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As a big-time chocolate lover, Valentine's Day is among my favorite holidays. Although it's delicious year-round, there's something about chocolate in the shape of a rose or nestled in a heart-shaped box that makes it extra special.

If you issue employee communications only through e-mail or company bulletin board postings, I have news for you: Most employees are not listening.

Though primary care physicians and nurse practitioners are intended to be patients' first point of entry into the health care system, approximately seven out of 10 people in U.S. commercial health plans (and 95% of the elderly) see one or more specialists a year.

Self-funding used to be exclusively for big companies that had a solid cushion of assets, plenty of cash flow and a large employee population across which to spread risk.

U.S. workers can expect median base salary increases of 2.8% in 2011, compared to 2.4% in 2010, while executives and skilled trades workers can anticipate a 2.7% increase, according to the Salary Budgets Survey by the Hay Group.

The Center for State and Local Government Excellence recently launched an interactive map showing a sample of state and local governments that have made major reforms to their pension plans.

A Senate panel in December deepened a probe of copay-based mini-med plans that raised pointed questions about the plans' value and transparency for workers, even when employers are unable to sponsor more comprehensive coverage.

As companies act to attract and retain good employees, many are choosing to offer financial planning as one of the perks of employment. But in the words of Albert Einstein and Alexander Pope, a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing.

It sounds like all you have to do to escape complying with the reform provision that bars annual limits on health coverage is: A. Offer a mini-med plan and B. Apply for a waiver freeing your plan from coverage limits.

Employees who come to work with cold and flu symptoms cited workplace pressures and presenteeism as key reasons why they make the haul into work feeling under the weather, according to a CareerBuilder survey.