Benefits Think

Workplace walking programs sure are taking big steps forward these days. For years now, I’ve been hearing about programs from Florida to Colorado walking toward better employee health armed only with a pedometer and a dream, but it seems that recently the programs are really hitting their stride, so to speak.

Historically, the retirement industry hasn’t been required to publish all fees and expenses associated with 401(k) products. That’s about to change. The Labor Department noticed that the majority of 401(k) plan sponsors are in the dark regarding the fees they’re paying. To add insult to injury, most are under the impression that their plan is free. …

A new report from EAP provider ComPsych suggests that employees’ emotional health likely will not support healthy lifestyle changes -- indicating that stress, anxiety, depression and poor social support may be hampering employees' efforts to achieve wellness goals.

In a follow-up post, Steve Kloyda talks further about the art of prospecting. Do you agree with his thoughts? Your success in sales starts and ends with prospecting Skeptics say that prospecting is dead. It’s not. And it never will be. The decision to prospect is yours alone. Yes, the old way of selling has changed, but prospecting continues to be the foundation of all successful businesses and salespeople. So what is prospecting? …

With uncertain economic times having American employees highly stressed and otherwise emotionally on edge, it doesn’t come as much of a surprise that a new survey from CareerBuilder shows that 34% of hiring managers say they’re placing greater emphasis on emotional intelligence when hiring and promoting employees post-recession.

For many advisers, adapting to market changes is very difficult. The reality is that it’s always been necessary, but now it is absolutely essential. In fact you need to embrace change and also be a catalyst for change. At my company, we started examining our value proposition several years ago. We recognized that we needed to bring greater value to our client relationships and that we needed to be more strategic in our thinking. We…

Strategic adviser Davia Temin says that when it comes to corporate social media, “It is the Wild West out there. Every organization knows it should be doing something, but is not sure what." Temin has written a series on Forbes.com to help employers avoid the 10 don’ts of corporate social media efforts.

According to Wikipedia, the word transparency implies openness, communication and accountability . . . performing in such a way that it is easy to see what’s wrong. Sounds like our health care system, doesn’t it? Not really and that’s where enormous opportunity exists to “fix” healthcare.

The fall open enrollment season is around the corner, and HR professionals are beginning their preparations for this busy time of year. One piece of the open enrollment puzzle that should not be overlooked is communication. In fact, I can make an argument that communication is the most important part of an employer’s overall open enrollment efforts. …

Every year, around mid-August, I think three things: I can’t believe the summer is almost over. I can’t believe it’s been almost X years since Katrina. I can’t believe next month it will be X years since 9/11.