Sheryl Smolkin

While employers are applauding the recent Flambeau wellness program court decision, they still need to be mindful of how the EEOC views ‘gateway’ HRAs.

Recent announcements by Credit Suisse Bank and private equity firm KKR that they will pay the expenses of nannies to accompany parents who wish to bring their infants on business trips has upped the ante for companies enhancing parental benefits in order to attract and retain top tier employees.

Dependent eligibility verification audits are sometimes tough to communicate to employees, but as employers look for financial savings in their health plans, many are contemplating them.

James R. Evans, a partner in the Los Angeles firm Allston and Bird, LLP says there are dozens of companies in the sharing economy that could be affected by the outcome of the Uber class action.

With open enrollment for 2016 over for many employers, it might be tempting for benefit managers to sit back, relax and forget about it for another year. But benefits communications experts say now is the ideal time to conduct an open enrollment post-mortem before memories of what worked and what didn’t have faded.

Christine Porath, an associate professor in the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University, studies the impact of workplace incivility on both employees and organizations. She spoke to EBN about workplace civility, why it matters and what employers can do to foster it.

When it comes to 2016 attraction and retention trends, millennials matter. But many younger workers don’t yet have the skills or inclination to take on managerial roles vacated by boomers who are exiting the workforce in increasing numbers.

An increasing number of employers will buy in to a shifting perspective on wellness that will move from simply supporting the physical and mental health of their workforce to enhancing their quality of life by promoting social connectedness, job satisfaction and financial security.

Companies such as Eli Lilly, Lucix and General Electric are rebranding their performance management systems and ditching more customary annual or semi-annual reviews in favor of more frequent informal supervisor/employee meetings.

How small companies are making use of their employee assistance programs.

Small employers such as Beehive PR and Beach Cities Health District create a culture of mental wellness with a suite of day-to-day programs that encourage work-life balance, employee involvement and employee growth and development opportunities.

Employers can be vulnerable to lawsuits if they have staff members they think are exempt from overtime rules, but are really not.

The benefits industry is awaiting several rulings from the Supreme Court of the United States expected in 2016 that could have far-reaching effects on the administration and cost of operating employee benefit plans.

Unlimited vacation programs, like the one recently announced by LinkedIn, sound like a dream benefit but experts caution only companies with an entrepreneurial corporate culture and excellent communication practices can successfully implement them.

The potential cost increases due to offering transgender health benefits is minimal because the population is small, says Human Rights Campaign.

As more of the baby boom generation retires, some U.S. companies will face a potentially significant loss of talent and institutional knowledge. Companies ahead of the curve are already looking at ways to avoid the brain drain by encouraging today’s workers over 50 to stay longer.

While Uber is fighting hard on all fronts to prove its drivers are correctly characterized as independent contractors, there are examples of other successful app-driven on-demand start-ups that have either converted contractors to employee status or characterized all workers as employees from the get-go.