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Despite the surge in popularity of target-date funds, which put retirement investing on autopilot, some aggressive investors are seeking access to self-directed IRAs, to add alternative — and sometimes off-beat — investments to their retirement portfolios.

Companies that serve 401(k) plans are asking the Labor Department to reconsider its stance on mailed notification, so that they can save costs by using email instead of regular mail to send information to plan participants. However, the industry also is trying to balance that need with the needs of older workers, who tend to not be as computer-savvy.

Whole Foods Market — which has 300 stores in the U.S. Canada and the U.K. — puts benefits to a vote. Every three years the company lets employees nominate benefits and if other employees agree, the benefit is added. It’s just one of the ways the company empowers its employees and encourages innovation, co-founder and CEO John Mackey told a packed crowd in Wednesday morning’s opening keynote address at the Great Place to Work conference in Atlanta.

The Mayo Clinic launched an ambitious social media campaign in 2008 and within a year, had a 49% market share among health care websites. It started a blog for employees, which has been likened to a weather report that enables higher-ups to assess how employees are feeling about the organization. The end goal is to break down barriers between management and employees.

Taking time away from the office has been shown to reduce stress and improve employee productivity. Bolstered by such positive statistics, some employers have taken a renewed look at their vacation policies to better fit increasingly diverse and often dispersed employee populations. EBN has compiled 5 unique approaches to vacation benefits that encourage employees to unwind and return to work with renewed vigor. (Images: Thinkstock)

Just as bright yellow “Don’t Tread on Me” and American flags flew high in front of the Supreme Court this week, so did the tempers of the crowds of supporters and opponents of health care reform gathered outside.

Wednesday may be the stickiest part of the three-day hearings at the Supreme Court regarding health care reform’s individual mandate, as the issues being argued on this final day have the greatest potential to make HR/benefits managers lives — and those of the employees and families they serve — quite complicated. What is at hand today is the issue of “severability,” whether the entire Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act must fall if the insurance mandate is found to be unconstitutional, or if the other remaining parts of the law can survive.

Comparing one group’s health claims to another’s is touted as one way to zero in on cost-saving opportunities. The problem, guest blogger Linda K. Riddell notes, is that benchmarking can hide more cost-cutting opportunities than it shows.

Seventy may be the new 60 — but not where the Internal Revenue Service is concerned. People who turned 70-1/2 last year must begin taking required annual withdrawals from their tax-deferred retirement accounts no later than Friday, a reality many older workers weren’t aware of. Employers can help fill the education gap.

Creating an adequate amount of income for individuals to live comfortably in retirement will require a combination of several income producing strategies, as well as knowing what constitutes realistic and "safe" withdrawal rates from retirement plans, according to a new issue brief by the Institutional Retirement Income Council.