In his blog post today, incentive consultant Paul Hebert writes that you can’t replace non-monetary incentives with pay-for-performance. He argues that non-monetary rewards provide a different sort of incentive than more money does and are necessary for keeping employees motivated.
I’m not so sure. I definitely love the idea of getting a gift card to a [...]

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“Control at work is good for health,” said Clare Bambra of Durham University in the U.K., commenting on a study that found workers’ physical and mental health improved when they were given more control over their work schedules.
The study’s findings don’t surprise me in the least. Looking back at the jobs I’ve held since I [...]

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The latest study on antidepressants and absenteeism is enough to make anyone depressed.
The study, conducted by Thompson Reuters and published in this month’s Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, found that even when employees suffering from depression are treated with antidepressants, they tend to have longer absences from work and higher short-term disability costs.
I have [...]

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President Obama’s pay czar, Kenneth Feinberg,  has become the unofficial spokesman for the widespread outrage surrounding the super-sized bonuses paid to Wall Street executives. As he works to cut Wall Street bonuses down to size, Americans of more modest means are left wondering why anyone, much less many of the people who helped bring about [...]

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Target-date funds and automatic enrollments for 401(k)s seemed like an easy way to help boost retirement savings, but the reality hasn’t been so simple. Some critics are complaining that the spread of such services has led to higher fees and risks for workers ad lower matches from employers, Christine Dugas reports. In response, Sen. Herb [...]

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Steve Boese, a member of the SmartBrief on Workforce Advisory Board, is one of the HR profession’s foremost experts in enterprise technology solutions. An instructor at Rochester Institute of Technology, Steve also hosts HR Happy Hour, a biweekly Internet radio show discussing the latest issues and trends affecting human resources.
MARY ELLEN: How are emerging technologies, [...]

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Federal and state employees may not be able to collect their full retirement benefits, as public pensions face a reported $2 trillion deficit, according to Orin Kramer, chairman of New Jersey’s pension fund. Because of federal and state deficits, it’s unlikely that the funds will be shored up by public dollars, Douglas McIntyre writes on [...]

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Worried that the costs of covering mental health services are going to rise next year, some employers are promoting greater use of their employee assistance programs, The Wall Street Journal reports. More than half of the companies surveyed by one provider said they planned to ramp up such programs.
But this isn’t really much of a [...]

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Many employers plan to boost their benefits next year with partial 401(k) matches and salary increases for top performers, say reports from Towers Perrin and Watson Wyatt. As the economy improves, such moves are critical to retain talent, consultants say.
Companies understandably had to cut back on benefits when the economy headed south. And even with [...]

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As part of our upcoming year-end report, I spoke with Libby Sartain, the former chief human resources officer of Yahoo! and Southwest Airlines, and former chairman of the board of the Society for Human Resource Management. She is co-author of “HR from the Heart” “Brand from the Inside,” and “Brand for Talent,”  and a member [...]

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