Employee benefits

I’d say that in general, most people can agree in clear, black and white terms on which types of dishonesty are okay and not okay. Lying to protect a loved one’s feelings — okay.

Chances are, you have concrete criteria (and perhaps some softer considerations) you’re looking for when you’re selecting a broker. Ever wonder what criteria your broker looks for when they shop for a vendor for you?

You know the feeling you get when you’re caught in the rain with no umbrella? Likely, you think, “Why, oh why, didn’t I bring my umbrella?”

I know you don’t need anyone to tell you – least of all, me – that your employees still are feeling the stresses and strains of the sluggish economy, at work and likely at home as well.

Of all the things employers have to worry about since the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act—and there are quite a few — it’s understandably the Cadillac tax on high-cost health benefit plans that has them the most concerned, according to new survey results from Mercer.

I have a horrible commute. Truly, truly horrible. It’s expensive, long, often unpredictable and exhausting — about 90 minutes each way.

There are outstanding workplaces with prodigious employee benefit packages all over the world, judging from the Great Places to Work Institute’s recent eighth annual conference in Los Angeles, where about 20 employers of choice shared their respective grand visions.

Ouida Peterson is to benefits what Paula Deen is to cooking – except maybe without all the sugar and butter. Don’t let the charming Southern drawl fool you.

Although many tea-leaf readers predicted that health care reform would spur employers to drop health benefits, a new poll of nearly 3,700 executives by Crain Communications shows such forecasts may have been based more on fear than fact.

Here’s a story guaranteed to warm your heart and perhaps think twice about how your company has treated laid-off employees.

I hear a lot of joking (and I confess, I’ve made a few cracks myself) about what’s been called a, shall we say, relaxed, work ethic among Gen Y/Millenials.

With all the chatter around health care reform, you may have missed (like I did) last week’s White House forum on workplace flexibility.

We have another podcast post today, this time with Heather Gatley, executive vice president of HR Services and general counsel for AlphaStaff.

So, we’ve had some time to start to digest the biggest components of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, when they go into effect and the implications for your health plans.

So, I promised that we’d get back to analyzing health care reform, and I am a woman of my word. We’re going to do things a little different today, though, and make today’s post a listen instead of a read.

Okay, I thought we all needed a brief respite from health care reform. So, we’re going waaaay in the opposite direction today with results from a new study by work-life provider SitterCity, which claims to have noted a “SitterCity effect” among employers using its child/elder/pet care resource services.

Forgive me, pros. I’m a little bleary-eyed today, since I stayed up until after midnight to get the official vote tally (219-210, by the way) and real-time analysis of Sunday’s House vote on health care reform.

As if runaway health care costs aren’t enough – now, statistics show U.S. companies annually lose an estimated $2 billion because of employees’ inadequate language skills and poor cultural competence.

So, with an unemployment rate still hovering close to 10% and a growing number of employees feeling detached from their jobs, I’d suspect Digital Insurance is getting a lot of interested applicants these days.

Here’s another tidbit about me: my reality TV-watching habits generally trend toward whatever life change I’m undertaking at the moment.