Employer Strategies

Employees know very little about disability coverage. But when they learn about it, they often want the coverage and are willing to pay for it, recent surveys find. The Consumer Federation of America and Unum national survey of 1,200 employees finds that only 13% know "a lot" about disability insurance, and less than half (47%) know what its benefits are.

While President Barack Obama's open support of same-sex marriage hasn't caused any immediate change in federal law, the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston ruled recently that part of the Defense of Marriage Act - which denies federal benefits to same-sex married couples - is unconstitutional and cannot be enforced. Noting that a "Supreme Court review of DOMA is highly likely," however, the 1st Circuit put the ruling on hold.

Traditional job titles are soon to be a thing of the past at Noblis, a nonprofit research organization based in Falls Church, Va. The company - named to the Great Place to Work Institute's 2011 Best Medium Workplaces list - employs about 800 scientists, engineers, researchers and technology experts who work with public and private sector clients in the areas of health care, national security, transportation, energy, and environmental sustainability and telecommunications.

For all employers' focus on curbing obesity statistics through healthy eating and exercise programs, it can be easy to forget that smoking remains the leading cause of preventable death in the United States. One employer, Nelnet, is remaining vigilant about stamping out smoking among its employee population.

It's important to maintain strong relationships with employee benefit advisers who provide professional services at reasonable fees. However, employers must periodically question why they maintain certain relationships, particularly if fees appear to be higher than usual and/or service has declined. Sometimes a relationship is maintained with a vendor due to a long-term friendship. Other times it's maintained due to the influence of a parent corporation or for other business reasons. In all circumstances, employers should periodically evaluate vendors, fees and services, and ensure that no undue influences exist. For this reason, many employers should consider establishing a formal ERISA fiduciary gift policy.

As employers move past the anxiety and drama over the Supreme Court ruling on health care reform, there's no escaping the fact that steep employee medical benefit costs remain as a serious concern - not only in the United States, but all over the world.

Last September, after the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act gave the Department of Health and Human Services authority to review premium rates in states that didn't have strong enough review programs, the agency began handing down decrees of "unreasonable" premium rates for insurers that proposed increasing rates by an average of 10% or more - meaning HHS can publically shame an insurer.

"The whole onsite clinic thing has been a buzz the last few years," says Michael Troup, partner at Forsite Benefits.

We talk a good game in the health care system. We say we want to empower patients, but how powerful do we really want them to be? We say we want to give them enough information so they can make informed choices, but how do we deliver that information so that patients truly understand what is being said? As health care reform continues and open enrollment periods occur, encourage your employees to know that they are the key to this empowerment that everyone's talking about. Thus, it's important that they be educated about, and encouraged to exercise, their medical freedoms - specifically, the freedom to request the surgeon of your preference.

Even under the best employment conditions, hiring the wrong employee can drag down a company's bottom line and dampen workforce productivity and morale. However, the national skills gap and ongoing economic concerns make finding the right candidate crucial the first time around.