As the economy brightens, more corporations will be throwing
holiday parties this year—but it’s time to consider changes in corporate
culture, according to Nick Gianoulis, founder of The Fun Dept., a consulting
and training company.
Business holiday parties are shifting away from expensive
traditional events held outside working hours in which employees worry about
drinking too much or doing something stupid that could scuttle their careers.
Gianoulis—who began his company after experiencing the
enhanced culture and business results of fun during his 20-year corporate
management tenure with a company that embraced a work-hard, play-hard culture—explains
that holiday parties have shifted away from the once-a-year holiday parties and
summertime picnics. Instead, enlightened companies plan frequent and brief fun
events throughout the year for a lasting effect.
Gianoulis’s other points about corporate celebration include:
More holiday parties are being held during working hours in
deference to employees’ busy lives;
Attendance at holiday parties after hours has been declining
over the last decade;
Successful companies such as Zappos, Google and Southwest
built fun into their model before they became successful;
Observing leaders having fun instantly flattens an
organization’s scale; and
Fun in the workplace can bridge the generational
gap between Baby Boomers and Millennials.
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A settlement agreement has been filed in the U.S. District
Court for the Middle District of North Carolina in a case against Novant Health
over excessive fees and other fiduciary violations in the administration of its
retirement plans.
The settlement calls for monetary relief in the amount of
$32 million, as well as non-monetary relief, including that Novant will adopt a
new investment policy statement and conduct a competitive bidding process for
recordkeeping, investment consulting and participant education services for the
plans.
The lawsuit alleges that Great-West Life
& Annuity Insurance Company, the administrative and recordkeeping service
provider for the plans, received excessive compensation of
approximately $8.6 million between 2009 and 2012. Additional payments received
by Great-West from the investment companies providing the plan’s investment
options constituted excessive amounts of revenue sharing, the compliant states,
which amounted to “kick-backs.”
According to the complaint, D.L. Davis & Company, a registered broker of
MML Investors Services, a subsidiary of the Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance
Co., was paid excessive fees up to $9.6 million between
2009 and 2012 in the form of “commissions.” The complaint states that D.L.
Davis also received a second source of revenue in the form of “kick-backs” from
the managers of the plan investment options.
NEXT: Novant disagrees with the claims
In a statement of non-opposition in support of
the proposed settlement, Novant Health stated it disagrees with the claim that
it breached its fiduciary duties under the Employee Retirement Income Security
Act (ERISA) by maintaining retail class investment funds in the retirement
plans rather than lower-cost institutional shares or other lower cost
alternatives, causing participants to pay Great-West and D.L. Davis excessive
fees.
For example, Novant says the claims fail to consider the
plans’ receipt and use of revenue sharing. The company maintains that revenue
sharing was used to cover the costs of plan administration, so with the revenue
sharing, the retail funds cost the same as, and in some cases less than, the
institutional funds the lawsuit claims it should have offered. Novant also
disagrees with the claims concerning fees paid, and says it engaged an outside
consultant to review administrative services and fees.
However, it says the proposed settlement would provide a
lasting benefit to participants without costly, years-long litigation.
Other non-monetary relief specified in the settlement agreement call for
Novant to ensure that the plans’ administrative service providers are not
reimbursed for their services based on a percentage-of-plan-assets basis, and
review all current investment options in the plans and revise the investment
options, as needed, ensuring that those options are selected or retained for
the exclusive best interests of participants.
The agreement also calls for
Novant to remove Davis, and related entities, from any involvement with the
plans; not enter into any new real estate or business relationships with Davis
and related entities; not offer any Mass Mutual investments in the plans or any
other investment that provides compensation to Davis and related entities;
provide accurate communications to participants in the plans; and not offer any
brokerage services to the plans.