Ed Bray

Commentary: Congratulations on making it through one of the most legally and administratively challenging years in employee benefits history. But, as you know, employee benefits never sleep. Here is the 2016 ABC’s of employee benefits – what Contributing Editor Ed Bray calls the annual “just tell me what I need to do” list.

Welcome to the 5th annual edition of the ABC’s of Employee Benefits. Given the tremendous amount of activity and volatility in the employee benefits space, this version can be summed up in one sentence: Surround yourself with quality, interested, and engaged help or else 2015 will be a very long and painful year.

Contributing Editor Ed Bray looks ahead to 2014 and outlines 25 areas to watch. In part 1: Everything from analyzing health data to HIPAA compliance and beyond.

As the year winds down, Contributing Editor Ed Bray outlines what's in store for benefits professionals in 2014. Benefit trends included in Part 2 range from Health Savings Accounts to same-sex marriage compliance.

The 2013 ABC’s of employee benefits Contributing Editor Ed Bray offers up the hottest benefits plan trends for 2013 from A to Z.

Ed Bray cautions many employers believe the plan document and summary plan description are the same thing when they’re not, which can lead to noncompliance with ERISA.

You've been thinking about introducing a wellness program and finally feel like you've developed a solid business case. You walk in to your manager's office and barely get these words out of your mouth, "I'd like to talk about wellness ... ," when you hear a combination of: "We don't have the money for it ... you have better things to work on ... only the healthy will use it ... ." You meekly head back to your desk and put your wellness presentation up on the shelf. Is this you? If yes, let the "tree of healthy" be your green thumb of wellness success.

What do you get when you combine a three-year-old learning his ABCs, a six-year-old who wonders what daddy does for a living, and a nine-year-old who thinks its "cool" that daddy likes to write? You get the 2012 version of the employee benefits ABCs!

Shhh .... don't tell anyone, but I've infiltrated the broker/consultant world of employee benefits. After 12 years of working in corporate benefits with seven different benefit broker/consultants, big and small, I recently crossed the line into their world - I'm the director of compliance of a midsize benefits broker/consulting firm in southern California. I'm here to report back to you, my fellow corporate benefit professionals, on three things you reasonably can expect in your broker/consultant relationships - in addition to competitive fees, top-quality service and proven employee benefits negotiation expertise.

This summer I went to Disney World with my family. I wanted my kids to visit the home of the Mickey Mouse Club in person. Yes, I know they can learn about Mickey Mouse on TV and the Internet but there was something special about the in-person experience. What does this have to do with employee benefits? Let me explain.

In the past year, I've visited more than 60 clients to discuss the impact of health care reform on their respective organizations. Through this process, I had the opportunity to meet many CFOs.

Bray creates 2011 guide to employee benefits based on the alphabet. Not as catchy as the ABCs, but surely more useful.

We all know that employee wellness is the buzz in many organizations. In fact, a recently released health and productivity survey by Willis North America's human capital practice showed that senior leadership commitment to improving employee health significantly increased to 42% in 2010, compared with 6% in 2009

Until recently, I directed a corporate benefits department and was responsible for complying with the legislation that affected my organization's benefits program. There were mountains of legislation, and while my staff and I were able to handle it effectively, we definitely struggled to keep abreast of everything we needed to do. Then came the law that broke the camel's back: health care reform.

As you start your day as a busy benefits professional, you turn on the morning news, and you hear that the Department of Health and Human Services has changed the Form W-2 health insurance reporting requirement effective date from 2011 to 2012.

You are busy preparing your company's benefits open enrollment memo when the phone rings. It's Elizabeth from Operations, thanking you profusely because she just read in the newspaper that she can cover her 25-year-old son on the company's medical insurance plan.

You're on the third floor waiting for the elevator, on the way down to grab your morning cup of coffee. The elevator doors open and standing there is the CEO. It's just the two of you in the elevator.

If you haven’t taken the time to grab a cup of coffee with the folks at legal, or have lunch with your friends in accounting, now would be good. Over the next eight years, your company will need to examine — and implement where needed — a significant number of provisions associated with the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

As the benefits team, you already know it’s your job to inform and educate your employees and their families about the changes associated with the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. But do you have something prepared for those run-ins with senior-level management?