Employer Strategies

Employers are increasingly adopting best practices to ensure compliant retirement plan administration — and one of those practices is using an adviser.

Commentary: The closer you look, the lower the return on investment for wellness programs. That’s the take-home message from a thorough, scientific review published by the American Journal of Health Promotion.

Voluntary benefits are creeping more and more into the everyday dialogue of benefit managers and advisers, but for those just getting involved, partnering with voluntary carriers and other vendors can sometimes be a difficult field to navigate.

Commentary: Benefit advisers should help educate 403(b) plan sponsors about appropriate Form 5500 compliance before the DOL takes enforcement action, the Principal Financial Group's Aaron Friedman says.

As the country’s demographics continue to shift, employers are facing changes in the makeup of their workforce, according to a report from the Council of Economic Advisers. With those changes come new benefits needs for working families. Brokers can help their clients keep up with these evolving requirements and expectations.

It appears that slackers, not hackers, are mostly responsible for the invasion of health care records - and the overly curious (or bored) employees who are the culprits can cost employers millions in HIPPA fines.

Commentary: Pharmacy benefit managers and benefit brokers keep a watchful eye for profit-seekers looking to take advantage of loopholes in the health care delivery system.

The IRS’ new draft forms for employer reporting on health care coverage unveils a glimpse of the administrative onus in store for benefit advisers and their employer clients working to comply with the Affordable Care Act.

In a landmark challenge to traditional labor law, the National Labor Relations Board is attempting to lump together McDonald’s and its independent franchises as joint employer, which leaves many questions on what this could mean for other collective benefit plan structures.

Benefit advisers working with small to mid-size employers to boost benefit participation can focus on cost-saving measures and enrollment and education activities that larger companies are more inclined or able to invest in.