Tristan Lejeune

Alexander Alonso, the vice president of research for the Society for Human Resource Management, says that while health care and retirement remain the most important benefits for workers, acquiring and keeping top talent requires more offerings.

Ric Edelman, chairman and CEO of Edelman Financial Services, told his Chicago audience that a combination of factors — including a misunderstanding of exponential growth and its effect on compounding interest — have led workers to short-term planning that can be deadly to 401(k)s and other defined contribution plans.

Chief people officer Jeff Perkins says he took HR at NPR to a far more prominent and decision-making position, and that HR professionals always need to leverage opportunities such as new facilities or outgoing senior leadership.

Fareed Zakaria gave the opening address at the Society for Human Resources Management 2013 conference, and the 15,000 people attending heard from him that, though the market recovery has been slow and painful, world markets will rise together.

In a new Mercer survey of nearly 900 employers, 9% of respondents say ACA will have little or no cost impact on their bottom line (adding less than 1%), down significantly from the 25% who thought so in 2011.

In the past three months, employers have added an average of 155,000 jobs, down from the November-to-February average of 237,000 jobs a month. In May, manufacturers shed 8,000 jobs and the federal government cut 14,000.

Casinos have the largest percentage of employees on FMLA leave with 49% in a given year, FMLASource reports; they also rank the highest in intermittent leave (58%) and average duration of an intermittent leave (17 days).

Craig Rosenthal, a partner with Mercer, testified on the American Benefits Council’s behalf, emphasizing that the legislative and regulatory environment for pension plans has made sponsorship increasingly difficult over the past few decades.

An expert with PeopleFluent shares his thoughts on talent retention in an increasingly globalized world. A presence overseas is a definite draw for job applicants, he says, but be careful the shimmer of the world doesn’t get in their eyes.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch reports 207 plans with auto-increase features, up 9.5% from the end of last year. Participants in those plans also rose, by 9.3%, from 115,703 to 126,537.

Fidelity Investments reports the average projected cost of health care expenses for retirees has gone down but cautions it’s not a trend.

Aflac report reveals sobering gap in employee readiness to take on the shift toward consumer-driven health.

Immigration reform is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to fix a badly broken system, says one industry group.

The Departments of Labor, Treasury and Health and Human Services issued what are being called final rules on employment-based wellness programs, and advocacy groups immediately weighed in on the changes, which were required under the Affordable Care Act.

Companies such as Domino’s Pizza are introducing a new weight loss challenge program that doesn’t cost them anything and makes employees put some skin in the game.

The number of employers using social media and social networking websites to recruit job candidates continues to rise, according to research from the Society for Human Resource Management, with 77% of employers surveyed saying they currently use social networking for recruitment purposes.

The study from Truven Health Analytics examined insurance claims data for over 6.5 million emergency department visits in 2010 and found that just 29% of patients actually required immediate attention in the emergency room.

As more companies embrace consumer-driven health care models and prepare for the full implementation of health care reform, employees need voluntary benefits more than ever. This chart pack includes the latest data on voluntary benefits from the Aflac WorkForces Report and UBA’s Ancillary Products Survey.

Most 403(b) organizations contributed to their plans in 2012, the PSCA reports, with the average contribution nearly 10% higher than 2011.

Yesterday Groom Law Group’s Mark Nielsen addressed the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans’ Washington legislative update, saying health reform watchers are still hoping for “more and better guidance” on ACA rules and standards.