Employee benefits

Website and phone interaction among problem areas

Regulators outline ways of meeting fiduciary responsibilities

Computer systems to help Americans gain coverage on the Affordable Care Act’s insurance exchanges may not be ready on time, and training for the people who will assist consumers is behind schedule, a government report found.

As plan sponsors continue to work through Affordable Care Act compliance, there has been some confusion about what types of plans are being sponsored. Here’s a look at the basics of these plans.

PricewaterhouseCoopers released results of an employee financial wellness study this week and found that 36% of employees in the generation born in the early ’60s through early ’80s say they’re likely to tap into their retirement savings.

It’s no secret that target-date funds have grown in popularity. A new Vanguard study, How America Saves, shows that 27% of plan participants were invested in single target-date funds at year-end 2012 and 51% of all participants use target-date funds. Also, 84% of sponsors offer target date funds, up 45% compared with 2007.

Position a nod to growth in broker-dealer channel.

In addition to the benefits of having healthier employees, the UnitedHealth Group study shows employers also gain from the professional skills employees learn while volunteering.

Ric Edelman, chairman and CEO of Edelman Financial Services, told his Chicago audience that a combination of factors — including a misunderstanding of exponential growth and its effect on compounding interest — have led workers to short-term planning that can be deadly to 401(k)s and other defined contribution plans.

The scaling down of the Fed's quantitative easing program could incent bond fund holders to liquidate their holdings and look for other more promising investments.

Delivering new investment strategies, recruiting top managers are goals.

Chief people officer Jeff Perkins says he took HR at NPR to a far more prominent and decision-making position, and that HR professionals always need to leverage opportunities such as new facilities or outgoing senior leadership.

Are DB-style, non-traditional allocation strategies a better approach?

California is the only U.S. state where the cost of auto insurance decreased over two decades through 2010, according to a consumer group that attributes the decline to a law that gave regulators more control over rates.

Until now, sponsors of 403(b) plans had no cost-effective IRS program to help them review their plan document and ensure that it met all the necessary requirements, says the Principal Financial Group's Aaron Friedman. So what has the IRS done to overcome that?

Being mindful of the unique features of these businesses can help advisers serve them better.

New service from Pinnacle offers decision and treatment support to employees at the time of a serious illness diagnosis.

Many employers are considering making changes to their total rewards programs as a result of the Affordable Care Act, yet most do not anticipate making changes that could negatively affect employees, such as discontinuing health coverage, asking full-time workers to switch to part-time work or increasing the use of contract workers, according to a survey released last Thursday.

According to a recent study from the University of London’s Centre for Longitudinal Studies, children whose mothers work during their early years do as well at school as those with stay-at-home moms.

Forty-nine percent of organizations feel that new grads lack basic skills and knowledge of writing in English, 18% worry about math proficiency and 13% believe graduates lack English speaking skills.