Employer Strategies

Guardian Life Insurance Company has announced plans to acquire Avesis Incorporated, a vision, dental and hearing benefits administrator for government and commercial benefit programs.

Recognizing companies with the best 401(k) plans with more than $1 billion in assets, BrightScope has released its year-end ranking of the top 401(k) plans, based on factors such as total plan costs, company generosity, salary deferrals and account balances. How does your plan compare?

Commentary: Since the Family and Medical Leave Act was signed into law in 1993, employee benefits administration and time-off tracking have never been the same.

Commentary: The key issue with this type of sale is an adviser’s comfort level in selling the products.

Kemper Corporation has named Tracy S. Berwick as vice president, Kemper Benefits. In this role, Berwick will lead the development of Kemper’s voluntary strategy and benefit offerings.

Many employees will soon be receiving new forms that are critical to their ability to file their tax returns and to their employers’ ability to accurately fulfill their own Affordable Care Act reporting requirements.

Nora M. Everett, president of Principal’s retirement and investor services unit, discusses the firm’s retirement transition program and new pension builder product that will allow 401(k) plan participants to buy a deferred income annuity while they’re still actively participating in the plan.

The Affordable Care Act, new ways to fill the sales pipeline and Zenefits dominated EBA’s BeAdvised blog commentary this year. The top 10 most-read blogs of 2015 detail the growing number of ACA regulations and reporting requirements, explain why advisers don’t accurately understand the threat behind a tech-focused brokerage and highlight simple-yet-effective ways producers can increase existing client revenue and get prospects to open the door.

Employers have either dropped the ball when it comes to offering employees retirement transition assistance like flexible work arrangements, retirement seminars or financial counseling, or employees are just not aware of the benefits their employers offer.

Throughout the year, a number of guest bloggers have provided valuable insights to EBN readers on the complex changes and issues affecting healthcare, retirement and other benefits programs.