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| Horning |
Following are some sample questions about five different benefits scenarios:
1. All else being the same, what would your motivation be if you received the following reward package?
- Company does not currently offer additional contributions to your 401(k).
- A single "Paid Time Off" block combining vacation, sick leave and floating holidays. 18 total days per year for new hires, with the option to buy or sell up to 2 days at open enrollment. Additional 3 days after 2, 5 and 10 years; additional 5 days after 20 years
- Financial/Retirement planning services and personalized financial information provided and paid by the company
- You pay 10% more premium than today, and your Primary Care Physician office visit co-pay decreases to $15
- Currently, no Long Term Incentive award available Company match decreases: The first 3% of your contributions are matched 100% by the company, and the next 2% are matched 50%
2. All else being the same, what would your motivation be if you received the following reward package?
- Company offers additional contributions to your 401(k) of up to 5% depending on company performance
- A single "Paid Time Off" block combining vacation, sick leave and floating holidays. 20 total days for new hires with the option to buy or sell up to 2 days at open enrollment. Additional 3 days after 2, 5 and 10 years; additional 5 days after 20 years
- Financial/Retirement Planning services not currently offered
- You pay 5% less premium than today, and your Primary Care Physician office visit co-pay increases to $30
- Annual long-term incentive award equivalent in value of 5% of base pay Company match increases: The first 6% of your contributions are matched 100% by the company
3. All else being the same, what would your motivation be if you received the following reward package?
- Company does not currently offer additional contributions to your 401(k)
- A single "Paid Time Off" block combining vacation, sick leave and floating holidays. 18 total days per year for new hires, with the option to buy or sell up to 2 days at open enrollment. Additional 3 days after 2, 5 and 10 years; additional 5 days after 20 years
- Financial/Retirement planning services and personalized financial information provided and paid by the company
- You pay 5% less premium than today, and your Primary Care Physician office visit co-pay increases to $30 Annual long-term incentive award equivalent in value of 5% of base pay
- Company match increases: The first 6% of your contributions are matched 100% by the company
4. All else being the same, what would your motivation be if you received the following reward package?
- Company offers additional contributions to your 401(k) of up to 5% depending on company performance
- A single "Paid Time Off" block combining vacation, sick leave and floating holidays. 20 total days for new hires with the option to buy or sell up to 2 days at open enrollment. Additional 3 days after 2, 5 and 10 years; additional 5 days after 20 years
- Financial/Retirement planning services and personalized financial information provided and paid by the company
- You pay 10% more premium than today, and your Primary Care Physician office visit co-pay decreases to $15
- Currently, no Long Term Incentive award available
- Company match decreases: The first 3% of your contributions are matched 100% by the company, and the next 2% are matched 50%
5. All else being the same, what would your motivation be if you received the following reward package?
- Company does not currently offer additional contributions to your 401(k)
- A single "Paid Time Off" block combining vacation, sick leave and floating holidays. 18 total days per year for new hires, with the option to buy or sell up to 2 days at open enrollment. Additional 3 days after 2, 5 and 10 years; additional 5 days after 20 years
- Financial/Retirement Planning services not currently offered
- You pay 5% less premium than today, and your Primary Care Physician office visit co-pay increases to $30
- Annual long-term incentive award equivalent in value of 5% of base pay
- Company match increases: The first 6% of your contributions are matched 100% by the company
Related: In this wonkish YouTube video, Towers Watson executive John Bremen discusses the company's "total rewards" benefits program, one Gannett is weighing in the current employee survey.
This is all about cutting whatever benefits remain in place. Better get used to getting less and paying more.
ReplyDeleteNice application of conjoint methods to HR!
ReplyDeleteSounds like one massive shell game. They must think we're all freakin' idiots. It's insulting, but typical.
ReplyDeleteHR - we get it. You trying to cut back on benefits and want to make it look we have a say in the matter. That's just PATHETIC!
I first got this email two days before my appointment with HR to find out whether I will even have a job after today. Talk about adding insult to injury. This is just a horrible way to make the rank and file pick their own poison pill. A more honest survey question would have been, Dear undervalued employee, How can we screw you even more?
ReplyDeleteI'm wondering just how many employees got cut to pay for this survey? How much did it cost? Is Gannett management so clueless they don't know that all employees want is a stop to the constant downsizing, no paycuts by furloughs, an increase in wages just like Dubow & Martore got and some decent human respect.
ReplyDeleteMy version of the survey included a lot of scenarios involving "long-term investment" (stock or stock options) and "cash bonus" compensation based on base pay. Cash bonuses based on company performance, according to the survey.
ReplyDeleteNo, no, no. I just want to paid fairly on payday for the work I've done. Call it a blue-collar, Depression-era mindset--and no doubt some posters will criticize me for this--but I like cash in hand, not the nebulous promise of stock or bonuses. I already do what I can to make my site succeed. I have no control over corporate decisions or the fate of other sites in Gannett that ultimately determine the company's profitability.
In one of several such e-mails, a reader says: The survey is being conducted via an unencrypted link, so Towers Watson's promise of confidentiality is useless if employees complete the survey from a computer on a Gannett network.
ReplyDeleteAnd that is why I forwarded the e-mail so I can complete this survey from my home computer. Truth be told, I do not trust corporate to shoot straight under nay circumstance. Their track record is poor, which is why this blog is a must read. (cue the trolls)
ReplyDeleteQuestion #1. Will these changes apply the ALL employees, including the executive suite? Doubtful.
There is an alarming trend in the country to take away from the middle class. It's happened in the public sector and now companies like Verizon want similar give backs from their union workers while the CEO of the company makes $18 billion. Yes the company that was years late in offering the iPhone. Job well done there.
Most of Gannett's workers lack the protection of a contract or or a union. While I'm not debating the merits of unions (they have made incredible missteps in the public sector by refusing to recognize the fiscal pain of taxpayers over the years, which has led to the current backlash.), one thing is clear - the upper management of this company is looking for new and exciting ways to stick it to you, the rank and file, the worker drones.
Those who complained about having to take a history course in high school or college, welcome to the 1900's. Go look it up.
The promise of Bonuses will be like the elusive "merit pay" - how many of us have been told during our performance review by a supervisor or manager "Id love to give you merit pay, but corporate has given me nothing to give."
ReplyDeleteI've heard this for several years running. Empty promises, more "added responsibilities."
No thank you.
1. The decision has already been made and your benefits costs will increase and in return you will get extra PTO days that you can trade to reduce the impact of not getting paid for future furloughs.
ReplyDelete2. This study was already completed by HR's consulting firm. They took a sample of like companies and this is more of a internal communication strategy to get the employees ready for big changes.
3. Furloughs will be implemented for Q4. As Ms. Martore says..."do people really work during December, this is the best time for a furlough quarter."
Cut to the chase Gannett employees... One of these five is your future benefits package. It has already been decided. This would be my answer to each of these question if I were to take the above survey:
ReplyDelete1: U
2: N
3: I
4: O
5: N
It's interesting for use in a Gannett satellite company. Some of these questions were worded so that it implied we had better benefits than what we actually had. Our Director of HR sent an email out telling us that the survey was just worded confusingly. "Some of the questions you may have seen yesterday provided an example of a current state scenario for descriptive purposes, but the language in the question implied that it was an actual current state. This was confusing to many of the Gannett employees who took the survey, so some modifications to the language have been made. "
ReplyDeleteThe bottom line, folks, is that the *official* announcement hasn't been released, but it's a done deal that your benefits have already been reduced -- or cut. Roxanne believes that this psych survey will ease the pain. But don't worry, this doesn't affect those on the executive plan.
ReplyDeleteIn Louisville, our tuition reimbursement has been frozen for two years. So it was a bit confusing (insulting?) when the survey said that the current tuition reimbursement plan is $1,500 a semester. Umm, really? Does anybody check these things?
ReplyDeleteMy Boss' theory makes a lot sense. It's probably just a ruse so people think, "these are the cuts we wanted..."
ReplyDeleteThat's why the survey was confusing here as well, we don't even have Tuition reimbursement. I hope they didn't spend too much on this.
ReplyDeleteAll else being the same, what would your motivation be if you received the following reward package?
ReplyDelete• Company treated you and your peers with fairness and respect.
• Gannett’s culture encouraged divergent ideas and views.
• People at all levels were included in decision-making processes.
• Publishers, managers et al with a history of reprehensible acts were finally sacked.
• Gannett stopped sacking so many all while giving ridiculously generous bonuses and rewards to a few suits at the top.
That’s really the number one question that should be asked as little, if any of it, is done now. Now, that would be truly motivational for employees.
Sacking Horning would too as in her role as the head of HR she’s done nothing material to address Gannett’s self-destructive culture.
Well, we all have the basic framework of the questions and know what benefits they are discussing, so let's keep track of how many of them they actually implement.
ReplyDeleteMy guess....we'll get cuts in hard benefits like healthcare on one hand and then a time-off giveback to make us feel a little better about it. At least that's what they'll think.
Thousands have completed the survey, 18 have whined about conspiracies. Grow up!
ReplyDeleteI figured the only "right" answer to any of the questions was 100 percent!
ReplyDeleteThe only thing any of these packages will motivate is resumes heading out the door.
11:53am, Horning is coasting until retirement time, not too far away.
ReplyDeleteThe survey itself is highly misleading since it asks for a motivation score of 0-100 but doesn't take into account all the other things that keep us motivated. So, when I answered, I based the answer strictly on the question being asked....if though it doesn't tell the whole story. I wonder if they realize that?
ReplyDeleteThis survey is just a consultant who found a floundering company they could bilk out of consulting fees. If no one's noticed, Gannett is being overrun with outsourcing and consulting. Hey, if it doesn't work blame the consultants. Find new ones...repeat
ReplyDeleteAll else being the same: I now work for a company that won't furlough me, in a state NOT designated as a "right-to-work" state. My benefits are better, pay is better, much more stable company.
ReplyDeleteWhat they should be using as a qualifier here....
"Should we still exist as currently structured in 5 years....."
Not sure this comment belongs on this thread, but one of the commenters above mentioned "Gannett being bilked by another consultant". I work at one of the broadcast sites, and we've had a consultant for several years to "fight Nielsen" for us. Our market and station ratings suddenly dropped about 3 years ago - dozen of conspiracies theories about Nielsen, but no one in the station will admit maybe, just maybe, it's our product! . Since we've hired this consultant, our ratings are worse than when they started with us. Not sure how much Gannett pays this guy, but I'm sure it's in the 6-figure range. What a waste.
ReplyDeleteIf you've worked for Gannett for more than 25 years aren't ALL of these time-off packages another cut?
ReplyDelete1:31 -- Yep. From what I see, none of the options were as good as what I had when I worked for Gannett. So, my motivation under any of them would have gone from poor to worse. So glad I chose to leave.
ReplyDelete