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.

Incentive Comp Threatening Your Organization? Think AIG

In spite of the old saying that a salesperson cannot be overpaid, it seems that one indeed can be. And they were, says Dolmat-Connell, president and CEO of compensation consultants DolmatConnell & Partners. He points to AIG as a prime example of where things went wrong.  “They had traders whose pay was $100,000 a year, […]

Peer Group ‘Arms Race’ for Executive Pay?

Peer Group ‘Arms Race’  Boyd, a researcher at Boston-based compensation consultant Equilar, says that pay ratcheting is a concern when companies compare themselves to their peer group. “For instance, you decide to set your CEO’s pay above the median of the peer group. Then other companies see that figure and want to set their CEO […]

Build a Perfect Peer Group for Compensation Comparisons

Who’s in Your Peer Group?  The first thing to do is to decide which companies should make up your peer group, says Boyd. Should you compare to companies:  Against whom you compete for business? Whose revenues are approximately the same as yours? With about the same number of employees? In the same industry?   Isn’t there […]

Coverage of Dementia Services Bodes Well for Employer LTC Insurance

Why should a recent tax court decision that caretaker services provided to a dementia patient are qualified long-term care (LTC) expenses be of interest to employers? Well, if you see employee benefits as a way to attract and retain good employees, and don’t yet offer LTC insurance, the ruling —  which means those services could […]

Tell the IRS What You Think of Changes Affecting LTC Insurance

Do you offer long-term care (LTC) insurance to your employees? If so, and the changes the Pension Protection Act of 2006 (PPA) made to the tax and information reporting requirements affecting some LTC coverage apply, you can offer your two cents’ worth to the IRS. The PPA amended the tax rules for qualified LTC insurance, […]

Timing of Backaches Justifies Firing, Negates FLMA and ADA Claims

Some people complain about “rheumatism,” backaches and other physical ills when the weather shifts. For a Southwest Airlines employee, his backaches — and resulting requests for Family and Medical Act (FMLA) leave — seemed to follow the same shift as holidays and vacation time. Southwest determined that this was not the whim of nature but […]

Keep That Travel Budget Tight: Feds Issue Per Diems for FY 2012

Policymakers may debate the federal government’s overall spending habits, but federal employees have long had restrictions on how much they can be reimbursed for travel expenses, for example. And each year, the “per diem” travel reimbursement rates are adjusted. In fact, the feds have released per diem rates, adjusted for inflation, for fiscal year 2012, […]

Get Analytical to Manage Comp Says Combearsation Manager

In yesterday’s Advisor, we got the first five of Combearsation Manager Timothy Tanis’ Top 9 “Compensation Things To Do Now.” Today, the rest, plus an introduction to a time-saving collection of pre-written policies Compbearsation Manager? Tanis is Manager, Compbearsation and HRIS for Build-a-Bear Workshop in Saint Louis, Missouri. His “Top 9” came at the recent […]

‘I’ve Learned How to Manage Intermittent Leave Abuse’

It took her a couple of years to figure things out, she says. “You can’t fix intermittent [leave] abuse overnight. But it will get fixed if you stick with it.” She added that she is not a lawyer, and she “doesn’t play one on TV.” But she does have a handle on intermittent leave. (Dahlen […]

The 9 Compensation Tasks You Must Do

It’s easy to get bogged down in the minutiae of compensation—individual salaries and incentives, red circles, and wage and hour, but it’s critical to spend some time on strategic issues, says “Compbearsation” manager Timothy Tanis, SPHR, GPHR. In today’s Advisor, his Top 9. Compbearsation? That’s right: Tanis is Manager of Compbearsation and HRIS for Build-a-Bear […]