How Did They Get Here – Hewitt Associates

The other day I was trying to remember what happened to a company in the benefits administration space I used to deal with quite regularly. Of course, as been happening with increasing regularity, it had been acquired some years ago by another provider and has been all but lost except in the memories of those of us in the business who either worked with or for them.

The list of these long gone companies is extensive and made me think for a moment about doing a “where are they now” series. After noodling on it for a while, I realized a more interesting tactic would be to take a look at today’s companies and see how they got to where they are today.

Hewitt’s Financial Results - What Do They Mean?

Hewitt’s very public financial difficulties continue today, days after announcing quarter-end September 30, 2006 financial results. It is not my intention to single out Hewitt by writing about them again. Rather, as the recognized leader in HRO, Hewitt can be viewed as the industry bellwether and can provide insight into the dynamics of the industry.

Taking a look at the results as reported by workforce.com, we see that Hewitt posted modest (0.9%) revenue gains year over year while net income was down 43%. Surprisingly, net income was only $23 million on $727 million in revenue. A deeper dive reveals that the outsourcing arm of the business (over half of the business) experienced declining revenue, income and profitability

Human Resources and the Mid-Term Election

Today is Election Day!!! After today, we will no longer be bombarded with political ads slinging mud right out of our TV sets. After today, most of the nightly news will go back to the typical and sensationalist news of the day. I really won’t miss the political mudslinging, but election season is always an exciting time in my mind.

Regardless of political stripe, persuasion, or philosophy, it’s a great time to check the pulse of the nation and determine if we are on the right course or if, as a nation, we need a course correction. And today’s election should prove to be more spell binding and exciting than the typical mid-term election.

All the news is a twitter with election coverage, and every pundit is pontificating and speculating as to the future composition of the House and Senate. At the risk of alienating our significant non-American readership, here today we take a passing glance at the American Election.