Tristan Lejeune

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.

Officials from IBM, Disney and Air Liquide discuss how to create an effective international benefits strategy.

The 23rd annual Retirement Confidence Survey, the longest-running survey of its kind, reports 28% — the highest level in the survey’s history — are not at all confident about being able to afford a comfortable retirement

In a legislative session sponsored by the Society for Human Resource Management, benefits attorney Elizabeth Vollmar covered everything from in-house administration functions to avoiding financial exposure.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission may launch an investigation into pay discrimination, one legal expert warns — even before formal charges are filed. The agency, as part of the president’s task force on pay enforcement, already is implementing pilot projects to audit employers near New York, Chicago and Phoenix.

Health care consultants from Mercer, Aon Hewitt and Towers Watson offered advice at a recent National Business Group on Health event in Washington, D.C.