The news out of Illinois this morning tells us that up to 2,000 people, including 325 uniformed employees, descended on McDonalds' Headquarters yesterday in advance of the company's annual shareholder meeting to demand that the company pay their workers' “what they are worth”. I am not privy to the convoluted calculations involved, and have no…
Oh, We ALMOST Had 11 Million!
It was so close. Right there, brazenly displayed at the top of the Drudge Report, the headline; RECORD 10,996,447 ON DISABILITY. That is the number of Americans now officially “disabled” and receiving benefits from Social Security as of the end of April. We only needed 3,553 more to make that very impressive 11,000,000 mark! Frankly,…
Few Were SAIF at the Salem Witch Trials
The resemblance is uncanny. Rapacious accusations of mortal sin, followed by a swift tribunal replete with vague and unsubstantiated evidence. A decisive summation determines the accused is a witch, and they are summarily executed, vanquishing from this noblest earth an evil and repugnant soul; this despite protestations from some professing the innocence of the accused,…
Samsung Says It’s Sorry and Promises to Take Care of Sick Workers
In a somewhat unusual action, Samsung has apologized to those of its workers who have fallen ill while working for the company, and is promising compensation to sufferers of leukemia and other ailments. Samsung CEO Kwon Oh-hyun has issued a “deep apology” to those workers who have become ill as a result of working for…
With the Sacking of the CEO, Is Leadership Safe at SAIF?
Friday the Board of Directors of the Oregon State Fund, SAIF Corporation, fired their CEO John Plotkin after just 3 months on the job. He was terminated in a unanimous vote for “making inappropriate comments” to employees. Plotkin came to SAIF from Colorado’s Pinnacol Assurance, where he had served as Interim CEO and vice-chair of…
How Defending Your Honor Can Kill Your Business
As tempting as it is to respond to negative or false statements people may make about you or your business, there was a story this week telling us that sometimes it may be better to suck it up and take the hit; that the result of fighting and winning the battle may end up causing…
But, But, But, I Liked My Group Health Plan….
I got the letter Monday at my house. Barack Obama, Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi have determined that my Aetna health insurance plan, the one I was told I could keep if I liked, is not adequate, does not meet their standards, and will not be renewed. Now, this is part of an employer group…
Wrapping Up on RIMS 2014
Well, another big RIMS conference has come and gone, and I thought I would take a few minutes to reflect as we adjust back to the humdrum routine of our daily lives. Denver was a good, albeit cold, host city for the conference this year. Hotels were reasonable and close to the Conference Center, and…
RIMS 2014 – Using Predictive Modeling to Ferret Out Your Land Mine Claims
There is a danger to writing about this particular session from the RIMS 2014 conference held last week. It turns out one of the presenters is a regular reader of this blog. Normally I can opine on my impressions from a seminar with no one being the wiser about whether I really understood the topic…
2014 Kids' Chance Annual Meeting Highlights – Changing Lives One Scholarship at a Time
Kids' Chance of America, Inc. released a terrific video this week showing some of the highlights of the recent Kids' Chance Annual Meeting held in Philadelphia. I had the pleasure of attending and presenting at this meeting, and I think the video does a great job of capturing both the excitement and emotion of this…