6 bizarre interview questions employers actually admit to asking

By Christian Schappel

The survey masters at CareerBuilder have done it again — this time getting hiring and HR managers to admit to some off-the-wall questions they’ve thrown at candidates. 
CareerBuilder’s survey team, which works with Harris Poll, has gotten employees and employers to admit to some pretty strange stuff over the years.
Now it’s starting spring off with a bang, releasing a list of the some of the most bizarre interview questions respondents to its latest survey admitted to asking.
Without further ado, they are (along with the reasons they were asked):

1. How would you wrangle a herd of cats? A hiring manager asked this to gain insight into a candidate’s ability to organize, lead and motivate others.
2. Do you believe in life on other planets? This was asked to see if a candidate was the type to believe anything is possible.
3. What superpower would you like to have? This was asked to provide insight into how candidates view their own strengths and weaknesses.
4. If you were stranded on an island, which two items would you like to have with you? This question could provide insight into candidates’ abilities to weather a tough situation with limited resources.
5. If you did not have to work, what would you do?” This question was asked to peek into a candidate’s values and interests outside of work, which can help assess how well they’d fit into the company’s culture.
6. If you were trapped in a blender, what would you do to get out? You may remember this question from The Internship, starring Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson. It helps assess a candidate’s creativity, ability to think on his or her feet, and problem-solving skills.

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7 cost-cutters you’ll need to fight emerging healthcare trends

By Jared Bilski

Healthcare costs are on pace to increase at record lows this year, but there’s a perfect storm of cost-drivers ahead.

In fact, there are a number of trends – increasing drug costs, the ACA’s Cadillac Tax, etc. – that can have drastic effects on unprepared employers.

At the Mid-Sized Retirement and Healthcare Plan Management Conference in San Diego, benefits consultant Marybeth Gray spoke about the necessity of developing a long-term plan to prepare for these costs drivers.

Here are some of the best practices Gray cited in her presentation:

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Tip Tuesday! Are clueless execs killing the effectiveness of your employee benefits?

By Tim Gould

In order for employee benefits to serve as effective recruiting and retention tools, upper management must understand what workers really want. And when that doesn’t happen it hurts companies in a number of ways.

Benefits aren’t cheap, which means that you want to be devoting your attention to the ones that will provide the biggest payoff, both in ROI and employee engagement.

But there’s new evidence that what your financial honchos believe to be the most coveted benefits today aren’t. Just ask employees.

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Calm and focused — that's your brain on exercise

By United Health Care

Better brain health may be just a hop, skip and a jump away. Or perhaps a hike, swim or a jog, if that's more your style.

However you choose to be active, exercise is likely to give your brain and outlook a lift.

How it works
Your brain contains billions of nerve cells that pass information back and forth. Exercise naturally boosts chemicals and hormones that can strengthen the connections between those cells. It may even help you form new links — or slow down the loss of brain cells over time.          

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Wait, what? Internet Explorer, Safari users make poorer hires

By Christian Schappel

We’re all looking for ways to separate the wheat from the chaff in the hiring process. Well, one company found a pretty unique trait a lot of lesser-performing candidates share. 
What is it? They use Internet Explorer or Safari — over other non-default Web browsers like Chrome and Firefox.

That may sound pretty absurd, especially for those of you reading this using Internet Explorer or Safari, but let us explain.

Cornerstone OnDemand is a talent management software company, and it recently analyzed data on roughly 50,000 people who took its online personality test and were eventually hired by firms using its software.

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A vital HSA move only 15% of workers make: How to change that

By Jared Bilski

When major medical issues occur, health-savings accounts (HSAs) are meant to help soften the blow of having a high deductible. That’s why these findings are so alarming.
New research shows employees are falling well short of where they should be regarding their HSAs.

Missing the max

In fact, just 15% of accountholders contributed the max to their HSAs in 2013, according to new research by the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI).
The study also included some surprising findings about the impact
of employer contributions.

Just 14% of HSAs with an employer contribution received the max funding, compared to the 20% of HSAs without employer contributions.

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Tip Tuesday! DOL grants employers a major Obamacare break

By Jared Bilski

Good news: The major changes the feds recently proposed to the Summary of Benefits and Coverage (SBC) statements won’t be finalized until at least 2016.
And that means employers have a good amount of breathing room until they must comply with the wholesale changes to the SBCs.

As HR pros know, the Affordable Care Act’s Summary of Benefits and Coverage (SBC) statements rule require all health plans (grandfathered and non-grandfathered alike) to supply plan participants with SBCs and a glossary of commonly used terms during their open enrollment period.

These SBCs were created to help simplify health info for employees, but they’ve also caused HR and Benefits pros as well as plan administrators some major headaches since the regs took effect.
So when the feds essentially proposed an overhaul to the SBCs that employers were finally getting used to, you can imagine not everybody was thrilled.

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