Cleaning Out the Links Part 5

We're back for some more links and we're starting with the New York Times which is reporting that there are big obstacles for the anonymous tips of misdeeds: "A study published in The Journal of Management Studies has found that corporate audit committee members attributed lower credibility and allocated fewer resources for investigations when reports of malfeasance were received through anonymous tips, compared with nonanonymous reports. The study also found that the audit committee members were more concerned with protecting themselves than shareholders if they faced considerable damage to their reputations as a result of a tip, a clear violation of their fiduciary duties."

Now we head to onwallstreet which talks about the retirement "Catch-22": too young to retire and too old to get hired. Age discrimination is hard to prove but is pretty prevalent in this economy.

Lastly, for everyone looking for a job right now, they probably agree with this FINS article which says that job hunting is often one step forward...and two steps back.

Two For Tuesday: Old and Young

We are back with another Two For Tuesday with advice for the old and the young:

-This Atlanta Business Chronicle article talks about a Watson Wyatt survey which says that older workers are worrying even more about retirement. This makes sense with 401(k)s low in value, pensions being cut or greatly diminished, and other investments (stock portfolio, home value, etc.) very low in value. Sadly, many can't retire at this point due to this.

-Next from the Charlotte Observer, advice to students and Human Resources that summer is a great time for students to make their mark. I loved all my internships and they were a great way for me to get some really good experience. But I understood it is what you make of it and did my best to make it the most valuable summer it could be.

15,000 and counting

Thanks for continuing to make our blog popular! 15,000 visitors and counting...

We start off with the Wall Street Journal's Career Journal with an article about finding a position as a mature job hunter (and conversely, HR professionals should think about how to seek out these candidates): click here

Also from the Journal we have an article on a consultant beefing up his resume (click here ) and a CEO's recipe for fresh ideas: click here

Lastly, GM is offering employees early retirement to cut salaried jobs by 15% as told by the Baltimore Sun: click here

(another post coming up a bit later...)

Banning Social Networking?

If you're thinking of banning social networking from your company, you may be making a very costly mistake according to employee evolution: click here

If you're thinking of skipping those MBA recruiting sessions, you should read this Wall Street Journal article about more and more people who are doing just that: click here

If you're getting ready to retire, you should read this Journal article about planning your exit strategy: click here

If you're worried about whether you need to have a required lunch break, read this Q&A from the Human Resource blog: click here

If you're wondering the best way to leveraging talent into your company's competitive advantage, read this book review from the HR Practitioner: click here

If you're trying to figure out what the role of Human Resources should be in employer branding, read this PUREcommunications article: click here

And if you're looking for an HR job, who are we to ignore social networking after we talked about it's importance, so here's a LiveJournal entry on a website for HR jobs: click here

What I’m Hearing…Saving for Retirement

I met the other day with my financial planner. Among the various items we discussed was saving money for retirement. Long story short, if I want to work until 65 or 70, I’m on track. Early retirement at 55? I’ll need to save another $20,000 a year, every year. My jaw dropped when I heard that.

I’ve always been a saver. And I always thought I wanted to retire “early.” Now I’m not so sure. If I retire early, what will I do with my time? I crawl the walls after being home for more than 2 days in a row. So I’d probably end up starting another business, but that’s not “retirement” per se.

My experiences then got me thinking about the general US population. As HR professionals, we definitely need to encourage our employees and co-workers to save for retirement. Many people save little or any money. We all know that Social Security payments will be minimal at best. It is up to each person to look out for his or herself.

However, at what point do we cross the line between being cautious and missing out on life? Could I live in a lower cost of living area, or reduce the number of dance lessons I take each week? Sure. But the tradeoff of having to work a few extra years because of enhancing life now, while still being financially cautious, doesn’t sound so bad. Life is relatively short and unpredictable. Preparing for rainy days is vitally important, but it doesn’t rain every day of the year in New York City.

Blogroll Pt. 2

We're on to part 2 of 3 of reviewing our Blogroll here at Astron Solutions World of HR blog...

We start with Jim Stroud who changed the name of his blog from JimStroud to "The Recruiters Lounge" and has a new look and a new address but the same great information: click here

Also in recruiting is the Recruiting Fly Blog which today gives some diversity resumes and interview advice: click here

We have another WorldAtWork blog here for Ryan Johnson who has a lot of interesting topics including this one about Performance Reviews from a few weeks ago: click here

The HR Capitalist has a lot of interesting topics (Human Resources and not), but this recent one provides a scenario if the author had a few million dollars...they would aggregate references of a candidate: click here

And last on this list is the Industry Radar which has given us a few nice links on their website and has some great HR news on Benefits, Retirement, Health, among other topics: click here

HR Links Galore

We hadn't given you a lot of links in a while...and we at the Astron blog love to update you on what's going on around the US...so here you go:

A job outlook from the Providence Journal: click here

A pro-office romance article from the Gazette: click here

Word from the CEO of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM): click here

From the HRM Guide, word that few firms actually define diversity: click here

From Systematic HR...is it Job or Performance: click here

From HR.BLR, a bill to support employee verification: click here

From HR World, word that SHRM has backed this bill: click here

From the New York Times and Inc., word that diversity is unclear at small firms: click here

And lastly for today, from Forbes, word that most retirees will look for other jobs: click here

Enjoy!!!

We'll have more for you soon...trust me

Latest 401(K) news

We've been talking a lot lately about the cases the Supreme Court would hear but one ruling they just came out on dealt with 401(K)s...

According to MSNBC (via AP): click here

The issue in the LaRue case was whether the Employee Retirement Income Security Act permits an individual account holder to sue plan administrators for breaching their fiduciary duties.

The language of the law refers to recovering money for the “plan” rather than for an individual, raising the question of whether a participant can sue solely for himself.

Justice John Paul Stevens, in his opinion for the court, said that such lawsuits are allowed. “Fiduciary misconduct need not threaten the solvency of the entire plan to reduce benefits below the amount that participants would otherwise receive,” Stevens said.

Business owners supported LaRue's employers and you wonder what repercussions this plan will have on future 401(K) offerings from employers and how many lawsuits will follow this decision...

What I'm Hearing...401(k)s

Anyone who’s familiar with the magazine Time Out New York knows that they like to publish articles that push boundaries and get people talking. In issue 642, they published an article called “401ks are for suckers.”

The best part of the article is that I recognize the location on 10th Avenue where they took the picture. It’s right by our old office.

In short, the author hasn’t saved a penny for retirement because she’s “living life” and enjoying eating out. She plans on living off “the dole at 65, eating cat food out of a rusty hubcap.”

Why should the falsely maligned “Steady Eddies” have to support her – and the millions of people like her – because some people take no responsibility for themselves? I know that she is not the only person who hasn’t saved for retirement. America’s going to be facing a large retirement crisis very soon.

Read it for yourself here

Don't Make Work Your Primary

Although it may be Primary time, the New York Times starts us out by letting you know that making it's time to take a Secondary look at talking about your politics or wearing your campaign button at work, among other topics in this Q&A: click here

We go back to the New York Times for an old article still prescient about job growth fading fast: click here

The Business Review (Albany) has an article which says that telecommuting can hurt office morale: click here

From the Boston Globe's BostonWorks Ask The HR Expert we get some answers in this Q&A about Benefits and Compensation: click here

Next, from HR Daily Advisor, they post the question: Is coaching the new management? click here

Lastly, some HR Management news from Occupational Health and Safety has news that the Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM) President/CEO is about to retire: click here