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.

Bonuses and Flexibility Effectively Reward Top Performance

Yesterday, we looked at some performance review recommendations by Alan C. Fox, the president of ACF Property Management, Inc. and the author of PEOPLE TOOLS: 54 Strategies for Building Relationships, Creating Joy, and Embracing Prosperity. Today, we present the rest of his list.

ERISA Advisory Council to Craft Model Notices for Pension Risk Transfers

The 2015 ERISA Advisory Council plans to build on a 2013 effort by devising new draft model notices and disclosures for lump-sum pension distribution offerings to participants and retirees. Instances of pension risk transfer — often referred to as “derisking,” from the plan sponsor’s point of view — are on the rise among single-employer defined […]

7 Ways to Improve Your Performance Review Process

Money is one reason the annual review is dreaded, notes Alan C. Fox, the president of ACF Property Management, Inc., and the author of PEOPLE TOOLS: 54 Strategies for Building Relationships, Creating Joy, and Embracing Prosperity. A second reason is that the employer needs to give the employee “constructive” criticism.

Would You Consider Restricting Hours Worked?

Employers know that there are legal restrictions in terms of the number of hours a nonexempt employee can work before incurring overtime pay. There are also restrictions on the hours a minor can work. And for safety reasons, there are restrictions on the number of consecutive hours medical residents and truck drivers can work.

As Skills Demand Rises, so Do Demands for Raises

If your managers are not already fielding requests from employees for raises and promotions, they soon may be, according to a recent Accountemps survey. An improving economy and higher demand for skilled workers means professionals are more confident in their job prospects—and they’re on the hunt for bigger paychecks and loftier titles.

Fidelity to IRS: Change or Pull Hardship / Loan Guidance

Fidelity Investments told retirement plan sponsors and investment professionals in a late April notice that it had asked IRS to change or withdraw recently updated guidance on maintaining documentation for participant hardship withdrawal and plan loan requests. In a message on its website, Fidelity, one of the largest U.S. private-sector retirement plan recordkeepers and investment […]

Shhhh…Should Employees’ Salaries Be Kept Secret?

Picture this: A manager calls his subordinates into a conference room and asks them to write down their salary and pin it to a board for everyone to see. Just the idea of this is cringe worthy …and compelling. It was, in fact, the premise of the 2012 British reality television show “Show Me Your […]

Fake Job References—Has the World Really Come to This?!

The other day I heard about a company that provides fake references for job applicants, renters, and others. And from what I understand, the length it goes to in order to “lie” on behalf of its clients is unbelievable—even if the references it provides are believable.