Category: Benefits and Compensation

This topic provides guidance on how to handle compensation issues in a way that attracts and retains the best talent and advances the strategic goals of your business. You get news and tips on what’s going on nationally and in the states, and updates on changes in regulations, possible governmental action, and emerging compensation trends.

Investment Fee Disclosures Leave Most Participants Unmoved

A “snapshot” survey conducted in October found the start of disclosure of fees from retirement plan service providers spurred little change in the behavior of either plan participants or sponsors. A total of 176 defined contribution plan sponsors responded to the Plan Sponsor Council of America’s survey, launched a few weeks after sponsors began disclosing […]

How Important is it to Provide Training in Conjunction with a Wellness Program?

Training is an essential component of any wellness program. “The education part is big,” says Peggy Cretella, an instructional design manager with Business & Legal Resources. “If you educate people, you empower them to be in charge of their own health” and to make healthier choices. Cretella, who developed the content for the online Wellness […]

October Corporate Pension Funding Levels Slip but Stay Above Record Low

Funding gains by U.S. corporate pension plans in September were erased in October, according to data Mercer Investment Consulting Inc. released Nov. 5.  Mercer reports that the aggregate deficit in pension plans S&P 1500 companies sponsored increased by $26 billion during the latest month, to $619 billion. This deficit corresponds to an aggregate funded ratio […]

Can Reps Make More than Their Managers?

Can reps make more than their managers? Yes, it’s fairly common, says DiMisa, and, in most companies, there’s no limit as long as reps are selling the right products to the right customers. A recent survey by Sibson Consulting found the following: 19% said reps can make more than the CEO 48% said the reps […]

5 Real-World Sales Comp Metrics

DiMisa, who is Senior Vice President, Sales Force Effectiveness at Sibson Consulting, is author of best-selling business book, The Fisherman’s Guide to Selling. He offered his tips during a recent webinar sponsored by BLR and HR Hero. DiMisa suggests compensation pros look at the following metrics: PAR Analysis: Analysis of churn, penetration and acquisition Pay […]

Best Practice for Internet Background Checks? Survey Says …

Of the survey respondents who conducted either Google searches or social media searches: Concerned about learning too much online? Twenty-six percent were concerned about learning too much (For example, a candidate’s gender, religion, or race.) Have your hiring decisions been influenced by what you found online? Forty-one percent have been positively influenced to hire based […]

Executive Compensation: Who Gets ‘Say on Pay’?

How these companies respond could have a direct impact on their compensation administration in the future because regulators will provide guidelines that prohibit incentive compensation that encourages inappropriate risks (by providing excessive compensation) or that could lead to material financial loss. Legislation Affecting Executive Compensation: What is Say on Pay? Say on Pay "requires a […]

Michigan Firm Wins Reprieve From Contraceptive Mandate

In other legal action over health reform’s inclusion of reproductive services as mandated benefits, one company blocked the government from forcing it to include contraception coverage in its health plan coverage. The injunction in Legatus v. Sebelius, 2012 WL 5359630 (E.D. Mich., Oct. 31, 2012) was at the request of Weingartz Supply, a for-profit outdoor […]

Feds Won’t Block Liberty U.’s Challenge to Reform Law

Religious objections to the health reform law are continuing in the courts, with the reemergence of a constitutional challenge to the reform law (the second such challenge that might reach the U.S. Supreme Court). Gov’t Drops Opposition In this brief, the Obama administration told the U.S. Supreme Court it will not try to block Liberty […]

Top Recruiting Challenge? Low Salaries, Relocation?

Some other interesting findings: Along with referrals from current employees, jobs boards of various types are the dominant sources for finding new employees, 19% of recruiters visit candidates’ social media pages One third of employers do Google or similar searches on candidates Top challenges of recruiting include: Attracting candidates when low salaries are offered Relocation […]