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During this year’s open enrollment, I’m guessing many employers moved to an online enrollment system. In today’s digital age, online enrollment is not only becoming more popular, but employees have come to expect it. Supporting this fact, I recently saw some data from a Guardian study that revealed the use of online benefits enrollment has more than doubled in five years. …

New recommendations were released last week on how to better control returning employees to work following disability leaves and absence management. The Disability Management Employers Coalition and Liberty Mutual's best practices result from a series of live and virtual conferences featuring human resource and benefits professionals, representing employers of all sizes and from a range of industries.

The 11th quarterly Allstate-National Journal Heartland Monitor Poll found that near-retiree baby boomers have pushed back initial plans to retire at age 60, to 66. Additionally, 68% of baby boomers expect to work in some form after retirement, the survey of 1,200 Americans found. Only 11% of current retirees currently work.

A new paper from the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College challenges the assumption that the tax deferral advantage offered by 401(k) plans mainly benefits high-income workers, who face higher marginal tax rates.

The use of liability-driven investment strategies — where a plan’s assets are matched more closely to its future liabilities — has more than tripled in the past five years, according to a recent survey of pension executives by SEI.

U.S. health officials will allow states to select the basic set of medical benefits that must be offered by insurance plans participating in new exchanges mandated by the federal health care overhaul, the government said on Friday.

On December 5, 2011, the United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri granted preliminary approval to a proposed settlement of the Wal‐Mart 401(k) fee lawsuit (Braden v. Wal‐Mart Stores, Inc.). Under the proposed settlement, the defendants will pay a total of $13,500,000. The settlement also describes several potential changes to the plan's investment options, investment education programs and participant disclosures. …

2011 was a year full of health care news, with most of it focused around the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. In 2012, there will be some major decisions made by the courts. Here’s a look back and forward at health care news.

Here's a recent roundup of industry accomplishments. Check to see if a colleague is mentioned this week.

Professional insurance agents have what insurance customers are looking for, according to research results issued by the PIA Partnership. The PIA Partnership is a group of insurance companies that works collaboratively with PIA National to conduct research and develop tools and resources designed to benefit professional independent insurance agents. PIA is a national trade association that represents member insurance agents and employees who sell and service all kinds of insurance.