Michael Giardina

The ability for staff to incorporate innovative new ideas that bring changes to dilapidated processes can only be fostered in a workplace that allows for an open communicative culture across organizational lines.

A new study finds that retirement readiness among the baby boomer generation continued its decline in key confidence measurements that look at whether the age cohort was comfortable with covering medical expenses and income needs when they exit the workforce.

Health and wellness programs are virtually meaningless if a workplace culture is bad, according to Jeffrey Pfeffer, a professor of organizational behavior at Stanford University’s graduate school of business. Speaking during the annual Great Place to Work conference in New Orleans, Pfeffer said that unhealthy workplaces can cause up to 125,000 employee deaths each year and add up to $130 billion in excess annual company costs.

Victoria B. Mars, chairman of the board for the global candy making firm, sat down with Employee Benefit News at this week’s Great Place to Work Conference to discuss her passion for people and how Mars’ talent management techniques, often seen as being more inclusive than many other workplaces, can be applicable to other employers.

Both Nordstrom, Inc., proclaimed as America’s leading fashion specialty retailer, and software company Infusionsoft, share values in management. And both strive to empower employees with support and to manage at the ground level.

Retirement plan sponsors and their consultants are attentively following the Supreme Court today as it hears oral arguments in Fifth Third Bancorp v. Duddenhoeffer, a case that has implications for the retirement plan industry’s fiduciary standard in employee stock ownership plans.

Overall, state public-sector pension programs continue claw out of the unfunded liabilities that have buried them since the financial collapse, as the total pension debt was over $1 trillion at the close of the fiscal year 2012.

A new analysis finds that retirement coverage in the private sector remains a “serious problem” for plan sponsors and employees despite previously reported high levels of access to retiree options, according to researchers from the Center of Retirement Research at Boston College.

VSP Global partners with Google Glass, setting the stage for the interactive eyewear’s wider adoption in the workplace. But is the workplace ready?

With Monday’s looming Affordable Care Act open enrollment deadline, a new analysis of Americans in all 50 states and the District of Columbia finds that health care costs are still a top concern.

Making sure payroll and benefits enrollment are up to par was not a concern back in 1922 when Diamond Parking Service was first established in Seattle, Wash. Diamond Parking turned to well-known industry source known for its ability to automate data processing.

Even as the April 15 tax deadline looms for individual retirement account contributions, American adults still spend more time selecting a restaurant for a special occasion than they allocate to planning their IRA’s important investments.

New research from a North American sample of HR leaders finds that the Affordable Care Act is not a primary concern among employers, even as the landmark health care law continues to worry the masses.

A new report card tracking health care price transparency finds that 45 states failed to offer essential information to consumers shopping in the U.S. health system, a significant step back since easier-to-understand public health solutions were to have become the norm in this post-Affordable Care Act world.

A community with high well-being is one where citizens and employees are satisfied with their lifestyle and overall health. In this year’s Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index, top honors go to Provo-Orem, Utah.

Despite nearly two-thirds of employers indicating that managing critical talent is vital for success, only a handful of employers feel their programs are communicating these values to high performing staff.

Through a new group annuity program, Towers Watson may have found a solution to retiree medical costs – a burgeoning problem for employers. The option eliminates the financial risk from the table and limits the administrative burdens linked to the benefit.

Starting April 1, New York City’s newly minted paid sick leave law – mandating coverage for all workers at businesses with five or more employees – will take effect. Expectations by city government officials highlight that paid sick leave will now be secured for 500,000 or more New Yorkers.

Employers across the country may be expecting to offset higher health care costs through private health exchanges and boosting wellness offerings. However, HR leaders interviewed in a new PricewaterhouseCoopers report say that the push to private exchanges is being fueled by C-suite executives and not benefits professionals.

A new analysis of the 100 largest corporate pension plans finds that retirement coffers bounced back in 2013, reaching record funded-status levels and cutting away at pension deficits that have plagued them since 2008’s financial collapse.