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.

Compensation is Like…a Cupcake?

How is compensation like a cupcake? There are some surprising similarities, says Dan Walter, President and CEO of independent consulting firm Perfomensation. His curious comparison originally appeared at Compensation Café, where he argued that the most important thing to consider is the difference between frosting and icing. First, look at the following compensation trouble points: Generic […]

Could Guaranteed Employment Improve Your ROI?

Guaranteeing a job may be a cringe-worthy proposition for most HR execs. How about you – woud you sign a new hire with a contract for 24 months of protected employment? How about if we told you that it could improve your ROI? According to HR Pro Tim Sackett, there is a scenario where guaranteed […]

IRS 401(k) Questionnaire? Put Your Best Person on It

If you’re the proud recipient of one of the 1,200 questionnaires recently sent to some 401(k) plan sponsors by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), please don’t assume that it’s just routine and ask an inexperienced employee to complete it. Sandra Feingerts, a partner with Fisher & Phillips, LLP, worries that doing so could result in […]

Nuns Challenge Goldman Sachs Pay Policies

Last year Goldman Sachs paid its five most senior employees a collective $69.5 million dollars. Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein may have claimed that he was doing “God’s work,” but four orders of nuns beg to differ. The Sisters of Saint Joseph of Boston, Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, the Sisters of St Francis of […]

Compensation Programs: 4 Opportunities Emerging from the Recession

Maybe it’s too soon to look backward and really gain insight into how the recession has changed our pay programs and the way employees see them. The perspective may be wrong; perhaps the whole picture will come into view much later. But just maybe there are already lessons we can learn. Only 3 years ago, […]

High-Touch Approach to Workers’ Comp Yields Results

On-the-job injuries are all too common in some businesses. In assisted living centers, employees must lift, bend, and twist in their efforts to help the elderly residents perform their daily activities. This takes a toll on the backs of employees, even those trained in how to safely work with the elderly and infirm. Regency Pacific, […]

Employees Collectively Lose Nearly 20,000 Pounds in Health Challenge

By challenging employees to achieve a healthy weight or become more physically active, CIGNA raised employees’ awareness of their own health and their company-sponsored benefits. How It Worked Last fall, CIGNA introduced a new incentive for employees to maintain a healthy weight, says Marilyn Paluba, senior consultant with the Healthy Life program—a $15 per pay […]

Incentive Program Rewards Employees Who Take Their Medicines

If you’ve already got a smoking cessation program and a weight loss program, you might believe you’re doing all you can to encourage employees to be their healthiest. If you’re finding that employees enjoy receiving rewards and points from those programs, congratulations! It is likely that you’re increasing the general level of health among your […]

Incentive Compensation: Customer ExperienceTranslates to Cash for Airline Employees

American Airlines made the decision to keep flying, too. But employees weren’t happy, and customers complained. The airline needed to find a way to solve both problems. Mark Mitchell, managing director of American’s Customer Experience area, takes us back: “In the middle 2000s, maybe 2003 to 2006, as American worked very diligently to take the […]

Customized Rewards Cards Bring Increased Appreciation

In some ways, a company is an impersonal entity. But more than that, it is a group of individuals, each with their own needs, wants, and motivations. How can you ever hope to set up an employee rewards program that speaks to each employee individually? David Jones, CEO of Card Lab Inc. (www.cardlabcorp.com), says large […]