Employer Strategies

In some organizations, the complex, painstaking and costly business of producing key benefit documents like summary plan descriptions is accepted merely as a legally necessary but thankless task. You won't find that attitude anywhere in the vicinity of Michael Calhoun, director of benefit plan governance for AT&T and winner of this year's EBN Benny Award in the Judges' Choice category.

OhioHealth's manager of benefits administration integrated all of OhioHealth's wellness initiatives into one program, branding the new program OhioHealthy, in 2006. The following year, she consolidated OhioHealth's three health plans into one. Meddock's accomplishments in these initiatives has earned her EBN's 2011 Benny Award for Benefits Leadership in Health Care.

A little over a year ago, I wrote a column about my plans to jump on the dependent eligibility verification audit bandwagon, along with thousands of other employers eager to remove ineligible dependents from their health insurance plans to hedge against ever-rising health care costs.

With the hefty price tag organizations pay for employee benefits, effectively communicating those offerings to get the highest return on investment is critical - particularly in the current economic environment. To this end, having a vision to engage and motivate workers is one thing. Turning that vision into a successful campaign is quite another.

The group legal plan is growing. More employers are slashing budgets, which often equals cutting benefits. No more 401(k) matching, a high-deductible health plan becomes the only option, and money gets tight and employees see it and feel it.

An entrepreneur has launched a new employee benefits service promising companies access to a network of certified public accountants who will offer prepaid tax preparation and year-round tax advice to their employees.

As open enrollment season approaches, employees likely will see that they have more voluntary benefit options than in previous years, a survey by Colonial Life concludes. The insurer's poll of more than 750 HR managers and benefits administrators found that almost half (49%) expect to add voluntary benefits to their plans within the next year. Employers were asked about their employee benefits packages and benefits communication efforts.

When acquiring a spin-off - buying a subsidiary that will be standing on its own or integrated into the acquirer's other businesses - benefits are key to a deal's success and minimizing employee disruption. Successfully transitioning employee benefits in spin-offs presents unique challenges.

Reflecting uncertain economic conditions and a conservative cost-management environment, U.S. employers are projecting moderate pay raises for employees in 2012. Employers expect to fully fund their annual bonuses for workers this year, as corporate profits have increased, according to a new survey of 773 employers conducted by Towers Watson.

Insurers have yet another cloud option available to them, as Informatica announced several new insurance clients using their services. Although not a new offering (the company launched cloud services in 2006), it's relatively new coming from an insurance industry known as technologically risk averse. According to a recent Gartner Group study, annual spending on cloud-related transactions may grow to almost $150 billion worldwide by 2014.