Alexander Acosta is now the Secretary of Labor: President Donald J. Trump nominated R. Alexander Acosta to be the 27th United States Secretary of Labor. He was sworn in on April 28, 2017. Secretary Acosta is the son of Cuban refugees, a native of Miami, and a first-generation college graduate. He earned his undergraduate and law degrees from Harvard University. Following law school, he worked as a law clerk for Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr., at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. He then worked at the law firm of Kirkland & Ellis and went on to teach at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia School of Law. Secretary Acosta has served in three presidentially appointed, Senate-confirmed positions. In 2002, he was appointed to serve as a member of the National Labor Relations Board, where he participated in or authored more than 125 opinions. In 2003, he was appointed Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, and from 2005 to 2009 he served as the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida. Most recently, Secretary Acosta served as the dean of the FIU College of Law. Next up: Wage and Hour Administrator and OFCCP Director. Source: DOL 4/28/17
Philip A. Miscimarra has been named Chairman of the National Labor Relations Board: President Trump designated Miscimarra NLRB Chairman on April 24, 2017. Miscimarra had previously been designated Acting Chairman by President Trump on January 23, 2017, and served as a Board Member since August 7, 2013. Miscimarra was nominated on April 9, 2013 to serve on the Board and was approved unanimously by the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions on May 22, 2013. He was confirmed by the Senate on July 30, 2013 and his current term expires on December 16, 2017. The NLRB also consists of NLRB Member Mark Gaston Pearce (previously NLRB Chairman), whose term expires on August 27, 2018; and NLRB Member Lauren McFerran, whose term expires on December 16, 2019. Two board member seats are currently vacant. Source: NLRB 4/26/17
Michelle Beebe is the new director of the Michigan Unemployment Insurance Agency (UIA): Michelle Beebe was selected by Wanda Stokes, director of the Talent Investment Agency, which oversees the UIA. Ms. Beebe will start her new role on May 8, 2017. She replaces Acting Assistant Deputy Director Bruce Noll, who will continue to work at the agency. Prior to her appointment, Ms. Beebe served as the director of Utah’s Unemployment Insurance Division since December 2014. Utah is one of five states that received an award for Outstanding E-response for unemployment insurance electronic claims while under her direction. She began working in the division in 2008. Source: Michigan Legislative Consultants 4/28/17, Fox 17 4/25/17
Has your HR department stepped up its game? A new Korn Ferry survey of Chief Human Resource Officers (CHROs) shows that as the HR function becomes more strategic and high-profile, HR professionals need to step up their game when it comes to business insights and achieving results. When asked which skills are most lacking when searching for HR talent for their own teams, respondents’ top answer was business acumen (41%), followed by the ability to turn strategy into action (28%). According to the survey, competitive pressure on the business is the top factor for increasing the complexity of the HR role compared to five years ago. More than half of respondents (52%) said a tolerance for ambiguity, defined as the ability to work in conditions of uncertainty and change, is the most important competency for a CHRO. In addition, nearly half (44%) said that creating an agile workforce to meet evolving demands is the top talent challenge organizations face. The majority of respondents admit they are not using all available tools to align business and talent strategies. Two-thirds (64%) said they do not have strong HR data analytics integrated into their business planning process. Source: CCH 4/28/17, Korn Ferry
Are you looking for coders? So is everyone else: Roughly half of the jobs in the top income quartile — defined as those paying $57,000 or more per year — are in occupations that commonly require applicants to have at least some computer coding knowledge or skill, according to an analysis of 26 million U.S. online job postings by job market analytics firm Burning Glass and Oracle Academy, the philanthropic arm of Oracle focused on computer science education. In simple terms, coders write the instructions that tell computers what to do. In-demand programming languages include SQL, Java, JavaScript, C# and Python. This high number is thanks, in part, to the fact that it’s not just technology jobs that now require at least some coding knowledge which means that coding knowledge is now needed for workers across fields. From business people who work with data to designers and marketers who create websites to scientists who conduct research now need at least some coding knowledge. Other reasons that coding skills are so in demand: they can help workers “automate trivial tasks” and “hack their way to solutions others consider impossible,” says Mike Grassotti, the chief technology officer at small business loans company, LiftForward based in New York. Source: Marketwatch 4/30/17