Cage Match for the Future of the HR Generalist...

I'm an HR Generalist by trade, and I've always been proud of that fact.  A good generalist can do it all, with style, grace and a street smarts attitude that's almost impossible to replace. Of course, some people have periodically said that the generalist role is dead or in the process of dying, with Jack Kevorkian in the next room.  I've always said that's not true, since there are literally hundreds of thousands of businesses, both large and small, that run on the back of generalists from an HR support perspective. Here's the bigger problem - world-class generalists hear the buzz, look inward and wonder if they're involved in something sexy enough to invest the rest of their careers in.  I've got a couple of examples, first with my friend Jessica Lee writing on topic at the HR Examiner: "During the course of that discussion, the audience was informally polled on the kinds of roles they were aspiring to. “Show of hands for folks who are ...

Chasing Stock Option Gold

I must admit I have seen people going down this path a couple of times in my career... great people I know doing very well making tons of money cashing in stock options. I've made a few bucks here and there (I only said a few bucks...) too - all good. The rewards of knocking the cover off the ball should yield a big pay-day for those that deliver real value to the organization. And if the incentives are properly aligned with the company's' goals and objectives, stock options are a wonderful way to incentivize and reward employees that perform. In a perfect world (not always) the entire company exceeds expectations and BAM! EVERY employee shares (at some level) in the stock option pot of gold.    I've also seen the other side of chasing stock option gold. Not pretty. It's when the bulk of the options go to a handful of executives - leaving crumbs for all that are not inside the CEO's circle of trust. It's a hot topic these days. Stock options should be used ...

20 Percent Of Medical Claims Paid Incorrectly, Wastes Billions

The American Medical Association said Monday that private insurers pay 20 percent of physician claims incorrectly in its third annual 'report card' on the insurance industry,

Supporting disabled employees

A review of support offered to employees with a disability can be an effective tool in raising awareness and understanding of physical and mental health issues among staff, as Bangor University discovers.

Effective Communication During Open Enrollment

How can your organization overcome the most common enrollment hurdles?Studies have shown that organizations with ineffective communications have employees with a low understanding of, and appreciation for, the benefits package. In addition, health care reform changes have caused confusion and misinformation among employees. With Open Enrollment planning underway for most organizations, now is the time to consider communicating key messages with your employees. As a first line of defense against rumors and myths, employers should openly communicate about health care reform. Also, it is a great opportunity to promote the value of the benefits package. Develop communications to reassure employees that coverage is still available and that the organization is actively reviewing the benefits programs. To truly emphasize the value of the company’s pay and benefits, you may consider producing personalized Total Compensation Reports. Open Enrollment is an ideal time to communicate any benefit plan changes to ...

WellPoint CFO: Feds may phase in medical-spending rule - Indianapolis Business Journal

WellPoint CFO: Feds may phase in medical-spending rule Indianapolis Business Journal Indianapolis-based WellPoint Inc.'s chief financial officer said US regulators may phase in requirements on how much health insurers spend on medical care ...

Calif. to review rate hikes of 4 health insurers (AP)

California's four largest health insurers will have rate hike proposals reviewed by independent actuaries to keep them in line with legal limits on profit.

Health consumers don’t understand their patient-power…yet

Most health consumers define the value of drugs in terms of safety and efficacy first, then quality of life and cost second. These priorities are similarly shared by both biopharma executives and managed care management.

Where consumers diverge with the two health industry stakeholders, though, is with respect to their power: while about 1 in 3 biopharma and managed care execs believe that patients will be influential in the success or failure of new

Big bummer! More 0f us exercise, but still fat

Thirty five percent of Americans now say they exercise an hour a day but rates of obesity and smoking have not changed, according to a government survey.

WellPoint to Deploy American Well's Online Care Platform

Indianapolis-based WellPoint, Inc. , an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association , today announced a collaboration with  American Well (Boston) to support and deploy American Well’s Online Care platform, allowing WellPoint to make Online Care services available to members of its affiliated health plans. The announcement was made during this year’s annual America’s Health Insurance Plans conference in Las Vegas. The Online Care service will allow members of WellPoint’s affiliated health plans to engage in live encounters with primary care and specialty physicians, as well as other clinicians, via the web or telephone. Physicians will be able to review the member’s available clinical information, speak with the member, prescribe medications as appropriate, and suggest follow-up care. WellPoint plans to begin building an Online Care provider network, with the goal of launching the program in yet to be determined select markets, ...

8 Insurers See Ratings Changes

8 Insurers See Ratings Changes Insurance Networking News - 1 hour ago Moody's and S&P react to Marsh McLennan's Mercer subsidiary settlement, and to Lincoln National's capital plan related to its TARP repayment. S&P placed its 'AA-' long-term counterparty credit and ...

Brown-eyed guys seem tougher

There's something in the faces of brown-eyed white men that makes them come off as more dominant than their blue-eyed peers, a new study suggests. And it isn't their eye color.

Bosses paying workers to diet, but long'term benefits doubted

Quitting smoking may stub out stress

Smokers often say they need a cigarette to calm their nerves, but a new study suggests that after a person kicks the habit, chronic stress levels may go down.

10 Things HR Won’t Tell You When Interviewing

So often when we look for jobs, we are perplexed about how to behave during an interview. There really are some things to be aware of, we may fidget, we may be nervous, but we have control over some things during an interview, so let’s tackle those easy, no brainer items we can control. We are completely in control of [...]

A Dangerous Drug Problem

I remain a big fan of generic drugs and plan designs which encourage their utilization. There are however situations where generics do not work and can be quite dangerous. Yesterday I saw a client who had a successful lung transplant several years ago and what she had to say was quite alarming. It seems that after several years clients blood work was not quite right. Client was having bloodwork often to monitor and meds were being adjusted. Last week client went to pharmacy where anti-viral and anti rejection medicines were filled with generics. Client noticed some pills seemed heavier than others. Pharmacist agreed and they opened several capsules to find some were completely full and others were just half full. Pharmacist broke a seal on a different container and guess what? Same scenario with varying doses. Imagine being a transplant recipient and finding yourself in a position where your bloodwork is varying and then discovering your anti rejection and anti viral generic medicines are displaying ...

When employee complaints fall on deaf ears

Imagine yourself in a situation like this one: Pamela is sitting in her office one day and Beth comes in. She’s upset: “Eddie asked me out and I said no, but he’s not getting it.”

Eddie is one of Beth’s co-workers, who also reports to Pamela.

Now, Pamela really likes Eddie. He’s fun-loving. Popular with his fellow workers. And, Pamela feels, he’s totally harmless. Beth, on the other hand, is a bit of a wet blanket. Her peers see her as a

Onboarding: Bottling Up the New Hire Mojo

Monday mornings you'll typically find me spending the first few hours of my day with new hires. Sure, I'm usually a little bleary eyed for the first 15 minutes of any Monday... no one likes saying goodbye to the weekend. But I perk up pretty quickly and get into a good mood because of these new hires. And how could I not? They're always so excited. So enthusiastic. So optimistic. And they're eager to make their mark. They're rejuvenated about this fresh start. They're raring to go. It's all a bit infectious.  Orientation and onboarding (call it what you like, it's semantics, I think) is something we've always grappled with how to do better though. Regardless of the company I've been with, I'm not sure I've ever seen or figured out the right balance of how not to overwhelm but how to engage just enough, or how to onboard senior executives versus fresh college grads, or how to make sure we have a program in place that provides enough ...

As Recession Wanes, More Employers are Focusing on Talent Management

Good news about the economy may be inconsistent and hard to find, but here’s a little bit that might give you some hope: employers say they are planning to reshape their talent programs because they anticipate there will be more competition for key talent and more focus on talent management.

This upbeat news comes courtesy of the latest Future of Talent Management survey from global consulting giant Mercer. The survey is current (it was conducted in May) and includes responses from HR and talent management leaders at more than 400 organizations throughout the U.S. from a broad cross-section of industries, with durable manufacturing, for-profit services, health care, financial/banking and high-tech/telecommunications organizations

Seeing Around the Earth – That’s a Manager’s Job

HHS Issues Interim Rules For Grandfathered Health Plans

Regulations released Monday will help determine which people who like their health plans will be able to keep them -- a frequent promise made by the Obama administration -- when the health overhaul takes full effect, The Washington Post reports...

AMA: 20 Percent Of Medical Claims Paid Incorrectly, Wastes Billions

The American Medical Association said Monday that private insurers pay 20 percent of physician claims incorrectly in its third annual 'report card' on the insurance industry, The Associated Press reports. "The AMA report card is an effort to reduce the cost of claims processing for doctors. As much as $210 billion is spent annually to process insurance claims...

Rethinking working arrangements for the World Cup

A World Cup policy could save employers some headaches over the coming weeks, suggests Jane Hobson, employment partner at Weightmans.

Workplace Bullying Karma?

Reports are now coming out that Meg Whitman, current California gubernatorial candidate and former eBay CEO, shoved a former employee. Whitman's campaign claims it was just a verbal altercation, but while the initial reports suggested that she shoved an employee....

Why Does Having Multiple Siblings Make You A More Effective Boss?

I just did a post about a new study that shows, among other things, that the best bosses are more self-aware than the worst.  The press release had one tantalizing finding that intrigued me.

Here it is:

People with multiple siblings tend to be better leaders. Executives with more

The Best Bosses Are The Most Self-Aware: More Evidence

Good Boss, Bad Boss delves into many different hallmarks of great (and awful) bosses.  But when people ask me what the central idea is, I say that the good ones are self-aware and the bad ones live in a fool's paradise (See this recent post at HBR for more discussion of this point)-- the good ones know what it feels like to work for them, are aware of their weaknesses, and constantly make little adjustments in response to the moods and moves of the people around them, while the bad ones are remarkably clueless (a huge hazard of being a human-being, check the new book The Invisible Gorilla if you want evidence of how overconfident and clueless most of us are most of the time).

As

Is This How You Solve Problems?

HIPAA Experts: Mandatory Encryption Overdue

HIPAA compliance experts call the recommendation to mandate encryption on exchanges of electronic protected health information "overdue," "inevitable," and a necessary step toward ensuring a successful transition to electronic health records.

The World Cup: Now Blowing Traditional Diversity Training Away at a Company Near You...

I grew up in rural Missouri.  Soccer for me growing up in the later 70's and 80's was non-existent.  It didn't exist where I matriculated from, and I'm reasonably sure that anyone with a passion for soccer would have been openly mocked.   Flash forward to today - Within the past 48 hours, I've had meaningful conversations about background and heritage with 4 people, including those whose ancestors hail from Korea, South Africa, England and Serbia.  All of those conversations were started by a reference to the World Cup, at which point someone would tell me more about their "home team", which invariably led to dialogue about culture in their "home country", although all the folks in question were second or third generation Americans.  Which makes me think - the World Cup is far better at getting people to understand and respect differences than any diversity training you've ever seen in Corporate America. Think about it - even good ...

The Unemployed Won't Be Considered?

We have email conversations. Interesting email conversations. And I caught wind of an interesting back and forth between FOT's Kris Dunn and Tim Sackett as they broke down a trend reported by the Huffington Post the other week of companies advertising in job postings that they will not consider the unemployed. Of course, your gut reaction as a good HR pro and/or bleeding heart is that this is just wrong, wrong, wrong... but what's really behind the trend? Dig a little deeper with KD and Sackett as they break the issue down... -JLee ___________________________________________________________________________________ On Fri, Jun 11, 2010 at 10:01 AM, Tim Sackett  wrote: KD – Hey did you catch the article over at Huffington Post – Disturbing Job Ads: “The Unemployed Will Not Be Considered” that's getting play this week?  Both Laurie (aka Punk Rock HR) on Facebook and ...

Customer Experience Goes Into Overdrive

In our survey of companies with at least $500 million in annual revenues, only 11% of respondents thought their company was a customer experience leader in their industry (or across industries). But 65% of respondents think their executive team has a goal to be customer experience leaders within three years.

My take: Obviously, two-thirds of companies won’t end up leading their industry. But this ambition highlights the focus that companies are starting to give to customer experience. Hopefully,

Hewitt Associates Releases Survey on Health Plans - Insurance News Net (press release)

Hewitt Associates Releases Survey on Health Plans Insurance News Net (press release) ... a new survey by Hewitt Associates, a human resources consulting and outsourcing company, shows that approximately 950000 workers will be able to cover ... and more »

Insurers Cite Operational, Not Financial Hurdles in Adding Young Adults to ... - Atlantic Information Services, Inc.

Insurers Cite Operational, Not Financial Hurdles in Adding Young Adults to ... Atlantic Information Services, Inc. 23, dozens of carriers, including Regence in the Pacific Northwest, other Blues plan operators, UPMC Health Plan in Pennsylvania and Aetna Inc., ...

New pact boosts payout for WTC worker injuries

Attorneys for the WTC Captive Insurance Co. and lawyers representing thousands of Sept.

Can Motivation Really Drive You Over The Edge? | Punk Rock Human ...

Punk Rock Human Resources . Anti-Establishment Career Advice. Home · HR Girl, Interrupted · Blogroll · See Me Speak! Other Publications · Punk Rock HR Employee Handbook. Can Motivation Really Drive You Over The Edge? ...

17 Techniques For Driving Traffic To Your Blog

Driving massive amounts of search engine traffic to your blog can be a lot easier than you think, it really depends on some key factors like the niche you’ve chosen, your marketing and SEO techniques and even how dedicated a blogger you are, to name a few. There are billions of search queries per day across major search engines and you need to be taking advantage of this consistent and predictable source of traffic if you truly want to dominate your niche.

So here are 17 techniques to put in action and practice to help you rank higher in search engines and attract tons of relevant visitors to your blog.

1. Optimize Your Blog’s Loading Speed

Google has since started using loading time as a factor to rank a site’s authority in search

Insurer To Engage Workers On Disability, Wellness - National Underwriter Life and Health Insurance News

Insurer To Engage Workers On Disability, Wellness

Would You Skip Lunch to Save a Baby? So would I. « Birth Choice of ...

COLFS saves babies by providing free ultrasound, medical care and material support to the uninsured and needy. Last year COLFS gave away $165000 in free medical services to families in need. But it's not just medical care – whatever it ...

Are YOU prepared? More on Personal Risk Management

Cancer? More exercise may be best

For Marika Holmgren, fighting breast cancer was an uphill battle -- literally. She got back on her mountain bike shortly after her diagnosis in February 2007, smack-dab in the middle of chemotherapy.

Uninsured Americans Have 50 Percent Higher Odds Of Dying In Hospital From Heart Attack Or Stroke

An analysis of over 150,000 hospital discharges has revealed that there are significant insurance related differences in hospital mortality, length of stay, and costs among working-age Americans (age 18-64 years) hospitalized for acute myocardial infarction (AMI), stroke, or pneumonia...

Thousands of hospital patients dying 'because too few senior staff work weekends'

Patients are much more likely to die if they are rushed to hospital at weekends than during the week, because too few senior staff are working, a new study suggests.

A detox diet that isn’t crazy

As nice as it is to think you can simply flush fat away by drinking so much liquid you spend half your day in the bathroom, the reality is that some of these diets may be bad to swallow.

Peanut ban on planes not such a nutty idea?

The federal government is considering whether to ban peanuts from being served on board commercial airlines.

Pew Research survey: By 2020, the cloud will dominate

By 2020, the data and applications that most people use will be housed in the cloud rather than on PCs, according to a survey of 895 technology experts and observers, sponsored by the Pew Research Center.

In the next 10 years, there will be a heavy migration toward working via networked devices, and data will be stored largely on remote servers operated by third parties, the survey predicts. This migration will be driven in part by the benefits of "easy, instant and individualized access" to applications and data anytime, anywhere.

However, large enterprises are not likely to migrate entirely to the cloud in immediately because of concerns about data control and security, some respondents predicted. Pew's fourth annual "Future of the Internet" survey was conducted with Elon University's Imagining the Internet Center.

Most of the experts surveyed also predicted a cloud-desktop hybrid system developing over the next 10

Don't Wrap Our Meeting Up with Your Non-Verbal Cues: I'm MISTER WRAP-UP!!!

Some humble pie from the recruiting trail.... There's some non-verbal cues that I call the meeting wrap up signals. If you meet with people for a living, you probably know them well, even if they're involuntary on your part.  Non-verbal meeting wrap-up signals include the following, from least to most demonstrative (most demonstrative means you're trying to send the strongest signal "we're done here"): 1. Going from a slouch to an upright position in your chair when you've slumped like Kurt Cobain all meeting long... 2. Closing your notebook - the faster and harder you close it, the more the meeting is over... 3. Gathering your tools(laptop, notebook, pens) and ordering them like Rainman so they are easy to transport when the meeting you wish to escape is finally complete... 4. Now that you're in an upright position and organized to bolt, you square up to your partner in the meeting, and proceed to position yourself at the edge of your ...

Avoiding the OD on OD

A few of weeks ago, I was honored to speak at a gathering of organization development (the second OD in the title above) professionals on the topic “Keeping OD Relevant in the Midst of Change”.  As I was driving to the venue, I kept mulling about how I was going to coalesce all these crazy thoughts I have had about the practice of OD over the past 10 years that I have been practicing the discipline in some form or other. Those thoughts have been across the spectrum ranging from “organization development is the answer to all organizational ills” to “organizational development is completely obsolete, outdated, and extraneous”.  Disciplinary and professional schizophrenia aside, the continued relevance of organization development today is definitely worth pondering and debating. Wikipedia defines organization development as a” planned, organization-wide effort to increase an organization's effectiveness and viability.  Warren Bennis, ...

Study: Prevention Strategies Seem to Reduce Heart Attacks - TIME (blog)

CBS News Study: Prevention Strategies Seem to Reduce Heart Attacks TIME (blog) A large scale study of Kaiser Permanente health policy holders in Northern California shows that hospital admissions for heart attack dropped significantly ... Health Plan Reports Major Drop in Heart Attacks U.S. News & World Report Heart Attacks Down Sharply, Study Finds WebMD Study Shows Significant Reduction In Heart Attacks WGAL Lancaster CBS News - PR Newswire (press release) - Toronto Sun tutte le notizie (30) »

How your brain works on autopilot

Anyone who's learned to ride a bike or touch type might have wondered how a task that is so arduous at first could be so seamlessly easy later.

Health Plan Reports Major Drop in Heart Attacks - U.S. News & World Report

Health Plan Reports Major Drop in Heart Attacks U.S. News & World Report "We see the same pattern in just about every group," and the Kaiser Permanente report presents "highly robust data" about the reduction in heart attacks and ... Heart Attacks Down Sharply, Study Finds WebMD Heart Attacks Declined 24 Percent in Kaiser Permanente Northern ... PR Newswire (press release) Study Shows Significant Reduction In Heart Attacks WGAL Lancaster Toronto Sun tutte le notizie (23) »

Teen car accidents tied to early school starts

When high schools start too early, sleep-deprived teenagers are more likely to crash their cars, suggests new research.

After the Buzzer: How Time on the Field Helps Women in the Workforce

Sports advocates have long insisted that playing sports in school contributes to a child's success later in life. But does playing sports help people become more successful, or are successful people just more likely to play sports? New research from Wharton takes a step towards answering the question, offering empirical evidence that athletic participation leads to more education and better employment opportunities.

Laws Push Health Care Toward E-Records - Investor's Business Daily

Laws Push Health Care Toward

Paging Dr. House: You Spend a Lot of Money in 43 Minutes

The total bill for procedures in an episode of "House" isn't so far off from a real bout with a serious or complicated illness. ...

Eight Ways Health Reform Affects You Today at Forbes

Brokers using LinkedIn, Social Media and Zix Email Encryption

We have gotten a lt of inquiries from our website reviews on who is using social media like LinkedIn, Twitter, Blogging et al.

45% of Americans go without dental coverage: Report - Business Insurance

WASHINGTON (Reuters)—An estimated 45 million Americans do not have dental insurance, according to a government report released Wednesday, and recently passed health care reform offers little direct help. Overall, most ...

Woman aims to eat way to being world's fattest

AP file

Pa. investigating ‘truly exorbitant’ rate hikes of health insurers

Pennsylvania’s nine largest health insurance companies are going under the microscope of state officials, who will explore the genesis behind “a pattern of controversial rate increases.”

Ed Rendell

Gov. Ed Rendell announced today (June 9) that the Pennsylvania Insurance

Survey: Group health insurance rates on the rise

Group health insurance rates for small and midsize employers are surging for 2011 renewals, according to a survey by the Council of Insurance Agents & Brokers. Rather than absorbing the costs, most employers are changing their plan designs and passing on some of the increased costs to their employees, according to the CIAB's "June Employee Benefits Market Survey" released at the group's Employee Benefit Leadership Forum.