Employer Strategies

Not only are older American workers (age 50 and over) expecting to work longer, but many now say they expect to never retire, according to the nonpartisan Employee Benefit Research Institute. Data suggest the trend may be tied to the recent economic recession.

Companies planning to spend thousands of dollars for staff Christmas parties, even with open bars, shouldn't bother because most U.S. employees would prefer money.

Many companies have restructured their executive pay-for-performance programs to prepare for the first “say on pay" vote in the 2011 proxy season. Experts from consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers detail concrete preparations and advice for companies to reform their executive compensation practices in anticipation of what promises to be an even tougher shareholder vote in 2012.

While employers have increasingly adopted CDHPs as a lower cost option, employees have been slower to embrace them. A recent study reveals one stat likely to increase participation, writes BeAdvised contributor Doug Mantz.

Employers who pay out severance to their employees run certain risks that need to be considered beforehand. Some employers have learned the hard way that severance agreements aren't always the best course of action. Last year, the University of Oregon received bad press when it was discovered that former head coach Mike Bellotti received a substantial payout upon his departure. …

Walmart, the world’s largest private employer, and Merrill Lynch, without admitting to wrongdoing, have agreed to pay $13.5 million in a class-action lawsuit accusing them of breaching their fiduciary duty to two million past and present Walmart workers. The suit was settled in Kansas City federal court.

Mayo Clinic researchers have amassed additional evidence that secondhand smoke kills and smoke-free workplace laws save lives.

Despite many companies in North America anticipating a decline in shareholder value in 2011, pressures about executive pay by the Occupy movement and a slow-to-recover economy, a majority of companies expect to pay executive bonuses that are as large as or larger than last year’s awards. Additionally, the majority of companies plan to fund this year’s bonuses at or above target levels, reflecting strong operating results, according to the Towers Watson survey.

After decades in relative obscurity, a legal doctrine that holds corporate officers liable for company wrongdoing is finding its way back into some high-profile health care prosecutions.

The chief executive officers of Medco Health Solutions Inc and Express Scripts Inc will tell a U.S. Senate subcommittee that merging the pharmacy benefit managers will wring out wasteful spending and lower the cost of medicine, according to a government filing.