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For the second year in a row, the House of Representatives last month approved a package of bills designed to make it easier to appeal citations from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Although the measures mostly benefit small employers, proponents say that the assault on bureaucracy is good for all business.

“We’ve overcome the mind-set that you can’t touch OSHA,” says John Stone, communications director for Georgia Republican Rep. Charles Norwood, chairman of the Workforce Protections Subcommittee of the House Education and the Workforce Committee.

The four bills target OSHA enforcement and appeals processes rather than workplace safety rules. One would allow exceptions to the 15-day deadline for employers to respond to citations. Another would expand the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission from three members to five, ostensibly making it easier for the body to achieve a quorum and adjudicate disputes. A third would allow businesses with less than $7 million in assets and 100 or fewer employees to recover attorneys’ fees if they successfully contest a citation. The fourth bill would give the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission authority to interpret the law and independently review citations.

Detractors say that the legislation establishing OSHA in 1970 remains virtually intact, hampering the agency’s effectiveness.

“For the most part, it has been untouched,” says Marc Freedman, director of labor law policy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. “Workplaces have changed dramatically over those years. There’s lots of room for further reform. These bills are a modest first step.”

The measures passed mostly with Republican backing, but the fact that some Democrats were on board for each one was hailed as a victory by OSHA reformers. Extending the appeals deadline and allowing recovery of attorneys’ fees received the most Democratic votes, 31 and 17, respectively. The outcome signaled a breakthrough on a typically contentious issue that polarizes labor and business interests.

But Democratic Rep. George Miller of California, ranking member of the House Education and Workforce Committee, decried what he called a Republican attack on OSHA. He cited a March explosion at a BP Amoco refinery in Texas that killed 15 workers as an example of the need for strong safety regulation.

“Rather than taking decisive action on behalf of hardworking employees–like increasing the minimum wage, stopping runaway pension terminations, or expanding access to health care–these bills do nothing more than jeopardize health and safety of employees on the job,” he said in a statement.

In 2004, the package died in the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. This time it might get a boost from Sen. Johnny Isakson, a freshman Georgia Republican who worked with Norwood on the issue while he was in the House. Isakson chairs the Employment and Workplace Safety Subcommittee of the Senate labor committee. Panel Republicans hope to introduce OSHA reform legislation in July that likely will include the Norwood proposals.

If the bills make it through the Senate, it will be a triumph for Norwood, a dentist who made OSHA reform part of his inaugural campaign in 1994 because he was irritated by workplace safety rules that affected his practice.

Although the Bush administration has attempted to foster more cooperation between OSHA and industry, the agency’s inspections still have teeth. “I would not say that the agency has rolled over and agreed to everything business … wanted,” Freedman says. “The employer community still thinks about OSHA as much as they ever did.”

—Mark Schoeff Jr.

President bush’s Supreme Court nominee, federal appeals court judge John Roberts Jr., is likely to lean toward employers in workplace disputes. Scholars and lawyers, however, caution that a thin paper trail and the independence that comes with a seat on the nation’s highest court make him unpredictable.

“He is going to be a fairly reliable vote against workers’ rights across the board,” says Catherine Fisk, a law professor at Duke University and co-editor of Labor Law Stories. She reviewed nine cases that Roberts adjudicated on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit over the last two years. He ruled for the employer each time.

“My suspicion is that that pattern won’t change when he joins the Supreme Court,” she says. “He is a rock-solid conservative.”

Roberts’ political leanings are clear. He served in the White House and Justice Department for Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush. But supporters say he doesn’t force his core conservatism on others—or on the law.

“He is someone who cares a lot about getting the law right,” says Susan Carle, professor of law at American University in Washington and a colleague of Roberts’ at the Justice Department from 1989 to 1991. “He is not going to go beyond what the law allows him to do in implementing his conservative views.”

Recently, Roberts ruled to uphold an arbitration agreement between a staffing firm and an employee, but in a nod to the employee, he severed a clause related to punitive damages because it violated Washington, D.C., law. Thomas Berry, a lawyer with McMahon Berger in St. Louis, praises Roberts for being fair and thoughtful. “That’s all you can ask for (in) a judge,” he says.

Don’t expect Roberts to make new law. “He would look to Congress to do that,” says Louis Rabaut, a lawyer at Warner Norcross and Judd in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Before Roberts can make rulings, he has to be confirmed by the Senate. While liberal and conservative groups battle fiercely over him, he benefits from his equanimity and intellect.

“He is in every way a straight-laced, straightforward, polite, quiet person, but very deeply committed to his view of the world,” Carle says.

Little of that view is laid out in black and white. “He doesn’t have a Bork-like paper trail,” says Jonathan Segal, a lawyer at Wolf Block in Philadelphia. “It’s hard to oppose someone on prior opinions if they’re not there.”

Roberts would replace Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, who was an ally of business but took a nuanced, pragmatic approach to employment discrimination, in part because of her life experiences. O’Connor was often the fifth vote in 5-4 decisions.

On the court, Roberts likely would grapple with affirmative action, the rights of professional employees, parameters for sexual harassment and gender-based stereotyping.

“I have a feeling Judge Roberts is not someone who is locked into his predispositions,” says Charlie Craver, a law professor at George Washington University. “Anyone who thinks they know how he is going to vote is crazy. I don’t think he knows how he’s going to vote.”

—Mark Schoeff Jr.

For women, trying to return to a career after a lengthy break can prove frustrating. One way companies could help–and tap into an existing pool of talent–is to establish effective programs to recruit them. Thus far, most companies have not done that.

Those are among the findings of a recent survey by the Wharton Center for Leadership and Change that outline obstacles experienced businesswomen encounter when they try to find work again.

The respondents, all of whom hold advanced degrees, left executive or managerial positions for a period of at least two years, often to raise children or achieve better balance in their lives. But that is still plenty of time for technological, organizational or regulatory change to sweep their fields, stymieing their plans to return.

While the women in the study reported feeling energized and encouraged at the outset of their time away from work, they said the experience of trying to return was negative and depressing, and they were often unprepared for such obstacles as recruiters who were either unhelpful or not interested.

Monica McGrath, one of the study’s authors, says the situation reflects a lack of leadership from executives. While companies could improve their efforts to identify and hire returning women, she says that MBA programs need no such help with younger people. “They’re aggressive in recruiting women,” McGrath says. But after 10 years, she says, women may discover that earning that advanced degree does little to keep their place when they take time off from their career. One finding in the survey showed that women often returned to smaller companies, having been unable to re-enter at their previous levels in larger organizations.

Making more opportunity for experienced women who step out has to start with senior management, McGrath says. She recommends that companies create one-on-one mentoring programs. These not only cost less than creating a broad initiative but also allow companies to more easily identify someone with specific expertise. Hiring on a project basis is another way for both parties to build confidence and experience.

Some companies find that experienced professionals are worth hanging on to in the first place, and encourage seasoned talent to stay. Edith Hunt, managing director for human capital management at Goldman Sachs in New York, says the firm emphasizes the opportunity for flextime and job-sharing to retain women who might otherwise leave. Hunt adds that the firm has begun using an alumni network to keep track of those who have left, making it easier for the firm to bring them back.

—Jonathan Pont

While Lenovo and other Asian companies are using acquisitions to build market share and tap talent in the West, U.S. and European companies are acquiring talent in the East. Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu has its sights set on China and is buying up skilled workers to expand its base there.

Deloitte is already a quintessentially global company. The giant professional services firm, born of British and Japanese parents, is now a Swiss verein, or association, with global offices in New York and 115,000 employees in 148 countries. Nearly 4,000 employees work in 10 offices in China, where Deloitte’s CEO for the region is Peter Bowie, a Canadian.

On June 1, Bowie finalized Deloitte’s first merger in mainland China with the acquisition of Pan-China CPA Ltd., including its 225 employees. The Pan-China purchase is part of Deloitte’s five-year China strategy, which will double Deloitte’s staff and quadruple its revenue by 2009.

“The primary objective of the Pan-China merger is people,” Bowie says. “In this marketplace, we can’t keep up with the demand for our services. We have been forced to decline opportunities because we don’t have the resources to deliver.”

An integration team of employees from Deloitte and Pan-China reviewed and reconciled the human resources issues and folded the Pan-China workforce into Deloitte’s compensation and performance management systems.

“Because the focus is on people, we have to ensure that the merger is fair and equitable and that people get a chance to develop and grow in the way they expect to if they join a Big Four firm instead of a local firm,” Bowie says. All of Pan-China’s partners became partners at Deloitte.

Deloitte plans to pursue other mergers in China, but the expansion will also be organic. Bowie signed on 700 new employees last year, including 500 new graduates entering the job market for the first time. This year, he will hire an additional 1,000 employees, including 700 new job-market entrants, from a pool of 13,000 applicants.

“The talent here is abundant and remarkable,” Bowie says. “Our new hires are smart, hardworking and committed. We take local CPAs, for example, and expose them to the global approach to auditing or risk management, and it does not take long for them to learn it.”

Integrating new hires at this breakneck pace is a huge task. Deloitte runs monthly orientation programs in addition to meetings for the Pan-China employees. “Retention is absolutely critical,” Bowie says. “We focus on creating learning opportunities for employees, and we’ve introduced some employee assistance services.

“One of the keys to retention is keeping pace with the market for compensation, which is changing quickly.” He surveys the market for the mainland and Hong Kong every six months to keep pay rates current and retention rates high.

“In the long term, we know that you can’t build a successful professional services firm with expats,” Bowie says. 

—Fay Hansen

No one thinks more highly of the role that human resources plays within a company than human resources executives themselves. When asked to rate the strategic value of human resources within a company on a scale of 1 to 10, human resources executives gave it a near 9. Senior management rated it a 7 and finance gave it a 6, according to a survey conducted by Veritude, a Boston-based consultant.

This disconnect is largely due to the fact that most companies do not track the impact of human resources on their businesses, says Lisa Allen, VP of communications at Veritude. According to a March Veritude survey, 57 percent of companies said they do not do such tracking.

“Human resources staff have to illustrate their worth in dollars and cents,” Allen says. This may mean starting off small and just tracking employee satisfaction and showing how turnover is down or going more in-depth by analyzing the quality of candidates that are being hired, for example. The good news is that human resources executives have faith in their abilities and importance, Allen says. “To effect change, you need to be confident that you can do it,” she says. “So this is a good starting point.”

—Jessica Marquez

While cost savings remains the main driver behind HRO deals, vendors say that as more companies expand globally they are becoming concerned that they do not have the expertise or resources to handle their human resources business processes abroad, and are turning to outsourcing to fill the gap. The Yankee Group estimates that in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, HRO business will more than double to $2.4 billion by 2009.

Companies want services that can be up and running immediately, says Naomi Bloom, managing partner at Bloom & Wallace. This becomes particularly challenging when a company has a presence in different countries with different regulations, cultures and languages.

Pepsico’s recent deal with Hewitt Associates and Procter & Gamble’s agreement with IBM are examples of how multinational companies with well-known brands are choosing HR outsourcing to handle global capabilities, Bloom says. “More will follow because they know that these companies wouldn’t do it if they thought it was a risk to their brands,” she says.

Having a standard for human resources processes is particularly important for companies that develop talent by giving employees international experience, says Bryan Doyle, president of Hewitt’s outsourcing division. “If you are going to move key leaders around the world, you want to have the infrastructure in place to support them.”

—Jessica Marquez

A s employers continue to react to climbing costs for health care, businesses across the country are seeking a new way to offer employees dental benefit solutions, without absorbing escalating expenses. Nationally, employers are spending 63 percent more on health care than they spent four years ago, and 88 percent more than eight years ago, according to a Towers Perrin study. The consulting firm’s national survey reports that employers expect health care costs to increase eight percent this year.

While not as significant as medical costs, but a serious concern, dental costs are also increasing for employers. According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, in the past five years, dental costs have increased between five and seven percent per year and are expected to account for a more significant percentage of benefit dollars in the future.

At the same time, a growing number of clinical studies now indicate a connection between oral health and medical wellbeing. For example, researchers have shown that individuals with moderate/severe periodontal disease are more likely to develop heart disease than are people with perfectly healthy gums. As well, recent studies indicate that disease conditions in the mouth can signal trouble in other parts of the body.

All of which leaves today’s small businesses in a precarious position. Despite a burgeoning awareness of the importance of oral health, many of today’s young and smaller-sized companies are weighing how to provide dental coverage and still expect to compete effectively in the global economic environment.

The Importance of Voluntary Dental Benefits

Fortunately, voluntary benefits can help any business, including small businesses to control their costs for dental care while providing employees with high quality benefits packages. MetLife offers a Voluntary Dental program for small businesses that is designed to have employees pay all or a substantial portion of the premium. These premiums can be collected automatically through convenient payroll deduction.

With a voluntary benefits approach, small businesses can provide their workers with greater choice and access to many of the same benefits currently offered by the country’s large enterprises. This leveling of the playing field is key to small businesses’ ability to attract and retain qualified candidates in a competitive labor market. In today’s competitive environment for talent, voluntary benefits can help boost employee morale and communicate that a company cares about its employees. MetLife’s new Voluntary Dental plans for small businesses are backed by 40 years of dental benefits experience, valuable educational tools and outstanding service.

Offering employees benefits can place an enormous administrative burden on a small business. Many growing companies lack the resources required to offer benefit programs to employees. Complementing MetLife’s Voluntary Dental program is a package of online benefit tools that can help small businesses streamline the benefits delivery process and reduce administrative costs.

Helping to ease the burden on a small business’s benefits managers and human resources personnel is MetLink. This online solution allows administrators to enroll employees, check claims and create and submit invoices for dental coverage from the convenience of a desktop PC. Eligibility changes can be made online, granting administrators greater control. Benefits managers can easily set up employees for convenient payroll deductions to pay for their voluntary benefits. And new hires can be added to the system immediately – a key advantage for employees and employers alike.

Without Web-based tools, many small businesses are unable to update employee eligibility information on a timely basis. With MetLink, employers can change eligibility information in real-time so that claims submitted for new hires are processed immediately. In turn, by leveraging MetLink, small businesses can avoid increasing headcount while effectively managing voluntary dental benefit plans.

MetLife’s MyBenefits Web site provides employees with access to the information and tools they need to help service their own benefits requirements. With the click of a mouse, an employee can track the processing of dental claims or receive details on plan benefits. This online access to benefits information and educational tools not only educates employees but also helps alleviate a small employer’s administrative burden and may reduce costs for the delivery of information.

In addition, MetLife has also created an online portal for dentists. By accessing MetDental.com, today’s dental providers can achieve an enhanced understanding of a patient’s benefits plan, including the services covered by the plan and patient eligibility. With real-time access to this information, dentists can discuss treatment plans and payment arrangements while the patient is in their office — enhancing the patient’s dental office experience. Furthermore, MetDental.com serves as an important source of news and information on the dental insurance industry.

The Value of Knowledge

MetLife boasts an expansive knowledge of the marketplace, with input from businesses, brokers, consultants, employees and the dental providers, and MetLife also relies on its Dental Advisory Committee for input regarding innovative dental research and plan designs. By offering MetLife’s Voluntary Dental, small businesses are granted the same access to this powerful research as are today’s large enterprises. As a result, voluntary dental benefits are giving today’s small businesses an important leg-up on the competition and a cost-effective means to retain and attract top talent.

For more information about MetLife’s dental benefits, visit whymetlife.com/dental

Dear Math:



From your description, it sounds like you are planning to implement an ad hoc team award, which can be a great way to recognize the contributions of a team. Ad hoc recognition programs provide high motivational value, since the bonus generally comes as a pleasant surprise after the team’s work is complete.

When you present a team bonus award, it is important to remember a couple of key points:

First, bonus plans have a way of becoming expected. You don’t want bonuses to be viewed as an entitlement each time you establish a project team. To avoid this, award special bonuses selectively and only for outstanding team performance.

Second, pay attention to how you distribute awards, so that team members know you are being fair. To determine the individual portions of the award, you could:

Pay an equal share to each team member. Since your team has 10 members, each member would get 10 percent of the total bonus amount. This method assumes that everyone contributed equally to the success of the project.

Use base pay to establish the proportionate distribution. For example, with a base pay that is 14 percent of the team’s total base pay, your project manager would receive $1,400 of the $10,000.

Use job level to determine relative shares in the bonus. Using this approach, you would pay the highest amount to the director and the lowest amount to administrative support.

Determine a percentage for each team member based on the relative value of their contributions. For example, you might divide the total bonus amount with 20 percent for the project manager, 15 percent for each of the engineers, 10 percent for the director, and 5 percent for each of the other team members. The assumption here is that while everyone contributed substantially to the effort, senior members of the team should be recognized for their leadership direction, and engineers deserve recognition for their technical contribution.

Share the bonus on the basis of time and effort committed to the project. Even though the director and project manager both contributed to the team effort, it may have required a full-time commitment from the project manager but only 10 percent of the director’s time. The project may have demanded a 10 percent commitment from administrative support but a 50 percent commitment from the engineers. Figure out the relative time commitments and then divide the bonus amount proportionately.

Whatever you do, choose a method that is perceived as equitable and consistent with your company culture. And take the opportunity to award the bonus in public, so the team can bask in the glory of its accomplishment. Use the event as a way to communicate the company’s appreciation for extra effort on the part of project teams. You also could use the occasion to enhance employee understanding of your pay and performance philosophy.

SOURCE: Bob Fulton, managing director, and Patsy Svare, managing director,The Chatfield Group, Glenview, Illinois, September 2, 2004.

LEARN MORE: Basic Principles for Implementing Team Compensation.

The information contained in this article is intended to provide useful information on the topic covered, but should not be construed as legal advice or a legal opinion. Also remember that state laws may differ from the federal law.