Amid continuing uncertainty, companies are adopting an informed wait and see approach

By Heather Marshall and Derek Mordente | March 6, 2020

With the ripple effect of COVID-19 being felt around the world, companies are reviewing the implications for their compensation plans.

As uncertainty regarding the extent of COVID-19 (coronavirus) continues, companies are prioritizing the physical and financial wellbeing of their employees in the worst affected areas. Our early February work arrangements pulse survey in China found that most companies have either suspended work or implemented work from home policies. For those working from home over 80% of companies indicate that employees are being paid their regular wages, with additional pay for those that must resume work early or during the suspension period. Details of this and other COVID-19 studies can be found on our COVID-19 page.

With the ripple effect being felt around the world, whether it is the manufacturing of products from heavily disrupted areas or the reduction in consumer activity, companies outside the region are reviewing their policies (e.g. travel bans, mandatory quarantine periods when returning from high risk areas, work from home advisories) and the compensation implications.

Over 200 companies responded to our pulse survey, reflecting more than 30 industry segments. Around two in five respondents have some presence in Wuhan or the Hubei province, with the majority (>80%) having a presence in Greater China, and/or Asia and/or the rest of the world (i.e. outside North America and Asia).

A short-term concern

As we enter March, many compensation committees are being asked to approve performance goals for 2020. In recent weeks events and the economic impact of COVID-19 have been moving quickly.

Fewer companies expecting moderate or large negative impact over the long-term

As part of a series of pulse surveys related to COVID-19, we collected information on the COVID-19 survey of benefits managers beginning on February 19.Their initial expectations on the economic impact were muted with 15% of firms expecting COVID-19 to have a moderate or significant negative impact over the next six months. In this second survey, focused on variable compensation implications and conducted entirely amidst the market correction that occurred during the week of February 24, compensation managers put that number at 34%. While this may reflect differences in the responsibilities and perspectives of the respondents, it is also aligned with the growing concern reflected in the market reaction during this period.

Against that backdrop, 44% of companies indicate their annual incentive plan has been or they anticipate it will be impacted. It is notable that around 43% of those companies (around 20% of all respondents) indicated that while there is an anticipated business impact, no adjustments will be made to the annual bonus plan. Thirty-five percent of companies that operate performance-based long-term incentive plans anticipate an impact.

Over two-fifths of respondents, almost half at a regional level, are yet to discuss the matter, although several respondents note it as an agenda item for their March meetings. At an enterprise-wide level, most companies that have discussed the impact on their plan are maintaining their existing goals but with the intention of applying discretion at the end of the year once the full extent of the impact is better understood. These answers reflect a lack of visibility for many in these relatively early stages of the year.

Short-term incentive goal setting
Most employers have not yet discussed the impact of COVID-19 on short-term incentive goal setting

The minority actions already taken include reductions in goals, broadening of ranges and companies changing metrics to reflect their evolving strategies.

As noted above, when it comes to performance-based long-term incentive plans only 35% of companies anticipate an impact. The vast majority indicated that at this time there is no intent to adjust goals or metrics given the long-term and multi-year nature of the plans.

Expect discretion at the end of year

Sales incentive actions
Three-fourths of respondents are making no adjustments to sales incentive plans

The most clear-cut response across all variable compensation is in sales compensation where three quarters of companies are not making adjustments and are instead maintaining a “business as usual” approach. Respondents indicate that until there is clearer cause and effect between sales and the virus it is too soon to think about adjustments. While the role of the sales force may change with an increasing number of companies instituting travel restrictions, other mediums remain viable for interactions with customers.

We anticipate that companies will continue to monitor their goals, and indeed broader HR policies and practices such as merit increases as the effect of COVID-19 on business becomes more apparent.

***** ***** ***** ***** ***** 

Source: Willis Towers Watson

https://www.willistowerswatson.com/en-US/Insights/2020/03/covid-19-coronavirus-impact-on-metric-and-goal-setting?utm_source=SilverpopMailing&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=N-A-EC-N-Executive%20Pay%20Matters%209%20Mar%202020%20-#15597%20(1)&utm_term=MTA5ODY1NTcxNjgwS0&utm_content=March%2009,%202020&spMailingID=31901864&spUserID=MTA5ODY1NTcxNjgwS0&spJobID=1663536190&spReportId=MTY2MzUzNjE5MAS2#15597%20(1)&utm_term=MTA5ODY1NTcxNjgwS0&utm_content=March%2009,%202020&spMailingID=31901864&spUserID=MTA5ODY1NTcxNjgwS0&spJobID=1663536190&spReportId=MTY2MzUzNjE5MAS2

Bob Nichols & Caroline Melo | MAR 09, 2020

When Must Employee Illnesses Be Recorded for OSHA?

The coronavirus and other contagious illnesses may qualify.

Conscientious safety professionals typically devote a great deal of time over the course of their careers learning when particular instances of physical injury suffered by employees, such as back, knee or wrist pain, must be recorded on OSHA 300 and 301 forms.

Recent contingency planning for potential employee coronavirus cases, however, has reminded occupational safety specialists that work-related illnesses generally must also be recorded if the condition meets the applicable recording criteria of OSHA regulations. Understanding when an illness is OSHA recordable can often be even more daunting than the task of recognizing when a physical injury is properly recorded.

The Basics

With the exception of certain low safety-risk industries, employers with more than 10 employees are required to record on certain OSHA-required records, namely OSHA 300 and 301 forms, “work related” injuries and illnesses meeting one or more specified criteria  of seriousness outlined by OSHA regulations—such as medical treatment beyond first aid or days away from work.

As for the deadline to do so, generally an employer must record within seven calendar days after the business receives information that a recordable work-related injury or illness has occurred.

The regulatory nuances of the determination of what is commonly referred to as “recordability” are many and complex.  Moreover, because the vast majority of recordable events are injuries, as opposed to illnesses, safety professionals spend much more time considering what is an injury that must be recorded as opposed to an illness.

Additionally, because the vast majority of employee illnesses are not “work-related” and, therefore, not necessarily recordable, the requirement of recording illnesses, even when applicable, is often overlooked. This inattention can be costly. Specifically, employers may be fined substantial dollar amounts by OSHA for failing to record work-related illnesses - just like injuries.

Moreover, as a practical matter, in some businesses there can be subtle, or not-so-subtle, pressure on supervisory and safety officials to minimize the number of recorded cases. This unfortunate reality exists in certain companies because low levels of recordable injuries and illnesses may be considered under bonus schemes or otherwise be used to judge the performance of managers or other employees. While these compensation incentives tied to achieving low recorded injury/illness levels are not per se unlawful, employers need to be careful to assure that these incentives do not lead to the failure to record. Specifically, to avoid potentially substantial OSHA fines, businesses must guard against under-recording and carefully consider every potentially work-related illness or injury to determine recordability.

Contagious Illness

Contagious illnesses that employees contract from a coworker, customer, contractor or other person while working are generally recordable if they meet one or more of the general recording criteria - such as medical treatment or days away from work.

To illustrate this point, the regulations indicate that specific examples of potentially recordable contagious illnesses, if contraction is work-related, include “tuberculosis, brucellosis, hepatitis A or plague.”

As an exception to the recording requirements, OSHA regulations specifically provide that employee cases of the “common cold or flu” do not need to be, and should not be, recorded. At the same time, OSHA has warned that this exception does not apply to other contagious viruses, even those that produce similar symptoms, that do not actually constitute the “common cold or flu” strain.

As a result in 2009, OSHA warned employers that employee cases of the H1N1 virus that are “work-related” must be recorded on OSHA 300 and 301 forms.

Importantly, this year, OSHA has reached the same conclusion about coronavirus cases that may occur may be work-related. Specifically, employee bouts with the coronavirus are recordable if, again, the particular case is work-related and other criteria meet the criteria test.

Work-Relatedness

Of course, with any illness, if it is not “work-related,” then it is not recordable. While that determination may seem simple, in reality it often is not.

OSHA guidance points out that, for example, if “an employee reports symptoms of a contagious disease that affects the public at large, such as a staphylococcus infection (‘staph’ infection) or Lyme disease, and the workplace is only one possible source of the infection,” the employer must engage in an analysis of potential work-relatedness.

OSHA instructs that “[i]n these situations, the employer must examine the employee’s work duties and environment to determine whether it is more likely than not that one or more events or exposures at work caused or contributed to the condition.” In engaging in that inquiry, if the employer determines that it is unlikely that the precipitating event or exposure occurred in the work environment, the employer would not record the case.

Mental Illnesses

Employers must bear in mind that OSHA takes a fundamentally different approach to determining when mental illnesses should be recorded - as opposed to physical illnesses. Specifically, OSHA regulations broadly direct that mental illnesses are not to be recorded unless “the employee voluntarily provides the employer with an opinion from a physician or other licensed health care professional with appropriate training and experience (psychiatrist, psychologist, psychiatric nurse practitioner, etc.) stating that the employee has a mental illness that is work-related.”

Notably, this general rule applies to when work-related stress disorders must be recorded. Specifically in 2004 guidance, OSHA explained that “[m]ental illnesses, such as depression or anxiety disorder, that have work-related stress as a contributing factor, are recordable if the employee voluntarily provides the employer with an opinion from a physician or other licensed health care professional with appropriate training and experience (psychiatrist, psychologist, psychiatric nurse practitioner, etc.) stating that the employee has a mental illness that is work-related, and the case meets one or more of the general recording criteria.”

Diseases Tied to Workplace Exposure

Diseases such as silicosis, byssinosis, or asbestosis for which workplace exposure to substances may have been a contributing factor, are subject to the recording requirement just like other illnesses that are work-related. Determining work-relatedness in the context of these illnesses can be especially difficult, but that does not excuse employers from engaging in the required analysis as to whether such a case should be recorded on the employer’s OSHA recordkeeping forms.

In fact, under OSHA regulations these types of “significant progressive diseases” once diagnosed may be subject to the recording requirement even before the illness requires medical treatment, work restrictions, or days away from work.

Guidance for Employers

1. Determining the work-relatedness of illnesses is often a difficult task, but engaging in the analysis is important – particularly when an employee or a healthcare provider reports that a disease or other illness stems, or may stem, in whole or part, from work-related conditions. When this issue arises, the employer should engage in a careful assessment as to whether that condition should be recorded through the OSHA 300 and 301 forms.

2. As employers continue to worry about the spread of the coronavirus and the potential for future pandemics involving other viruses or other illnesses (other than the common cold or flu), they must not lose sight of the fact that if the employee contracts the illness at work, through a coworker or other individual, and the condition otherwise meets OSHA recording criteria, it must be properly and timely recorded.

3. Employers should recognize that they can and should utilize the expertise of medical professionals when trying to ascertain whether a particular illness should be recorded.

4. In engaging in these determinations, employers should also make full use of OSHA’s extensive online resources, including the OSHA Recordkeeping Handbook maintained on OSHA’s website.

***** ***** ***** ***** ***** 

Source: Industry Week

https://www.industryweek.com/operations/safety/article/21125685/when-must-employee-illnesses-be-recorded-for-osha?utm_source=IY%2BIW%2BWeekly%2BHotlist&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=CPS200309027&o_eid=5043J3691490B3Y&rdx.ident%5Bpull%5D=omeda%7C5043J3691490B3Y&oly_enc_id=5043J3691490B3Y

03-11-20 | 6:30 AM | SECRETS OF THE MOST PRODUCTIVE PEOPLE

8 strategies to set up remote work during the coronavirus outbreak

The CEO of HackerOne, which features a community of over 600,000 people working remotely, offers tips for the best ways to set up remote workers to succeed.

BY MARTEN MICKOS

“Yesterday, we moved our company to a fully remote team in response to the COVID-19 threat. Now I’m the CEO of a company where I see zero people on my team. Every single day. ”

Those are the words of one leader who is taking action and doing what’s best for employees.

I have run companies with distributed teams for 20 years. We pioneered the model at MySQL with 350 employees of 500 working from home in 110 major cities in 32 countries across 16 time zones. Today at HackerOne, we employ a hybrid model where about a third of employees work from home all the time and another third work from home a few days each week. And we are surrounded by a hacker community 2,000 times larger. All 600,000 people work from home all over the world.

Here is my advice to those who are making the jump right now amidst the outbreak of coronavirus.

START FROM THE TOP

The CEO must be present in online tools and channels, communicating proactively and engaging in timely conversations where they are happening and knowing when to bring things to video chats. Available, approachable, personable, showing their personal side and not just their professional side, showing vulnerability and not just strength, listening more than pontificating. Encouraging, praising, and high-fiving people across the company. When the organization sees that the CEO has gone completely remote and digital, they will be ready to follow.

A risk with remote work is that people start spending too much time online without natural transitions throughout the day, working unhealthily long hours. It’s important for the CEO to set an example of going offline for the time when work isn’t being done.

REINFORCE THE COMPANY’S MISSION, PURPOSE, AND VALUES

Start there. Make sure you can explain in plain writing why the company exists and what it is trying to accomplish. From there, develop goals and objectives, as deep and detailed as possible. When employees have a vision that they can rally behind as a group, alignment becomes easier across time zones.

BE OPEN AND AUTHENTIC

Culture begins at the top, and any successful team begins with trust. To foster this trust, executives must be open and authentic across channels. When sensitive topics arise, run to the fire, not away from it. Deal with the issues raised by employees, don’t hide from them. Secrecy, intrigue, or hidden agendas will kill any effort to build internal digital trust, which all executives need in return. Learn to be courteous, diplomatic, and compassionate online, and the same ideals will manifest within your team.

PROMOTE A DIGITAL COMPANY CULTURE

In an office-based company, culture and interpersonal relationships happen spontaneously in the physical space while decisions and business happen in the digital space. When you go all digital and all remote, you must find online expressions for your culture. Jokes, high-fives, celebrations, gossip, community, family, personal interests, attention to the humans behind the professional persona—all these things need to be brought over to the digital world and given a worthy place and channel that allows for spontaneous and randomized encounters. You must create a virtual water cooler where employees can run into each other and play out their personal and human sides.

USE THE RIGHT TOOLS, AND USE THEM ALL THE TIME

Use every digital tool you have available to facilitate communication. Connect over text messaging, Slack, email, wikis, hangouts and video conferences. Use group chats as the backchannel during online meetings. Let people use what they are comfortable with to ease discussion. Copy and paste content if needed.

At the same time, I must recognize that there are other successful distributed organizations that do the exact opposite. They choose a minimal set of online tools and are highly prescriptive as to which tool to use for which purpose. In my own experiences, being flexible has been most beneficial.

CREATE REMOTE-FIRST EXPERIENCES

In Slack or a similar tool, create a channel where employees can spontaneously issue high-fives to each other. Celebrate every high-five and add many happy emojis. You could also create a Confessions channel where employees can confess things to each other. And a Milestones channel to celebrate birthdays and promotions, but also announce departures. You can take it one step further and implement a discretionary bonus program, where bonuses are only nominated for exemplifying values. Not sales, not revenue, not “working late.” Values. That’s how GitLab does it.

If you have meetings with people in the room and others remote, always stop to let the remote attendees speak first. If you are planning an event or meeting or some project work, start by considering the needs of the most remote attendees. From there, it is easy to accommodate everyone else, but the other way around would be much more difficult.

BE CREATIVE WHEN HANDLING CONFLICTS AND PROBLEMS

In the case of individual underperforming or problems with teamwork, in an office setting, you can call the person or people into a room to face the situation and deal with it. How do you do this if you can’t bring people into the same room? How do you fire someone remotely? How do you take disciplinary action?

It is difficult, but it is not impossible. It just takes more communication and more time. You will need to write a detailed script for your call, thinking of all the possible interpretations and misunderstandings that your statements may cause, preemptively dealing with them. Your script should address the intent of those involved, talk about values and guidelines, and logically proceed to the conclusion that you have arrived at.

SHOW COMPASSION

In an office setting, people will find numerous ways to display their compassion for each other. They show they are caring by buying lunch for a colleague or cleaning up after someone. But in an all-remote environment, those mechanisms don’t exist. So you must look for other ways to care and show compassion. Learn to send caring emails or chat messages. Have flowers or a gift card to be sent to someone who needs or deserves it. Consider sharing photos of the gifts online for all to see.

THE FISHING VILLAGE

I use an ancient fishing village as a metaphor for the virtual organization. In the evenings, the fishermen get together to be social and have fun. But every morning before dawn, they each head out to sea alone in their individual small fishing boats. They can stay in radio contact with each other, but each fisherman is on his own. There is little direct help they can offer each other. There is no coming back until enough fish have been caught. But once they get back, they are together having fun again.

The all-remote organization is like this. Each employee is alone in their boat, working until the work is done. Every now and then, the company brings everyone together to one place and there is time to be social and share fishing stories.

There are many other metaphors for this working environment. They could be goat herders alone with the goats in the mountains, hunters away for days on end, or lumberjacks working in the forest. Being alone with your most immediate job yet being connected with others who are doing the same is nothing new for mankind. It has been like this for tens of thousands of years.

The Industrial Revolution brought us the idea that work is a place different from home and that work is done in physical proximity of many other people. It is the idea of the joint workplace that is the anomaly. Working from home is natural.

As you apply these guidelines, you will see that remote work is not a challenge to overcome. It’s a business advantage to achieve. The whole world is online. Our human civilization is digital. We will have distributed and remote organizations long after the coronavirus outbreak recedes. By not tying work or collaboration to any particular physical location or synchronous moment, we democratize opportunity and open up a world of new possibilities.

***** ***** ***** ***** *****

Source: Fast Company

https://www.fastcompany.com/90475330/8-strategies-to-set-up-remote-work-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak

March 10, 2020

Tom Ichniowski

Construction labor unions have scored a major regulatory victory as the U.S. Dept. of Labor’s long-awaited final rule on apprenticeships retains the construction industry’s exclusion from new “industry-recognized” training and education programs for those seeking to enter its workforce.

That exclusion had divided the construction industry, with the building trades and some specialty-contractor groups supporting it and two of the largest contractor associations opposing it.

DOL says that the overall aim of its new rule, announced on March 10, is to expand the use of apprenticeships in industries where such training programs aren’t greatly used. [View text of regulation here.]

To achieve that goal, the regulation calls for allowing companies, industry groups, educational institutions, unions and other entities to set up and operate Industry-Recognized Apprenticeship Programs (IRAPs).

Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia said in a statement, “This new rule offers employers, community colleges and others a flexible, innovative way to quickly expand apprenticeships in telecommunications, health care, cybersecurity and other sectors where apprenticeships currently are not widely available.”

The Labor Dept. said the new rule would take effect on May 11.

For construction, the key issue related to the regulation was whether DOL would keep the industry’s current exemption from a central provision of the rule.

That provision is establishment of IRAPs, which would take on responsibilities for much of the apprenticeship standard-setting that DOL and state agencies now handle.

The rule also would let companies, industry groups and other organizations apply to DOL to become Standards Recognition Entities (SREs). The SREs would determine the standards for the IRAPs’ training and curricula in specific industries or business sectors. SREs would be subject to DOL oversight.

That would be a significant change from the current Registered Apprenticeship system, in which DOL or state agencies register and validate apprentices and apprenticeship programs.

Wave of comments

The department published a proposed rule last June and was inundated by more than 327,000 comments on that proposal. DOL said the total was the largest its Employment and Training Administration had ever received for a proposed regulation. [View ENR 8/30/2019 story here.]. It added that a majority of the comments were related to "form letter campaigns."

The building trades unions strongly supported keeping the exemption and also wanted to make it permanent.

Sean McGarvey, president of North America's Building Trades Unions, said last summer that nearly 325,000 of the comments supported the unions' position.

Contractor groups that have joint apprenticeship programs and other relationships with the unions, such as the National Electrical Contractors Association, Mechanical Contractors Association of America and Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning Contractors' National Association, also supported keeping the exemption.

Those opposing the exclusion were contractor groups such as the Associated General Contractors of America and Associated Builders and Contractors. They argued that construction has a major shortage of skilled labor and that IRAPs would provide a way to help ease that problem.

No 'sunset' for exclusion

In the end, the Labor Dept. came down on the side of the unions. In the rule, the department said that it “has determined that programs that seek to train apprentices to perform construction activities…will not be recognized as IRAPs.” DOL also decided not to include a “sunset” provision, that would end the construction exemption after a certain period of time.

It added, “The department’s goal in this rulemaking is to expand apprenticeships to new industry sectors and occupations.
DOL noted, “Registered apprenticeship programs are more widespread and well-established in the construction sector than in any other sector.”

Labor Dept. statistics show that in fiscal year 2018, construction had 166,629 active apprentices, the largest total among industries. Ranking second is the military, with 98,435. Construction's total did decline 5% from the 2017 level.

DOL said that it “has determined that a complete exclusion of construction, but no other sector, is most consistent with the goal of encouraging more apprenticeships in new industry sectors that lack widespread and well-established registered apprenticeship opportunities.”

McGarvey noted that the building trades unions, working with construction contractors, spend more than $1 billion a year on their nearly 1,600 "teaching centers."

He said that NABTU participated in an administration apprenticeship task force and the unions' aims included ensuring that the integrity of their Registered Apprenticeship programs would not be "watered down."

McGarvey added, "With the issuance of the final rule, we now see that we were able to protect our industry's successful programs."

Contractor groups comment

David Long, NECA chief executive officer, welcomed the DOL rule and its continuation of the construction exemption. He said in a statement, “Given the high concentration of time-tested apprenticeship programs in the construction industry, there is no need to create a parallel program that would detract from our nearly 80 years of experience as the industry’s gold standard.”

John McNerney, MCAA general counsel, told ENR via email, "We are pleased that the department heeded the overwhelming comments from the construction industry and maintained and strengthened the construction industry exemption—making it permanent and removing the looming threat of...rescission of the exemption in the near term."

Stephen Sandherr, AGC CEO, said in a statement, “It remains troubling that the administration has wasted so much time, energy and political capital in creating a new apprenticeship program that is both deeply flawed and fails to address construction workforce shortages.”

Greg Sizemore, ABC vice president of safety, environment and workforce development, said in a March 11 statement, "All U.S. workers should have the opportunity to participate in DOL's new industry programs, particularly as federal registered apprenticeship programs supply only a small fraction of the construction industry's workforce."

Sizemore added that ABC would continue to use an "all-of-the-above" approach to worker education.

He noted that ABC member firms spent $1.6 billion on worker craft, leadership and safety education in 2018, up 45% from the previous year and the number of participants in those programs almost doubled, to more than 980,000.

Story updated on 3/11/2020 with comment from Associated Builders and Contractors.

***** ***** ***** ***** *****

Source: ENR.com

https://www.enr.com/articles/48850-labor-dept-sides-with-construction-unions-on-apprenticeship-rule

PensionsMarch 11, 2020

NY State Pension, Coca-Cola Reach Executive Pay Deal

Beverage giant promises to bring CEO, employee compensation more in alignment.

The $225.9 billion New York State Common Retirement Fund has struck a deal with Coca-Cola in which the company has agreed to consider the wages it pays all its employees when deciding executive salaries to help bring them into closer alignment.

The fund had filed a shareholder resolution calling for such a move, but has now withdrawn it as the agreement satisfies the intent of the proposal.

“Pay for CEOs and other corporate executives has dramatically outpaced wages for most other employees in recent years,” State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, trustee of the fund, said in a statement.

“We are encouraging companies to adopt executive compensation policies that take their entire workforce into consideration,” he said, adding that “I commend Coca-Cola for taking this step to help ensure that pay for its top executives is in line with the company’s overall compensation philosophy and long-term performance, not simply on what executives at other companies are making.”

Coca-Cola said it is revamping its compensation committee into what it now calls its “Human Capital Management & Compensation Committee” to reflect a broader scope that the committee now oversees. The company also agreed to add new language to its proxy statement regarding CEO and named executive officer (NEO) pay.

“The compensation approach used to set CEO and NEO pay is the same approach used in determining compensation for the broader workforce, including pay competitiveness and the use of performance-based metrics that reward exceptional financial performance,” the company stated in a draft of the proxy statement. “The committee also can consider other factors which it regularly reviews, including shareowner and employee feedback; the advisory vote on compensation; the CEO pay ratio; global pay fairness; progress against diversity metrics; and others.”

The proxy statement draft also states that pay for the company’s executives is “at-risk and performance-based” with a metrics performance aligned to the company’s growth strategy. It said the company’s performance is assessed in multiple ways, such as operating performance, including results against long-term growth targets, and return to shareowners over time, both on an absolute basis and relative to other companies.

It also said that environmental and social goals “are critical to our business,” and that executives will be motivated to deliver results that align with company’s values and shareowner interests.

The comptroller’s office has complained that CEO pay at the largest US companies has risen dramatically over the past 50 years, while average wages have “made only meager gains” when adjusted for inflation. It said the pay ratio between CEOs and the typical worker has increased by as much as 1,400% in some cases and argues that this disparity can damage company morale, productivity, and reputation.

DiNapoli said he believes the companies the fund invests in should align executive pay practices with their compensation practices for other employees and provide supplemental information that informs investors.

***** ***** ***** ***** *****

Source: Chief Investment Officer

https://www.ai-cio.com/news/ny-state-pension-coca-cola-reach-executive-pay-deal/

March 9, 2020

Global insurance brokers Aon and Willis Towers Watson announced a definitive agreement to combine in an all-stock transaction with an implied combined equity value of approximately $80 billion.

Under the terms of the agreement unanimously approved by the boards of directors of both companies, each Willis Towers Watson shareholder will receive 1.08 Aon ordinary shares for each Willis Towers Watson ordinary share, and Aon shareholders will continue to own the same number of ordinary shares in the combined company as they do immediately prior to the closing.

Upon completion of the combination, existing Aon shareholders will own approximately 63% and existing Willis Towers Watson shareholders will own approximately 37% of the combined company on a fully diluted basis.

According to S&P, Aon intends to combine with Willis in an all-stock transaction valued at about $30 billion. (Willis shares will be exchanged to Aon shares.)

“The combination of Willis Towers Watson and Aon is a natural next step in our journey to better serve our clients in the areas of people, risk and capital,” said Willis Towers Watson CEO John Haley. “This transaction accelerates that journey by providing our combined teams the opportunity to drive innovation more quickly and deliver more value.”

“This combination will create a more innovative platform capable of delivering better outcomes for all stakeholders, including clients, colleagues, partners and investors,” said Aon CEO Greg Case. “Our world-class expertise across risk, retirement and health will accelerate the creation of new solutions that more efficiently match capital with unmet client needs in high-growth areas like cyber, delegated investments, intellectual property, climate risk and health solutions.”

The combined company, to be named Aon, will be focused on the areas of risk, retirement and health.

What’s the big merger all about?

Broking giants Aon and Willis Towers Watson say the deal is about getting better, not bigger. And, it’s about addressing unmet client needs.

Combined the companies have more than $20 billion in revenue. Aon reported $11 billion in revenue with $2.2 billion net income for 2019 compared to $9 billion revenue and $1.4 billion net income for Willis Towers Watson.

Aon will maintain operating headquarters in London, United Kingdom. The parent company will be incorporated in Ireland. The combined firm will have 95,000 employee globally, with what the announcement said will be a “significant presence” in Chicago, New York and Singapore.

John Haley will take on the role of executive chairman with a focus on growth and innovation strategy. The combined firm will be led by Greg Case and Aon Chief Financial Officer Christa Davies. The board of directors will comprise proportional members from Aon and Willis Towers Watson’s current directors.

This is the second run at an Aon-Willis Towers Watson merger. A year ago on March 5, Aon confirmed it was exploring a tie-up with Willis but one day later, it called off the talks. Aon was required to disclose its interest in Willis Towers Watson, which is subject to Irish takeover regulations requiring Aon to make the disclosure early in the process.

At the time, Aon said it reserved the right within the next 12 months to set aside that announcement that it wasn’t intending to pursue the Willis deal.

Last year, some analysts suggested that regulatory issues were likely to be a concern for a deal given Aon and Willis are the second- and third-largest insurance brokers by revenue.

The largest broker by revenue, Marsh & McLennan, last year closed its largest deal with a $5.7 billion agreement to buy Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group.

Willis Towers was formed in 2016 through Willis Group Holdings Plc’s $8.9 billion acquisition of the consultancy Towers Watson & Co., the largest insurance broker deal to date.

The transaction is subject to the approval of the shareholders of both Aon Ireland and Willis Towers Watson, as well as other customary closing conditions, including required regulatory approvals. The parties expect the transaction to close in the first half of 2021.

***** ***** ***** ***** *****

Source: Insurance Journal

https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/midwest/2020/03/11/560877.htmhttps://www.insurancejournal.com/news/midwest/2020/03/11/560877.htm

Deborah Stadtler | March 9, 2020

More states and countries are reporting cases of coronavirus, and employers around the world are educating their workforces on how to prevent the spread of the virus. Employers in the U.S. should review their infectious-disease management plans. If they don't have these plans, now is the time to create them. Reviewing and communicating sick leave policies, telehealth options and other wellness program aspects are also important. 

Infectious-Disease Management Plans

Many organizations, particularly multinationals, have infectious-disease management plans, but the majority do not, said John Beattie, a principal consultant with Sungard Availability Services in Wayne, Pa. 

An effective pandemic plan addresses such topics as:

• Workplace safety precautions.
• Employee travel restrictions.
• Provisions for stranded travelers unable to return home.
• Mandatory medical check-ups, vaccinations or medication.
• Mandatory reporting of exposure, such as employees reporting to employers and employers reporting to public health authorities.
• Employee quarantine or isolation.
• Facility shutdowns.

Plans should detail how to communicate with employees about staying away from work when they are sick and telecommuting if necessary, Beattie noted.

"Giving a sense of calm is important if there is an outbreak," he added. "Employees should feel like they're in good hands with management and that managers are concerned about them."

Even if companies don't have pandemic policies, many have disaster-preparedness policies, which are analogous, said Joseph Deng, an attorney with Baker McKenzie in Los Angeles. If an office is in the path of the pandemic, it should shut down, just as it would if it were in the path of a hurricane or wildfire, he noted.

Be Reasonable in Applying Policies

In implementing an infectious-disease management plan, employers should be reasonable in how they apply their policies, Deng said. How long a company keeps a facility shut in the event of a pandemic is a key consideration. In China, that issue is raising questions about whether there will be furloughs, in which case employees will need to be notified and paid at a furlough rate, he stated.

"This will pass. Don't forget about the needs of employees," Deng said. "How will you turn on lights again and keep the workforce engaged so you come out stronger and more resilient?"

No Doctor's Note Required

"Do not require a health care provider's note for employees who are sick with acute respiratory illness to validate their illness or to return to work, as health care provider offices and medical facilities may be extremely busy and not able to provide such documentation in a timely way," the CDC advised.

Employers, however, "should be cautious about providing medical advice to sick employees," advised Danielle Capilla, director of compliance and employee benefits at Alera Group, an employee benefits and financial services firm. "Guiding employees to speak with their physician, their local health department, and to use telemedicine as appropriate is the best course of action."

Be Lenient with Sick Leave

The CDC advises employers to "ensure that your sick leave policies are flexible and consistent with public health guidance and that employees are aware of these policies."

Employers can require employees who exhibit coronavirus symptoms to stay home until they are symptom free, said Mark Neuberger, a litigation attorney in the Miami office of law firm Foley & Lardner LLP. Similarly, if an employee is returning from a country designated by the CDC and the World Health Organization (WHO) as having high risk for COVID-19 transmission, employers can require that they wait 14 days before returning to the workplace.

Be cautious, though, and think about modifying your attendance policies. Requiring these quarantines could encourage hourly workers who have no remaining paid sick days or paid time off (PTO) not to reveal that they may pose a risk to others.

"If employers force someone to stay home for two weeks without pay or make them use precious PTO, they may push people to hide where they have been or what symptoms they are experiencing, which will defeat planning to ensure that management is taking all reasonable steps to prevent the illness from spreading through the workplace," Neuberger said.

While recognizing there is a possibility for abuse by employees who would like to stay home for two weeks, said Jennifer Ho, vice president of human resources at Ascentis, a human capital management software firm based in Minneapolis. “It really is up to employers to have best practices and training for managers on how to handle situations like this." 

There's another sick leave complication employers may face: If public health officials order employees or their family members quarantined for up to two weeks because they have been exposed to someone with COVID-19 or visited a high-risk area, those being quarantined—if they show no symptoms—may not be covered by their employer's sick or disability leave policy. For quarantined employees whose jobs can't be performed remotely, employers should consider their response and may choose to extend paid leave benefits to cover this situation. Be mindful of new or part-time employees that may not be covered by sick leave benefits. 

Encourage Workers to Use Telehealth

"If telehealth is an option for your employees, advise them to make use of it," said Kim Buckey, vice president of client services at DirectPath, a benefits education, enrollment and health care transparency firm based in Burlington, Mass. "The doctor will be able to assess whether the employee needs to come in for testing or can be treated at home. This minimizes the risk of infecting others in the office waiting room or getting infected themselves" if it turns out that they have a cold or the flu.

For employees without a telehealth plan, "the best course of action is to call their health provider if they have one, their local urgent care clinic, or—in a pinch— the local ER and describe their symptoms. Tests are limited at this point and will be reserved for those who are severely ill, recently traveled to affected countries or have interacted with those who have," Buckey pointed out.

Mary Kay O'Neill, a partner at HR consultancy Mercer, advise companies not to overlook telehealth for treating emotional health issues. “Especially if people are quarantined for weeks on end. Epidemics like this can increase anxiety and depression among people, resulting in a greater need for these services," she said. Employee assistance programs are another option as well.

When to Use FMLA

For long-term absence, most employees dealing with their own or a family member's serious illness can take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave under the federal Family Medical Leave Act.

"If it turns out to be coronavirus, the employee will likely be out for two weeks or more, so short-term disability and FMLA may come into play," Buckey said.

While generally a doctor's certification is needed for FMLA leave, "if an employer understands the employee has a serious health condition within the meaning of the FMLA, the employer is free to waive the requirement to provide documentation," said Neuberger. "That can be a management decision."

At the same time, he noted, employers may have legitimate concerns about people who try to "milk the system and take 12 weeks off, claiming they have something they don't," he said. "It's a balancing act. But under these circumstances, being flexible is the better way to go."

Caution vs. Panic

Management, Neuberger said, "has to deal with irrational fears in a rational way, by providing good information and staying on top of rapidly changing advice posted by the CDC and WHO, and assigning someone to monitor those websites every day," he advised.

"It's important to be cautious, to be up to date and to stay informed," Ho said. "It's equally important to deploy common sense."

***** ***** ***** ***** *****

Source: HR PEOPLE + STRATEGY

https://blog.hrps.org/blogpost/Reviewing-Plans-and-Policies-for-Coronavirus

Jack Sweeney, Senior Contributor, CFO Network ||| Feb 28, 2020

For those finance chiefs who are apt to tweak their company’s sales compensation plan, Boomi CFO Carolyn Koehn has some curt advice: Stop. Or at least make your tweaks sparingly.

“If you want to lose sales and have the sales team off doing exercises in game theory or whatever, just keep changing your comp plan,” says Koehn, who served as vice president of finance, global sales compensation for the computer maker and storage company Dell until last year, when she stepped into the finance chief role at Boomi, a software-as-a-service (SaaS) company and Dell subsidiary.

 DELL TECHNOLOGIES

Part of the temptation to “tweak” is due to the numerous inputs that feed into most sales comp plans, Koehn explains. The finance chief’s admonition conjures a crowded control panel with dials that can be turned every which way.

“At Dell, we probably had 13 different inputs to calculate sales compensation and no salesperson cares where the tweaking error was made or who made it,” says Koehn, who believes that sales productivity is at risk when inputs are being  changed by different departments and functional groups within a company as well as different layers of management.

Koehn says that the sales team needs to get its marching orders from a single voice. “You have to have a team that owns sales compensation and knows how to reach into the organization to identify the problem, fix it, and be able to close that communication very quickly,” explains Koehn. She adds that the key measures of success for sales compensation remain, first of all, the alignment between the goals of the business and the goals of the sales team. Disrupt  the comp plan and Koehn warns that the sales team could be headed in a direction entirely unrelated to company goals. Koehn’s second key measure of success for a comp plan is sales productivity—which brings us back to her admonition.

“I think that sales productivity is achieved by trying to keep the compensation plan as consistent as you can and, when you do have changes, try to keep them as simple as possible,” observes Koehn, who says that while most comp calculations involve obvious numbers such as sales quotas and the dollar value of orders, the complexity quickly escalates when you factor in the overlapping sales rep assignments inside large customers and the bigger commissions offered by some products over others.

“You can imagine that in a product portfolio as big as Dell’s, there are a lot of opportunities to get it right, but there are also a lot of opportunities where errors can creep in,” adds Koehn, who notes that calculating commissions for salespeople becomes even more challenging when human resources data is added to the mix.

“When was the salesperson’s start date? When was their stop date? Did they get a pay raise? All of these elements usually aren't something that is necessarily top-of-mind, but get them wrong and you will certainly get commission payments incorrect,” emphasizes Koehn.

Before accepting the CFO role at Boomi, Koehn says she had begun to look for future finance leadership roles that could provide broader management experience – the kind of experience that would someday make her an attractive candidate for outside board positions.

“Several folks approached me about the Boomi opportunity and I thought about what I could bring to the role and what it offered me in return,” explains Koehn, who says from a personal development perspective Boomi ultimately transported her to a new land of opportunity. After spending most all of her career helping to grow hardware and infrastructure technology businesses, Koehn had found a quick door of entry into the software-as-a-service business.

***** ***** ***** ***** ***** 

Source: Forbes

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jacksweeney/2020/02/28/boomi-cfo-says-that-sales-productivity-often-suffers-a-death-of-a-thousand-tweaks/#1265c081cc48

March 2, 2020

Earlier this week, the NLRB made official a less stringent standard on joint employer liability, returning to a decades old approach which had been applied until the NLRB’s decision in 2015 which made the standard less predictable and more difficult for employers. Returning to the 2015 standard offers greater clarity, stability, and precision as to the circumstances whereby a business will be held jointly and severally liable for violations of federal labor law by another business. The new standard goes away from the more-relaxed, abstract test which brought more contractors, franchisers, and employers into labor disputes and negotiations as “joint employers,” and requires actual control to be exerted over the employment relationship to warrant a finding of joint employment. 

The Prior State of the Law

In 2015, the NLRB ruled that a business was a joint employer if its control over the essential terms and conditions of another business’ employees was merely indirect, limited and routine, or contractually reserved but never exercised. This broad standard made it more likely that businesses would be liable for actions of franchisees and subcontracted workers. It also made it more incumbent on businesses to bargain collectively with employees of its contractors or franchisees. The standard proved to be untenable and, most troubling, unpredictable.​

The New Standard

President Trump’s NLRB quickly signaled its intention to reverse course and return to the standard which had been in place for decades before 2015. The rule now requires that a business exercise substantial direct and immediate control over one or more essential terms and conditions of employment of another business’ employees in order for it to be deemed a joint employer. Essential terms and conditions of employment include wages, benefits, hours of work, hiring, discharge, discipline, supervision, and direction. The new rule defines the key phrase “substantial direct and immediate control” as control which “has a regular or continuous consequential effect on an essential term or condition of employment of another employer’s employees.” Such control is not “substantial” if it is only exercised on a sporadic, isolated, or de minimis basis.

The implementation of the new rule will reduce litigation and litigation costs because it makes it less likely that a business will be found jointly and severally liable for another business’ unfair labor practices or will be required to bargain collectively with the employees of another employer. The implementation will also clarify for unions with whom they can collectively bargain.

In conclusion, this new rule scraps the 2015 standard which permitted joint employer status based solely on indirect influence or a contractual reservation of a right to control that had never been exercised, which burdened businesses and lacked predictability in application. The rule was formally published in the Federal Register on February 26. It will go into effect April 27, 2020.

***** ***** ***** ***** *****

Source: JD Supra, LLC

https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/good-news-for-employers-nlrb-finalizes-25423/

PUBLISHED

MAR 2, 2020 9:28AM EST

(RTTNews) - American denim company Levi Strauss & Co. has introduced paid family leave to provide their employees the facility to care for ill family members without worrying about the stability of their job or finances.

The leave is available immediately to all U.S. corporate and benefits-eligible retail or hourly employees who work at least 30 hours a week.

According to a study conducted by Pew Research Center, more than one in ten U.S. adults are caring for an aging parent or immediate family member at the same time they are raising their own children.

Another report from the National Business Group on Health reveals that about 44 percent of employees experience financial strain while they take the additional responsibility of tending to a sick family member. 88 percent of adult caregivers also have a negative impact on their own health.

The eight-week paid time off per year will enable employees to care for an immediate family member with a serious health condition. This is applicable for an ill spouse, domestic partner, parent or stepparent, child or stepchild up to 18 years of age. It will help the employee bring a balance between the growing demands from their work and personal lives.

The new employee benefit is an extension to the company's paid parental leave program announced in 2016, which provides eight weeks of paid time off to welcome or care for a new child.

Last week, Levi Strauss also hired Tracy Layney as Senior Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer, effective April 20, 2020.

The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.

***** ***** ***** ***** ***** 

Source: Nasdaq, Inc.

https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/levi-strauss-introduces-paid-family-leave-to-care-for-ill-family-members-2020-03-02