Jacko bosses wanted life insurance
Michael Jackson’s worried management team tried to secure a life insurance policy just days before the Prince of Pop’s death.
During court proceedings this week, it came to light that in January 2009, insurance broker Bob Taylor advised Shawn Trell, senior vice president and general counsel for AEG, that Jackson be given a full medical exam. On 23 June 2009, Trell asked Taylor about a life insurance policy for Jackson.
According to the LA Times, AEG executives feared for the troubled star and on 19 June 2009, a production manager for the “This Is It” tour sent an email to Randy Philips and Paul Gongaware stating the Thriller singer “was a basket case” and that director Kenny Ortega “was concerned he would embarrass himself on stage or worse yet – get hurt”.
The email, entitled “Trouble at the Front”, was forwarded the former AEG president and CEO Tim Leiweke.
Jackson died in June 2009 after suffering a cardiac arrest brought on by a drug overdose.
Counting the cost of a single bad hire
More than half of employers in 10 of the world’s largest economies acknowledge having made a bad hire, according to the latest CareerBuilder survey, which probably comes as no surprise. However, these companies report very high financial consequences – giving pause for thought.
The majority of employers in each of the top 10 economies reported having made a bad hire – one in which the person turned out not to be a good fit or did not perform well – in the past year. In Russia this was as high as 88%, while in France – where the figure was lowest – 53% acknowledged a bad hire.
Of those that had reported making a bad hire, the financial cost was in the tens of thousands of dollars:
A bad hire entailed a variety of negative effects for these employers: lost productivity; damage to employee morale; damage to client relations; reduced sales; and the costs involved with recruiting and training another worker.
“Making a wrong decision regarding hire can have several adverse consequences across an organisation,” Matt Ferguson, CEO of CareerBuilder, said. “When you add up missed sales opportunities, strained client and employee relations, potential legal issues and resources to hire and train candidates, the cost can be considerable.”
The CareerBuilder survey was conducted by Harris Interactive online between November 1 and 30, 2012. Respondents included more than 6,000 hiring managers and human resource professionals from the ten countries with the greatest GDP: US; Brazil; China; France; Germany; India; Italy; Japan; Russia; and the UK.
