Practice and client management

In a defined contribution world, cash balance plans continue to gain popularity, study says.

Commentary: Post-Affordable Care Act increases should be setting off fiscal alarms, says Frenkel Benefits’ Craig Hasday, who predicts more expansion to come.

Commentary: Half of HR managers don’t know how to help employees return to work from a disability, according to research from The Standard.

Advisers share why they entered the private exchange business and key players detail how to help employer clients chose the right exchange.

Commentary: To survive the ongoing thinning of the herd, columnist Nelson Griswold asks what are you planning to do differently in 2015 to remain relevant to your clients and grow your business?

Commentary: There are a lot of innovative options that have been implemented by those who are being proactive and who are changing their roles as employee benefit advisers. Columnist Jack Kwicien shares their competitive advantage.

The advent of private and public health care exchanges has expanded employers’ horizons to consider subsidizing pre-Medicare eligible retiree health benefits through the individual market.

Commentary: In sales, there’s often too much boasting and not enough doing. Sales expert John Graham shares seven steps to boost your bottom line.

EAPs have evolved from counseling and call centers to offering employer clients a breadth of services, including regulation compliance.

There’s little evidence that wearable fitness tracking device technology alone can change behavior and improve health for those that need it most, according to University of Pennsylvania researchers.

Commentary: While agents providing these value-added services have disrupted the market and changed the nature of the benefit sales game, they were but a precursor to the far bigger disruptor taking over huge chunks of the benefits marketplace, says columnist Mel Schlesinger.

Commentary: Not holding producers accountable does immeasurable damage to your culture and morale, says columnist Wendy Keneipp, who shares how to build a plan to keep your producers productive today.

Commentary: How to win the game by exiting the technology arms race — and saving money in the process. Tech expert Joe Markland shares 8 guiding principles.

Commentary: If you work with businesses that have high-income earners, you have an opportunity to sell IDI policies on a guarantee issue basis, which creates many advantages for the insureds, the employer and you.

Commentary: Benefit professionals still struggle to have a seat at the table with a company’s big decision makers. Workplace expert Brad Karsh shares five tips on how to get the C-suite to take notice.

Hectic work schedules and lack of communication are hurting workplace wellness programs. How can benefit advisers help?

Employee engagement is a term often tossed around employer HR and management circles as being fundamental to productive workforces. But Assurance, a large independent insurance brokerage company, has figured out a way to both increase participation and revenue per employee.

Employers increasingly have been asking benefit advisers to provide simplified solutions to their HR challenges and meet new reporting requirements under the Affordable Care Act — making 2014 the year of client-focused technology solutions.

How one brokerage’s dedication to community service strengthens its business and ties to its clients, changes lives, and honors the legacy of its people-focused founder

It’s been a year of massive growth for private exchanges, with estimates of more than three million people receiving employer health benefits through them by mid-2014, according to business management consultancy Accenture. Yet, 2015 is expected to see even more growth and acquisitions.