Problem 1. The Employee Benefit Research Institute (www.ebri.org) has conducted a "Retirement Survey" for several years. Visit EBRI's website and find the 2010 Retirement Confidence Survey. Scan the "Findings" and take a look at the "Fact Sheets" and comment on how HR might help solve the problem of inadequate employee participation in company supported retirement plans (e.g., 401K-like programs). Also, make observations on why most companies are shifting from defined benefit to contributory plans and any other aspects of retirement planning from the HR perspective.
Problem 2. One of basic premises of economics is that people respond to incentives. Give examples of individual incentives used by an organization in which you were either employed or know about. Describe why those plans were successful or unsuccessful. How could you have structured the unsuccessful ones to work better?
Problem 3. The attached series of articles from SHRM regarding pension funding issues helps us understand why employers are shifting away from defined benefit plans to contribution plans (e.g., 401K). To pay a $30,000 per year pension takes about $500,000 in the bank. If you are General Motors with thousands of pensioners, you have to tie up a lot of cash to cover the pension obligations. That much cash is a tempting source for urgently needed funds, and leads to borrowing and those sincere promises to pay it back. Do you have any observations?
Problem 4. SHRM reports, "In what could prove to be a bellwether for corporate compensation generally, financial organizations have changed their pay mix, moving away from short-term incentives in favor of increased salary, deferred compensation and modified incentive program design. According to a global survey by HR consultancy Mercer, key changes in the sector's short-term incentive (STI) programs include more focus on balanced, risk-adjusted performance measurement and deferral of bonus payouts over several years." The full SHRM article is attached and the Mercer Survey summary is https://www.mercer.com/press-releases/1368340. Do you have any observations regarding SHRM's claim that the Mercer survey represents a "bellwether for corporate compensation"?
Problem 5. It seems that competition has tended to drive up the "worth" of a good CEO to unsustainable levels. Basic economics says that someone should be paid what they are worth. Read the attached WSJ article about how one company tried to pull back. Did Sharper Image make some good decisions? Has their profitability shown results?
Around 500 to 600 words total.