Tag: benefits

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Next-Generation Retirement Plans

Getting together with old high school chums, not surprisingly, can be an eye-opening experience.

There’s bigger guts, less hair and a divorce rate approaching Tom Brady’s lifetime passer rating. There’s also bragging on our overachieving children and woebegone tales of trips in our youth that never should have happened. “How did we ever survive high school?” is an all-too-common refrain as these stories unfold, followed by a long pause, a collective shaking of heads and, “OK, who needs another beer?”

For the most part I was prepared for all of that. But no 20-pound fish tale or boastful memory of eighth-grade on-court hoops supremacy could have prepped me for a question that hit me from the blind side not once, not twice, but five times in one afternoon.

“Are you retired yet?”

Me (somewhat befuddled): “Umm, well, no … no, I’m not,” I sputtered after the initial query. By the third round of questioning I had abandoned the “Umm, well” and the “no, I’m not” for a much more direct, succinct, “No.”

I guess I shouldn’t have been shocked at the question. Early retirement is not some new concept created by Silicon Valley entrepreneurs. My dad retired as a union plumber in his mid-50s and spent his encore career as the World’s Greatest Grandfather. Heck, Andre Ethier is 35 and officially retired in August after making $115 million over 12 seasons playing for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

It’s just one of those age-appropriate questions that I should have expected to hear. Sort of like when you’re 18 and it’s “you don’t have a fake ID yet?” or at 40 and, “Viagra or Cialis?”

Considering that most of those friends are retired now, I admit to a little pang of jealousy. They may or may not have a daily routine; they work on their boats and kayak on their local lake whenever they feel like it, and they hit up day baseball games. Like, why them and not me?

Well … most of them entered the trades straight out of high school, joined a union, got really good at their jobs and could retire after 30 or 40 years with a pension.

I chose to put my hands on a keyboard instead of a wrench and got into journalism. No pension. No boat. No weekday baseball games. However, I am part of a profession whose members are considered enemies of the state, according to our president. So I have that going for me.

And no retirement yet.

For my friends, their retirement from the daily workforce did not come without sacrifice. Bitterly cold winters on a construction site, scorching summers toiling over freshly laid asphalt and hopping in and out of delivery trucks schlepping barrels of beer or 60-pound freight packages takes a physical toll.

But a trustworthy employer and a strong union assured their retirement — and my dad’s and Andre Ethier’s, for that matter — at a relatively young age.

I have a feeling they are among the fortunate ones — or at least they are smarter than the average enemy of the state. As traditional employer-funded pensions fizzle and employees take greater responsibility for funding their retirement, a recent study from the Consumer Bankruptcy Project reveals that people 65 and older are filing for bankruptcy three times more than the rate in 1991.

A shrinking social safety net combined with longer waits to maximize Social Security benefits, pensions being replaced by 401(k) plans and ever-increasing health costs are driving this spike in bankruptcies, the study suggests.

What can U.S. organizations do to help stem this alarming trend? Frankly, we can’t expect companies to foot more of the direct costs of retirement — in other words, re-instituting pensions — just for altruistic reasons.

Generation X will likely rely on today’s model of a defined contribution plan as the bulk of their retirement planning. But what awaits Gen Y and Z?

Is there a fresher, more innovative solution than what we have today — a 401(k) with a financial well-being service tacked on? We live in a hyperdisruptive economy crying out for retirement reform that cuts across political partisanship.

Business leaders can step up, too, not necessarily tapping their coffers but opening their mouths and minds to help solve the pending retirement crisis.

I am truly happy for my retired friends as they pursue their personal passions. They worked decades to achieve it. There are many with meaningful jobs at 65, but others — those stuck in the work-to-live category — deserve a shot to get out on a lake after years of toiling away, too.

Because really, wouldn’t you prefer the option of sitting in a kayak on some serene lake versus sitting behind a desk when you’re 65?

Rick Bell is Workforce’s editorial director. Comment below or email editors@workforce.com.

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Retirement Account or Bank Account? Employees Cash Out 401(k)s in Record Numbers

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that today’s mobile workforce is changing jobs nearly a dozen times.

For 35- to 44-year-olds, a little over a third take jobs that last less than a year. It doesn’t allow for a lot of time to sock away money in a 401(k) account and as a result, many workers are cashing out what little they have.

It’s a serious problem because too often people don’t realize the whopping penalties or the consequences they face when wiping out retirement savings, said Spencer Williams, president and CEO of financial consulting group Retirement Clearinghouse.

“We need to stop the cash-out syndrome,” Williams said.

It doesn’t seem like companies should care whether a worker leaving a job decides to cash out the money they saved in a 401(k) plan, but studies have shown that people who don’t have enough saved for retirement wind up staying on the job longer and are more stressed about their finances, said Keith Overly, executive director for the state of Ohio Deferred Compensation plan.

Williams added that employers should be asking new hires whether they have a 401(k) from their old job and should try to help with the paperwork that goes into doing the transfer.

“We are all better off if there is not that kind of leakage,” Overly said. “Having a healthy [retirement balance] can be one of the most important benefits for an employee and an employer.”

About 14.8 million, or 22 percent, of active and contributing defined-contribution participants will change jobs each year, according to research from the Employee Benefit Research Institute. Of those job changers, Retirement Clearinghouse reports about 41 percent of these people will cash out of their 401(k).

“Someone with a $15,000 balance doesn’t want to do the work,” to roll the balance over to another retirement savings account, Williams said.

It was important for people to realize the problem, so to bring awareness, Retirement Clearinghouse created the National Retirement Savings Cash Out Clock. It is similar to the national debt clock that ticks away in New York City, but this one is online and focuses on year-to-date cash out and leakage rates from 401(k)s. By the end of 2017, it is expected to hit $68 billion.

If a worker decides to cash out, employers are required to keep 20 percent of the full amount to pay income tax. If the worker is under 59 ½ years old, they pay an extra 10 percent withdrawal penalty as well. According to American Century Investments Cash Out Calculator, a 29-year-old cashing out a $25,000 account would walk away with $18,000. Had they kept it in a 401(k) returning about 7 percent a year on investments, the calculator shows that money would grow to $285,599 at age 65.

“This can be a big problem for people,” Overly said. Retirement plans “aren’t supposed to be used like bank accounts.”

Surprisingly, only 37 percent of cash outs were for economic emergencies, according to a 2015 survey by Boston Research Technologies. Williams added that often people cash out simply because it was the easier route for the person at the time.

“The best choices are not always the easiest choices,” he said.

Overly said participants in his plan need to talk to management when cashing out. That provides an opportunity to make sure the person is aware of what they are doing.

“In some cases there may be some valid reasons, but your retirement plan should be your last resort,” Overly said.

Williams suggested companies should make it easier for new employees to roll over accounts from their old job to their new one. Retirement Clearinghouse is working with the Labor Department to make 401(k) plans automatically portable to a new employer. This way, 401(k) accounts would automatically follow a worker to a new job and get rolled into that company’s plan.

For the most part, rollovers are allowed today, but the process isn’t automatic or easy. In addition, it normally requires a good bit of paperwork for the participant, Williams said.

“By law, it is portable but in practice, people are left to do this on their own. This has lead to a severe amount of cash outs,” Williams said. “We’re never going to stop all of this, but implementing a program to help employees bring the money with them should help.”

Patty Kujawa is a writer in the Milwaukee area. Comment below or email editors@workforce.com.

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Employers’ Greatest Concerns This Election Cycle

With the presidential election quickly approaching, the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans surveyed 486 human resource and benefits professionals on the campaign issues impacting benefits — that is, issues that have been mentioned on either of the presidential platforms.

I spoke with Julie Stich, associate vice president of content at the organization, about the noteworthy findings in the survey, which spanned from large and small companies, both public and private, across industries.

[Workplace Issues in the Presidential Debate: Did I Miss It?]

Stich also noted that there’s so much uncertainty around this election, it’s difficult to make a good prediction about which benefits could go forward. Also, we don’t know what the majority of Congress will be, and employee benefits haven’t been at the forefront of any of the debates. That being said, certain benefits or benefit reforms are popular on the bipartisan level.

  • 96 percent of participants support increased health care provider price transparency.
  • 84 percent support increased access to mental health care.
  • 76 percent oppose the Cadillac tax.
  • 75 percent support tax-exclusions for child-care expenses.
  • 68 percent support legalized prescription drug importation from other countries.

“So many employers as well as workers are frustrated that they just don’t know what a particular procedure is going to cost, or how much they’ll get billed after the fact,” said Stich. “It’s not surprising that we saw such strong support.”

Issues like mandated paid family leave and increased minimum wage were less agreed on. The minimum wage argument wasn’t shocking, but that only 53.3 percent of these survey participants supported paid family leave surprised me. As much as I’ve noticed the big presence of paid family leave throughout research and interviews in the past few months, and even though both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have proposed (albeit, very different) paid leave plans, support was still pretty much split in this survey.

[Clinton Vs. Trump: The Workplace Winner Is…]

Something else I found interesting. Of course, health care issues are big, and employers continue to support things like continuing to have the elimination of pre-existing conditions exclusion, or getting rid of the Cadillac tax, or even covering adult dependents up to the age of 26.

WF_1028_WorkingWell_ElectionBenefits_JulieStich
Julie Stich, associate VP of content, International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans.

“When that provision first came out in the law, there was a lot of grumbling in the employer community about it, but it’s turned out to be a provision that employers as well as workers have embraced,” said Stich.

So, I wonder: What current controversial health care related benefits will be embraced in the future? Is it something stirring up controversy in this election cycle? Just a thought.

Finally, I want to briefly mention the high support of increased mental health care.

“We’re hearing more and more about the struggles that individuals with mental health distress are facing, and being able to have access to care that is affordable is critical to their wellbeing,” said Stich. “And not just their own, but family members and those who support them. And even in the workplace, if you have a co-worker suffering from mental distress, that can be challenging in how people get along, how they work together, productivity.”

It’s encouraging that employers are seeing the importance of providing mental health benefits at the same level as they provide other types of health benefits, she added and I agree wholeheartedly.

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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Back to Basics: Appealing to a Multigenerational Workforce

Andie Burjek, Working Well blog

I recently had an eye-opening generational experience while at a Slovenian picnic a few weeks ago. The crowd was varied (made up of the Slovenians who had immigrated to Chicago in the early 20th century and their descendants): 80-something-year-old immigrants who sit on picnic benches the whole time and have long conversations in their Eastern European tongue, 50-somethings playing bocce ball with a beer in hand and the 20-somethings like me.

The people in my parents’ generation undoubtedly talk about work or when they can finally retire. Where should they invest? Will retirement be in 10 or 15 years? Will they retire in Arizona or Texas or Asia? They speak like they’re one of those persnickety couples on House Hunters International, saying things like, “I really don’t care where we live as long as we’re five minutes from the beach,” and “But we could get a much better deal if we’re willing to move further from the beach!”

The people in my grandparents’ generation also bring up work and retirement, like when my grandfather shows off his construction union retirement gift (a gold watch that’s probably fake, he points out) and tells stories about his job.

Meanwhile, my similarly aged cousins and I have different thoughts on the same topic. Like on the evening news, my cousin and I both had a minor panic attacks when the anchor said something along the lines of, “College graduates today may not be able to retire until age 75.” That’s a big jump from 65. I’m hoping that’s a case of exaggeration for the sake of ratings.

In any case, it hit me that despite this huge generational divide between my parents and grandparents, we care about the same thing: security. The only difference is, we’re in very, very different places.

Much like my large, extended family, the workforce is multigenerational. That can seem daunting to a company managing employees in five different generations, but it’s less daunting when you consider that ultimately most people want the same thing. They’re just in different places in their lives in terms of attaining it.

WF_0831_WorkingWell_MillenielBenefits_Hernandez
Acclaris’ Carlos Hernandez

“Millennials don’t necessarily look at benefits in a wildly different way than the other generations. They’re worried about base pay, bonuses, retirement,” said Carlos Hernandez, vice president of strategic alliances at Acclaris, an information technology and services provider that manages health care plans. As an employer, “you have to offer the basics.”

Where there may be a difference, though, is the messaging itself, added Hernandez, who has more than 25 years of experience in the health care industry advising employers on how to best meet their benefits goals. Companies, when considering benefits offerings, have to use different messaging to different groups — like age groups — to show the value points they have. But it’s still the same program underneath that skin.

One way to facilitate the access to information, for example, is bring a financial firm to a lunch and learn every month and let employees sign up to speak to an adviser, Hernandez noted. This could be appealing to a baby boomer who’s retiring in 15 years, or someone just starting out their career who wants to get on the right path.

Also useful to facilitate access is a creating a touchpoint, like a mobile app or portal or private conference room, he added. Companies could use something like this to deliver services and guidance in private.

Finally, in terms of managing a multigenerational workforce, he suggested creating a committee or a strategic forum made up of employees of every generation. These representatives of the company could talk about issues, like financial or health benefits, from their own points of view.

“That sense of involvement cannot be understated,” 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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Re-engaging With William Kahn 25 Years After He Coined Term Employee Engagement

employee engagement

Photo courtesy of Adobe Stock.

Today it’s not uncommon to see article after article about the ubiquitous term employee engagement, such as: “This percentage of employees are disengaged,” a study finds; “How do I keep my employees engaged?” one article asks; and “How does engagement affect overall business?” another wonders.

Although a popular talking point now, the term “employee engagement” is relatively new. Professor William Kahn of Boston University coined “engagement” in terms of the workforce setting 25 years ago in his 1990 paper, “Psychological Conditions of Personal Engagement and Disengagement at Work.”

Workforce caught up with Kahn via email to discuss the genesis of the term, its evolution over the past 25 years and what leaders can do to re-engage the disengaged.

Workforce: Before you first used the word ‘engagement’ in the business setting, how did you identify the problem of employees being disengaged?

William Kahn: The presenting issues revolved around employees’ lack of motivation and involvement. People were often doing only what needed to be done, as defined and directed by others, and their work had very little of their own personal selves, very little of what they thought and felt ought to happen as they went about their work. Managers did not really understand the problems, which they thought had to do with employees not being the right fit for the job or not being rewarded enough for their work.

WF: What was the ‘aha’ moment when you hit on engagement as a business case? Why did you use that word, that terminology?

Kahn: There was no particular ‘aha’ moment. It was simply the accumulation of noticing, studying and writing about employees who were unfulfilled at work, and why that might be. I used ‘engagement’ and ‘disengagement’ because those words evoke very clearly the movements that people make toward and away from their work, other people and the roles that they had. Engagement is a word that suggests betrothal — the decision to commit to a role, an identity and a relationship that offers fulfillment.

WF: Why was it an issue then?

Kahn: Leaders of organizations had very little understanding of modern concepts of empowerment, and believed that motivating others was mostly a matter of hiring the right people and giving them the right incentives. The engagement concept was developed based on the premise that individuals can make real choices about how much of their real, personal selves they would reveal and express in their work. That premise was radically different than the operating assumptions of the time.

WF: Has employee engagement evolved or is it still rooted in the same problems as 25 years ago?

Kahn: The problems are much the same, although there is more sophistication about how they appear and are dealt with. The problems of giving people voice over what they do and how they do it, of ensuring that people find their work intrinsically meaningful, and enabling them to craft their roles still exist, as managers wish to exert control over others when they are made anxious by the demands to produce and perform.

WF: What’s your one key way to improve engagement?

Kahn: Approach employees as true partners, involving them in continuous dialogues and processes about how to design and alter their roles, tasks and working relationships — which means that leaders need to make it safe enough for employees to speak openly of their experiences at work.

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Elder Care — You Can’t Buy, Pray or Prescribe Your Way Out of It

elder care

Ed Frauenheim is on assignment.

I had been looking forward to lunch with my friend Kate for some time. During the past few years we’ve bonded over the travails of raising teenagers, the challenges of balancing work and home and the exhausting job of caring for elderly parents. We laugh a lot when we’re together too, but those topics always seem to creep into our conversations—the last one with increasing frequency.

We’ve tried to get together several times in the last year but as any working mom knows, coordinating schedules with friends often means planning so far in advance several holidays can go by before you actually see each other. But this time the planets had aligned and our lunch date was set. I was looking forward to it.

The day before she sent me an email that began with: “Well, things with my parents have gone to hell in a hand basket and I’m heading to Tennessee for a week.” Her mom is struggling with dementia and her father is in failing physical health. Watching their decline has been devastating for Kate and her family.

So it goes with the life of a caregiver. There are good days and there are bad days and there are days when all hell breaks loose. One minute you’re on the phone with your mom planning a trip to the mall and the next minute you’re in the emergency room praying that she didn’t have a stroke or break her hip or catch pneumonia. A million things can go wrong when our bodies start to fail us.

It’s a wild and unpredictable ride and eventually, most of us will climb aboard. Or as Greg Johnson, director of family care giving at New York-based EmblemHealth, Inc. says, “you can’t buy, pray or prescribe your way out of it.” When a parent needs help few of us have much choice other than stepping up and doing the best we can.

And that’s exactly what 65 million people are doing every day — caring for an elderly relative, often while holding down a full-time job. Any many of them are also raising children — the sandwich generation as they are called. I am one of them. I have two amazing teenagers and one loving 86-year-old mother, and all three are at a stage in their lives where they need me more than ever.

Trying to meet their needs while working full time often leaves me feeling drained and in need of some care myself. Luckily, I have understanding editors who allow me to work from home when I need to, but not everyone is so lucky. Just ask the telecommuters at Yahoo!

With people living longer the number of caregivers in the workplace is rising rapidly and that costs companies up to $34 billion a year due to absenteeism and lost productivity. That doesn’t include health care costs, which are higher for caregivers who are more likely to suffer from heart disease, depression and other health issues than noncaregivers. At the same time the number of companies offering elder care programs and services has declined.

That means more employees are using lunch breaks to drive dad to the doctor or sort out medical bills. Employees at companies without elder care referral services or flextime or other supports must navigate the confusing world of Medicare and Medicaid and nursing homes and in-home care alone and during any spare moment, including vacation time. Not surprisingly, burnout and fatigue are higher for caregivers than for other workers.

But there is much that employers can do to help those workers, like offering flextime and resource-and-referral services. Some companies, like Johnson & Johnson in New Jersey, are taking it a few steps further, offering free geriatric care services to its employees. Caregivers work with a case manager who checks in regularly and will even visit nursing homes and other facilities with the family.

While many employers can’t afford such extensive supports, just offering flexible schedules and a little understanding can go a long way in helping workers stay healthy and in boosting retention and loyalty.

The issue of elder care will gain more attention as more workers become family caregivers—a role typically dominated by women. And as more women move into executive positions the problem of caring for mom or dad will become just as pressing as finding good child care.

Johnson of EmblemHealth calls caregivers “the backbone of the world.” But the weight of supporting kids and parents can be crushing. By providing elder care support employers can do a lot to lighten their load.

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Nontraditional Perks Paying Off for Forward-Thinking Employers

Employees of Domino’s Pizza Inc. enjoy some unusual benefits, in addition to discounts for a large cheese and pepperoni pizza.

Among the innovative benefits offered by the Ann Arbor, Michigan-based pizza chain are Pie Perks, which provide discounts on everything from oil changes to high-definition TVs at various retailers nationwide. There’s also an extensive wellness program designed to increase employee engagement.

 

Additionally, Domino’s 12,000 corporate employees receive holiday gift boxes, can access adoption assistance programs, are treated to extended time off during holidays and participate in a bonus program.

“Every team member participates in some type of bonus plan,” says Joe Abraham, Domino’s vice president of Total Rewards & Shared Services. “This links with our high-performance culture, and we see a very high return on investment in these programs.”

Nontraditional benefits are playing a bigger role as employers look to add staff and retain key talent, says Carol Sladek, a principal with Aon Hewitt, who helps clients implement work-life solutions. The perks often are inexpensive and help boost spirits in the workplace.

“When an employee wants to add a benefit, or benefits, they are usually addressing a particular problem or opportunity, such as productivity, absenteeism or talent management,” says Sladek, who is based in Lincolnshire, Illinois. “Many of the solutions for these issues come in the form of nontraditional benefits programs that are low-cost and high-value.”

Sladek says her group often works with employers to enrich traditional benefits programs, such as paid time off. That includes pooled time off, which employees can gift to each other, or sabbatical programs.

“The key is to marry the business needs of the organization with the needs of the workforce,” she says. “Traditional benefits may not be suited for a diverse workforce, and that’s where you can expand upon what you have to meet the needs of the group.”

Sladek believes flexible working arrangements and telecommuting programs that give employees more control over their time are highly valued and yet are inexpensive while providing a benefit for the organization, such as more coverage in the morning or at night.

“We see a wide range of programs that help employees manage their time, such as flex time to on-site cafeterias and day care, fitness classes, dry cleaning and car washing services,” she says. “Some of these programs cost little or nothing, while some require a significant investment, however, helping employees save time during their workday can be a win-win for everyone.”

One employer, Oklahoma City, Okla.-based American Fidelity Assurance Co., has benefited from an extensive flex time and telecommuting program.

“We have a family-oriented environment and wanted to find a way to help colleagues balance work and life,” says Heather Henshall, human resources specialist and project coordinator. Henshall says the majority of the insurance firm’s 1,490 employees are women who are balancing work with family.

Henshall says 48 percent of the workforce takes advantage of flex-work arrangements, starting work earlier or later, which allows the insurer to staff its call center longer without incurring overtime.

About 40 percent of its employees telecommute, working from home one to five days a week, Henshall says. Employees who want to telecommute receive extensive training on everything from expectations and guidelines to information technology so they can troubleshoot computer issues on their own.

Chris Morris, a marketing consultant for Benefit Communications Inc. in Nashville, Tennessee, says many of the nontraditional benefits he sees being used by his clients focus on wellness, on-site gyms and cafeterias.

“In this case, the employer is usually trying to drive a behavior change geared toward a healthier lifestyle,” Morris says.

One client has an on-site cafeteria that offers low-cost, healthy meals. Another client runs a call center in Nashville that rewards employees with a break room that has games, including a Wii. And yet another has an on-site health clinic designed to increase employees’ use of health assessments while decreasing time away from the office for doctor’s appointments.

Morris says the increase in nontraditional, often low-cost employee benefits can have a tremendous impact on employee morale, well-being and loyalty.

“However, there needs to be an incentive to use a program, or you won’t see participation … or change,” he says.

Several years ago, Minneapolis-based accounting firm Lurie Besikoff Lapidus & Co. decided to make life more bearable during the tax season for its 120 employees.

“We started bringing in catered meals for lunch and dinner so employees can have time to eat and relax instead of running out,” says Tom Morin, human resources manager. “We now have ‘chocolate Fridays,’ Wii tournaments, on-site massages, drawings for housecleaning services, and have even created survival kits with healthy snacks and wellness products. Anything to lighten the mood and give everyone a break, because we are working six or seven days a week during our busy season.”

Morin says that in addition to traditional benefits, his firm has a flexible schedule program, pays $100 for each year of service toward a dependent child’s college education and offers bonuses to employees who bring in new business.

Another employer trying to “lighten the load” for its employees is San Diego-based ACI Specialty Benefits, which offers work life, wellness and concierge services to employers. Employees, many of whom tackle challenging issues in the call center, can take advantage of a Zen room, complete with a massage chair, lavender-filled eye compresses, and calming music and yoga classes.

“Our goal is to increase retention, because call centers have a high turnover,” says chief administrative officer and head of human resources Gilbert Manzano. “We try to keep our environment fun, with wellness warrior team challenges, and teams that compete on fitness and weight-loss goals. We believe happy and healthy employees are good for business.”

Workforce Management Online, July 2011 — Register Now!

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Verizon Wireless Gets a Strong Signal on Tuition Reimbursement

tuition reimbursement

Verizon Wireless knows it is getting its money’s worth when it comes to tuition reimbursements.tuition reimbursement

The telecommunications giant based in Basking Ridge, New Jersey, has measured the business impact of tuition assistance on a quarterly basis for nearly six years. The company compares retention rates of employees who participate in a tuition-assistance program against other groups of workers.

“We have reduced our turnover to the extent that the savings we realize pays for the expense” of paying for tuition, program manager Dorothy Martin says. Martin declines to specify exact savings, but says the training benefit is popular with the company’s 82,000 workers. Each year, roughly 20 percent take advantage of the program, dubbed LearningLink, to pursue college degrees, industry certifications and other career-related courses.

Full-time employees at Verizon Wireless are eligible to receive up to $8,000 annually for tuition and textbooks. Part-time employees working at least 20 hours a week qualify for up to $4,000 a year. The tuition funds are available to employees either as a prepaid or reimbursement option.

In measuring the bottom-line impact of its tuition assistance program, Verizon Wireless stands out: most companies do not track the effectiveness of tuition reimbursement benefits.

“We have four goals: to attract motivated employees, keep them engaged and committed, give them opportunities to apply what they learn, and to develop a pipeline of new leaders,” Martin says.

About 600 Verizon Wireless employees are pursuing college courses in 2010, Martin says. That’s in addition to about 700 who completed degree programs a year ago. The company also is helping 45 employees pay to finish their doctorates.

Verizon Wireless does not require a minimum service commitment from graduates. The lenient policy reflects the program’s success in retaining top performers, Martin says. Again, she can point to data: “Whether out of loyalty or to advance their careers, the majority of them stay with us.”

Workforce Management Online, October 2010 — Register Now!

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CDC Urges Swine Flu Vaccinations

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday, January 7, urged Americans of all ages to get vaccinated against the swine flu, saying it wanted to prevent a possible resurgence of the disease in the coming weeks and months.

Though supplies of the H1N1 swine flu vaccine were sporadic during peak flu activity this fall, health officials said there are now enough shots for widespread inoculations.

Health officials said they had 136 million doses available for ordering by the states to supplement what they described as an already ample supply of the vaccine. States could then disburse the medicine to county health departments, doctor offices, hospitals and retail clinics. Most employers with physician-run work-site health clinics would also be eligible to receive the vaccine.

Sixty million people already have been inoculated, but health officials said they wanted to remain vigilant to prevent a resurgence of the flu in the coming weeks and months.

Dr. Anne Schuchat, director of immunization and respiratory disease for the CDC, said the nation faced a similar situation during a flu pandemic at the end of 1957 when health officials saw a decrease in flu activity and stopped encouraging further inoculations. The deadly flu returned with a vengeance in early 1958.

“They had vaccine, but they didn’t encourage its use and yet they did go on to see that increase in mortality,” Schuchat told reporters during a conference call Thursday.

Schuchat said it was not clear whether swine flu would return but that further inoculations were warranted to prevent people from getting sick. Young children, adults with respiratory illnesses and seniors in particular should get the shot, she said.

Flu activity peaked in late October but remains above normal levels, officials said.

—Jeremy Smerd

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Sources: UAW to Give Up Cost-of-Living Allowances, Bonuses

More details emerged Wednesday, February 18, on the concessions made by the United Auto Workers to the Detroit Three automakers in advance of Tuesday’s viability-plan filings by General Motors and Chrysler.

The new agreements call on workers to give up lump-sum bonuses over the next two years and their cost-of-living allowances, said two UAW sources familiar with the talks. The contracts also limit overtime pay and supplemental unemployment, the sources said.

At Chrysler, workers also will forfeit a $600 Christmas bonus, the sources said. Automotive News first reported the concessions on bonuses, overtime and supplemental unemployment Tuesday.

Detroit Three and UAW officials are keeping mum on the agreements until workers have an opportunity to vote on the provisions. Details about the concessions were not released when GM and Chrysler revealed the viability plans to the U.S. Treasury Department.

UAW vice president Bob King and GM manufacturing and labor chief Gary Cowger declined to comment when asked about the changes at an event Wednesday in suburban Detroit.

Still left to be negotiated is future funding of retiree health care trusts. Loan provisions require the union to take carmaker equity in lieu of cash for half the remaining money owed the multibillion-dollar voluntary employees’ beneficiary associations.

In the case of GM, the UAW is being asked to take GM equity for half of the $20 billion that the carmaker owes the VEBAs.

Nevertheless, the UAW engaged Detroit Three negotiators in marathon bargaining over the past week to meet the filing deadline for the viability plan. As a requirement of $17.4 billion in federal rescue loans, GM and Chrysler must bring their work rules and labor costs in line with their Japanese counterparts in the U.S.

Although Ford isn’t getting loans, it may ask for a $9 billion line of credit and wanted to be a part of a contract pattern to stay competitive with Chrysler and GM. Ford said the UAW agreement would help it avoid asking for financial assistance.

In the plans released Tuesday, GM and Chrysler said they would need up to $21.6 billion to weather the current dismal sales climate.

The Detroit Three got the UAW to move on several fronts, one of the sources said. Instead of paying overtime for work beyond eight hours, they will pay overtime only for work beyond 40 hours during a week, the source said.

The union gave up two of the four lump-sum bonuses due workers during the four-year contract, the sources said.

Supplemental unemployment benefits, or SUB, also have been limited.

Idled workers with more than 20 years of service can collect SUB pay for 52 weeks at the traditional 72 percent of gross pay and another 52 weeks at half pay, the source said. Workers with less than 20 years get 72 percent SUB pay for 39 weeks and half pay for an additional 39 weeks, the source said.

Those SUB provisions are all that UAW members can get now that the Jobs Bank has been eliminated. The Jobs Bank was a program that guaranteed idled workers 95 percent of pay and full benefits indefinitely if no other job could be found for them.

Chrysler and GM were required by the 2007 contract to pay up to $4 billion for the Jobs Bank and SUB pay during the four-year agreement.

Details of total cost savings have not been made public.

Filed by David Barkholz of Automotive News, a sister publication of Workforce Management. To comment, e-mail editors@workforce.com.

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