Healthcare

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.

Although the name Dave Thomas likely is most closely associated with the smiling red-haired girl in pigtails who serves as the icon for his chain of Wendy's restaurants and the burgers and Frosties the outlets serve, the restauranteur also was a passionate advocate for adoption. Himself an adoptee at age 5, Thomas spent most of his adult life championing adoption and making inroads with employers to provide adoption benefits.

Corporate America does lend itself to a workday that includes 90-minute intervals of intense work and then periods of deep recharging. It’s certainly not the image conjured; it’s the dedicated employee who works late, comes in early and eats lunch at his/her desk.

President Obama addressed a joint session of Congress last Thursday evening to present a jobs bill containing an expansion of the payroll tax cut, tax breaks for new hires and salary raises and other tax reform measures.

New research from Aflac underscores a big opportunity for advisers to help ease employees’ confusion during open enrollment.

A federal judge in Pennsylvania says the insurance-buying mandate in President Obama's health care overhaul in unconstitutional, the latest ruling over an issue likely to be taken up by the Supreme Court.

Facing the twin blights of constrained state budgets and eroding market value amid the still-sputtering economy, retirement programs for public employees are under siege, with numerous state and local employers either undertaking or considering massive restructuring of their benefit plans.