Business Financial News

The 2012 Olympics are fast approaching, but many companies are failing to plan accordingly.

According to a study from Badenoch & Clark, with one year to go until the London 2012 Olympics, 79.9 per cent of employers have yet to establish a leave policy for the big event.

Subsequently, many of those lucky enough to have secured tickets to the event are unsure whether they will be able to attend.

Over 15% of those people are contemplating pulling a sickie, with Generation Y employees especially likely to take this option.  A further 15% said they would take holiday leave for the Olympics.

“Corporate Britain needs to ensure that they can continue to run their organisations during London 2012 and employees need to know what is expected,” said Nicola Linkleter, managing director at Badenoch & Clark.

Learning from the World Cup

In 2010 the Chartered Management Institute produced a guidance report for how to deal with the impact of the World Cup.  The report highlights the positive impact of major sporting events such as the Olympics, if they are managed properly.  They offer a great opportunity to boost morale for instance.

They do however offer certain risks as well.  For instance the lure of online coverage can effect productivity.  So it’s important that such events are managed correctly.  The report offers the following tips.

Tip one: Act now to reduce employee sickies around Olympic events
Minimise the risk by putting a clear absence management policy in place and
communicating it to staff ahead of the Games. The p

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College life for Sam Franklin means hitting the books — and keeping on top of the online business he started from his dorm room.

Despite his heavy workload as a college student at the Washington University in St. Louis, Sam created Greenvelope.com , an electronic invitation business offering a personalized approach to paperless wedding and formal invitations. He has turned his passion for going green into a business venture. G

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Legg Mason Inc. shareholders approved a $5.9 million pay package for Chairman and CEO Mark R. Fetting in an advisory vote announced Tuesday at the Baltimore-based company’s annual meeting.

The nonbinding “say on pay” measure won the support of 87 percent of voting stockholders. Shareholder guidance group Glass, Lewis & Co. had recommended that investors vote against the company’s executive compensation package.

The Glass, Lewis report criticized the firm’s executive pay practices, saying the asset manager had paid top officers slightly more but performed slightly worse than its peers. Legg defended its CEO incentive compensation, saying it was in line with the company’s improved performance during the 2011 fiscal year.

Fetting’s total compensation, which included an incentive-based cash bonus of $2.9 million, rose 28 percent in fiscal 2011 over the previous year. Read Full Post…