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Vacation Time: You May Offer It, But Do Employees Take It?

Deloitte’s recently released Workplace Pulse survey reveals that roughly one in three respondents (33%) do not feel comfortable taking personal time off/vacation days. Moreover, nearly one-third (32%) say they’ve consistently placed work commitments over family/personal commitments and fewer than half (48%) say their organization as a whole values their life outside work.

President Trump’s Communication Style Offers Valuable Lessons for Managers

Love him or hate him, it’s hard to deny that Donald Trump has communicated differently than any other U.S. presidential candidate, president-elect, and now president. And his communication style has been analyzed, criticized, and commended. Everyone seems to have an opinion about his approach to communication, but there certainly isn’t agreement on its effectiveness.

Obamacare—Love It or Loathe It—Offers Lessons for Every Manager

(Dan Oswald, CEO of BLR, offered his thoughts on Obamacare in a recent edition of The Oswald Letter.) It’s not unusual for a talented, newly appointed executive to announce a bold and innovative course of action for the department or company she was just chosen to lead. And with bold plans come risk and detractors. […]

Do You Really Put Your Back Into Safety Training?

Why do your employees need to be trained in back safety? One in five U.S. workers suffers a back injury on the job. Back injuries are the second most common cause of days away from work, next to the common cold. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were nearly 200,000 reported back injuries […]

Employee Benefits: Employer Pays More Than $28 Million To Settle Claim That It Improperly Valued ESOP Shares; Precautions To Take

A new threat facing employers is an increase in complex and costly litigation over the handling of employee benefit plans. The potential liability can be substantial, as Occidental Petroleum recently discovered when it agreed to pay $25 million, plus another $3.5 million in attorneys’ fees and expenses, to settle such a dispute. The class action […]

Attitude Shift: The Glacial Pace of Hospital Billing Transparency

Hospitals are still resisting transparency, and reacting in unconstructive ways to reference-based pricing. The evidence shows many health care providers have some way to go in embracing changes designed to repair our nation’s cost spiral. We in the self-funding industry can make a difference, and at the same time protect our plan members from unfair […]