Competencies Replacing Jobs as the Compensation/HR Foundation
Patricia K. Zingheim, Ph.D. | Schuster-Zingheim and Associates Inc.Jay R. Schuster, Ph.D. | Schuster-Zingheim and Associates Inc.
Twenty large, publicly traded, private, nonprofit and governmental organizations replaced jobs with people’s competencies and skills as the foundation for HR practices. This paper shares what they did, why, and how it worked in the words of senior-leadership team members. As competencies and the people who possess them became the center of their HR programs, the study organizations reported a significant improvement in their ability to engage, communicate with, develop, provide career growth for and reward their workforce. All but one of the 20 study organizations use a scorecard to evaluate an individual’s competencies, and all but two organizations use competencies to determine pay.
Private-Sector Pension Plan Funding and the PBGC: From Recovery to the Abyss
John G. Kilgour | California State University, East Bay
Traditional defined benefits (DB) pension plans have been declining as employers shift to defined contribution (DC) and hybrid cash-balance plans. ERISA’s pension plan funding requirements were strengthened in the 1980s and 1990s. However, the slashed asset values resulting from the recession of 2001 reduced asset values and increased required employer contributions. The consequent Pension Protection Act of 2006 was intended largely to protect the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. (PBGC) and was beginning to show some positive results. The economic crisis that began in the fourth quarter 2007 has changed that. Many more employers will abandon their traditional DB pension plans and turn them over to the PBGC. However, the PBGC has its own funding problems and will be hard-pressed by this development. The PBGC’s deficit tripled from $11 billion to $33.5 billion in the first half of fiscal year 2009.
Ford Motor Company’s 58 Years of Experience with a Cost-of-Living Allowance Plan
Frank Giancola
For more than 50 years, Ford Motor Company’s cost-of-living allowance plan has protected the wages of hourly employees from inflation, provided employee relations stability and funded employee-benefit programs. This paper provides an opportunity to track the origin and development of a major pay plan that has addressed an important economic factor — inflation. The plan’s history involves a contentious pay issue, a major industry currently struggling to survive, a capable union that occasionally has gone on strike to protect the plan, and HR professionals who have experienced varying degrees of success in shaping it to benefit the company. |
Complex Chronic Illness: An Essential Target in Health Cost Management
Joseph Marlowe, Monica Maeyer and Jennifer Greer | Aon Consulting
Chronic diseases are the greatest threat to the nation’s health and the leading driver of death, disability and health costs. While the primary objective should be to avoid chronic illness, once it develops opportunities exist to manage its toll by improving patient self-management, securing access to high quality medical providers and offering care management oversight. By investing in needed resources for those with complex chronic illness, employers can reduce medical costs, absence and presenteeism.
Creating a Cost-Effective Process for
Physician Recruitment
Michael Hogue, M.D. | Integrated Healthcare StrategiesDrew Erra I Integrated Healthcare Strategies
This paper examines the true costs of recruiting physicians, and discusses ways to maximize the effectiveness of a physician recruitment program. It then explores strategies to encourage physician loyalty and retention as a means of reducing recruitment needs in the future.
Energizing the Front Lines of Sales Management
Steve Grossman | Mercer
This paper advances the precept that companies should leverage their front-line sales managers’ role. The author indicates that there’s an overemphasis on sales managers’ transactional duties and a hybrid seller/manager job description. Research presented in this paper points to a strategic process for success.
A New Approach to Career Ladders Addresses: “What Do I Need to Do to Get to the Next Level in My Career?”
Paul Oliva I Decorative Paints NA, Akzo-Nobel
National Starch & Chemical Company (NSC) was a matrix organization consisting of four specialty chemical businesses. Like many mature companies, National’s traditional salary structure had come into a state of disrepair. By the late 1990s, title and grade structures evolved independently within each operating business to the point where more than 4,000 job titles were maintained. In an attempt to resolve some of this unnecessary title complexity and associated inconsistencies, a new approach to career ladders evolved in 2004. |
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