Break from the Grind October 27, 2015

Some Buildings Promote Better Productivity than Others

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Improved indoor environmental quality doubled participants’ scores on cognitive function tests, according to a study by researchers at the Harvard University T.H. Chan School of Public Health’s Center for Health and the Global Environment, SUNY Upstate Medical University and Syracuse University.

Employees’ cognitive performance scores averaged 101% higher in green building environments with enhanced ventilation compared to a conventional building environment. “We know green buildings conserve natural resources, minimize environmental impacts and improve the indoor environment, but these results show they can also become important human resource tools for all indoor environments where cognitive abilities are critical to productivity, learning and safety,” says John Mandyck, chief sustainability officer for United Technologies, the primary supporter of the study.

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The double-blind study evaluated the cognitive performance of 24 participants who performed normal work activity in a laboratory setting that simulates conditions found in conventional and green buildings, as well as green buildings with enhanced ventilation. At the end of each day, participants completed a 1.5-hour cognitive assessment. Researchers measured cognitive function for nine functional domains, including basic, applied and focused activity levels; task orientation; crisis response; information seeking; information usage; breadth of approach; and strategy.

The largest improvements in cognitive function test scores occurred in the areas of crisis response, information usage and strategy. Crisis response scores were 97% higher for employees in the green environment and 131% higher for the green environment with enhanced ventilation and lower carbon dioxide levels compared to the conventional environment. Information usage scores for green and enhanced green environments were 172% and 299% higher than in the conventional environment, respectively. For strategy, green and enhanced green scores were 183% and 288% higher than the conventional environment.

“This study suggests that indoor environments can have a profound impact on the decision-making performance of workers, which is a primary indicator of worker productivity,” says Dr. Joseph Allen, Assistant Professor of Exposure Assessment Science at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Director of the Healthy Buildings Program at the Center for Health and the Global Environment at Harvard Chan School, and Principal Investigator for the study.

The full report is available at www.CHGEHarvard.org/COGfxStudy and www.theCOGfxStudy.com.
Products October 27, 2015

Fidelity Launches 'Partial Administration' Stock Plan Service

The offering is focused on employee support and brokerage services.
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Fidelity Investments announced a “Partial Administration” offering, designed for companies who want to manage their stock plan records in-house and team with an external administrator for employee servicing, guidance and brokerage services.

The offering provides transparency for companies through proactive notifications and a dedicated dashboard providing companies end-to-end control of the process. It is focused on employee support and brokerage services, including collecting employee elections, helping manage plan activities by providing alerts and notifications, and providing stock plan education. Companies maintain control of their internal records and employee database.

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“Many companies are very comfortable managing the recordkeeping side of their company stock plans, but they’re looking for a trusted financial service firm to manage the transactional side of these plans and provide guidance to their employees,” says Kevin Barry, executive vice president, Stock Plan Services at Fidelity Investments. “Our Partial Administration offering allows us to deliver a more efficient and effective plan sponsor experience, while providing exceptional brokerage and services capabilities to their employees.”

The offering will be available in December, and pricing will be based on a range of plan specifications and will likely vary by client.

NEXT: Product features and services

Fidelity’s Partial Administration offering leverages the latest mobile technology and addresses the needs of employers with multi-generation and multi-geographical workforces. Product features and administrative services include:

  • Guidance for employees on tax elections for both Restricted and Performance Award distributions;
  • The ability to accept stock grants via Fidelity’s On-line Grant Acceptance module;
  • Plan-related alerts and notifications to help employees manage their plans and monitor upcoming activities and required action steps;
  • Educational materials, including documents and video, to help employees understand the benefits of their plan;
  • Access to fully trained phone representatives to answer plan-related questions about enrollments, product features, deadlines and other items to help ensure employees understand their awards and are taking the right steps;
  • Support to help manage executives with special requirements, including blackout windows, trading and share ownership restrictions;
  • For Section 16 officers, support for 10b5-1 plans, SEC Form 144 and Form 4 reporting and filing assistance; and
  • File exchange technology to easily connect with the company’s in-house recordkeeping system for easy configuration of data exchanges.

Fidelity has teamed with Certent and their Equity Compensation Management solutions as a Certified Data Interface provider, which enables plan administration and transaction solutions for joint clients. This solution delivers a robust and reliable data interface, including data transmission for stock options, restricted stock awards/units, performance awards/units, stock appreciation rights (SARs) and employee stock purchase plans (ESPPs).

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