Employer Strategies

For employers, managing talent has never been more important. Organizations, particularly ones who've suffered massive layoffs over the past two years, are leaner and meaner.

Recently, I came across a blog post on the Mother Jones Web site that put in the starkest terms I've ever seen the reality of the retirement crisis.

Principal Financial Group will exit the medical insurance business (both insured and self-insured), the firm announced Sept. 30.

According to a survey on workers' perception of employee benefits, both high- and low-wage earners say benefits are vital to their health and financial security.

The Community Living Assistance Services and Supports Act begins to take effect on Jan. 1, 2011. Under the CLASS Act, which is part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, a public insurance option offering employees voluntary long-term care insurance will be an option for employees to consider.

The employee benefits market in Southeast Michigan has historically been heavily union-oriented. As a result, the rich benefit packages had little need for voluntary coverage offerings such as hospital indemnity plans.

When the Departments of Labor and Treasury sent out an RFI on annuities as a retirement savings vehicle in 401(k) plans earlier this year, Allianz Life Financial Services was one of 800 respondents.

If there was any doubt, the October 2010 401kExchange Opportunity Indices (reporting the percentage of plans that indicate they are currently searching for or thinking of changing recordkeepers, funds or advisers) definitively show that DC plan sponsors are much more concerned about finding the right adviser than changing their funds or recordkeepers.

Recent events and trends have thrust the topic of lifetime income products for retirement plans into the limelight. Retirements among the leading edge of Baby Boomers, medical advances increasing Americans' longevity, the market swoon of 2008 and continuing volatility in the financial markets have all contributed to a consensus that today's workers need options for their defined contribution plans that mimic the retirement income benefits of a defined benefit plan.

If you want employees making better health care decisions, then give employers the data they need to create effective health plan choices.