Apple Computer, Inc. says that an internal investigation has discovered irregularities related to the issuance of stock option grants made between 1997 and 2001.
Companies are reporting the same median pay increase for 2007 as they did for 2006 for both exempt and nonexempt employees, according to a survey of 441 companies by the Conference Board.
Nurses in four cities have filed class-action lawsuits accusing hospitals of conspiring to keep nurses' wages at artificially low levels, the New York Times reports.
Globalization, outsourcing, movement from manufacturing to a service economy, and sluggish economic growth have all affected employee compensation over the last five years, said Robert Skladany, a principal at Wellesley Consulting, who spoke at the Connecticut Business and Industry Association's 2006 Compensation and Benefits Symposium.
Bank of America has unveiled a product that allows small businesses to manage their payroll online for free if they pay all of their employees by direct deposit with a Bank of America account.
Unless HR professionals learn to market themselves, the executive team will not see them as equal business partner, said Jodie-Beth Galos of Galos & Associates, LLC., and Karen Ruef of Lincoln Financial Group, at the 2006 SHRM Tri-State Conference in Sturbridge, MA. Galos and Ruef recommend becoming strategic partners by selling HR and their ideas to upper management using very traditional sales techniques.
Fifty-seven percent of workers say that tenure is the determining factor in deciding employees' pay at their company compared with 35 percent who say performance is the determining factor, according to a survey by Hudson, a staffing and oursourcing firm.
Managing expatriate compensation programs has always been complex. However, changes in the marketplace will require compensation professionals to consider new and more flexible methods for compensating employees who accept assignments in other countries, says Geoffrey Latta, executive vice president of ORC World, in his presentation at the 2006 WorldatWork Total Rewards Conference.
Goal-setting for incentive programs is more art than science, but companies should take steps to ensure they avoid the "sandbagging" phenomenon, said Mike Halloran, worldwide partner at Mercer Human Resource Consulting, during WorldatWork's Total Rewards Conference & Exhibition in Anaheim, California.
Merit-pay increases are underperforming as a pay-delivery system, and a growing number of companies are moving to variable pay as a better way to attract, retain, and motivate employees, said Ken Abosch, business leader at Hewitt Associates, during WorldatWork's Total Rewards Conference & Exhibition in Anaheim, California.
