How On-the-Job Training can Solve Your Pipeline Problems
Great article by Paul Wolfe on employee development as an investment to your company.
Original Post from SHRM.org on July 27, 2016
On-the-job training was popular a generation ago but has been steadily declining in the U.S. for decades. Companies expect candidates who are armed with a degree or certification and relevant work experience, which is discounting a large pool of the American workforce.
This model worked for companies when there were more qualified people than jobs available, but today’s labor market paints a different picture. Now we are seeing a lot more demand for specialized talent than there are qualified candidates. And though we have seen strong hiring, wage growth has been stagnate, leaving many workers frustrated with the lack of progress in their careers. In fact, only 15% of the job force are currently in fields that are experiencing wage growth and competitive salaries, which are the “opportunity” jobs, according to a new report released by Indeed’s research team Hiring Lab.
The upside is that 35% of all job postings on Indeed are these opportunity jobs, which are in the fields of healthcare, management, technology, business and finance and engineering. There are a lot of talented workers out there, employed or not, that have transferable skills that would be interested in moving into a role with steady wage growth and competitive salaries.
That’s why I think it's important for companies to consider investing in employee development to fill roles within their organization. Investing in training helps workers get into a high-growth career and enables companies to build its own pipeline of talent.
Employee development can look very different depending on your company or industry. For example, at Indeed we bring in about 80 university graduates from around the world to our Austin technology office for a summer program called Indeed Universtiy. We train these new hires on Indeed’s data-driven development process and give them the freedom to develop new product ideas. This is helping us to fill our most in-demand jobs - software engineers - while training them to contribute right away and offer innovative ideas for our company to test. Finding a software engineer who already has 3-5 years of experience is extremely competitive, so as a company we made the decision to invest in new college grads to help fill this need.
Offering development to your employees is an investment, but for those companies who are struggling to fill roles in these highly competitive and specialized fields, it can help close the gap of of the mismatch we are seeing in the labor market.
See the original article here.
Source:
Wolfe, P. (2016, July 27). How on-the-job training can solve your pipeline problems [Web log post]. Retrieved from https://blog.shrm.org/blog/how-on-the-job-training-can-solve-your-pipeline-problems
DOL changes timing of required employer 401(k) and 403(b) disclosures
Originally published by Brian M. Pinheiro and Robert S. Kaplan on https://ebn.benefitnews.com
The U.S. Department of Labor yesterday released Field Assistance Bulletin 2013-2 granting employers that sponsor participant-directed individual account plans (such as 401(k) and 403(b) plans) the ability to delay this year’s disclosure of annual investment-related information to plan participants and beneficiaries. Employers were required to provide the original notice by August 30, 2012. The DOL regulations require that the notice also be distributed “at least annually thereafter.” This means each annual notice would have to be distributed within 12 months of distribution of the prior year’s notice.
Critics of the annual notice requirement have complained that August does not correlate with any other annual participant disclosures for calendar-year retirement plans. Consequently, the DOL is permitting employers a one-time delay in distributing the annual notice. For 2013, the plan sponsor may wait up to 18 months from the date of distribution of the prior notice to distribute the new annual notice. This delay will allow employers to put the annual notice on the same schedule as other annual participant disclosures, such as notices for Qualified Default Investment Alternative or safe harbor status.
Recognizing that some employers have already prepared or mailed notices in anticipation of this August 2013 deadline, the DOL also permits employers who do not take advantage of this relief during 2013 the same 18-month period for 2014 annual notices.
Most third-party administrators and vendors prepare these annual notices for employers. Employers should keep in mind that the notice is an obligation of the plan sponsor and not the vendor. Plan sponsors should carefully review the notice to ensure that it is accurate and meets all legal requirements.
More Americans Spending Rather than Saving Tax Refund
Original article https://ebn.benefitnews.com
By Margarida Correia
Most Americans (85%) will receive a federal tax refund averaging $2,803. What will spendthrift Americans do with the money? More than twice as many will spend rather than save it, according to Capital One Bank’s annual taxes and savings survey.
More than a third (35%) plan to spend all or part of the refund, while only 16% will save it. Nearly a quarter (22%) will use the refund to pay down debt and 4% will invest their returns.
Of those who plan to spend all or part of their refund this year, 23% will spend it on vacation. One in three will spend it on everyday expenses and necessities with the rest spending it on various items, including clothing and accessories (16%), iPads, smartphones and other electronics (15%), and major purchases (16%).
Less than half (42%) were aware that that their take-home pay would decline this year due to the recent elimination of the payroll tax holiday by Congress. The awareness was greater among men, with 47% saying they were very aware of the decline in take-home pay, compared with 38% for women.
“At a time when people are seeing smaller paychecks, now more than ever they should take a step back, evaluate their financial goals and consider saving their tax refund,” says Mickey Konson, managing vice president for Retail Banking at Capital One Bank.
The telephone survey polled 1,006 U.S. adults age 18 and over.
Margarida Correia is Associate Editor for Bank Investment Consultant, a SourceMedia publication.