Employee benefits

Comparing wellness program participants to nonparticipants is a widely repeated mistake. It continues because employers are not schooled in research study design.

The funded status of the 100 largest corporate pensions dropped by $6 billion in March, increasing the deficit to $349 billion, according to the Milliman 100 Pension Funding Index.

Employees have their eyes set on vision insurance, as sales have increased close to 25% since 2013 and are leading the pack in worksite voluntary sales growth.

Insurance company CEOs discuss the essential role of the broker and how they can make themselves stand out as new players enter the insurance space.

CMS says it will pay close attention to compliance with agent/broker standards during audits of qualified health plans offered in the FFM in 2015.

Wellness programs focused on biometric screenings and health risk assessments remain popular but are slowly giving way to more nontraditional wellness benefits such as paid time-off, parenting classes, leadership training and communication and community volunteer projects.

For a decade, a new kind of mutual fund has been taking over Americans’ retirement portfolios. The target-date fund is designed for people with no knowledge of investing.

The correlation between benefits policies and enterprise financial performance has been thoroughly studied, and the correlation is positive. The problem is that many investors have yet to grasp the significance of that correlation, and lack basic tools to assess the quality of the company from an HR and benefits perspective.

There is a unique opportunity in retiree health benefits, one that brings a potential windfall for advisers willing to embrace the market.

Major employers like Facebook and Virgin share workplace strategies to improve culture, happiness and, ultimately, a company's bottom line.

It’s a mistake for corporate leaders – benefit managers included – to confuse perks with culture, said Twitter CEO Dick Costolo, in a keynote address during the annual Great Place to Work conference in Dallas this week.

The reality is that monitoring your service providers is an essential component to fulfilling your fiduciary duty as an employer. The tangible tasks that you must take on, such as, reviewing performance and educating participants, are easily executed. The confusion lies in the intangibles.

Congress members weigh in on the ACA and the current system that regulates the insurance industry at the Big I legislative conference.

The EEOC released its highly anticipated, proposed regulations setting forth the EEOC’s interpretation of the term “voluntary” as to the disability-related inquiries and medical examination provisions of the American with Disabilities Act.

In a sign of increasing employer urgency for results, the percentage of wellness program sponsors offering incentives for various forms of employee engagement with those efforts rose to 87% last year, up from 77% two years ago.

Although consumer-directed health plans are on the rise, few Americans report comparing the quality and price of plans, hospitals or doctors.

The excise tax remains a primary focus for employers as they plan their health care coverage strategy for 2016 and 2017, and many will be looking for assistance from their benefit adviser to address their concerns.

Financial wellness is the new norm, and employers are more and more jumping on the bandwagon of getting employees better prepared for retirement.

Michael C. Bush says that positive workplace culture can be a more positive benefit than any wellness offering, suggesting that trust is also fundamental to the success of any progressive company.

Rep. Joe Crowley, D-NY, vice chair of the Democratic Caucus, unveiled a plan this week that would address the savings and retirement security crisis in America by giving families better ways to save for the future and retire with dignity.