Tip Tuesday! Frequently Asked Questions about Grandfathered Health Plans

By Linda Rowings

As employers determine their plan designs for the coming year, those with grandfathered status need to decide if maintaining grandfathered status is their best option. Following are some frequently asked questions, and answers, about grandfathering a group health plan. 

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Second-richest man proposes 3-day workweek (and it’s not as crazy as it sounds)

By Christian Schappel

At a business conference in Paraguay, business tycoon Carlos Slim made a pitch that will certainly the eyebrows of your employees.

The CEO of the Mexico-based telecom company Telmex said it was time for a “radical overhaul” of the traditional work-life system.

His suggestion: A three-day workweek should be the new norm.

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One thing companies, managers should stop doing to poor performers

By Christian Schappel

Don’t be ambiguous with poor and underperforming employees when it comes to their standing with your company. 

Uncertainty breeds even worse performance and behavior, according to two noted researchers Tinne Vander Elst, a postdoctoral researcher in organizational and personnel psychology at the University of Leuven in Belgium, and Tahira M. Probst, a professor of psychology at Washington State University.

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Tip Tuesday! Why HSAs Linked to HDHPs are Making a Comeback

By Elizabeth Kay

According to new information from United Benefit Advisors (UBA), health savings accounts (HSAs) are outpacing health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs) in both adoption and participation rates. And now that metal tier health plans  [e.g., platinum, gold, silver, etc.] are allowed higher deductibles, employers are increasingly looking at HSA qualified plans for their upcoming plan year. Here’s a look at why this trend is unfolding.

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Telecommuters vs on-siters: Who’s more productive?

By Jared Bilski

For as long as employers have been allowing their staffers to work from home, opponents of this practice have said it’s guaranteed to produce a drop in productivity. And new research puts that theory to the test.

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A cheat sheet on EEOC’s extensive pregnancy guidance

By Christian Schappel

For the first time since 1983, the feds have issued comprehensive guidance on how employers are required to treat pregnant employees. 
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) did this by issuing guidance on the application of the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA) and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

Quick & dirty recap

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Tip Tuesday! Top 10 FMLA Employer Mistakes

By Bill Olson

The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) regulations that became effective in 2009 provide employers with mechanisms by which we can better curb FMLA abuse. However, there are also some traps employers can fall into if they do not review the regulations carefully and administer leave requests appropriately. 
The following are the top 10 mistakes employers make that allow FMLA abuse and can create liability for employers:

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ALJ slaps down NLRB on company’s social media policy

By Christian Schappel

 

Perhaps you’ve heard: The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is out to squash any employee policy that has the potential to stymie union organizing efforts. But that’s what makes this latest ruling so head-scratching.

For the past two-plus years, the NLRB’s been on a scorched-earth crusade to rid the working world (parts organized and not) of social media policies it views as restricting employees’ abilities to discuss the terms and conditions of their work environments.

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Financial wellness: Are Millennials worried about the wrong things?

By Jared Bilski

If you asked a group of younger employees what their top financial priorities are, you may be surprised to find just how out of synch those priorities are with their actual financial risks.
According to research by Financial Finesse, the top-three financial priorities of Millennials are:

• managing cash flow (78%)
• getting out of debt (59%), and
• investing (57%).

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Tip Tuesday! Court draws hard line on extended leave as an ‘accommodation’

By Jared Bilski

So many companies have landed themselves in legal trouble over “inflexible leave policies” — those requiring workers to return to work after a certain amount of leave — that many firms are hesitant to enforce such a policy any longer. But you may want to see how a court ruled in this case before you abandon that option.

The case we’re referring to is Hwang v. Kansas State University, and it’s a case that hinged on the idea that all inflexible leave policies are inherently discriminatory.

Needed more than 6 months

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The top 5 employee recognition programs (Infographic)

By Jared Bilski

Thinking about rolling out an employee recognition program but aren’t quite sure which direction to take with it? Here’s a visual aid that does a great job breaking down all the major keys to employee recognition. 

The infographic is courtesy of Michael C. Fina, a global incentives and rewards company. The company recently broke down recognition initiatives into the following five categories:

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Benefits communication is key retention tool, study says

By Tim Gould

How important is effective benefits communication? So important that it could be the difference between retaining top talent or sending them searching for greener pastures.  

That’s what MetLife’s 12th Annual U.S. Employee Benefit Trends Study (PDF) recently uncovered.
According to the report, when workers think their employer does a good job with benefits communication they’re more than twice as likely to say they’re “very loyal” to their employer.

Other study highlights: Employees are more satisfied with their benefits now than ever over the study’s 12-year history, and significantly more employees say their benefits are the reason they joined or remained with their company.

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Tip Tuesday! High Court narrows PPACA contraceptive mandate

By Greg Stohr

The U.S. Supreme Court dealt a blow to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, ruling that closely held companies can claim a religious exemption from the requirement that they offer birth-control coverage in their worker health plans.

Voting 5-4, the justices today sided with family-run businesses, including the craft-store chain Hobby Lobby Stores Inc., that say they regard some forms of contraception as immoral.

The ruling carves a hole in Obama’s biggest legislative accomplishment, the 2010 health-care law that the Supreme Court upheld two years ago.

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