Employer Strategies

European Court of Justice abolishes sex-based differences in insurance policies. Spain's Council of Ministers approves draft social security pension reform.

My mother has the day off every other Friday, which I highly envy. She also works nine-hour days for the privilege, which I do not envy.

In high school, I remember sitting for hours typing documents on printing shells for my school's Ditto machine. While my peers rushed to class in the afternoons, I sat silently typing quizzes, handouts and tests. Other students called me "little miss goody two-shoes," but I didn't mind. I knew working in the school office would teach me the necessary skills to succeed.

When government officials in Orange County, Fla. decided to move to a consumer-driven health plan last fall, they knew they would have to approach communications in a new way. While the county has 6,500 employees, its health plan covers approximately 19,000 lives, including dependents and employees at a few other government agencies.

For the year ending in September 2010, 26.3% of Americans (or 62.8 million people) volunteered through or for an organization at least once, according to the Current Population Survey conducted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Among working Americans, 29.2% volunteered, compared to 23.8% of unemployed persons and 22% of those not in the labor force.

Thomson Reuters, a major vendor of business intelligence services and technology spanning multiple industries, intends to divest its health care operations.

A new report from MetLife suggests that financial advisers need to do a better job of educating their clients about the importance of managing their emotions as well as their spending and investing behavior during and close to retirement just as they did — presumably — when they were younger and saving up for their golden years.

UnitedHealth Group is pushing into managing pharmacy benefits, bucking a trend among U.S. health insurers and threatening the dominance of the three largest companies that help negotiate drug pricing.

Millennials who frequently participate in workplace corporate volunteer programs are more likely to be proud, loyal and satisfied employees, as compared to those who do not, according to a new survey from Deloitte LLP.

WellPoint plans to buy privately held Medicare specialist CareMore to expand its presence in the U.S. government program for the elderly. The deal will advance WellPoint's plans to become a bigger competitor in Medicare.