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.

Paired Comparison: Simple, Inexpensive, and It Works

Big companies use complex quantitative job evaluation systems, says Wudyka, who is managing principal of Westminster Associates in Wrentham, Massachusetts. However, smaller employers don’t need point count systems; they can use paired comparison. Wudyka’s tips came during a recent webinar sponsored by BLR. Paired Comparison One very efficient, effective, and low-cost method of ranking jobs […]

Smart Compensation Strategies for Small Employers: How to Maximize Your Budget

What’s Different About “Small Business”? When it comes to running compensation, small business have several challenges, says Wudyka, who is managing principal of Westminster Associates in Wrentham, Massachusetts. His tips came during a recent webinar sponsored by BLR. Small businesses, he says: Need “flexibility.” Small businesses need flexibility in anything they do when it comes […]

Implementing Pay Grades and Ranges: Common Pay Structure Issues

You also may find yourself facing employees who don’t fit into the standard pay grades for one reason or another or who have maxed out at their existing pay grade. You may even have an employee who is pointing to online salary information and claiming she’s not getting paid enough, which is a position HR […]

‘Occasionally’ Providing Meals to Employees — What Does it Mean for Employer Tax Compliance?

How can an employer best determine whether employer-provided meals qualify as de minimis fringe benefits under the federal tax code? The employer must take into account how frequently the meals or meal money are provided, either on an employee-by-employee basis, or on the basis of the work force as a whole. Then, how should an […]

HHS Delays HIPAA Deadline for ICD-10 Code Sets

Citing concerns from health care providers, federal regulators are delaying the compliance deadline for HIPAA’s ICD-10 code set rules, which had been scheduled for Oct. 1, 2013, the agency announced Feb. 16. “We have heard from many in the provider community who have concerns about the administrative burdens they face in the years ahead,” said […]

5 Principles to Establish a Pay-for-Performance System

In a BLR webinar titled “Pay-for-Performance: Pros, Cons, and Assessing Whether It’s a Good Fit for Your Organization,” Brooke Green offered five key principles to follow when establishing such a system. 5 Principles to Establish a Pay-for-Performance System How do you establish a system of rewards that truly differentiates in a meaningful way? Green outlined […]

IRS Providing Interim 403(b) Plan Document Relief

The IRS is promising that changes to the Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System program are coming soon, and those changes will provide a way to correct plan document errors. The IRS has also proposed a “remedial amendment period” for 403(b) plans, as part of its proposed 403(b) prototype program, which will allow employers to retroactively […]

New FMLA Certification Forms Available from DOL

The U.S. Labor Department has updated its model forms and notices relating to Family and Medical Leave Act certification. Except for a new expiration date — Feb. 28, 2015 — the new documents are identical to those that expired at the end of last year. Here are links to the forms. WH-380-E Certification of Health […]

Metrics: Don’t Go to Management Without Them

Metrics for Compensation and Benefits Sullivan suggests that rather than trying to use a statistical method to evaluate pay fairness, use an employee survey on perceptions of pay fairness compared with work expectations. Here are the measures he suggests: Amount in total compensation and benefits costs needed to generate a dollar of revenue. (Usually expressed […]