Tag Archives: CBP

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Employers Show Increasing Appetite for Technology to Improve Employee Health Engagement

Leave a comment

By Business Wirevia The Motley Fool

Filed under:

Employers Show Increasing Appetite for Technology to Improve Employee Health Engagement

NEW YORK & SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– New research released today by Buck Consultants, A Xerox Company (NYS: XRX) and WorldatWork reveals that employers are committed to using new technologies to promote health engagement and achieve desired employee behavior changes. The study, “Emerging Technology in Health Engagement,” examined the current use and future potential for three key technologies: gamification, mobile apps and social media.

Among the three solutions studied, gamification is the most prevalent (62 percent) and ranks highest in employers’ perception of effectiveness. Thirty-one percent likely will adopt one or more new gamification elements in the coming year. Social networking is used in some fashion by 50 percent of organizations, but ranks highest in concerns over privacy of personal information. Mobile technology is the least implemented (36 percent) but leads the pack as the highest priority for future adoption or expansion (40 percent).

The survey also found that, while 73 percent of responding organizations have a health engagement strategy in place, measurement of communication effectiveness and return on investment (ROI) is lacking.

Nearly half of all respondents believe mobile technology will be the most frequently adopted technology by employers during the next two years, yet only 11 percent measure ROI on mobile apps and social media initiatives. Just twenty-one percent measure ROI on gamification technologies.

“The lack of measurement is due, in part, to the fact that many companies are using third parties, such as health insurers and wellness program vendors, to handle various aspects of their wellness programs,” said Lenny Sanicola, CBP, senior benefits practice leader, WorldatWork. “These companies should direct their vendors to better engage employees and to collaborate on measuring effectiveness.”

By far the greatest barrier preventing organizations from using these new technologies is competition from higher-priority issues in their budgets (71 percent for gamification, 73 percent for mobile technology and 68 percent for social networking). Lack of support from senior management and the absence of a technique for measuring effectiveness were also identified as barriers across all categories. In addition, 43 percent of respondents said they blocked some or all social networking or social media websites from their organization’s computers.

“Today’s health care benefits require individuals to absorb an increasing share of expanding health care costs,” said Scot Marcotte, managing director of talent and HR solutions at Buck. “Technology offers unprecedented ways for employers to motivate and enable employees to become more effective health care consumers. But employers need to better understand what drives their workers …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

News, Politics, Government

Customs and Border Protection getting a new leader

Leave a comment

A government agency responsible for securing the border and facilitating trade and travel is getting a new acting commissioner.

Customs and Border Protection will be led by Thomas S. Winkowski. He is set to become the acting commissioner on March 30 and will also serve as CBP‘s senior executive.

Winkowski has worked in the federal government for 37 years, beginning with the Customs Service in 1975. He joined CBP when it was established in 2003.

Winkowski has served as acting chief operating officer, overseeing the agency’s day-to-day operations. He has been acting deputy commissioner for CBP and, from 2007 to 2011, was assistant commissioner for CBP‘s Office of Field Operations.

CBP‘s most senior career official, Deputy Commissioner David V. Aguilar, is retiring at the end of March.

…read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox US News

News, Politics, Government

Press Briefing by Press Secretary Jay Carney and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, 2/25/2013

Leave a comment

By The White House

James S. Brady Press Briefing Room

1:21 P.M. EST

MR. CARNEY: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Thanks for being here. As you can see, I have a guest with me today for the daily briefing. Secretary Janet Napolitano is here to speak with you about the effects of sequester — sequestration — if it is allowed to take place, what those effects would be on her department.

As you heard from Secretary LaHood last week from this podium and Arne Duncan, Secretary of Education, over the weekend, the impacts of sequester will be felt if sequester takes place, in a variety of ways — in education and defense spending and transportation, air traffic control and the like, and certainly with regards to our homeland security.

So as we did with Secretary LaHood, I’d ask that you allow Secretary Napolitano to give a topper, some remarks at the top, then she’ll take questions from you specific to her. If you could hold questions that you expect I’ll be more appropriate to answer until we can allow the Secretary to leave and then I’ll take those questions.

And with that, I turn it over to Secretary Napolitano.

SECRETARY NAPOLITANO: Thank you, Jay. And I appreciate the opportunity to discuss the impacts of sequestration on the operations of the Department of Homeland Security. As a primer, DHS has a very broad mission and we touch almost every aspect of the economy. We secure the aviation sector. We screen two million domestic air travelers a day. We protect our borders, our ports of entry. We facilitate legitimate travel and trade. Last year, our CBP officers processed more than 350 million people and processed over $2.3 trillion in trade. We enforce the immigration laws. We partner with the private sector to protect critical infrastructure. We work with states and local communities to prepare for and respond to disasters of all types, like Hurricane Sandy, while supporting recovery and rebuilding.

Put simply, the automatic budget reduction mandated by sequestration would be disruptive and destructive to our nation’s security and economy. It would negatively affect the mission readiness and capabilities of the men and women on our frontlines. It would undermine the significant progress we’ve made over the past 10 years to build the nation’s preparedness and resiliency.

Perhaps most critically, it would have serious consequences to the flow of trade and travel at our nation’s ports of entry. We will have to begin to furlough customs and border protection officers who staff those ports. At the major international airports, we will be limited in accepting new international flights, and average wait times to clear customs will increase by as much as 50 percent. And at our busiest airports like Newark and JFK, LAX and O’Hare, peak wait times, which can reach over two hours, could easily grow to four hours or more. Such delays will cause thousands of missed-passenger …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at The White House Press Office