Tag: Compensation

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, […]

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 […]

Mitigate Risks of Your Incentive Compensation Plan

The collapse of several large financial institutions and the accompanying economic meltdown ushered in a new era in the United States, perhaps even in the entire world. Frugality and a new level of contemplation became commonplace. Along with this new sobriety came new rules, designed to prevent (or at least mitigate) what many view as […]

Retirement Plan Advice—What Every Plan Sponsor Should Know

By Larry Karle, Longfellow Benefits While the market crash of 2008 is in the rearview mirror for many participants and plan sponsors alike, the bitter taste that was left due to many people suffering significant hits to the values of their retirement savings and their 401(k) balances remains to this day. In some instances, participants […]

Voluntary Benefits: Now May Be Right Time to Implement, Educate

For Holly Monroe, open enrollment and an increase in cardiovascular activity came at the same time each year. When she spotted the representatives from her employer’s voluntary insurance plans, she says, she always took to her heels. “I was one of those people who would run from the insurance people,” she freely admits. Monroe has […]