Welcome to VIEWPOINT: the BTHR Solutions Blog!
You may already be familiar with our popular newsletter Viewpoint, which covers BTHR Solutions news as well as news, notes and nonsense from the HR world.
This is the spot to find the latest news from BTHR Solutions including HR industry news, employment trends, funny HR stories and anything else we think might interest you. If you have any questions, comments or if you'd like to suggest a topic, don't hesistate to email us at info@BTHRsolutions.com.
Interesting Trends for 2012
Over the last few months, there has been a streak of positive economic news. Since last September, the BLS monthly jobs reports have suggested a strengthening labor market and key measures like the unemployment rate and the number of job seekers per job opening are all moving in the right direction. With over 240,000 jobs created in January 2012, the positive news continues into this year.
At BTHR Solutions, we’ve seen positive changes in our market as well. Lately, more of our clients want to add permanent staff members to their team. Some are choosing to go the contract-to-permanent route, while others are jumping in with both feet to try to lock up the best candidates right away. This is a great development compared to the last two years of the recession, when permanent job opportunities essentially dried up.
February 2012 Employee Spotlight: Laurie Kiricoples
This month we shine our Employee Spotlight on Laurie Kiricoples, a seasoned pension specialist with over 20 years of general HR and benefits experience. “My passion is pension plans,” says Laurie. “Very few companies offer pension plans today and many are frozen and/or outsourced. I worked at two large companies as a permanent full-time employee for 10 years each so I feel very fortunate that I have continued to work in an area I love through contracting.”
Currently, Laurie works as a pension consultant on a contract with Sappi Fine Paper in Boston, managing changes to a complex set of pension plans for Sappi’s various employee groups. “Laurie’s expertise is so valuable,” says Jane Holland, Sappi’s corporate benefits manager. “We requested her specifically for this project because we knew from her prior placement with us that she was definitely the right person for the job. Laurie picks things up so quickly; she is a great team player and will do whatever needs to be done. And she does it all with a great sense of humor.”
BTHR Road Warriors Expertly Cover Open Enrollment Meetings
Annual enrollment presents many challenges for every HR/Benefit department. After managing plan changes and communications development, annual enrollment often requires additional experienced resources to travel to company sites and lead open enrollment meetings. These meetings are critical to employee understanding and ultimately the success of the benefit program.
For a third year, our client Cornerstone Group needed senior level support to cover employee meetings for one of their clients with multiple locations around the country. They called on BTHR to provide highly-experienced HR professionals as “road warriors” to travel to those locations. Rather than pulling their own staff out of the office for nearly four weeks of travel, two BTHR contractors hit the road and held over 60 open enrollment meetings for employees!
INtroducing Guest Contributor Russell Gaudreau
As part of our continued effort to provide valuable HR news and information, all of us at BTHR are pleased to introduce Russell Gaudreau, a well-known benefits attorney in Boston for over 35 years. He has agreed to become a Viewpoint contributor, providing expert level information on topics of interest to our profession.
Russ has concentrated on retirement plan and executive benefit matters for 40 years. He is currently a partner at Wagner Law Group in Boston and was previously a partner in the law firm of Ropes & Gray LLP. Russ is a director and founder of the New England Employee Benefits Council, on the faculty of the Boston University School of Law and adjunct faculty at Georgetown University Law Center.
In his first guest feature, Russ provides us with some real insight into recently issued Department of Labor (DOL) regulations on the electronic delivery of the newly required investment performance and fee information to participants in employer-sponsored retirement plans...
Investment Performance and Fees May Be
Disclosed Electronically to Participants
By Russell Gaudreau - October 6,2011
Our spotlight employee this month, Stephen Deininger, is well connected – at least with BTHR Solutions and our clients! One of Steve’s first jobs was a placement through “Davenport Associates” - BTHR Solutions’ original name back in the 70’s and 80’s. And Steve worked with Sam Gruenbaum, BTHR President, nearly 30 years ago when they both were at Towers Perrin in Boston. Today, Steve continues his successful career as a pension specialist, most recently on a contract assignment at Lifespan, a health services provider based in Providence, RI.
“I love helping clients solve problems,” says Steve. “I really enjoy the project work associated with contracting. At Lifespan I’m able to help with process design, technology implementation, and training for their pension project. I love that I am able to contribute my perspective and expertise, yet still learn something new because their new system is not one I have worked with before.”
Read more...
Stephen Deininger - October 2011 Spotlight Employee
October 6,2011
Our spotlight employee this month, Stephen Deininger, is well connected – at least with BTHR Solutions and our clients! One of Steve’s first jobs was a placement through “Davenport Associates” - BTHR Solutions’ original name back in the 70’s and 80’s. And Steve worked with Sam Gruenbaum, BTHR President, nearly 30 years ago when they both were at Towers Perrin in Boston. Today, Steve continues his successful career as a pension specialist, most recently on a contract assignment at Lifespan, a health services provider based in Providence, RI.
“I love helping clients solve problems,” says Steve. “I really enjoy the project work associated with contracting. At Lifespan I’m able to help with process design, technology implementation, and training for their pension project. I love that I am able to contribute my perspective and expertise, yet still learn something new because their new system is not one I have worked with before.”
Read more...
Annual Enrollment: Uncertain Times, Difficult Decisions
July 29,2011
Once again, the Annual Enrollment cycle for benefit choices is the topic at many companies throughout the county. Employees are faced with tough healthcare benefit choices as this year is offering a sea of plan design changes and cost shifting. With costs continuing to increase rapidly, a sluggish, faltering economic recovery and great uncertainty about the impact of the Affordable Care Act, the future of healthcare has never been more uncertain.
Plans are changing rapidly and shifting the costs of health plans from employers to employees. Health Savings Accounts (HSA) are now offered by 35% of employers, 8% offer consumer directed health plans, putting more decision-making power in the hands of plan participants and adding to the complexity and difficulty of communicating plan information to anxious employees already stressed by the difficult economy.
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Employee Spotlight: Ellen Doren
July 22, 2011
BTHR Solutions knows that our success depends fully on the success of our contractors in their assignments. Our goal with every placement is to meet the needs of each client and exceed their expectations. We are extremely fortunate to have outstanding professionals in our contractor pool who achieve this goal each and every time they are placed.
We are pleased to shine the Employee Spotlight on Ellen Doren, who is our outstanding contractor this month.
Ellen joined BeneTemps back in 1996. "I answered a tiny ad for experienced benefits professionals in the Boston Globe," Ellen says "because I knew I wanted to keep my focus working in benefits. I met with [then owner] Bob Spiegelman and he placed me in my first assignment within a couple of weeks. I've been working for BeneTemps ever since!" Ellen has completed 18 different contract assignments for BTHR /BeneTemps!
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BTHR BENeTemps - STill the BEst Contractors!
July 15, 2011
Each year on November 14, BTHR Solutions celebrates “Davenport Day.” It marks the day in 1976 that Bob Spiegelman founded Davenport Associates (the original incarnation of BTHR Solutions). It is especially noteworthy for us in 2010, as we’ve started a new chapter in our corporate history with the introduction of BTHR Solutions, the third company name following BeneTemps, and Davenport Associates.
While we are excited by the positive reception for our new moniker and the expanding use of the full range of our services, we remain committed to the mission that we’ve embraced for over 34 years – ensuring the satisfaction of everyone we work with.
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