The new company may be Affiliated Computer Services, or ACS, which is part of Xerox Co., according to my reader. Xerox, better known for its photo-copying equipment, bought ACS in February, pushing the company into HR benefits management and other business-to-business services.
I don't know why Gannett is making the swap. It comes, however, as Corporate is reorganizing the company's overall HR management. The switch also comes after years of complaints from Gannett Blog readers over Hewitt's slow response during layoffs that required many employees to seek new health-care coverage, and spurred others to move retirement savings to other companies.
Just last month, Hewitt disclosed that it is merging with insurance giant Aon in a deal worth about $5 billion.
In 2008, the most recent year I've found, Gannett paid Hewitt $16.1 million in consulting fees, according to GCI's annual report to the U.S. Labor Department for its medical care and group life insurance programs. That was more than any other consultant, the document shows.
Hooray. What a useless company Hewitt is.
ReplyDeleteI will not miss Hewitt's website in the slightest. It was one of the most poorly designed sites I've ever had the misfortune to use.
ReplyDeletePractically every link needlessly pops up in a new window, and hitting the "Back" or "Forward" buttons result in a fail page: "BROWSER BUTTONS AND NAVIGATION DON'T WORK."
Yeah, they don't work because you disabled them -- likely as a security measure, but plenty of other sites that deal with sensitive information have figured out how to keep sessions secure without resorting to hobbling people's browsers.
Most of the photos used in the emailed brochure have iStockPhoto watermarks on them - meaning they were not paid for.
ReplyDeleteHand that to a prospective employee: "Welcome to Gannett. Too cheap to buy what we need, too stupid to steal and not get caught."
The official letter hit our inboxes @ 12:31 central time. Does your source know anything else, Jim?
ReplyDeleteAlready got the e-mail. Sounds like GCI is making the right move here.
ReplyDeleteThis is all about the HR reorganization. Using money from the cuts to fund this new endeavor.
ReplyDeleteIf GCI is dropping Hewitt, you can bet it's because it has found a way to offer even less service than the Hewitt folks provided at an even lower price.
ReplyDeleteAnyone else notice that the first page of the attached tri-fold was information for INACTIVE EMPLOYEES?
ReplyDeleteThe term human resources at Gannett should be changed to litigation preventers.
ReplyDeleteYeah, clearly this isn't such great news. As health care costs continue to rise and Gannett continues to scrimp, the replacement for Hewitt can only be worse.
ReplyDeleteha ha, where's the photo police when you need them? Stealing copyrighted photos from Istock! What a bunch of losers! And then sending them out company wide! I wonder who that idiot was? Must have a background in advertising, since they always want us to steal stuff off the internet and use it, but we won't.
ReplyDelete@ 3:34 -- I don't know about less service, but the first thing I thought when I saw it was that GCI has found someone who will do it cheaper than Hewitt.
ReplyDeleteHas anyone heard that some insurance companies aren't paying for eyeglass/contact lens prescriptions?
ReplyDeleteIn other words, you can get checked for cataracts, etc., but you won't get a dime's worth of coverage for determining if you need new glasses, and if so, what prescription.
A previous poster was right about the Hewitt switch. If it didn't save money for Gannett, it would never be done.