Banco Popular de Puerto Rico

Maybe it’s because I have miles to go until I can actually collect Social Security – not to mention the fact that I’m not wholly convinced it will be available to me even when I’m eligible – but I tend to gloss over the annual SSA statements that tell me how much of a benefit I could collect once my working days are at last behind me.

I’ve long maintained that President Obama’s statement on health care reform that “If you like your coverage and your doctor, you can keep it,” was naïve at best and an outright lie at worst.

Pennsylvania has been held up as a model for health care reform at the national level with regard to collecting and reporting quality and cost data, with employers in the Keystone State steering care to the best-performing hospitals.

Tucked inside one of the massive health care reform bills in the U.S. Senate is a provision that would raise financial incentives in corporate wellness programs based on health factors from 20% to 50% of the combined annual health insurance premium paid by the employer and employee.

We know that for all the cutbacks you’ve had to make this year, one thing has not lessened: employee stress levels. In addition to other survey findings earlier this year on burgeoning employee burnout, new numbers from Watson Wyatt indicate stress levels still are heightened even as the economy shows some renewed signs of life.

Here's a question just in time for Thanksgiving: Does your organization encourage a culture of gratitude? Not in a 2009 way: “In this economy, you'd better be grateful just to have a job!" Rather, in a genuine, pre-recession way: “I appreciate my coworkers, I let them know it, and the feeling is mutual." …

Over the weekend, I read a funny news item about a woman from Canada, who was on medical leave from her job at IBM. She’d been away from work for about a year and receiving monthly sick-leave payments to get help with major depression.

Although I’d of course prefer that you read the Daily Diversion exclusively, I have no problem recommending other blogs. One of my new favorites is HR Morning, which posts news and opinion for pros.

At EBN’s annual conference in September, keynoter Dave Ramsey said the recession was helping to make “credit cards the cigarettes of the financial world.” New survey stats from Country Financial seem to back him up, as more consumers say they plan to go cold turkey on credit.

The holidays will be even happier for some 80,000 current and former participants in Caterpillar’s 401(k) plan.