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.
GAO: Pension Lump Sum Offers Need Better Explanations
Questions about how well pension plan participants understand lump-sum tradeoffs
By Stephen Miller, CEBS 3/2/2015
Since 2012, a number of large defined benefit pension plan sponsors have given selected participants a limited-time option of receiving their retirement benefits in the form of a lump sum. Although sponsors' decisions to make certain lump sum “window” offers is permissible by law, “questions have been raised about participants' understanding of the financial tradeoffs associated with their choice,” states a 2015 report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO), Private Pensions: Participants Need Better Information When Offered Lump Sums That Replace Their Lifetime Benefits. To continue reading this article, please click here.
Blacklisting’ Executive Order Blasted on Hill
By Allen Smith 2/27/2015
The “blacklisting” executive order (E.O.) is “completely unworkable in the real world,” Willis Goldsmith, an attorney with Jones Day in New York City, said in written testimony on behalf of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce before a joint meeting of the House Subcommittee on Workforce Protections and House Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions on Feb. 26, 2015.
The Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces Executive Order (E.O. 13673) is intended to bar federal contracting by businesses that have repeatedly violated labor laws.
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More Employers Hiring Older Workers, Survey Finds
By Roy Maurer 2/27/2015
Over half of workers (54 percent) nearing retirement age plan to continue working after retiring from their current career, up from 45 percent only one year ago,
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Calif. Hospital Violence Prevention Draft Regulation Released
By Roy Maurer 2/27/2015
The California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) released draft language for a workplace violence prevention regulation for health care workers.
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Language Training a Key to Global-Ready Workforces
By SHRM Online Staff 2/26/2015
Employers that offer language training to their employees often outperform their competitors that don’t provide such training,
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Free Workflex Assessment Launched
Employers can gauge how their workplace flexibility strategies compare with others.
By SHRM Online staff 2/26/2015
Using a free online assessment, employers can now gauge how their workplace flexibility strategies compare with others in their industry in the U.S.
The tool, launched in February, is part of When Work Works, a joint partnership between the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and the Families and Work Institute.
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The Hidden Benefits of Employer Branding
By Amy Gulati 2/26/2015
HR professionals with a strong understanding of the connection between effective employer branding and talent acquisition may still be surprised to learn that investing in building and marketing your company’s brand can have positive impacts on internal metrics such as employee engagement and turnover.
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