Social support is the first line of defence against psychological distress at work. In these times of teleworking, a manager’s primary role is not to monitor performance but to maintain the quality of connection. It is by taking care of what unites us today (despite the distance) that we may re-discover the path to performance tomorrow.

Teleworking has brought about an opportunity to manage differently. Psychology teaches us that management based on trust increases productivity, engagement, and quality of life. How do we do it? By setting objectives to be achieved rather than by controlling the amount of time employees are online. It means allowing everyone to be autonomous, to allow colleagues to get to know each other well enough to organise themselves optimally. Those

It is becoming more challenging for human resources (HR) departments to retain talent, according to the July 2017 edition of McKinsey Quarterly titled The CEO’s guide to competing through HR. The report outlines the state of HR in the fight to stem high turnover and recruit more talent, and suggests steps that an innovative HR department might take in order to become competitive in today’s talent market. The report

American International Group (AIG) in September 2017 announced changes to its organizational structure. AIG will no longer have Commercial and Consumer segments, and will transition to: General Insurance, led by Peter Zaffino, currently Group COO, as CEO; Life & Retirement, led by Kevin Hogan, currently CEO of Global Consumer Insurance, as CEO; and a stand-alone, technology-enabled platform, led by Seraina Macia as its CEO. The platform “aims to transform

Workers are getting better at balancing work and home life, according to a Robert Half Management Resources survey published in June 2017 that revealed that the majority of professionals (52 percent) believe their work-life balance has improved from three years ago. Employers and employees alike are emphasizing work-life balance, and managers contribute by giving their teams more freedom over where and when they work, if possible, and providing greater

As existing P/C captives expand to include employee benefits risks, often under the guidance of risk managers, understanding their concerns and challenges may prove useful for client relationship managers more accustomed to dealing with human resources departments. Risk managers face a growing confusion of challenges and new demands according to a Lockton survey of risk management professionals. The survey, presented officially at Lockton’s Complex Risk Symposium in mid-June 2017,

138 Asian senior female executives were polled by U.S. based consultancy firm Heidrick & Struggles, across Singapore, India, Hong Kong, Japan, and China between May and December 2016, and the results of that poll indicate that women in multinational corporations feel marginalized to regional roles. 54 percent of the women believe that the lack of global opportunities is due to their ethnic background, while 47 percent felt that gender

Management consulting firm Frost & Sullivan in April 2017 announced findings by its Transformational Health team that suggest that analytics adoption among U.S. healthcare payers and providers is not consistent, and that some health systems might utilize advanced enterprise data processing architecture to derive patient-specific insight for every episode of care. Healthcare analytics is widely considered as the key enabler of value-based care, and robust use of analytics allows

One thousand college-educated U.S. employees recently responded to questions about their bosses’ ability to handle stress, their contributions to the workplace, and their own work experiences, in a March 2017 study conducted by workforce consulting firm Life Meets Work. According to the survey site, “Managers provide direction, assessment, and motivation for the teams they support. If managers don’t have the skills to handle stress, then everyone working for that

Generali in January 2017 promoted its Group Head of Corporate Finance Luigi Lubelli to Group CFO, replacing Alberto Minali who leaves the group. Mr. Lubelli will join the Group Management Committee and Minali will not immediately be replaced in his role as General Manager as defined by the articles of incorporation. All the first-level business functions previously reporting to Minali now report directly to the Group CEO, Philippe Donnet.

Today more than ever, businesses are reliant on the constant flow of people, goods and ideas to drive the global economy. As organizations continue to leverage global assignments as a key component of their growth strategies, they must give careful consideration to the ways in which they manage their global mobility programs.

Mobility has never been in the mainstream of HR. Originally few employees transferred among international locations, and those that did were a nomadic and independent bunch. They completed one assignment and then moved on to the next one or returned home; as long as their occasional updates to HQ showed progress they were left alone.

For many employers the largest liability related to employees after payroll-related cost is employee benefits. Subject to a turbulent and volatile past, now largely over, some management vestiges remain. Employers should examine the management of employee benefits and how tailored it is to their company’s current risk profile and cash flow. Certainly captives require more administration and an empowered internal advocate who can maximize utilization. But for mid-size and

From the October 2015 Baden-Baden Reinsurance Meeting. The consolidation of the reinsurance industry that is being observed in 2015 apparently is driven by capacity overload, successive years of rate declines and persistently falling profitability. But are mergers and acquisitions (M&As) the right answer? Of course, sheer scale matters but the upside of better mutualization hits its limits fairly quickly and unmanaged diversification is fraught with dangers. In fact, new