Executive MBA vs. traditional MBA: How careers and pay prospects stack up

Since Harvard University established the first MBA program more than 100 years ago, schools have continued to offer a variety of different options. From full-time to part-time and online programs, the MBA offers business professionals the opportunity to advance their careers. This degree helps prepare professionals for management roles or for a transition to a different career path, and an EMBA caters to full-time working professionals who want to reach the highest levels of management in their current industries. READ MORE

Extra unemployment benefits ending soon, leaving millions without an income

Millions of Americans are poised to lose their unemployment benefits in less than one week, as the massive safety net that Congress put in place in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic continues to unravel.  

A report published by the left-leaning Century Foundation found that 7.5 million workers face the loss of jobless aid on Sept. 6 – Labor Day, the official cut-off date for three relief programs that were first created in March 2020 and renewed twice by Congress as the virus forced an unprecedented shutdown of the nation's economy, pushing unemployment to the highest level since the Great Depression. READ MORE

Why Google's Plan to Cut Remote Worker Pay Is a Dumb Idea

Google may reduce the salaries of employees who choose to work at home full-time, based on the cost of living where they live, according to an internal calculator viewed by Reuters. It's an idea that's gaining traction in Silicon Valley and elsewhere. It may seem sensible, given that a salary that barely covers a San Francisco studio apartment might get you a mansion in, say, Topeka. That's the logic Google says it's using. "Our compensation packages have always been determined by location," a spokesperson told Reuters. READ MORE

High pay for COVID-19 nurses leads to shortages at some hospitals

Before the coronavirus pandemic, Ivette Palomeque made $45 an hour on a flexible schedule as a staff intensive-care nurse at Memorial Hermann Health System in Houston.

Today, she earns $120 an hour working in an ICU in McAllen, Texas, the latest in a string of "travel nurse" jobs she has held over the past 16 months. The journey that has taken her from Miami to New York City and back to Texas. READ MORE

Biden announces plans to give pay raise to federal employees

President Biden on Friday announced plans to give all federal civilian employees an average 2.7 percent pay raise, consistent with the increases he had proposed in his 2022 budget.

″I have determined that for 2022, the across-the-board base pay increase will be 2.2 percent and locality pay increases will average 0.5 percent, resulting in an overall average increase of 2.7 percent for civilian Federal employees,” Biden wrote in a letter to congressional leaders Friday. READ MORE

Should unvaccinated employees pay more for health insurance?

A sizable share of workers support higher insurance rates for employees not vaccinated against COVID-19, according to new research released before Delta Air Lines DAL, +1.84% announced it would introduce a $200 health-insurance surcharge for its unvaccinated workers.

Some 41% of workers in a national poll conducted by Ipsos for the management consulting firm Eagle Hill Consulting backed insurance-rate hikes for unvaccinated workers, with baby boomers showing the highest level of support (45%) and Gen Z respondents showing the lowest (23%). READ MORE

U.S. income inequality could be pushing interest rates lower

Economists have long attributed the decline in U.S. interest rates primarily to the country's aging population, with other factors such as slower growth also playing a role.

But a steady rise in income inequality may be the bigger force driving rates down, according to a new paper released on Friday during the annual Jackson Hole research conference held virtually by the Kansas City Federal Reserve. READ MORE

Dividend-Protected Stock Compensation Awards

The recipients of stock compensation awards may be entitled to the dividends that companies pay on their underlying equity shares, while the stock awards are still outstanding but not vested (ASC 718-10-55-45). FASB considers these divided-protected stock awards as participating securities under certain conditions. Share-based payments that include dividend-protection features, such as dividend payments or adjustments to the exercise price for dividends declared, have certain accounting implications for both expense recognition and earnings per share (EPS) calculations. READ MORE

Employers, workers have different recruiting and retention incentives in mind, report suggests

"Pandemic-weary" employees are "tired and looking for change," Neil Dhar, vice chair and consulting solutions co-leader at PwC, said in the call. With quit rates recently reaching an all-time high and workers reporting extremely high rates of burnout, the survey results suggest that many employees are looking for fundamental, tangible changes to their work life — whether that be tolerance for flexible work hours, increased compensation or a better slate of benefits. READ MORE

The $1 million question of higher capital gains taxes under Biden, answered

When the Treasury Department first explained in late spring how a proposed higher tax on investment profits would work if approved by Congress, it left some financial advisors and tax experts scratching their heads.

A new capital gains rate, nearly double the existing 23.8%, would kick in on profits and qualified dividends banked by earners making at least $1 million a year, the government agency said. READ MORE

American CEOs make 351 times more than workers. In 1965 it was 15 to one

Last week, the Economic Policy Institute, a nonpartisan thinktank, released a report on the increasing pay gap between chief executives and workers. This research tells a familiar story with updated figures. When taking into account stocks, which now make up more than 80% of the average CEO’s compensation package, the report found that chief-executive pay has risen by an astounding 1,322% since 1978. That’s more than six times more than the top 0.1% of wage earners and more than 73 times higher than the growth of the typical worker’s pay, which grew by only 18% in the same time period. Most remarkable, however, is the 18.9% increase in CEO compensation between 2019 and 2020 alone. READ MORE

Anger boils over at People magazine owner after workers stiffed on bonuses

The boss of the media giant that publishes People and Entertainment Weekly sparked a ruckus when he announced he was handing out a round of “thank you” bonuses to most employees — but meanwhile jilted a small group of unionized, rank-and-file workers, The Post has learned.

Insiders said more than 200 unionized employees at Meredith — the publishing behemoth whose titles also include Better Homes & Gardens, InStyle and Real Simple — are fuming because they aren’t getting the $1,000, one-time cash bump, despite working long hours and taking on more work during the pandemic. READ MORE

Rethinking total reward strategies

Recently, a major US insurance broker with 20,000 agents started to question why so many were leaving the company—and taking their business books with them. The answer lay in the data about reward. It turned out the company was significantly out of touch with what people wanted. The company’s employee preference surveys had not been translated into the type of benefits it was offering. Based on the new analysis, the company redesigned its performance-based compensation, reduced equity awards, improved supplemental healthcare, and implemented a personalized training and development portal. The result: increases in agent sales performance (of 5 to 20%), engagement (up to 21%), and employee satisfaction and retention (up to 20% in some areas). What’s more, all of these gains came with a decrease in compensation costs of 8 to 12%. READ MORE

Issues to Consider When Officers Grant Equity Awards

Equity-based awards are often a significant element of a company’s compensation program. However, unlike more broad-based employee benefit programs, which are generally only subject to federal laws, equity-based compensation arrangements are, in most cases, subject to both federal (for example, the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (Exchange Act)) and state laws. Individual state laws generally govern the formation and operation of both private and public corporations and other business entities that are organized in their state. The corporate governance provisions of such state laws typically govern certain aspects of executive compensation arrangements including who has the authority to grant equity awards. READ MORE

Laffer: Spending spree is income redistribution – and it won’t work

U.S. debt rising from 79% of GDP to 123% of GDP, as it has since just before the beginning of the pandemic, from the end of 2019 to the present counting the now $3.5 trillion all but certain new spending bill plus unspent funds from previous bills, is a first for America. This debt increase represents a massive redistribution of U.S. income pure and simple. People who don’t work get paid, companies who borrow get their debts forgiven tax-free, and government beneficence distributed to one and all are all part of the so-called stimulus funds. READ MORE