Top Story

Economy added 236,000 jobs in February
Nonfarm payrolls increased by 236,000 and the unemployment rate dropped to 7.7%, according to Labor Department figures for February. The figure for new hires in January was revised down to 119,000, from 157,000. Reuters (3/8), The New York Times (tiered subscription model) (3/8), The Olympian (Olympia, Wash.)/The Associated Press (3/8)

Recruiting & Retention

Employers waiting to fill open spots, experts say
While the number of job openings is increasing, hiring is not picking up speed, experts say. "There's a fear that the economy is going to go down again, so the message you get from CFOs is to be careful about hiring someone," says John Sullivan of San Francisco State University. "There's this great fear of making a mistake, of wasting money in a tight economy." The New York Times (tiered subscription model) (3/6)

Hiring lessons from a growing startup company
Mixpanel CEO Suhail Doshi writes that being in charge of a growing startup company has taught him lessons about hiring, such as how early hires can influence company culture. "The first 5 people on a particular team will often make up the culture of that team in the long run," he writes. Fast Company online (3/4)

Benefits & Compensation

60% of large employers expect to continue health benefits
A survey from Towers Watson and the National Business Group on Health found that 60% of 500 large employers said it was unlikely they would stop offering health care benefits for regular employees, and 82% said they would not send full-time employees to insurance exchanges without financial support. The portion of employers confident they would offer health care benefits for the next decade was 26%, up from 23% the previous year. Chicago Tribune (tiered subscription model)/Reuters (3/7)

Companies raise default rates for 401(k) contributions
More companies are automatically enrolling workers in 401(k) plans, and now a growing number are upping the percentage of the default contribution, new research from Bank of America Merrill Lynch shows. Instead of the once-standard 3% contribution rate, the default is 4% or higher among almost half the auto-enrollment plans that Bank of America Merrill Lynch administers. That still falls short of the 12% to 15% rate recommended by experts, but more companies in the survey also are automatically stepping up employee contribution rates annually. MarketWatch/Encore blog (3/6)

Regulatory & Legal Update

Why ADA complaints are increasing
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission says the number of complaints filed under Americans with Disabilities Act has increased by more than 50% in the last five years. Recent ADA amendments have broadened the definition of disability and made it more difficult for companies to defend themselves against claims, writes Jonathan Segal, an employment lawyer. CNNMoney/Fortune (3/6)

The HR Leader

How to lead like Henry V
A famous speech from Shakespeare's "Henry V" holds lessons for modern leaders, writes Nigel Roberts. Henry's soaring rhetoric provides an upbeat call to action based on a higher goal -- the same strategy CEOs should use to win over their employees. "[T]he Bard managed to capture some universal truths about human nature and the complex way that individuals relate to each other which can provide useful lessons for today's corporate leaders," Roberts writes. Knowledge.Insead.edu (3/7)

Workplace Chatter

How 10th-century music lovers got their fix
For about 1,000 years before Thomas Edison invented the phonograph, people sought ways to record and reproduce sounds. This gallery includes ornate music boxes, self-playing pianos and 10th-century musical transcriptions. BuzzFeed (3/6)

Editor's Note

Help SmartBrief cover SXSW Interactive!
SmartBrief will cover the South by Southwest Interactive Festival in Austin, Texas, from March 8 to 12, and we need your help! SXSW has way too many must-see events for our staff to cover, so we're turning to our readers to help document the best panels as blog contributors. If you're headed to Austin and want to contribute to SmartBrief's blogs on Social Media, Leadership, Finance, Food and Beverage or Education, check out our guest-post guidelines and send a note to Jesse Stanchak.

SmartQuote

Hope never abandons you, you abandon it." -- George Weinberg, American psychologist, writer and activist Share: