News Reports

Employers are invited to participate in third annual survey of the Center for Health Value Innovation, a research tool aimed at pinpointing current innovations and results in health benefit and outcomes-based design.

Amid mounting concern about the nation’s savings rate and financial illiteracy, employers face enormous pressure to move the needle on retirement preparedness. One possible solution is to tap the wildly popular gaming trend, which, in turn, can actually help make retirement planning fun and more engaging than traditional approaches to employee education.

With the cost of employer-provided health care benefits at large U.S. employers expected to rise another 7% next year, a new survey by the National Business Group on Health suggests employers are eyeing a variety of cost-control measures but also sharply boosting financial rewards to engage workers in healthy lifestyles.

Want to disseminate summary of benefits and coverage materials as required by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act on a mobile device?

Half of all workers who receive paid vacation time in the nation’s top 10 largest cities would be willing to sacrifice a workplace benefit in exchange for more paid time off. However, despite their desire for more free time, most employees don’t even use the vacation time they already receive.

Should employers be worried about workplace productivity during the Olympics?

Can training really make corporate cultures dominated by white men more inclusive?

Although most multinationals anticipate major global mobility challenges over the next two to three years, a new survey from Towers Watson and Worldwide ERC found that nearly half of them expect to increase traditional international assignments over the same period.

Federal health care reform legislation and the desire of employers to limit their health insurance costs are likely to fuel interest in “defined contribution” (DC) health benefits and private health insurance exchanges, according to a new report by the nonpartisan Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI).

Several leading health care advocacy groups are helping advance the use of outcomes-based incentives in worksite wellness or health management programs that are encouraged by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

Employers are more likely to implement value-based health care strategies now that the U.S. Supreme Court has upheld the Affordable Care Act, suggests a new survey by the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans. To help multiemployer and public employer health plans implement VBHC strategies in the workplace, the foundation has released a white paper on the topic. It identifies existing VBHC practices used by multiemployer and public employee health plans and provides a framework for building cultures of health.

Access to employer-provided benefits was greater in medium and large private industry establishments than in small establishments in March 2012, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The aggregate deficit in pension plans sponsored by S&P 1500 companies grew $59 billion in the first half of 2012 to $543 billion, according to new figures from Mercer Investment Consulting, Inc. This deficit corresponds to an aggregate funded ratio of 74% as of June 30, 2012 compared to a funded ratio of 75% as of December 31, 2011, at which point the aggregate deficit was $484 billion.

Summer kicks off a time of family barbecues and outdoor fun, but it also is a time for something else – accident claims.

As doubts re-emerge about the strength of economic recovery in the U.S., a new global workforce study by Towers Watson reveals that 63% of U.S. employees are not fully engaged in their work and struggling to cope when sufficient support is not provided.

Major changes are afoot for pilots and retirees at one of the world’s largest airlines as it continues to emerge from a November 29, 2011 Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing.

Most employers waited for the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark decision upholding health care reform before developing a strategy on provisions in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA,) slated to take effect in 2014 and beyond, according to a new Mercer survey.

Even with women making great strides in workplace parity and achieving greater financial independence, they continue to lag behind men in many key areas of financial planning.

The National Business Group on Health has honored 66 U.S. employers for their ongoing commitment to promoting healthy work environments and encouraging workers to live healthier lifestyles. The honored employers, including 15 first-time winners, were presented with “2012 Best Employers for Healthy Lifestyles” awards at the NBGH’s Institute on Innovation in Workforce Well-being Leadership Summit held in Washington, D.C.

Unlike summer blockbusters “The Amazing Spider-Man,” and “The Dark Knight Rises,” benefits practitioners won’t find any superheroes featured in “Murder by Proxy: How America Went Postal.” Unfortunately, though, there still are plenty of literal and figurative villains in the documentary, which aims to give HR/benefit professionals meaningful insight into workplace violence.