Captive audience bill advances in House
The Connecticut House of Representatives passed a “captive audience” bill that would limit employer-worker communications in advance of votes on whether to unionize work sites.
The Connecticut Business and Industry Association opposes the bill, which at deadline had yet to come to a vote in the Connecticut Senate, with CBIA saying it amounts to a “gag order” on business owners and managers.
Daniel Schwartz, an attorney with Pullman & Comley L.L.C., said the Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce trade group won a verdict in that state challenging a similar law on grounds it violates the National Labor Relations Act, as well as freedom of speech guarantees under the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.
“If passed, this could have significant ramifications in both the unionized and non-unionized workplace,” Schwartz said, in a blog on Connecticut employment law.
Employee recognition getting less notice?
Employee recognition has declined slightly, according to a survey by WorldatWork, an association of corporate rewards professionals.
The survey, fielded early this year, found that 86 percent of companies used recognition programs, down from 89 percent in 2008. About one in 10 respondents eliminated some recognition offerings in the 12 months prior to the survey.
“A 3 percent decline is not that significant considering the difficult labor and economic climate since the last survey was conducted,” said Alison Avalos, research manager for WorldatWork, in a prepared statement. “The data suggests that, even with a recession, recognition programs remain an important component of employee rewards.”
Still, only about half of those surveyed said their companies”™ senior management saw such programs as an investment, with the other half seeing it as an expense.
On average, respondents set aside 2 percent of their total payroll budget for employee rewards programs, down from 2.7 percent in 2008.
The top recognition programs were:
- Length of service (90 percent);
- Above-and-beyond performance (79 percent); and
- Peer-to-peer recognition (43 percent).
The top tangible recognition awards presented to employees included:
- Certificates or plaques (77 percent);
- Cash (62 percent); and
- Gift certificates (47 percent).
Recruiting costs analyzed
The Society for Human Resource Management is developing a way of measuring a company”™s costs for each employee it hires, which SHRM says would be the first such model of its kind in the U.S.
SHRM is accepting public comments on the proposal through June 20. The Reston, Va.-based organization was designated as the exclusive U.S. developer of HR standards by the American National Standards Institute.
