Hundreds of Thousands of Layoffs: How to Negotiate a Better Severance Package Without Burning Bridges
“Getting laid off is rarely something you can control. But what you can control is how you leave a company — and, most importantly, the size and terms of your severance package.” Kirk Nemer
Kirk Nemer, J.D., SPHR
Severance Plans Face Squeeze Amid Scramble to Preserve Cash is the title of a recent Wall Street Journalarticle by Sarah Needleman: "Some 20% of companies polled in December by Hewitt Associates Inc., said they plan to change severance policies and 31% are considering such a move," she writes. "Hewitt's survey found that 43% of firms planning severance-policy changes expect to reduce cash payments, while 21% intend to trim other benefits. Similarly, a survey conducted earlier this year by Hay Group Inc., shows that 61% of employers planning or considering changes aim to do so by downgrading their offerings to laid-off workers."
Welcome to a Big Picture Channel podcast on Total Picture Radio with Peter Clayton reporting. Kirk Nemer isCEO of Career Protection — an employment attorney who specializes in employment and severance agreements, and has been negotiating them for the past 21 years.
As we all know, highly skilled and professional employees across the U.S. are being laid off in droves. It seems everyday another major company announces another several thousand staff cuts. In January, nearly 240,000 workers received pink slips, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' mass layoff data, which tracks instances in which companies lay off 50 or more employees--a nearly 60% increase from a year-ago. The number of jobless Americans rose to 12.5 million in February, pushing the unemployment rate to 8.1%, up from 7.6% in January, the Labor Department said -- the highest in 26 years.
Should laid off employees hire an employment attorney?
Trends in HR Marketing: Where HR Suppliers Spent Their Dollars in 2008 and What’s Ahead in 2009
"Everything that you do starts with the Internet these days." Kevin Grossman
Kevin Grossman
Welcome to a Big Picture channel podcast on Total Picture Radio with Peter Clayton reporting. Joining us today is Kevin Grossman, President of HRmarketer.com. He has over twenty years of marketing communications experience working in the human resources and recruiting services industries, high-tech, and higher education. Kevin and I discuss the most interesting and important data points resulting from the new HRMarketer.com survey, and how HR vendors are responding to the recession, job cuts, and the economy.
The Trends in HR Marketing report covers the latest trends and best practices for marketing to the human resource (HR) and employee benefits marketplace going into 2009. The data presented in this report is based on responses from a diverse group of HR and employee benefits suppliers collected during the fourth quarter of 2008. Topics covered in this report include:
• Patterns of adoption and use of various marketing and PR tactics by HR and
employee benefits suppliers – including social networking, social media,
blogging, podcasting and RSS – also known as “Web 2.0” activities.
• Marketing and PR activities most important to HR suppliers.
• The marketing and PR activities that generate the most sales leads for HR
suppliers, and those presenting the greatest challenges.
• How HR suppliers measure the success of their marketing and PR.
• Who and what suppliers rely on to stay knowledgeable about the human
resources marketplace – and how optimistic suppliers are about the overall
health of the human capital marketplace.
The key trends outlined in this report include:
• Growth of “Web 2.0” tactics like blogging, podcasting and social networking as
a means of lead generation.
• Growing importance of search engine optimization (SEO).
• Continued use of direct e-mail marketing and devaluation of print advertising.
Finally, our team of experts provides analysis on what these findings mean for HR suppliers and recommendations for 2009.
The Brand Bubble: A Podcast with John Gerzema, Chief Insights Officer for Young & Rubicam Group
"New Rule of Brand Management: Everything is media and everything communicates."
John Gerzema
Welcome to a Big Picture edition of Total Picture Radio with Peter Clayton Reporting. Companies today face a dilemma in marketing. The tried-and-true formulas to create sales and market share behind brands are becoming irrelevant and losing traction with consumers. In The Brand Bubble, The Looming Crisis in Brand Value and How to Avoid it, John Gerzema and Ed Lebar (CEO of BrandAsset Consulting), offer credible evidence--drawn from a detailed analysis of a decade's worth of brand and financial data using Y&R's Brand Asset Valuator (BAV), the largest database of brands in the world--that business is riding on yet another bubble that is ready to burst--a brand bubble. The Brand Bubble has been voted the #3 Business Book of 2008 by Amazon.com
While most managers still see metrics like trust and awareness as the backbone of how brands are built, Gerzema asserts they're dead wrong--these metrics do not add to increased asset value. In fact, by following them, they actually hasten the declining value of their brands.
Using a five-stage model, The Brand Bubble reveals how today's successful brands--and tomorrow's--have an insatiable appetite for creativity and change. These brands offer consumers a palpable sense of movement and direction thanks to a powerful "energized differentiation." Gerzema reveals how brands with energized differentiation achieve better financial performance than traditional brands have. Plus, Gerzema helps readers develop energized differentiation in their own brands, creating consumer-centric and sustainable organizations.
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