Benefits Think

Healthcare coverage is a significant piece of your employees’ overall financial package. If your plan doesn’t appropriately meet their needs, it can be a source of stress for them throughout the year.

Commentary: An employer’s argument that their classification of a 1099 employee should be respected because it’s how the employee is classified will go over like a lead balloon. The risk of misclassification under the ACA could be significant, says lawyer Peter Marathas.

Commentary: There are a lot of misconceptions about retirement plans that may keep employees from enrolling. Chad Parks shares are some ways to help businesses navigate these often jargon-heavy waters.

Commentary: What we can do to support them, make them feel more welcome in our company culture and help strengthen our own company in the process.

Commentary: Adviser David C. Smith says he’s seen “a handful of imaginative approaches that all fail to satisfy the IRS’s prohibition” on standalone Health Reimbursement Arrangements.

Commentary: Auto-enrollment, codified in law by the Pension Protection Act of 2006, was drafted with the best of intentions — to increase Americans’ retirement savings — but it has had the unintended consequence of impairing plan effectiveness.

Commentary: The most important element in personal investing, including 401(k) investing, is an investor's understanding of his/her risk tolerance. Virtually all negative investor outcomes spring from a lack of understanding an employee has about his/her ability to bear risk.

Commentary: If work-life balance is dead, how are employers expected to still promote it as a benefit?

Commentary: To ensure employees receive safe and necessary healthcare and maintain ethical practice, smart healthcare HR department leaders will want to keep their antenna up for any whisper or whiff of providers routinely waiving copays, coinsurance and deductibles for their patients.

The cancer support program at CBS involves everything from helping an employee find providers to facilitating transmission of medical records to obtaining second opinions and more.