White Papers & Blog
Genevieve Roberts, partner, regularly writes articles for the Opinion column in Virginia Business. Read her article in July's column, "How to keep your job in today's economy" and be sure to check back for more expertise from her and the rest of the Titan Team.
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"Titan Says..."
Titan Group's new bi-monthly Q & A session with in-house HR Experts, here to answer your toughest HR and Employment Law and Compliance questions.
Question: Should I be concerned with defamation charges when providing a reference?
Answer:
Defamation is defined as injuring someone’s reputation in the community by either slander (verbal) or libel (written) means. In order to prove defamation, in general a false or malicious statement (even if the information is true) is made to a third-party, harm to the person’s reputation was caused by the statement, and the statement was made with no legitimate associated business reason. Employers generally enjoy a “conditional” or “qualified” privilege in many situations such as providing employment references, as long as no malice exists.
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Genevieve Roberts, partner, regularly writes articles for the Opinion column in Virginia Business. Read her article in May's column, "The Role of Trust in the Workplace" and be sure to check back for more expertise from her and the rest of the Titan Team.
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Executive Compensation: Income Replacement at Retirement
Background. According to a report recently released by the major consulting firm, Hewitt Associates, the average U.S. employee will need 15.7 times his final pay in retirement resources to maintain his current standard of living during retirement. A Hewitt news release said Social Security is expected to provide 4.7 times final pay, leaving employees responsible for accumulating the remaining 11 times final pay from other sources such as company-provided plans and personal savings.
What the numbers say. Hewitt’s analysis reveals that only 18% of employees who contribute to a defined contribution plan and work a full career are expected to achieve the retirement readiness goal. On average, these employees are on track to accumulate 13.3 times their final pay (including Social Security) leaving a shortfall of 2.4 times pay. In other words, they’re expected to meet just 85% of their financial needs in retirement. Nineteen percent are expected to have a shortfall of 5 time’s final pay or more at retirement.
Meanwhile, as a result of recent market volatility, four out of five workers are still expected to fall short of meeting all their financial needs in retirement unless they take action to improve their savings habits or retire at a later age. To read more, check out our blog
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Showing Gratitude
I received a thank you note this past week from a participant in one of my classes. It was hand written and it said “Dear Jan” and everything! I can assure you that the note of appreciation made my day and inspired me to share some thoughts about showing gratitude to those that have been entrusted to us; those that we hope are following us because they want to, not because they have to. Whether you are a business owner, a manager/leader, or a community leader I hope that these thoughts will encourage you to live a life of gratefulness. The power and potential of showing sincere gratitude can be life-changing not just for those receiving the gratitude, but also for those demonstrating appreciation. Click here to read more.
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Executive Compensation - The New Deal
The new dealers (the President and the Secretary of Treasury) announced in 2009 their proposed “New Deal” on executive compensation. Although the initial focus was on troubled banks that accepted TARP money, the five guiding principles are meant to apply to public companies generally. Click here to read more.
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Titan Career Transition Services
We realize that these may be tough times for many of our clients. Our senior consultants have over 85 years of collective experience helping organizations with downsizing efforts and are ready and able to help you overcome the challenges, and provide you with solutions to effectively navigate through each phase of organizational change. Click here to read more.
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Effective Communication Helps to Reassure Surviving Employees After
Downsizing
Whenever companies downsize or make worker cutbacks, the employees left behind often suffer poor morale - leading to decreased productivity. In addition to a negative impact on employee morale, shareholder value and community relations can also suffer. Organizations often develop strategies to repair relations with these outside constituencies but often overlook the surviving employees. Organizations in these situations can take steps to reassure these “survivors” of the organization of their own job security. Click here to read more.
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How to Choose and Use Wage and Salary Survey Sources
How do you know if you are paying your employees competitively? Is your company’s ability to attract and retain employees influenced by your pay ranges? Organizations looking to find wage and salary data have a lot of choices, but the multitude of these choices can be overwhelming. Click here for entire article.
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Competency Models - Does My Organization Need Them?
Competency models are simply clear descriptions of HOW you want associates at all levels to perform in your organization - not WHAT you want them to do, but HOW you want them to do it. We recommend starting with a Core competency model, identifying only the top 5-6 key competencies that drive your organization’s success. A Core competency model provides you with much of the benefit of the architecture of a more complex, more expensive competency model, but with the ease of use and simplicity that will help ensure the model is used. Click here to read more.
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How to Protect Yourself Against Applicant Fraud
Parents often give good advice; we don’t always heed it. My dad once told me, “It’s okay to make a mistake. Just be sure you learn from it and don’t make the same mistake twice.” Early in my Human Resources career, I made a big one. And I learned not to do it again. That’s what this article is all about. I’m going to share what I wish I had known then. Click here to read more.
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When is an Executive Coach Right for Your Organization?
For HR managers one of the challenging parts of the job is improving employee performance. If you could replicate yourself 10, 20 or even 100 times, you could accomplish more work, including coaching all the employees in your respective organization. If a part of your role is to develop employees and you have been wondering about whether an executive coach is right for your organization, this article will help you identify the key criteria to consider. Click here to read more.
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Moving Toward a Non-Traditional Work Force
CEOs and their recruiters may be more comfortable hiring workers on a traditional 9-to-5, 40-hour week schedule. But the trend toward hiring a “contingent work force” is increasingly becoming more popular — and vital. Click here for more.
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Multiple Generations at Work
The workplace is full of a variety of personalities, employees of diverse backgrounds, and differing viewpoints. As a manager, how do you work with, motivate, and inspire each person to contribute his or her best? The dynamics of multiple generations at work today is real and can be tricky to navigate successfully.
Each generation brings with them a unique set of characteristics, expectations and experiences. Therefore, it’s important for employers to acknowledge the generational differences, understand and respect them (not just tolerate them) in order to bridge the gaps, and work together cohesively. Click here to read more.
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Leading in Tough Economic Times
Jan Bazow, Titan Group's Training and Leadership Development Practice Leader, shares wisdom from the Titan Leadership Institute core curriculum. Click here for full article.
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Tactics for Combating the Talent War
As the labor pool continues to shrink, organizations are challenged to find, hire, and retain skilled employees. Learn more about tactics your organization can use to overcome this growing issue. Click here to read more.
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Does Telecommuting Really Work?
Telecommuting is typically defined as a flexible work arrangement where employees work outside of the office full or part time, all or a portion of the workweek, while traveling, or on-site at a client’s office. Although an estimated 45 million U.S. employees telecommuted in 2006, it is not for everyone. Some jobs are better suited for it especially those where the employee can work independently, doesn’t need a lot of face-to-face interaction, and where the manager can measure the teleworker’s results or output. Click here for entire article.
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Executive Compensation: Risky Business
How and how much executives are paid continues to make front page news. Not only do the usual federal regulators (the SEC for public companies; the IRS for tax exempt employers; the Department of Labor for ESOP companies) have a keen interest, but also Representative Frank, Senator Dodd, the Secretary of Treasury and even the President himself have weighed in with their “expert” opinions. Being well-compensated in trying economic times seems to be regarded as anti-social behavior. It is a high-risk environment for those who receive it, as well as for those who permit or enable it. Click here for entire article.
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Managing the Executive Compensation Process
Good corporate governance at any level - from a small private company to a large public corporation, to a tax-exempt entity, requires careful attention to handling the compensation of executives and key employees. Attracting and retaining talented leaders is crucial to the success of any organization. But who manages the compensation-setting process and how should it proceed?
With all of the attention currently focused on the compensation of executives, it is essential that knowledgeable individuals, independent of the executives, control the process. Typically, a Compensation Committee of the Board of Directors, or perhaps the Board itself, should shoulder that responsibility. In accord with a formally adopted strategy or philosophy, there should be an executive compensation “story” as to what the company does and why. For more, click here.