The Award for Professional Excellence in Human Resources Management, sponsored by Ogletree Deakins, recognizes creative approaches and consistently high performance that benefits the nominee’s company or organization and the business and professional community. We are pleased to announce the following finalists:
The awards luncheon, sponsored by Fisher & Phillips, will be held at the 26th Annual Human Resources Conference on May 12, 2016 at the Hilton Head Marriott Resort and Spa. Recognition of all finalists and the announcement of the winner will take place during this time. Register for the conference by TOMORROW, April 6, to take advantage of our early bird special!
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Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Every March 17, revelers take to the streets to celebrate Irish-American heritage. For those who plan to celebrate, 29 quotes, blessings and traditional sayings are listed below, courtesy of BrainyQuote and IrishCentral. Check them out to help spread the luck of the Irish:
Quotes
1. “Luck is believing you’re lucky.” — Tennessee Williams
2. “Being Irish is very much a part of who I am. I take it everywhere with me.” — Colin Farrell
3. “That’s what the holidays are for — for one person to tell the stories and another to dispute them. Isn’t that the Irish way?” — Lara Flynn Boyle
4. “Love is never defeated, and I could add, the history of Ireland proves it.” — Pope John Paul II
5. “Every St. Patrick’s Day every Irishman goes out to find another Irishman to make a speech to.” — Shane Leslie
Sayings
6. In heaven there is no beer. That’s why we drink it here!
7. May the luck of the Irish be with you!
8. There are only two kinds of people in the world, the Irish and those who wish they were.
9. Lose an hour in the morning and you’ll be looking for it all day.
10. Do not resent growing old. Many are denied the privilege.
11. Better good manners than good looks.
12. You’ve got to do your own growing, no matter how tall your father was.
13. Irish diplomacy is the ability to tell a man to go to hell so that he looks forward to making the trip.
14. Drink is the curse of the land. It makes you fight with your neighbor. It makes you shoot at your landlord — and it makes you miss him.
15. May the saddest day of your future be no worse than the happiest day of your past.
16. I complained that I had no shoes, until I met a man who had no feet.
17. Life is like a cup of tea; it’s all in how you make it!
Blessings
18. May you live as long as you want, and never want as long as you live.
19. An old Irish recipe for longevity: Leave the table hungry. Leave the bed sleepy. Leave the bar thirsty.
20. May God bless and keep in good health your enemies’ enemies.
21. If God sends you down a stony path, may he give you strong shoes.
22. May the Good Lord take a liking to you … but not too soon!
23. Always remember to forget the friends that proved untrue. But never forget to remember those that have stuck by you.
24. May the blessings of each day be the blessings you need most.
25. May your blessings outnumber the shamrocks that grow, and may trouble avoid you wherever you go.
Toasts
26. “Here’s to a long life and a merry one. A quick death and an easy one/ A pretty girl and an honest one/ A cold beer — and another one!”
27. “When money’s tight and hard to get, and your horse is also ran, when all you have is a heap of debt, a pint of plain is your only man.”
28. “When we drink, we get drunk. When we get drunk, we fall asleep. When we fall asleep, we commit no sin. When we commit no sin, we go to heaven. So, let’s all get drunk, and go to heaven!”
29. “May your home always be too small to hold your friends. Here’s to me, and here’s to you. And here’s to love and laughter. I’ll be true as long as you. And not one moment after.”
Follow me on Twitter @mariamzzarella
Rising rents and medical costs lifted underlying U.S. inflation in January by the most in nearly 4-1/2 years, signs of an uptick in price pressures that could allow the Federal Reserve to gradually raise interest rates this year.
The Labor Department said on Friday its Consumer Price Index, excluding the volatile food and energy components, increased 0.3 percent last month. That was the biggest gain since August 2011 and followed a 0.2 percent rise in December.
In the 12 months through January, the core CPI advanced 2.2 percent, the largest rise since June 2012. The CPI had increased 2.1 percent in December. The Fed has a 2 percent inflation target and monitors a price measure that is running well below the core CPI.
Economists polled by Reuters had forecast core CPI up 0.2 percent last month and increasing 2.1 percent from a year ago.
Inflation is being watched for clues on whether the Fed would continue raising interest rates this year after the U.S. central bank lifted borrowing costs in December for the first time in nearly a decade.
Tighter financial market conditions in the wake of a recent sharp stock market sell-off and slowing domestic and global growth have almost wiped out bets for a March rate increase.
Signs of a pick-up in underlying inflation are likely to be welcomed by Federal Reserve officials, but significant gains remain a challenge against the backdrop of very low inflation expectations by households.
Still, the firming in the core CPI, together with a strengthening labor market suggest rate hikes for the rest of the year remain on the table.
The overall CPI was unchanged last month after slipping 0.1 percent in December. The CPI increased 1.4 percent in the 12 months through January, the biggest rise since October 2014, after gaining 0.7 percent in December.
The year-over-year inflation rate is rising as the oil price-driven weak readings in 2015 wash out of the calculation.
The government on Wednesday published revisions to the inflation data going back five years. Those revisions showed both the monthly CPI and core CPI readings a bit firmer in the last months of 2015 than previously reported.
Last month, the rental index increased 0.3 percent after a similar gain in December. Medical care costs rose 0.5 percent, with prices for prescription drugs also increasing 0.5 percent. The cost of doctor visits edged up 0.1 percent after falling 0.2 percent in December. Hospital costs increased 0.4 percent.
Apparel prices rose 0.6 percent after falling for four straight months. The increase in apparel is surprising as retailers have been offering deep discounts to sell unwanted inventory. Prices for new motor vehicles advanced 0.3 percent.
Gasoline prices fell 4.8 percent, while food prices were unchanged.
U.S. small businesses stepped up hiring in January after taking a pause in December and many continued to point to difficulty finding qualified workers, a survey showed on Thursday.
The monthly survey of the National Federation of Independent Business showed that 52 percent of respondents said they were hiring or trying to hire, but a large share of those reported few or no qualified applicants for the jobs they were trying to fill.
The percent of owners citing the difficulty finding qualified workers as their top problem held at 15 percent, the highest reading since 2007.
“This suggests that employers will face continued wage and benefit cost pressure in order to attract and keep good employees,” said NFIB Chief Economist William Dunkelberg.
The average employment gain per firm was 0.11 workers compared with -0.7 workers in December.
In the survey, 29 percent of owners reported jobs openings they could not fill, up one point from the prior survey and the highest level for the economic expansion.
“This is a solid reading historically and is suggestive of a reduction in the unemployment rate”, Dunkelberg said.
Growth in the United States slowed in the fourth quarter of last year and data so far in 2016 has shown that weakening global growth, a strong dollar and slumping oil prices continue to take a toll.
But employment has been a bright spot. Jobs data to be released on Friday by the Labor Department is expected to show non-farm payrolls grew by 190,000 in January, less than the robust 292,000 created in December but consistent with a strong jobs market.
(Reporting by Andrea Ricci; Editing by Bernard Orr)
A screengrab of a video by the tourism website of the state of Pennsylvania shows the groundhog Punxsutawney Phil being watched for signs of his shadow. Screengrab by NPR
A crowd gathered at Gobbler’s Knob early this morning, awaiting the emergence of the groundhog named Punxsutawney Phil. After a tap of a cane on Phil’s tree-trunk cage, his door was opened, and the animal emerged.
He was held aloft to cheers and applause. Phil did not respond, other than to blink. Placed on top of the trunk, he attempted to flee before his actions were closely analyzed.
Interpreting Phil’s behavior, the Groundhog Club emcee proclaimed, “There is no shadow to be cast! An early spring is my forecast!”
He added, “Take your jackets off, you’re not going to need them!”
Few in the crowd followed that advice; the temperature this morning in Punxsutawney, Pa., was reported at 22 degrees.
The findings were independently verified by a groundhog in Canada, where Shubenacadie Sam also saw no shadow.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBb0LlOIB6w
MLK Days of Service and Event Series: Jan. 16-23, 2016
The theme this year for the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Days of Service and Event Series is “Keep Moving Forward,” based on this quote by MLK:
“If you can’t fly then run,
if you can’t run then walk,
if you can’t walk then crawl,
but whatever you do
you have to keep moving forward.”
Join us as we celebrate Dr. King’s life and work through two days of service and a series of engaging events at the University of South Carolina, as we give back in honor of Dr. King’s life and work, and empower one another to “keep moving forward.”
Download printable MLK Event Series Calendar.
