Benefits Think

Almost two weeks now has passed since the Jan. 12 earthquake that devastated much of Haiti, including the island nation’s capital of Port au Prince. With rebuilding costs estimated in the billions, individuals and companies have been heartfelt and inspiring in their response to send money, food and medical supplies.

Who, at one time or another, hasn’t run out during the workday to get coffee for themselves and/or coworkers? I know I have. My needs are few, but one of them is most certainly caffeine.

What a difference one special election makes. In the wake of Scott Brown’s upset victory in Tuesday's special election to fill the Senate seat vacated by the late Ted Kennedy, all the stories about health care reform this morning involve needles — and not the hypodermic kind.

Dear readers, No more posts this week, since I'm having my wisdom teeth extracted. While I recover, I'll leave you a statement to ponder: Health care reform will reform neither health nor care. Discuss until I write to you again on Jan. 19.…

To start the new year, Mercer has combined some of my favorite things: lists and clever plays on words/numbers — oh, and good information, too.

We always knew the benefits industry could be brutal at times (any of you who have made major benefits changes at your companies know what I’m talking about), and The Hartford’s Tom Westman has taken his survival skills and put them to use on television.

The streets are talking: There’s a new consultant in town (kind of). Six months after announcing their intent to merge, global consulting giants Towers Perrin and Watson Wyatt have completed the union, my friends down the hall at EBA reported this morning.

A lot of working Americans are channeling the Stones these days, telling The Conference Board that they can’t get no satisfaction. According to the org’s latest survey, 55% of Americans – across all incomes and age brackets – are unsatisfied with their jobs.

For two lovely years, Jane White, the founder and president of Retirement Solutions LLC, wrote an insightful and incisive column for EBN. I enjoyed and admired her passion for the “other” top tier benefit, which — even with a full-blaze retirement crisis before our eyes — still doesn’t get the first-string play that health care receives.

It's been great writing to you this year in a venue that (I hope) has helped you shake off some of the tension and seriousness that can weigh down the matters we follow in this industry.