Tristan Lejeune

A full three-quarters of the workforce thinks their employer will educate them about changes to their health care coverage as a result of reform, but only 13% of employers say educating employees about health care reform is important to their organization.

Reinforcing other studies, Truven finds that more than two-thirds of the 6.5 million emergency department visits during the study period for those under the age of 65 were avoidable and could have saved employers and health plans millions.

In a SHRM survey, 77% of respondents currently say they use social networking for that purpose. In 2011, 56% of surveyed organizations used social networking sites to find and communicate with job applicants; back in 2008, it was 34%.

Towers Watson reports that employers contributed $45.1 billion to their pension plans last year, up from $38.9 billion in 2011, but it wasn’t enough: pension deficits jumped 17%, or $42.5 billion, to $295.2 billion at year-end 2012.

The 25,000 square-foot Associates’ Family Health Center offers not just occupational care, but full primary care services for BMW employees and their dependents, as well as some retirees.

Jimmy Flemming, a HealthyWage cofounder, says all of its programs “are well-suited to the workplace because that’s what they’ve been optimized for.” Those programs have a common factor: Participants are betting on their own success.

MetLife poll reveals employers view voluntary legal plans as easy to handle and can improve employee satisfaction.

Wisconsin employer Snap-on Tools partners with technical colleges to shrink its skills gap and boost employee training.

From old communication tactics – like the ‘porcelain press’ and benefits road shows – to new ones like blogs and social networking, Life Technologies left no medium to chance when it rolled out its full-replacement shift to a consumer-driven health plan.

That “skin in the game,” HealthyWage officials say, is significantly more of a motivator than the traditional incentives that employers offer with weight-loss programs.

In what it calls the first ever wage analysis of U.S. Census data by metropolitan area, data from the National Partnership for Women & Families show the wage gap affects women in all 50 states and the 50 largest metropolitan centers.

More than a third of U.S. workers spend between two hours and “half the day” fretting over their personal finances, according to new research from McGraw Hill Federal Credit Union.

Unsurprisingly, employees are fans: 93% of surveyed workers say that telecommuting programs are mutually beneficial, according to the second annual Staples Advantage survey, which reports a greater decrease in stress levels from last year.

A panel of workforce experts met recently at the Aspen Institute’s Washington, D.C., office to talk about challenges in the skilled trades.

Representatives from private health insurance exchanges assert that exchanges are hitting the ground running and that they are well-equipped to help employers meet the diverse health needs of employees.

One study yields mixed results on telemedicine, finding that physician e-visits are cheaper but result in more prescriptions.

Eighty-three percent of 800 large and mid-size American employers — representing more than 7 million workers — now use some form of incentive to get employees more aware of their health status, Aon Hewitt polls show.

Targeting specific demographics will be critical to 2013 open enrollment communications, says Univers’ Dani McCauley. McCauley tells EBN that employers will face a challenging landscape this year communicating health care reform and other benefits changes.

As part of EBN’s upcoming portrait of Generation Y’s financial planning, we spoke with a trio of young investors. Unsurprisingly, the one who’s doing the most to help her 401(k) works in the benefits field.

Communicating ahead of open enrollment is both a broader and a more specific challenge in a post-health care reform world. One expert at Univers talks about how she is prepping her clients and tips for how employers should plan.