Quality of life benefits

Wellness programs have been at the forefront of employers’ minds, and in light of the recent Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s aim to tackle the questions lingering on what plan sponsors can or cannot do, employees are voicing a disconnect in wellness program engagement.

Calling all health care entrepreneurs. The National Business Group on Heath wants to take a look at start-ups with “innovative solutions to improve health, or enhance the efficiency, delivery or consumer experience within the health care system.

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.

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 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.

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.

Employee retirement confidences levels have risen to their highest since the recession. And although confidence levels have jumped in recent years, many are still expecting to work further into their retirement years to make up for any unpreparedness.

In human resources and insurance circles, we’ve been talking about wellness for quite some time. And most employers have dived in and now offer a wellness program. So, how are these wellness programs performing? Too often, the answer is “not well.”

Financial experts say that people should try to replace 70%-80% of their current income in retirement, but current statistics suggest that employees need to make the right arrangements to do so.

If I had a dollar for every time an industry professional reacted to my choice of college major with, “Risk Management and Insurance?  I didn’t know you could major in that,” I would be a rich man. From what I see, many people who make up the industry did not set out with the intention of working in insurance or employee benefits. So why would a young professional just entering the job market choose employee…

It's the “Big B, little b” conundrum. Big B benefit plans are usually subject to ERISA and require specific administration. Little B “benefits” are those perk and extras we offer to employees to be competitive in the market or to improve employee morale.

The much-anticipated rule that provides a new definition of who is a fiduciary was released by DOL this week to much fanfare. And while most people agree there won’t be much impact on plan sponsors, there are passionate groups on both sides of the aisle fighting for or against this new proposal.

Employees and employers need to make sure their 401(k), 403(b) and 457 plan assets are in the right allocations for where they are in life, and that means revisiting those allocations on a regular basis.

Smartphones have transformed the way employees engage in work, and smartwatches are about to do the same.

Millennials are often portrayed as job-hopping, entitled employees yet they are hard-working and loyal if they believe their companies are investing in them in ways they value.

Employees say nothing in their total rewards package stands out, and this perceived lack of differentiation could be damaging employers’ attraction and retention efforts.