Employee benefits

By getting employees more directly engaged in their own financial well-being – educating them on their benefits, helping them make the right retirement planning decisions and learning how to tackle financial stress by addressing their own debt and their worries over health care costs – employers are seeing lower turnover and increased productivity.

A booming 2013 stock market pointed to an increase in corporate growth. But the unpredictable nature of corporate pension assets proved to drag down the total CEO compensation pool for the nation’s largest corporations.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is in the early stages of looking at new vendors to potentially take over operation of Healthcare.gov, when Accenture’s contract expires in January 2015.

Employees are craving voluntary benefits to offset high deductible plans, yet many say they haven’t been offered any new options since the ACA became law.

Are your retirement plan fees market-competitive? Fees don't necessarily have to be the lowest cost, but they do need to be reasonable.

In a harsh rebuke of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s method of attempting to prove that Kaplan Higher Education Corp.’s consideration of credit history for hiring in select positions was discriminatory, the Sixth Circuit issued a decision upholding the federal district court’s order excluding the EEOC’s expert opinion from evidence and dismissing the EEOC’s case.

Nearly half of newly insured Americans signed up for coverage off the ACA’s public marketplaces and benefit advisers have several theories as to why.

Top down management support is a prerequisite for any change in the obsessive email behavior that’s damaging our collective well-being and impairing our ability to focus, writes Shani Magosky.

Consumer spending climbed by $20.4 billion at an annualized rate adjusted for inflation in February, and $13 billion of the increase came from outlays on health services spurred by the ACA, according to Commerce Department data.

Taking an entirely generic approach to health plan communications is no longer a winning strategy. Personalized communications that offer a holistic look at plan benefits will do more to engage participants.

With open enrollment officially over, suggestions are emerging from industry experts on how to tweak the next round of ACA sign-ups.

The Affordable Care Act’s ongoing rollout continues to plague employers as many look for alternative benefit structures to help with rising costs. The defined contribution benefit model – touted as a way to lower costs for employers and increase choice for employees – is generating lots of discussion but are employers ready to take the plunge?

Rising interest rates and strong stock market performance have improved funding ratios for DB plans and created an environment in which plan sponsors can — and are — acting decisively to mitigate risk.

Tuesday was the last day of a two-week health law extension for hundreds of thousands of people who couldn’t finish their enrollment by March 31, the official deadline to sign up for a federally subsidized insurance plan in 2014.

Identity theft and data security is a concern of every shopper whether they shop online or at brick-and-mortar stores. But as the more profound breaches at Target and other retail giants have gained hold on consumer minds, voluntary benefit offerings have surfaced on private insurance exchanges to help combat this growing digital dilemma.

It’s no surprise Americans are tired. That’s why benefit advisers working with employers to build a wellness program should not ignore sleep solutions.

As employers begin to look at private exchanges as a means to provide health care benefits to their active employee population questions are being raised about potential conflicts of interest for consulting firms that also act as exchange purveyors.

How does your investment fund line-up compare to the market? Do you have too many investment options or too few? Regular blogger Robert C. Lawton outlines some best practices with regard to investment menus.

Commentary: With too many choices, the net result is that participants make poorer choices, or simply make no choice, writes blogger Aaron Friedman about one particular retirement vehicle.

Advisers say employers are increasingly purchasing voluntary dental plans as an effort to cut costs, meet new ACA requirements and retain employees.