitudes go negative, people and companies must get inspirational,” said Sanders on April 28, 2009, during the opening keynote session of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) Staffing Management Conference & Exposition, being held here through April 30. “The secret to turning the negativity around is to create an emotional compensation plan. You must make yourself emotionally attractive. Companies must make themselves emotionally attractive.”
Psychologists call it the “likeability factor,” Sanders explained. “People who have the likeability factor have the ability to consistently create positive emotional experiences in the lives of other people. And because they do it on such a consistent basis, they get into the positive feedback mode.” They make people feel good about themselves every day, and these folks in turn say, “You’re making a positive difference in the world,” which builds the likeable people back up so they can make that positive difference again the next day.
“Recessions are great equalizers,” he said. They bring out the best in the best people and the worst in the worst, contributing to a scarcity mind-set of defensiveness, negativity and lack of confidence that eventually alters one’s perception of the world.
The Mutterers
Perspective moves from thoughts to words to actions, negative or positive. “So if you want to get your mojo back, your positive perspective must be cultivated.” The way to do that, Sanders said, is to “change your diet and exercise.
“Clean up your diet by getting rid of all the negative reporting, negative people and bad influences in your life,” he said, adding that people can practice being a more positive influence on others by simply focusing more on their e-mail etiquette.
“E-mail is one of the greatest sources of frustration in the workplace, second only to change,” Sanders said, offering suggestions for how to clean it up:
RULE #1: Communicate no bad news through e-mail. “Remember when you used to have to wait for someone to leave the office before you left them a voice mail?”
RULE #2: Stop sending e-mails during nonbusiness hours. “Heavy weekend e-mailers [managers] have three times more regretful turnover than those managers who expect e-mails to stop after business hours. So how do you kick the habit? Just click on ‘File,’ then ‘Offline.’ ”
RULE #3: Think before you “forward.” “Only a third of the people scroll down through an entire e-mail before forwarding to others,” which he said could lead to embarrassment if not career sabotage. “The people who send the most e-mails are the most deleted and the least likely to be read or responded to. So stay relevant.”
RULE #4: Stamp out “Reply to All.” Enough said.
Sanders said there are several attributes that highly likeable people possess, noting that honing these attributes can lead not only to great personal success but also to professional success:
Friendliness: “The only way to sustain this is to be authentic. For example, when you show up for a meeting, show up! Leave the ‘CrackBerry,’ the PDA, the iPod in your office, and be attentive. Turn off your computer screen when someone enters your office in order to give them your undivided attention. And obsess over keeping your word on the little promises you make.” This will show people you truly care about them, he said. “And be grateful, not for things, but for experiences you’ve had, the people who are in your life and your capabilities. Have you ever seen an unhappy grateful person?”
Relevance: The ability to develop a sincere interest in just a few people’s lives will do more for one’s career and life than learning a minimal amount about a whole lot of people, he said.
Empathy: “Every human leaks emotions. Help people understand that their feelings are facts. If you ‘accurately’ determine and understand all the feelings of people in a room, then you’re the best leader in the room.”
And what can companies do to make themselves emotionally attractive to all their stakeholders? Sanders made these suggestions:
“Stop hiring jerks, particularly high-potential jerks. You’ve got time, particularly now, to hire folks who are a good cultural match with the organization.”
Regarding the onboarding process: “Skip the policies and procedures; share how things are done in the organization and the company culture.” And stay engaged even after the new employees’ first days or months. Also, make hiring managers responsible for the continued success of the onboarding process and employees’ training and development by adding these goals to their performance goals.
Companies should promote a culture of continuous learning, work/life balance and wellness, Sanders said, adding that recent research shows that smoking and obesity percentages are rising because of the stresses of the economic downturn on individuals. “Double down on wellness to show employees the company really does care about them.”
Finally, he said, “Institute social compensation. Have your employees make meaning, not just money, in the world. Encourage community service, so that if they go, they’ll not only have to leave their job, they’ll have to leave their life.”
Theresa Minton-Eversole is an editor/manager for SHRM Online.
Have Cutbacks Peaked?
Study: Companies’ cost-cutting plans slow in anticipation of economic recovery
U.S. employers’ efforts to battle the recession through cost-cutting actions such as layoffs and salary freezes might have peaked, according to an April 2009 update to an ongoing series of surveys by consultancy Watson Wyatt. A key finding: While some companies are still adopting measures such as salary and workweek reductions, cost-cutting plans for the next 12 months have been scaled back across the board in anticipation of an eventual recovery. Only one in four employers plan to increase their cost-cutting initiatives over the next 12 months, a sharp decline from the 51 percent that were planning more cost-cutting measures in February 2009.
According to the report, Effect of the Economic Crisis on HR Programs-- Update: April 2009, many U.S. employers have adopted a wait-and-see attitude, allowing them to make decisions over the coming months as they get a better sense of how long their companies will continue to be affected by the downturn.
The survey, with responses from 141 broad-based
• No further salary reductions (89 percent).
• No further salary freezes (76 percent).
• No further hiring freezes (67 percent).
• No further organizational restructuring changes (65 percent).
• No further layoffs (53 percent).
Although the majority of respondents were not planning any further salary reductions or salary freezes in the next 12 months, the number that had already made these changes had risen sharply from February to April 2009.
Majority of companies not planning cost-cutting actions for the next 12 months (following April 2009):
| Action | Planning change in next 12 months (%) | Not planning change (%) | ||
| Have already made change and expect to do so again | Have not made change yet but expect to in next 12 months | Have already made change and do not expect to make further changes | No changes made or expected | |
| Layoffs/reductions in force | 41% | 5% | 31% | 22% |
| Organization-wide restructuring | 24% | 10% | 25% | 40% |
| Salary freeze | 17% | 7% | 43% | 33% |
| Reduced workweek | 16% | 4% | 6% | 75% |
| Salary reductions | 7% | 4% | 14% | 75% |
| Reduce employer 401(k)/403(b) match | 4% | 8% | 18% | 70% |
“Companies have started to move into the next stage of their cost-cutting actions but are also looking ahead to an eventual recovery,” says Laury Sejen, global director of strategic rewards consulting at Watson Wyatt. “There is a recognition that employers will need to be poised for a turnaround, and that continuing some cost-cutting measures such as reductions in force can put them at a disadvantage once the economy improves.”
Pay and Bonuses Down – for Now
Pay increases are bonuses were down across the board for 2009, with lower merit increases and short-term incentive (STI) funding. Yet, companies feel more optimistic about the future, the survey shows, projecting merit increase budgets to be closer to previous years' levels:
• Companies planned to fund their STI plans at 69 percent in April 2009, down from 71 percent in February 2009.
• Only 17 percent of organizations took cost-cutting measures to protect bonus pool funding.
• Planned merit pay increases are expected to remain at 2 percent in 2009 but will increase to 3 percent in 2010.
401(k) Matches Cut
The number of companies that reduced their 401(k) match jumped by 10 percentage points, from 12 percent in February 2009 to 22 percent in April 2009. There has been a slight jump in the number of hardship withdrawals taken from 401(k) plans – 44 percent of respondents in April 2009 noticed an increase in withdrawals, compared with 35 percent in February 2009.
“Even though companies are beginning to anticipate the end of the current downturn, they are still under great pressure to cut costs,” says Laurie
Other Key Findings
Among additional survey highlights:
• Companies continue to add or increase restrictions to travel policies and eliminate/ reduce training. Those implementing these measures have increased from 69 percent to 77 percent of respondents (travel policy) and from 35 percent to 42 percent of respondents (training).
• For companies that have already frozen salaries or plan to freeze salaries in the next 12 months, 58 percent will institute these changes across the board for employees, while 36 percent will institute it for only certain employee populations.
• 31 percent who have already reduced salaries plan to reinstate them by the end of 2009. For those that have already reduced salaries, 37 percent plan to reinstate and build off them at the next merit increase.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Do More With Less. Cal Poly Talks Efficiencies In HR/Payroll
- Interesting article from hrhub.com
In today's economic climate, organizations are feeling the pressure to do more with less. California Polytechnic State University found a technology solution that allows it to get more from its existing technology, is easy to use, and delivers a rapid return on investment — ImageNow.
Join Chris Blackburn and Lori Serna from Cal Poly as they discuss how ImageNow enterprise document management, imaging and workflow from Perceptive Software, combined with PeopleSoft from Oracle, gives Cal Poly a complete HR and payroll solution. ImageNow helps Cal Poly capture, organize and process résumés, W-4s, I-9s, benefit enrollment forms, performance reviews, pay and leave usage requests and more — all with the combined power of ImageNow and PeopleSoft HR and payroll systems.
With ImageNow and PeopleSoft, Cal Poly's HR and Payroll staff members instantly access the documents they need and route them across campus electronically. Find out how ImageNow helps Cal Poly staff members:
In today's economic climate, organizations are feeling the pressure to do more with less. California Polytechnic State University found a technology solution that allows it to get more from its existing technology, is easy to use, and delivers a rapid return on investment — ImageNow.
Join Chris Blackburn and Lori Serna from Cal Poly as they discuss how ImageNow enterprise document management, imaging and workflow from Perceptive Software, combined with PeopleSoft from Oracle, gives Cal Poly a complete HR and payroll solution. ImageNow helps Cal Poly capture, organize and process résumés, W-4s, I-9s, benefit enrollment forms, performance reviews, pay and leave usage requests and more — all with the combined power of ImageNow and PeopleSoft HR and payroll systems.
With ImageNow and PeopleSoft, Cal Poly's HR and Payroll staff members instantly access the documents they need and route them across campus electronically. Find out how ImageNow helps Cal Poly staff members:
- Improve service to employees
- Cut storage and supply costs
- Boost productivity by eliminating manual tasks
- Become a paperless office using workflow
- Enhance information sharing with other departments
Find the rest fo the article here.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Spring Temperatures Don't Thaw Employment Deep Freeze
By Theresa Minton-Eversole
With a dearth of good news on the economic front, manufacturing and service sector companies will keep a tight rein on payrolls in April, according to the latest Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) Leading Indicators of National Employment (LINE) survey.
The LINE report examines four key areas: employers’ hiring expectations, new-hire compensation, difficulty in recruiting top-level talent and job vacancies.
Continuing the trend of recent months, April 2009 hiring expectations will hit four-year lows, and recruiting difficulty was nearly nonexistent in March 2009. Likewise, wages and benefits packages for new hires are shrinking, with employers in both sectors reporting decreases in new-hire compensation, which was at the lowest March levels in four years in both sectors.
| Employment Expectations | Manufacturing | Service |
| Employment expectations for April 2009 at four-year lows in both manufacturing and service sectors. | -53.5 | -40.7 |
| Recruiting Difficulty | | |
| Recruiting difficulty in both sectors in March 2009 was down sharply compared with March 2008. | -24.7 | -32.3 |
| New-Hire Compensation | | |
| Wages and benefits packages for new hires continued to shrink in March 2009 compared with March 2008. | -10.0 | -7.0 |
Source: SHRM Leading Indicators of National Employment (LINE)
Manufacturing, Service Sectors Still Shedding Jobs
By nearly a two-to-one margin, manufacturing sector survey respondents plan to eliminate jobs in April 2009 (31.2 percent will decrease payrolls, 16.7 percent will be hiring). The number of manufacturing companies adding jobs in April will fall by more than two-thirds from April 2008. April has traditionally been a strong month for manufacturing job growth. In April 2007, more than 60 percent of companies added to their payrolls. But the number of hiring companies has dwindled to 16.7 percent in just two years. The manufacturing sector lost 1.3 million jobs from the start of the recession in December 2007 through February 2009, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
Hiring in the service sector, while still far behind 2008 levels, had shown some promise in February and March 2009. During each of those months, more companies conducted hiring than layoffs. In April, however, the sector has regressed: A net of 5.5 percent of companies will cut jobs during the month (21.7 percent will add to payrolls, 27.2 percent will conduct layoffs). April 2009’s negative net of 5.5 percent is a four-year low for LINE, down from a peak reached in April 2006, when 53 percent of service sector companies added jobs.
Abundance of Talent Available to Hiring Companies
For the first time in four years in March 2009, LINE recorded single-digit response levels for those reporting increased difficulty with recruiting. In the manufacturing sector, only 2.7 percent of respondents reported increased recruiting difficulty in March, compared with 24 percent who reported less difficulty.
The gap was even wider in the service sector. In March 2009, just 1.7 percent of those respondents reported increased recruiting difficulty, compared with 25.4 percent that had less difficulty.
“With millions of people seeking work and fewer opportunities that exist, a reverse to this trend in the LINE recruiting difficulty index is not likely in the near future,” according to Jennifer Schramm, SHRM’s manager of workplace trends and forecasting.
Exempt, Nonexempt Vacancies Dropping Steadily
HR professionals in the manufacturing and service sectors reported declines in exempt vacancies in March 2009 compared with March 2008. In the manufacturing sector, a net total of 8.3 percent of respondents reported decreases in exempt vacancies (8.7 percent reported increases, 17 percent reported decreases).
In the service sector, a net total of 11.3 percent of respondents reported declines in exempt vacancies in March (7.7 percent reported increases, 19.0 percent reported decreases). In January 2009, there were 3 million job openings in the
A net total of 9.2 percent of manufacturing respondents reported that nonexempt vacancies declined in March 2009 as well (9.6 percent increased, 18.8 percent decreased).
In March 2008, manufacturing respondents were still reporting increases in vacancies (a net total of 10.5 percent), according to the LINE survey data, indicating that manufacturers were still hiring only 12 months ago and had yet to face the worst of the economic downturn.
For nonexempt service positions, a net total of 8.4 percent reported decreased vacancies in March 2009 (15.0 percent increased, 23.4 percent decreased).
With vacancy levels falling in both sectors, LINE data show that more employers are cutting jobs or imposing hiring freezes during the economic downturn. Likewise, the BLS reported in January 2008 that the national job openings rate was 2.2 percent—the lowest level in five years.
Increases for Wages, Benefits at Four-Year Low
Many companies have scuttled hiring plans during the recession, and wages and benefits are getting trimmed in the effort to control costs.
In the manufacturing sector, a net total of 1.3 percent of respondents said they would decrease new-hire compensation in March 2009 (1.3 percent increased, 2.6 percent decreased). That is the first time in four years that the net total for manufacturers ventured into negative territory.
The service sector is also showing a four-year low for March 2009 for net increases to new-hire compensation packages. A net total of 2.2 percent of companies reduced wages and benefits packages for new hires in March (1.2 percent increased, 3.4 percent decreased).
“The low response total in both sectors indicates that many companies are likely keeping wages and benefits packages flat for new hires,” Schramm said.
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