Evan Rodd, PayScale

You’re shivering, scared, and an overwhelming feeling of doom has suddenly washed over you. Your palms are sweating, your knees are shaking, and your mouth has suddenly run dry. As you creep slowly towards the door, your mind is suddenly racing with terrible thoughts of what fate has in store for you on the other side…

Laleh Hassibi, PayScale

PayScale’s Spring 2013 software release includes several updates that improve user experience and provide advanced analytics unavailable anywhere else. To follow are the highlights from PayScale’s Spring 2013 release. 

Dan Walter, Performensation

It’s proxy season and Say on Pay is once again on the minds of anyone involved in executive compensation. As of this past week, about 170 companies have reported their results and less than 2% have failed. When we are at the end of this season, it looks like it will be somewhere south of 3% failures, about where we were the past two years. Let’s start with the positive, what I like to call the 97% rule. 97 out of every 100 companies have executive compensation practices that meet or exceed the desires of their shareholders.

Jessica Miller-Merrell, blogging4jobs

Our economy has come a long way in the last couple of years. Things are definitely looking up, but some companies are still feeling the pain. If you're experiencing the pressure to cut costs, you're not alone. The recent sequestering on the federal budget is the perfect example of making difficult decisions to make ends meet. When those tough decisions need to be made, chances are, you're the one your company turns to.

Mykkah Herner, MA, CCP, PayScale

As an employee, I’m often concerned with my own value and therefore worth to the organization. As a manager, I was often trying to determine the value of each job to the organization. Now as a comp professional, I focus on a little bit of both: the value of the job itself, but also the value of the employee to the organization.

Laleh Hassibi, PayScale

U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama urged companies to hire more veterans last week. The unemployment rate of those who served in Iraq and Afghanistan is nearly two points higher than the national average, at 9.4 percent. While it’s admirable to hire veterans for emotional reasons, there’s another really good reason to hire a veteran — their skills.

Evan Rodd, PayScale

PayScale’s 2013 Compensation Best Practices Report showed some of the most positive figures we’ve seen in some time. Wages are up across the board for companies of all sizes, and many organizations are beginning to hire for various positions — news which is undoubtedly exciting for job seekers. Those who are currently employed were also given a reason to smile, as 85 percent of companies expect to issue raises in the coming months.

Jessica Miller-Merrell, blogging4jobs

Several new changes to the Family Medical Leave Act went into effect last week on March 8. The most pertinent is the requirement to post the updated FMLA poster, which informs employees of the updated FMLA rules. There are also several forms that have been updated and are available on the Department of Labor website. 

Dan Walter, Performensation

Last month I covered Restricted Stock Shares (RSS), today’s post covers Restricted Stock Units (RSUs). Where RSS and Stock Options are cousins, RSS and RSUs are siblings. RSS is the older sibling, with more years and experience under its belt. RSUs are the new little sister who came by surprise and often gets more attention than seems to be required. RSUs were seldom used before they shot into the spotlight following the Dotcom crash of 1999-2000. Initially, they were used to replace underwater stock options and slow the use of plan shares approved by shareholders. They provided some protection against a decrease in stock price and used somewhere between 25-50% of the shares require to provide the same value as stock options. They quickly became a major component of the equity compensation toolbox.

Jessica Miller-Merrell, blogging4jobs

An aging workforce can have an affect on many aspects of your business but your benefits package may be the most significant. Older employees have unique needs and preferences, which means that there may be special considerations as our workforce ages.

Since the average age of retirement has increased by four years in the last decade and is expected to continue to rise, it’s time to start making room for a seasoned workforce as we make benefit decisions. Read below to learn about three major considerations.

Mykkah Herner, MA, CCP, Compensation Consultant PayScale

Stephanie R Thomas ends her blog post, “Gone With The Wind (Your Guidance, That Is),” with a challenge: “How will you prepare?” She aptly points out that the rescission of the “Compensation Standards” and “Voluntary Guidelines” by the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) leaves federal contractors with less guidance about how to comply with non-discrimination requirements outlined in Title VII. I’d like to take a moment to offer some suggestions.

Laleh Hassibi, PayScale

Everyone has been talking about the business pros and cons of telecommuting this week after Yahoo's big announcement that they are pulling the rug out from under their work-from-home agreements. Is Yahoo's move to get workers back in the office a sign of a shift? Here are some of this week's most interesting views on the subject.

Amy Knapp

In a recently leaked memo, Yahoo exec Jackie Reses called all of the company’s remote employees back to the office effective June of this year, a controversial move for which Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer has already taken a heavy dose of flack from Bloomberg, the New York Times, Forbes, even Richard Branson.

Wasn’t telecommuting supposed to be the future? Insurance company Aetna reported saving $78 million in real estate cost since it began encouraging employees to work from home and providing the tools to do so. 37signals founders Jason Fried and David Heinemeier-Hansson wrote a hit book about their success with telecommuters. What’s changed?

Laleh Hassibi, PayScale

Today we released the PayScale 2013 Compensation Best Practices Report. The report is a result of our end of year study on the compensation practices of small, medium and large companies. We also asked some questions about the changing world of work, the use of social media at work and for work, as well as some additional questions on the Skills Gap and ObamaCare.

Jessica Miller-Merrell, blogging4jobs

Medical, dental and vision insurance, retirement contributions, paid vacation and sick leave—it all adds up to a decent benefits package, but it’s what every other employer offers. So when a company wants to stand out, what do they do? Well, some offer scooters for employees to ride through the halls on, some make flag football an item on meeting agendas and some even offer Botox injections at work. While these benefits may seem over the top, they work.  

Evan Rodd, Payscale

Hopefully you’re familiar with the many different ways PayScale’s compensation solutions can help your company benchmark high-demand jobs, attract desirable candidates, and remain competitive. Utilizing concrete data and analytics, your HR managers are able to define your company’s labor market and benchmark any job against market rates. Many companies have experienced great success with the help of PayScale’s compensation software, but we wanted to take a moment to highlight a particularly inspiring success story: BuzzBee.

Dan Walter, Performensation

Most of the problems with executive compensation tend to originate within a few categories. I have attempted to summarize these and look forward to the compensation community adding their take on this topic. Look at your past mistakes and issues. Did they start with one of these seven categorical errors?

Jessica Miller-Merrell

Providing an impressive benefit package to employees is expensive and sometimes isn’t in fact what sets your organization apart from the rest. Most of us won’t argue that benefits aren't worth the cost, but as any employer or HR professional can tell you, the expense is huge. In addition to the obvious benefit costs employees see, such as healthcare and retirement contributions, there’s a major benefit lurking in the dark going unnoticed by employees: workers’ compensation insurance.

Amy Knapp

Implications of recent decision Martin v. ConCreate USL Limited Partnership

Restrictive covenants are a tricky business. While fundamentally important in some circumstances, they’re notoriously ineffective in others. With the recent rulings on enforcement of restrictive covenants, it's becoming even more apparent that Canadian companies need to develop more compelling strategies to keep talent from going to the competitors.

Laleh Hassibi, PayScale

Effectively managing human capital is of concern to companies across the globe. Many of those human resource issues are becoming less siloed to particular countries as outsourcing becomes more commonplace in business. This week, we take a look at some of the top news and issues surrounding human capital management and compensation across the world.