Employer Strategies

At its peak in the early 1990s, there were over 2,000 recordkeepers serving retirement plans - today there are fewer than 60. In light of service-provider profit pressures from declining margins, sponsor fee sensitivity caused by litigation and Department of Labor's fee-disclosure regulations, finding the right plan vendor for the right price can be a challenge.

The Department of Labor has slightly delayed the deadlines on significant new affirmative obligations for fiduciaries of retirement plans subject to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

With consolidation in the big-plan consulting market over the past few years garnering all the headlines - Towers Perrin merging with Watson Wyatt in 2009 to form Towers Watson and Aon joining forces with Hewitt last year to create Aon Hewitt - it's easy to forget there are a slew of smaller consulting firms out there providing consistently high levels of service to thousands of small- to mid-sized organizations.

By 2014, the under-30 population will become the majority of the workforce, a title once held by baby boomers. During this transition, employers must revisit their strategies for engaging younger populations in health care decision-making and lifestyle improvement.

Like a lot of companies, Veridian Credit Union wants its employees to be healthier. In January, the Waterloo, Iowa-company rolled out a wellness program and voluntary screenings.

Benefits matter more than ever to employees. The third annual study of employees’ views by Unum toward their benefits and enrollment was conducted online in December following the 2010 benefits enrollment period among more than 1,700 working adults. The research finds the perceived importance of many employee benefits notably increased from 2008 to 2010 across all age groups.

Patricia Sowell Harris is very into McDonald’s. Understandably so. She started as a "fry girl" but moved on after two weeks to administrative assistant.

A California appellate court has carved out an exception to the general rule that employers in California have a duty to reimburse legal expenses of employees whenever they are sued over conduct engaged in during the course and scope of their employment. No such duty exists, the court held, when the employer sues the employee—even if the employee is ultimately successful in defending the case. …

When Casey McConnell started text messaging marketing company Qittle he took the traditional route of hiring onsite employees. But he soon realized it was more advantageous to hire workers online.

New research released Thursday from Guardian Life shows that 62% of workers now enroll online for their employee benefits, compared to only 29% in 2005. In the past year alone, the use of online benefits enrollment increased by 8 percentage points, which represents a significant shift in how employees learn about, evaluate and interact with their benefits programs.