Tag: benefits communication

December 1, 2021

Employers can do better when it comes to educating employees about using the mental health resources available to them—a message that is especially important given the increased stress employees are facing due to the lingering COVID-19 pandemic, HR advisors say. […]

May 28, 2021

When job candidates consider which position is best for them, benefits can be the factor that tips them from one company to another. As an indirect form of compensation, benefits fuel their quality of life. The responsibility of any good […]

September 29, 2020

Employees are befuddled by their health care coverage. This is nothing new. But at the height of a pandemic, it’s all the more troubling. Only about one-third of employees (34 percent) have a solid understanding of their coverage options, while […]

September 9, 2020

This year’s open enrollment season brings a unique opportunity for employers. Employees are more focused on their healthcare needs and benefits as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and are likely to pay closer attention to open enrollment—and their current […]

July 30, 2020

Employee benefits are complicated. Not only is the subject matter complex, but most employees think about their benefits only once a year, during open enrollment. With a pandemic raging, employers are facing even bigger challenges related to communicating benefits information. […]

June 21, 2019

The number of measles cases so far in 2019 is greater than the total number of cases for the past 25 years, announced the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on May 30. The CDC also warns that if […]

March 5, 2019

A city attorney could not go forward with his claim that the city of Tehlequah, Okla., interfered with his rights under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) by failing to reinstate him when his FMLA leave expired, the 10th […]

February 8, 2019

Older employees are working longer, and the gap between the age for Medicare eligibility (65) and normal retirement age (soon to be 67) is increasing. As a result, employers are more likely to have Medicare-eligible employees on the payroll and […]

November 2, 2018

Elkay Manufacturing Co. is on the cusp of something new as benefits open enrollment season rolls around. After successfully meeting the needs of employees and the budget of the employer for years, its health care offerings just weren’t popular anymore. […]

September 8, 2017

The consensus view among employee benefit advisors is that active open enrollment is the superior way to prod employees to make appropriate decisions about the benefits that will best suit their own—and their families’—needs. Active enrollment, however, requires that HR […]

December 7, 2016

The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed summary judgment in favor of United Airlines, ruling that an employee’s one-day Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) request constituted abuse of the statute since he was using it to continue his […]

November 14, 2016

An increasing amount of health information has been digitized, aggregated into various demographic categories and then analyzed in an attempt to lower health care costs. In the aggregate, such as through an analysis of health insurance claims, that information can […]

November 2, 2016

With the IRS’s release of the 2017 401(k) contribution limits and the annual compensation cap for calculating deferral and matching contributions, plan sponsors may want to revisit how their plan documents’ define “compensation”—and how that definition (or definitions) affects employee participation and savings […]

October 12, 2016

As open enrollment approaches and benefits choices become a focus at workplaces across the country, a survey has found that retirement and core health care benefits are important to Millennials, as are flexible work arrangements. Millennials, who are now the […]

September 30, 2016

Nearly 90 percent of employers view attracting talent and improving engagement as the top objectives they want to achieve by offering employee benefits. However, many (70 percent) say they are struggling to help employees understand and value their benefits package. […]

September 19, 2016

As an HR department of one, “open enrollment is always an adventure and some years more so than others,” said Cathy Clement, SHRM-CP. Clement is the HR manager at Ewing-Foley Inc. (EFI) in Cupertino, Calif. The firm, with 97 employees, […]

September 2, 2016

Some HR professionals dread the fall open enrollment season for employee benefits, viewing it as an annual administrative headache. Other HR pros see it as an opportunity to personally engage with employees—thereby helping them to make choices that will safeguard […]

August 26, 2016

This year marks the 10th anniversary of my company, Benz Communications, and I’ve spent a lot of time with my team reflecting on the past decade. We’ve been thinking about how HR and employee benefits communications has evolved during that […]

June 9, 2016

Here are a few stats that really drive home just how critical benefits communication is for HR pros. When employees that were offered rich employer benefits received poor communication, just 22% of those workers reported being satisfied with their benefits. […]