Author: Andie Burjek

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Despite Repeal Efforts, ACA Compliance Moves Forward

 

wf_0117_benefit_pg16It didn’t take long after Donald Trump was elected president for Republican legislators to reignite efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act, but that’s not stopping employers from moving full steam ahead to comply with its provisions.

“Whatever changes to the ACA or other legislation affecting health benefits pass, they are likely to be done step-by-step with long lead times before major changes take effect,” said Steve Wojcik, vice president of public policy for the National Business Group on Health. “For now, the ACA is still the law of the land and nothing has changed.”

The ACA’s employer mandate requiring businesses with 50 or more full-time employees to offer health care coverage went into effect in 2015, so last year was the first time employers were required to meet its various reporting and filing deadlines. To help ease the pain, the government extended employee notification and Internal Revenue Service filing deadlines in 2016, something it did again for 2017.

The majority of employers surveyed by Mercer took advantage of last year’s extension and viewed the process as a learning curve, according to Tracy Watts, a senior partner at consulting firm Mercer.

 

The first deadline in 2017 is March 2, the last day for distributing 1095 forms to employees, which includes information about their health insurance coverage. Employees may need it for their income tax filings. The deadline for electronically filing forms to the IRS showing that affordable health coverage is being offered to employees is March 31.

“The extension is welcome news to employers and other reporters concerned with meeting the Jan. 31 deadline to furnish individual statements,” said Cheryl Hughes, a regulatory expert with Mercer, in a written memo to clients. “While the recent election results cast doubt on the longer-term future of this reporting mandate, ALEs (applicable large employers) and MECs (minimum essential coverage) providers should continue to work towards meeting the 2016 reporting deadlines.”

With 5,000 U.S. employees, gathering the data needed to comply with the ACA has been a daunting process for vision care provider VSP Global, according to April Bettencourt, director of global employee benefits for the California-based company.

“When your data is housed in several systems — payroll, HR, benefits, or even worse, by carriers — it would be incredibly difficult to pull all of that information together, perform the analysis to ensure ACA compliance and do this on an ongoing basis,” she said. “You would need a full-time person just to do this.”

The ACA is putting a huge strain on HR departments, so VSP hired HR software and services firm ADP Inc. to handle the process.

Ellen Feeney, vice president and counsel, global compliance at ADP, said that in order for employers to keep up with compliance they must view the process “as an annual reporting of  events and validate the ACA status of employees every month.”

“It’s important to focus on always gathering and improving your data,” she said. “ACA compliance will continue to evolve as laws and requirements continue to change. Employers will need to focus on ACA compliance as a part of their daily activities.”

But there is some uncertainty ahead as efforts to repeal the ACA pick up steam, according to Feeney.

“Given the Republican sweep in the White House, Senate and House of Representatives, the new makeup of our government represents a potentially significant change not just for ACA, but for tax policy, Fair Labor Standards Act, pay equity and more,” she said in an email. “First and foremost, it’s important to focus on facts vs. speculation. Change won’t happen overnight. The Affordable Care Act is the law, and will remain so until it’s not. Ten million people are getting subsidies through the marketplaces and 20 million total are insured through the public marketplaces. A wholesale replacement of the Affordable Care Act would require congressional action and would take time.”

Rita Pyrillis is a writer based in the Chicago area. Comment below or email editors@workforce.com. Follow Workforce on Twitter at @workforcenews.

 

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People Moves: January 2017

[vc_row][vc_column][templatera][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”2/3″] Mary Slaughter

Management consulting firm North Highland named Mary Slaughter as chief people officer. Slaughter will oversee training and development, performance management and talent retention. Slaughter has more than 25 years of HR experience in global organizations and has led cultural transformation efforts, talent retention and global training operations across several continents.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”24202″ img_size=”302×202″ add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center [vc_row][vc_column][vc_separator][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”24203″ img_size=”302×202″ add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”2/3″] Shannon Mashburn

New York-based Alcott HR named Shannon Mashburn as director of human resources. With more than 22 years in HR services management, Mashburn most recently was first vice president, HR with New York Community Bancorp Inc. [vc_row][vc_column][vc_separator][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”2/3″] Kathy Bowman-Williams

Law firm Day Pitney named Kathy Bowman-Williams as director of diversity and inclusion. Bowman-Williams will be a member of the firm’s senior management team, guiding the development of its strategic D&I plan and serving as a thought leader, ambassador and advocate on diversity, inclusion and equality.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”24204″ img_size=”302×202″ add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center [vc_row][vc_column][vc_separator][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column] To be considered for People Moves, email a brief announcement and a high-resolution color photo to editors@workforce.com. Include People Moves in the subject line. Follow Workforce on Twitter at @workforcenews.

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Supplemental Health Coverage Makes Employees More Responsible

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“[Employees] are now moving down the path of being more engaged in the management of their health,” said Mercer’s Tim Weber.

Once considered a side dish, voluntary benefits are now making their way to the main course — especially supplemental health care coverages such as hospital indemnity insurance, gap insurance, accident insurance and critical illness insurance.

In the most recent Mercer National Survey of Employer-Sponsored Health Plans, which surveyed large employers with more than 500 employees, 59 percent of respondents reported that they offer an accident plan. Almost half (45 percent) offer critical illness plans, and 21 percent offer hospital indemnity insurance. It did not measure gap insurance.

The rise of health care costs contributed to this growing interest, as these health plans are designed to ease the financial burden of events such as accidents, hospital visits and diagnoses. Fifty-five percent of the survey respondents cited improving the financial health of employees as motivation to offer these supplemental plans.

Gap insurance, recently covered in the Wall Street Journal, is the most rigid type of supplemental health coverage and specifically covers the increase in hospital out-of-pocket costs that comes with the rise of health care expenses. The money is paid directly to the provider rather than directly to the employee, and doesn’t allow for flexible spending.

The other three types of insurance measured in the Mercer survey cover a fixed amount based on the occurrence of an incident, and the employee receives a check from the insurance company that they can use for any related cost.

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Ginny Palmieri, vice president of specialty services at Independence Blue Cross

Accident insurance pays a fixed amount based on an accident happening. If someone breaks their arm, they could use the check for a hospital co-pay or a sling, among other things. A critical illness plan comes into play when, for example, someone is diagnosed with cancer. They could use the money for hospital costs or for any transportation/lodging costs they picked up while traveling to a specialist in another city.

Finally, a hospital indemnity plan pays a fixed amount based on what a person’s hospital stay looks like. They might get, for example, $1,000 for the admission plus a per-day amount.

“Hospital indemnity insurance provides a multiple-dimensional approach to the medical insurance,” said Ginny Palmieri, vice president of specialty services at Independence Blue Cross. It provides an employee with financial stability and flexibility. Palmieri said that within the industry, hospital indemnity was the fifth best-selling insurance of 2014, and interest has grown since.
As HR managers continue to see the health care landscape changing and the larger shift to high deductible plans, Palmieri said HR managers should make sure that they’re providing different ways to make sure the employee has stability with their coverage.

These insurance types fit into the wider category of voluntary benefits. Five years ago, these weren’t widely considered part of a comprehensive benefits program, but today they are offered along with core benefits packages, said Tim Weber, who heads the voluntary benefits practice at Mercer.

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Tim Weber, who heads the voluntary benefits practice at Mercer.

“Employers are looking toward them as a strategic part of total benefit offering,” he said.

When employers are asking benefits counselors about their options during open enrollment, Weber said, it accomplishes a couple things. It helps the employer offer employees coverage that addresses risks, and it also results in the employee being more engaged in the risks they face.

“[Employees] are now moving down the path of being more engaged in the management of their health,” said Weber.

Andie Burjek is a Workforce associate editor. Comment below, or email at aburjek@humancapitalmedia.com. Follow Workforce on Twitter at @workforcenews.

 

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Genetic Testing Gets Toothy as a Workplace Benefit

antibody testing

genetictesting_300Amway Corp. is joining a growing list of large employers adopting genetic testing as a workplace benefit.

Starting in January, the multilevel marketing giant will offer genetic testing by Interleukin Genetics Inc., a Waltham, Massachusetts, developer of genetic tests for chronic inflammatory diseases such as heart disease, diabetes and arthritis. Using a cheek swab, Interleukin’s ILUSTRA genetic risk test, previously called PerioPredict, can detect a person’s tolerance of inflammation levels, said Interleukin CEO Mark Carbeau. Proper dental care can lower inflammation levels, which affect other areas of health, like risk of diabetes, heart disease and stroke, he said.

“Inflammatory burden systemically is created by bacteria in your gums, so the notion is if we clean up your mouth, we can cool down a large source of chronic inflammation and that allows the body to control and manage those other sources more effectively,” Carbeau said.

Amway joins the likes of Visa Inc. and insurer Aetna Inc. to introduce genetic testing for employees. Visa is offering genetic testing for breast and ovarian cancer, while Aetna implemented a pilot program testing employees at risk for heart disease, stroke and diabetes. Companies including venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz and online survey company SurveyMonkey also are using genetic testing among their employee population.

Genetic testing in the workplace presents legal hurdles that could limit wider use, said Seth Perretta, partner with Groom Law in Washington, D.C.

Companies can’t require employees to take a medical exam under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Under the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act, or GINA, a federal law protecting people from genetic discrimination in health care and employment, employers can’t tie a financial incentive to the completion of a genetic testing program.

“Offering genetic testing outside a major medical plan would be rife with legal risk for the employer,” said Perretta. “It would almost certainly have to be structured as part of the major med plan or limited to folks enrolled in an employer-sponsored med plan. And it would have to be fully voluntary.”

Still, there’s value to it, Perretta added. “But for some reason Congress has clearly spoken that from a policy perspective, they’d rather have the ailment manifest itself prior to an employer getting involved.”

There are also privacy concerns. It can feel like a step down the path of the employer getting too involved in the personal lives of its employees, said Jim Winkler, Aon Hewitt’s global health innovation leader. Employees need to know that their employers won’t have access to the data, and employers have to communicate that effectively, he said.

Interleukin’s program is a voluntary benefit that is covered by GINA. Interleukin explains to the employer the test’s purpose and how it would be used, but only provides the genetic information to the employee’s individual dentist.

Amway chose to offer this in their group health plan to encourage employees to expand their awareness of their personal health risks and the various resources available to them, said Tom Boehr, manager of corporate wellness and employee engagement at Amway, in an email.

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Like “many things in our lives that are technology enabled, there is probably an element of inevitability to this. It’s just a question of, ‘Is it in the next year? The next five years? The next 20 years?’” said Winkler.

“The offering is another form of education that Amway is introducing to its employees in order to further empower them to make health care choices that are in their best interest,” Boehr said.

Genetic testing is still new in the benefits space, but Winkler believes that, like “many things in our lives that are technology enabled, there is probably an element of inevitability to this. It’s just a question of, ‘Is it in the next year? The next five years? The next 20 years?’ ” he said.
The technology involved and the equipment used are becoming more efficient and less expensive. Ten years ago, the costs to isolate specific attributes of DNA was in the tens of thousands of dollars, and today it’s in the hundreds of dollars, Winkler said. Possibly, as genetic testing solutions become less expensive, consumers may become more interested, at which point employers wouldn’t even necessarily have to offer the benefit.

He compared it to Fitbits and other wearable devices. Five years ago, the only people who used them were the ones who got them from their employer. Now, they have a huge commercial market.

“You could start to see this in the genetic testing space as well — over what period of time, I don’t know,” he said.

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Parental Leave Predictions Under the Trump Administration

spiggle_300The United States is the only developed country not to offer paid leave to mothers and fathers of newborn children.

During the 2016 presidential campaign, the issue of paid leave was very prominent in Hillary Clinton’s platform, and President-elect Donald Trump eventually proposed a paid-leave plan as well. Based on his rhetoric on the topic, his paid leave plan originally included six weeks of leave, offered to married women giving birth. This eventually was expanded to single women giving birth as well after criticism but still excludes parties like fathers, adoptive parents, and certain same-sex couples.

Based on the limited information we have now, I spoke with Tom Spiggle, an employment attorney and founder of the Spiggle Law Firm, who made some predictions on the way in which the paid-leave landscape could shift in upcoming years. What could shape it, and what questions should we consider?

[Related content: Why the DOL’s Paid Sick Leave Rules Matter for All Employers]

First, the Family and Medical Leave Act is the one federal program we have now, and it’s unpaid. “One possibility is it [the future paid leave rule] would be administered through or somehow joined with the FMLA,” said Spiggle, whose specialty is workplace discrimination and wrongful termination due to pregnancy or other family care issues. Once that box is open, could Congress tinker with the FMLA in a way that is less leave-friendly? It’s worth noting that no one has indicated wanting to weaken the FMLA.

Second, what happens if the paid leave law is violated? The worker’s right to go to court could be mitigated in favor of something like a slap on the wrist to the employer or an administrative fine, Spiggle speculated.

Finally, no matter what happens on a federal level, on a state level changes will probably continue to happen. New York and Washington state begin offering paid medical and family leave Jan. 1, 2018, joining the states already doing so — California, New Jersey and Rhode Island. Washington D.C.’s proposed paid leave law, which is very progressive, is up for a vote in December.

Spiggle mentioned a couple other considerations. “Trump’s policy is different from the Republican orthodoxy on the subject, which is not to have a government mandate or any kind of paid leave,” he said. Given, the Republican majority in the House and Senate, what kind of “horse-trading” could this spur?

Trump brought paid leave into his campaign, but is it high priority? He has a lot on his plate, such as sticky international situations and other employment law issues, said Spiggle. “We might not know until well into the administration what a proposal would look like,” he said.

Andie Burjek is a Workforce associate editor. Comment below or email at aburjek@humancapitalmedia.com. Follow Workforce on Twitter at @workforcenews.

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Where Girls Go to Code

wf_1116_trend1a_girlswhocodeimage1_300pxIn late September, Accenture’s Ellyn Shook welcomed 1,200 new female engineers to the company at an onboarding event at its offices in India.

“That day was one of the most memorable in my career,” the consulting giant’s chief human resources officer said. The welcome party was hardly unique for Accenture, which has enjoyed great success in attracting female tech candidates. In 2015, the company set a goal that 40 percent of new hires — most of which are engineering roles — would be women by the end of fiscal 2017, then exceeded that goal a year early. As of August 2016, 41.1 percent of the 90,000 new hires at Accenture were women.

This accomplishment is especially impressive considering the dearth of women entering tech fields. According to data from CompTIA, a nonprofit association for the technology industry, more than 5.1 million people worked in core technology jobs in the United States at the end of 2015, but just 25 percent of those jobs were held by women. And the numbers appear to be dropping, not climbing.

“Despite being digital natives, girls’ interest in tech jobs decreases dramatically by the time they enter high school,” said Carolyn April, CompTIA’s senior director of industry research. The study shows just 18 percent of girls entering high school report an interest in a tech career, down from 27 percent in middle school.

If recruiters want to hire women into tech roles, they can’t wait until college to start looking for them, April said. Boston-based CompTIA encourages companies to begin engaging with girls as early as high school and even middle school by supporting tech curriculum development efforts, meeting with girls associations, and support summer camps and high school internship programs. “We need to raise awareness among younger girls that these are great careers,” she said.

Another popular option is partnering with Girls Who Code, a nonprofit group that hosts coding camps and immersion programs to attract girls to tech career paths. Girls Who Code and Accenture released research in October showing the number of U.S. women in technology jobs will fall to a new low over the next 10 years, despite efforts to close the gender gap in tech. The report, “Cracking the Gender Code,” identifies strategies to drive girls’ interest in computing, and includes things like supporting tech-focused summer camps geared toward girls, and offering all undergraduates on-campus and summer immersion programs in computing/coding.

“Too often girls don’t pursue computer science because they’ve never been exposed to it, or they don’t see the impact it can make on the world,” said Girls Who Code founder and CEO Reshma Saujani. “By actually embedding classrooms in today’s leading companies that create products girls use every day, we show them, ‘Look, you can do this. You can code this. This is a world that is open to you, and once you learn this skill set, the possibilities are endless.’ ”

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“Once you learn this skill set, the possibilities are endless,” said Girls Who Code founder and CEO Reshma Saujani.

Accenture is one of 60 companies that partners with Girls Who Code to support their camps and research efforts. The company is also increasing its presence on engineering-focused college campuses through sponsorships, participation in curriculum development, and hosting hackathons, innovation initiatives and other on-campus events. These long-term strategies help build relationships and brand awareness with female engineering students.

“You can’t just say, ‘We want to hire more women,’ ” Shook said. “We are trying to show these women that we are worthy of hiring the best talent.”

Hiring is just the first step. A report from the National Society of Women in IT shows 56 percent of women in tech leave their jobs mid-career, which is incredibly costly for the companies that train them.

To reduce that attrition, companies need to think more strategically about what women need in the workplace to succeed — and what is standing in their way, Shook said. She points to a conversation she had with a new mom who after returning from maternity leave asked Shook if the company would pay to have her breast milk shipped home when she was working at client sites.

Shook agreed, but the request spurred her team to look more closely at the true source of the problem: nursing moms being away from their children. A month later, the company implemented a policy that new parents don’t have to work outside their home city for the first year of their child’s life.

“That program reduced attrition among new moms by 30 percent in the first year,” she said.

In a similar effort, the company created a development track for female engineers in India to pursue a certified technical architect degree, which is one of the most highly sought-after skill sets in the tech world. The certification allows engineers to “write their own ticket and to work where and when they want,” Shook said.

It gives them more power to achieve the work-life balance they need to support their families while staying actively engaged in their career. The key is looking for the root cause of the problem, then figuring out how to address it, Shook said. “You can’t make significant improvements without disrupting the way you do things.”

That level of change can be difficult to achieve, but for business leaders who want to build a diverse and engaged workforce and a strong female engineering staff, it needs to be done, April argued. “They need to think more creatively about how they are going to feed their talent pipelines with female candidates,” she said. “There are no quick fixes, but organizations that advocate for women will see a strong return on these investments down the road.”

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AbbVie: Optimas 2016 General Excellence Winner

wf_1116_optimas_button_300pxThree years ago, global biopharmaceutical company AbbVie separated from parent company Abbott Laboratories, and its more than 125 years of history. With that, AbbVie faced a major challenge: After spinning off from the pharmaceutical giant, how could it both honor its heritage and create a culture totally unique to them? And how could it accomplish this transformation for 28,000 employees in over 170 countries?

“There’s no guidebook or playbook for creating a culture, but we knew we needed to think strategically around what those behaviors would be and what it would look like if we had our desired culture,” said Tim Richmond, AbbVie’s senior vice president of human resources.

The first challenge was to define what the culture meant to newly independent AbbVie.

“We’re not a diverse health care company like Abbott still is today. As a new biopharmaceutical company, we wanted to bring forth the best elements of our past and create those things that are important to our future,” said Richmond.

For example, from Abbott, AbbVie maintained the ability to deliver on business priorities and achieve goals it set for itself. Meanwhile, it created whole new frameworks called the Talent Philosophy and the Ways We Work to define and expand the new culture.

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“There’s no guidebook or playbook for creating a culture, but we needed to think strategically around what it would look like if we had our desired culture.” — Tim Richmond, AbbVie SVP of HR

The Talent Philosophy is AbbVie’s transparent way to describe its philosophy for talent management within the company, said Richmond. It encompasses the areas of transparency, performance, accountability, behaviors and differentiation, and employees are encouraged to care about not only what they do but also how they do it.

The ultimate goal of the company culture is to instill in employees and leaders a passion and commitment to impact patients’ lives through medicine — particularly in the areas of oncology, immunology, virology and neurology, which are the therapeutic areas AbbVie focuses on.

Along with the Talent Philosophy, the top leaders developed the Ways We Work based on behavior expectations for all AbbVie employees. They’re a “clear, concise articulation of the working culture,” said Richmond, and they fall under five categories:

  • All for One AbbVie.
  • Decide Smart and Sure.
  • Agile and Accountable.
  • Clear and Courageous.
  • Make Possibilities Real.

The five articulations are incorporated in AbbVie’s talent management and rewards processes, from recruitment and beyond. The company assesses candidates on these factors when bringing in new talent to the company. Once they’ve been hired, AbbVie considers the same factors when conducting performance reviews and rewarding employee behavior. In this way, AbbVie ingrains its change management initiative in other Optimas categories like recruiting, training and benefits (rewards and recognition).

In order to create a “One AbbVie” — a whole, global company unified under the same culture and the same expectations — in three years, the company focused on instilling the Ways We Work across all levels, from new employees to the most senior leadership.

One way they accomplished this was through the AbbVie Way Journey Map, an exploratory way for employees to learn about the company’s heritage and culture, said Richmond. The map is a physical, interactive exercise, laid out in front of participants like a board game. They move pieces around a board and work as a team.

“It’s a really great way to create dialogue about culture the AbbVie way and what’s unique to us,” said Richmond.

Out of the 28,000 employees, more than 10,000 have participated in the map exercise, he added.

AbbVie also offers the Ways We Work workshop, which covers a broad range of skills that fall under particular ways we work.  These skills include relationship building, managing conflict, effective decision-making, and driving efficiency and agility. Over 5,000 employees have attended since 2014, said Richmond.

Finally, AbbVie uses Ways We Work ambassadors in over 50 countries. These people take the work and ideas of the Culture Sharing Committee, AbbVie’s governance committee for culture, and bring it to life in a particular site or laboratory. Their role is to activate employees around the world and get them excited about the AbbVie culture and the ways they contribute to it.

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In order to create a global company unified under the same culture and expectations, the AbbVie team instills the values of their programs to new hires and senior leadership alike.

AbbVie’s strategy to spread culture and cultural expectations quickly and effectively through Ways We Work programs has really engaged people, said Richmond.

“The nice thing is, everything I’ve described is embedded in our leadership development programs, all of our rewards and recognition programs. It’s how we assess performance and talent and potential,” he said. “It’s the totality of all those things, hardwired into everything we do, that help us get to where we are today.”

In the three years it’s had to redefine culture and educate employees, AbbVie has seen impressive results. It boasts an employee engagement level of 81 percent, a 9 percent increase from 2013, according to the annual employee survey. It’s also seen a 14 percent increase in culture score, up to 74 percent in 2016 from 60 percent in 2013. Also, AbbVie saw improved retention throughout the company, retaining 96 percent of its top talent in 2015.

AbbVie has also gotten positive feedback from rehires, certain people who left the company before 2013 and came back after the culture change initiative, Richmond added.

“They’ve told us how amazing and different our culture is,” he said. “It’s one thing to be a spinoff, it’s another to be a totally different company aligned and focused on having that impact.”

Culture, as one of AbbVie’s top four business strategies, has effectively bled through other areas of the business, and it’s something that AbbVie leadership encourages constantly.

“I’m passionate about this, partly because of my role and responsibility as head of HR,” said Richmond. “But I also do it out of respect and admiration for this company’s commitment to something that can ultimately drive strong business performance and have a remarkable impact on patients’ lives.”

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AbbVie is the 2016 Optimas Award winner in the category of General Excellence.

For its workplace initiative, which demonstrates excellence in the Optimas categories of managing change, vision, business impact, recruiting, training and benefits, AbbVie is the 2016 Optimas Award General Excellence winner.

Read about the rest of our 2016 Optimas Winners.

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TCS: Optimas Gold Winner for Managing Change

tcs_logoTata Consultancy Services has a proven track record of developing leaders internally. Even today, 98 percent of the information technology firm’s current leaders are individuals who have been with the company since graduation.

But global CEO and Managing Director N. Chandra knew that the nature of IT consulting was growing more diverse. To better serve clients and stay competitive, TCS needed business leaders with the right experience in consulting and strategy to match those with technical expertise. In 2012, he created a way to funnel fresh talent straight from the source.

The TCS Accelerated Leadership Program recruits MBA students from top business schools for a two-year immersive, hands-on experience at the company. The students — known as TALPers — work in several areas of the company while preparing to take on future leadership roles at TCS.

The TALPers rotate between three to four different business units where they assess market dynamics, develop and implement strategy, respond to challenges and learn from current leaders. Recognizing the need for global perspectives in the workforce, TCS also sends TALPers to its headquarters in India for six months.

The program model emphasizes 360-degree feedback, so TALPers receive structured assessment and guidance from designated coaches and mentors throughout the two-year duration. TCS also hosts a monthly meet the leaders forum that allows TALPers to share their ideas and challenges with senior leaders who can provide advice and inspiration.

wf_1116_optimas_button_300pxFor TCS, the program has been largely successful in bringing diverse skill sets to its workforce. Graduated TALPers have gone on to hold important leadership-track positions at the company.

Initially launched in North America, TALP has since expanded to include the United Kingdom, and the company hopes to bring the program back to India and the Asia Pacific region as it moves forward.

For creating a unique leadership pipeline that reflects an evolving industry, TCS is the Gold Optimas Awards winner for Managing Change.

Read about the rest of our 2016 Optimas Winners.

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5MM: Face-to-Face Meetings; HR Tech Show Recap

Workforce editors Rick Bell and Frank Kalman discuss a new study showing that holding face-to-face meetings with clients results in substantial amount of money in the form of new business. Also, some thoughts and takeaways from this year’s HR Technology & Exposition in Chicago; and what job tops the American Staffing Association’s most difficult positions to fill list? Hint: It’s not journalist …