"Stop the Madness? Or Accommodate It?" and other #HR News for March 12, 2015

Updated daily, the HR News home page is your one-stop shop for the latest news and featured articles. This page compiles top staff-written and external news of general interest to HR, plus major stories in the HR Disciplines.
 

Stop the Madness? Or Accommodate It?

NCAA basketball tournament tests workplace boundaries on betting, game-watching

By Dana Wilkie  3/11/2015

It may not be surprising to learn that more than 1 in 4 employees plan to tune in to March Madness games while on the job, but it could be alarming to know that 1 in 7 said they’d call in sick to watch.

Those findings from a recent RetailMeNot survey highlight just how important the upcoming annual NCAA basketball tournament is to some workers. While many HR professionals say March Madness workplace events and betting are good for employee morale, others caution that if an organization allows employees to watch the games and fill out their brackets on the clock, it can’t discipline workers who use company time for other personal activities.  To continue reading this article, please click here.

Extreme Recruiting Practices Emerging

By John Sullivan   3/11/2015

In the land of Google, Apple, Twitter and Facebook, Silicon Valley recruiters are leading the way in introducing aggressive and extreme recruiting approaches.

Here are just a few: To continue reading this article, please click here.

Obama Announces TechHire Initiative

By Bill Leonard  3/11/2015

Looking to boost the nation’s stagnant wage growth in an improving economy, President Barack Obama has announced a government initiative to train and develop a home-grown information technology workforce. White House officials are hopeful that the growing number of workers who possess high-tech skills will help drive pay upward. To continue reading this article, please click here.

Cadillac Excise Tax Notice Raises Questions

By Allen Smith  3/11/2015

The Internal Revenue Service and Treasury Department’s Feb. 23, 2015, Notice 2015-16 on the “Cadillac tax”—a 40 percent excise tax on high-cost employer-sponsored health plans beginning in 2018—raises questions that employers have a chance to answer in comments due by May 15, 2015. Among the questions is how to calculate the value of health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs). To continue reading this article, please click here.

Supreme Court Revives Notre Dame’s Challenge of Contraception Mandate

By Allen Smith  3/11/2015

The University of Notre Dame will have another chance to try and persuade the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) regulations on contraception coverage are too burdensome for the Catholic-affiliated institution. To continue reading this article, please click here.

March 16 Deadline for SHRM Foundation Scholarships

Winners receive free 2015 Annual Conference registration, a travel stipend and hotel stay.

By SHRM Online staff  3/11/2015

Five people will receive complimentary registration to the Society for Human Resource Management’s (SHRM’s) 2015 Annual Conference & Exposition in Las Vegas, thanks to new scholarships from the SHRM Foundation.  To continue reading this article, please click here.

High Performance Not Always Indicative of Future Success

Consider the whole talent picture, broaden your succession pipeline

By Roy Maurer  3/12/2015

Executives worldwide cited an employee having compatible skills and competencies as the No.1 criteria for making a promotion decision, but nearly two-thirds (63 percent) also said that a lack of well-suited traits and dispositions for a company’s culture was the biggest reason promotions fail.  To continue reading this article, please click here.