Hewitt Associates, Kenexa, MetLife Inc., SHL Group PLC, and Volt Information Sciences Awarded Certification By HR-XML Consortium, Inc.

RALEIGH, N.C., 2005 Jan. 11 -- The HR-XML Consortium is catapulting into the new year with the announcement of five new certifications. Hewitt Associates, Kenexa, MetLife Inc., SHL Group PLC, and Volt Information Sciences are the latest companies to be awarded certification under the HR-XML Consortium’s "HRcertify" program. The program certifies HR solutions that conform to the open data exchange standards developed by the Consortium.

Organizations that successfully complete the HR-XML Consortium’s certification process are awarded a logo to use on their websites and a link to a conformance statement within a registry located at www.HRcertify.org. The HR-XML certified logo indicates that the solution provider is a technology leader and is ready to integrate flexibly and opportunistically with customers and partners.

Hewitt Associates (http://www.hewitt.com) is a global outsourcing and consulting firm delivering a complete range of human capital management services to companies, including HR and Benefits Outsourcing, HR Strategy and Technology, Health Care, Organizational Change, Retirement and Financial Management, and Talent and Reward Strategies.

Kenexa (http://www.kenexa.com) provides employment process outsourcing, employee research, including behavioral assessment and employee surveys, and software to help companies hire and retain a productive workforce. Kenexa’s enterprise software automates the entire employee lifecycle, enabling organizations to source, screen, assess, measure and engage top-performing employees.

MetLife Inc. (http://www.metlife.com), through its subsidiaries and affiliates, is a leading provider of insurance and other financial services to individual and institutional customers.

SHL Group PLC (http://www.shl.com) is the world-leading provider of psychometric assessment and development solutions. The company supports organizations in the selection, recruitment, promotion, succession planning and development of talented people at all levels and across all sectors.

Volt Information Sciences (http://www.volt.com) is a leading national provider of Staffing Services and Telecommunications and Information Solutions for its Fortune 100 customer base.  Volt's staffing segment fulfills IT and other technical, commercial and industrial placement requirements of its customers, on both a temporary and permanent basis.

"We congratulate these organizations for achieving HR-XML Consortium certification," said Chuck Allen, HR-XML Consortium Director. "HR decision-makers are making compliance with open standards part of the criteria they use when procuring HR solutions. We are pleased to add these companies to our registry of certified solutions," Allen remarked.

The certification for Hewitt Associates is the second awarded to the company. The newly certified companies join 32 other certified organizations. Those companies are: Allegis Group, American Background, BenefitsXML Inc., umantis, BrassRing, CareerBuilder.com LLC, Deploy Solutions, Inc., Development Dimensions International, ePredix, ExecuTRACK Software, Fidelity Investments, The Gallup Organization, Hewitt Associates, Hire.com, HireCheck, HireDesk, HireRight, Jobpartners Ltd., Manpower, milch & zucker, Oracle, Peopleclick, Taleo, Resume Mirror, SAP, Sovren, Sterling Testing Systems, Vertical Screen companies (including Truescreen, Inc.; Business Information Group (BIG), Inc.; and Certiphi Screening, Inc.), Ultimate Software, Unicru, and Verifications Inc.

For information about the HR-XML Consortium’s certification program, please visit http://www.hrcertify.org or send your question to certify@hr-xml.org. Individuals can also learn more about HR-XML at its upcoming meeting in La Jolla, Calif., Jan. 24-25. For further information, see http://www.hr-xml.org/meetings/lajolla/

For more information, contact:
Chuck Allen, Director, HR-XML Consortium, Inc.
chucka@hr-xml.org