Human Resources Today
3 Reasons Why 2013 Will Be THE Year for Benefits Communications 
Benefits communication rarely gets the credit — or attention, or budget, or planning — it deserves.
Despite well-documented empirical evidence of its impact and big-name thought leaders advocating for more meaningful investment in communication, it usually gets the short end of the stick. I’ve spent my career fighting for better budgets, more ti me spent on strategic planning and better integration with overall goals. For clients, we’ve changed the dynamic, and communication is a now a key part of their overall HR strategy. But for most benefits communication pros, fighting that battle is a right of passage that seems to never end.
I’m hopeful this will be the year we end that senseless battle. Here are three compelling reasons why 2013 will be the year of benefits communication! - View the PDF
Do We Really Need to Have 32 People at This Meeting?
Meetings may just be the bane of our workplace existence.
I don’t mean events like professional conferences; those generally represent valuable educa-tional experiences. No, I refer to those self-proliferating time-wasters that bring co-workers together to discuss ways to maximize team productivity, but instead accomplish the exact opposite.
They seem to expand as time goes by; and when everyone has to have their say, they can drag on for hours, killing productive momentum.
- View the PDF
New Fees Under Health Care Reform Are Beginning to Kick In
The new health care reform law includes a number of new taxes and fees which are rarely mentioned by the law’s supporters. On December 5, the IRS announced final regulations governing new fees on health insurers and employer sponsors of self-insured health plans, designed to fund the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Trust. This Trust finances an “Institute” tasked with “advancing the quality and relevance of evidence-based medicine through the synthesis and dissemination of comparative clinical effectiveness research findings.” - View the PDF
The Rewards of Digital Detox: What Happens When Employees Unplug?
There are certainly advantages to having employees accessible 24/7, able to solve problems and respond to employer
needs whenever and wherever. But at what cost?
Research released last May by the U.S. Army and UC Irvine demonstrated significantly lower stress levels in subjects
denied access to email for five days. They also reported greater ability to focus on their jobs.
This is a good example of the fact that cell phones and related tools of communication have created a conundrum for
managers: Do you want employees to be available 24/7, or do you want them performing at their peak levels?
If they’re spending their evenings, weekends and vacations plugged in and on high-alert, they’re not going to return to
the office relaxed, recharged and ready for whatever challenges the day might bring. - View the PDF
The Post Election Wage-Hour Landscape
Now that the election is behind us, employers should consider what they might anticipate in the field of wage-hour law, which is already one of the largest sources of employment-law claims. While the nature and number of the possible developments are practically unlimited, some of the foreseeable ones include these:
• The push to increase the minimum wage under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, which was at fever-pitch before going dormant as the election season approached, will now re-emerge. There will be similar efforts under many analogous state and local laws and ordinances.
- View the PDF
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What is a medical child support order?
A medical child support order is a judgment, decree, or order (including an approval of a property settlement) that: Is made pursuant to State domestic relations law (including a community property law) or certain other State laws relating to medical child support (see Q1-8); and Provides for child (more)
