Smartphones take wellness engagement to new levels
Smartphones are a good tool to engage employees in wellness programs but access challenges remain.
Benefit management
Employers win gold for benefits communications
Four employers receive iCOMM Awards for the best in internal communications.
Coca-Cola builds centralized HR resource with call center structure
Coca-Cola builds centralized HR resource with call center structure.
Step-children are not beneficiaries (unless they are)
Meeting the legal definition of the parent-child relationship doesnt always mean that beneficiary plan standards have been met as well.
DC plan sponsors should improve communications, employees say
Defined contribution plan participants have proved woefully uninformed about their funds, and clearer jargon and presentations could help.
Despite advisor apathy, DC annuities have a bright future
Lifetime solutions should be coming soon as more annuities find their way into defined contribution plans, often via target date funds.
After dreary 2011, pension plan sponsors struggle to improve in 2012
Risk is rising and asset return dropping for corporate benefit pension plans, according to new research by Mercer.
Survey: Companies increasingly planning HR changes
Pursuit of higher efficiency pushes shift in human resources to shared services and outsourcing, according to Towers Watson.
Illinois punts on public pensions
State lawmakers in cash-strapped Illinois have run into fierce opposition from unions and concern about a voter backlash in the November elections over plans to fix the states woefully underfunded public retirement system.
Benefits communication still work in progress, survey shows
While most benefits professionals responding to a recent poll have seen improvements in their benefits communication efforts in the past three years, a sizeable portion are either unsatisfied with or ambivalent about their current strategy.
By
News Reports
Falling morale tied to flawed education
Research suggests that a slow but steady decline in employee morale from 2008 levels presents an opportunity to improve employee engagement during the upcoming benefits enrollment season.
By
News Reports
NYC sued over cop pension cuts
New York City stands accused of unlawfully excluding bonus payments involving overtime and night differentials from pension benefit calculations for police officers who served in the military since the September 11 attacks.
How total comp bolsters retention
Are cost-containment strategies and employee satisfaction mutually exclusive when it comes to retention?
Jobs data shows more sluggish growth
U.S. companies hired more workers than expected in July, but continued weakness in the manufacturing sector pointed to sluggish economic growth.
By
Leah Schnurr
Angst arises over talent strategies
Ask a roomful of HR leaders to name their biggest stressors and some interesting answers float up sometimes literally. A new social experiment by Impact Group suggests that, as the economy recovers, these practitioners are engaging in some big-picture thinking, and their worries may only be ballooning.
Paradigm shift key to Gen Y engagement
"The current generation has stumbled on an incredibly powerful and important model for changing the world and the workplace: the network."
Hiring managers turn to software
Even under the best employment conditions, hiring the wrong employee can drag down a company's bottom line and dampen workforce productivity and morale. However, the national skills gap and ongoing economic concerns make finding the right candidate crucial the first time around.
M&A benefit costs erode United profit
United Continental Holdings Incs quarterly profit slid 37%, hit by higher fuel bills and labor costs from its messy and long merger of United and Continental airlines.
By
Reuters
Motown driven to cut benefits
Detroits mayor recently imposed 10% pay cuts on city workers and found other savings from benefits in a bid to save the citys cash-strapped coffers $102 million a year.
Public pension promises called unrealistic
Public pension funds are expected to report poor annual returns in the coming weeks, results that are likely to increase calls for more realistic retirement promises for teachers, police officers and other public workers.