Compensation & Benefits

Help employees get out from under the crushing burden of student-loan debt

05/22/2023

Chances are, your most valuable employees are eager to improve their skills and advance their educations. But many employees hesitate to obtain undergraduate or graduate degrees because higher education is so expensive. Employers can address the fear of incurring student-loan debt by offering to offset at least some educational expenses with a tuition-reimbursement program.

New-to-the-job workers account for more workers’ comp claims

05/22/2023

An employee’s time spent in a particular role and their age were driving factors in the frequency of injuries that resulted in workers’ compensation claims and the cost of those claims. That’s according to a new study by The Traveler Companies, the nation’s largest workers’ comp insurer.

Passive or active? Decide early which open-enrollment strategy fits your organization this year

05/17/2023

As you begin planning for benefits open enrollment this fall, now is the time to address a basic question: Will you allow employees to passively enroll—simply continuing the benefits they chose for this year—or will you require them to proactively select their benefits for the 2024 plan year?

Avoid surprise OT claims with this simple policy

05/08/2023

The Fair Labor Standards Act imposes stiff penalties on employers that cheat employees out of overtime pay. They must pay double what they should have paid in the first place. But there’s a simple way to avoid that liability: Have a policy that makes it easy for employees to report being underpaid. Then promptly investigate if someone reports not receiving the overtime pay they were expecting.

Proposed regs would strengthen HIPAA’s privacy provisions

05/02/2023

Proposed regulations issued April 17 by the Department of Health and Human Services would extend the scope of HIPAA’s privacy protections specifically to women who travel to other states to receive reproductive health-care services where those services are legal and would apply to almost all judicial or administrative proceedings related to this care.

Survey: Americans much less confident about retirement security

05/01/2023

Americans are increasingly worried they won’t have enough money saved to retire comfortably, according to the Employee Benefits Research Institute’s 2023 Retirement Confidence Survey. A major concern: the effects of inflation on their retirement plans.

STOP! Do not pass go without checking with Payroll first

04/27/2023

Employees shouldn’t be bored or discontented at work, because bored and discontented employees aren’t productive employees. But the phrase employee engagement, like the employee experience, seems like a euphemistic way of saying motivation. Why not just say motivation?

3 questions to kick off open-enrollment season right now!

04/26/2023

Six months out, it’s time to start planning for HR’s biggest event of the year: open enrollment. Here are some best practices to ensure your open-enrollment period gets off to a productive start in late October or early November.

Bereavement leave: How to manage time off when an employee’s loved one dies

04/26/2023

Is HR’s focus on leave related to childbirth misplaced? According to the Census Bureau, there were more deaths than births in most U.S. counties during the 12 months that ended June 30, 2022. Any employer that offers reasonable bereavement leave—especially paid leave—sets itself apart as a workplace that values work-life balance.

A Texas court ruling could affect your group health plan

04/20/2023

The Affordable Care Act requires group health plans to follow the recommendations of the United States Preventive Services Task Force and cover certain preventive services cost-free. That’s why COVID shots are free. That’s also why childhood immunizations are cost-free. No longer, at least temporarily.