The Outlook for Employee Benefits in 2027
As employers look ahead to 2027, rising costs and changing workforce expectations are putting employee benefits strategies under increasing pressure. A top concern continues to be the ever-increasing cost of healthcare benefits. One recent report estimates that the cost of employer-provided medical coverage will go up over 9% in 2027. In contrast to the past…
Total Rewards and AI Anxiety
Is AI ushering in the third industrial revolution? Or will the technology take over everyone’s jobs and lead to massive economic and social dislocations? Who knows? Most likely, we will end up somewhere in between workplace utopia and the robot apocalypse. But in any case, it’s going to be a while until we find out…
What Smart Employers Understand About Total Rewards Statements
Summer is when we start to get calls from prospective clients thinking about sending total rewards statements either before the end of the year or beginning to plan ahead for sending statements in the first quarter of next year. Why are these organizations thinking about total rewards statements? Because while specific goals and priorities may…
Leverage the Power of Print to Communicate Total Rewards
What’s the best format for a total rewards statement – print or digital? There’s not necessarily one answer that applies to every organization. After all, a fully remote team of people who spend their days glued to their laptops has different needs than a company where the majority of employees are on a factory floor….
Same Old Story: Health Insurance Premiums Up 6% in 2025
The KFF Employer Health Benefits Survey for 2025 is out today. The survey finds that family premiums for employer provided health insurance coverage rose 6% in 2025, similar to increases in both 2023 and 2024. For now, employers (on average) continue to pay most of the cost of those premiums. So, as in previous years,…
Unlock the Power of Employee Benefits Through Better Communications
The recently released 2025 Workplace Benefits Report put out by Bank of America paints a mixed picture of how effectively organizations are supporting employees in achieving their personal financial goals. The study focuses largely on financial wellness (not a surprise given the sponsor of the study) and provides a lot of data on how employee…
Investing in People Through Total Rewards
Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan was interviewed on Bloomberg this week about the bank’s recent decision to raise its minimum wage to $25 per hour, which is higher than any state minimum wage in the U.S. But Moynihan went beyond discussing wages, briefly reviewing some of the highlights of BoA’s employee benefits, including robust…
Case Study: RewardsFocus Helps Robins & Morton Communicate with Purpose
Robins & Morton – a leading construction company with nearly 1,500 employees – understands the value of investing in its people. With a workforce spread across offices, job sites, and remote locations, the company’s commitment to their workforce goes well beyond compensation. The company has invested significantly in their total rewards programs, recognizing that attracting…
Why Total Rewards Statements Are Key to Employee Engagement
Employee engagement is always a hot topic, regardless of the overall condition of the labor market. In a tight labor market, where it’s harder to hire and retain talent, employers worry about not being able to find enough workers to support continued growth. But even during periods of higher unemployment, organizations still want to hold…
Does Bitcoin Belong in Your Total Rewards Strategy?
Does HR know about HODLing? The fact is that many employees – particularly younger ones – are HODLers themselves. And many of them would like to be able to allocate some of their 401(k) assets to bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. A recent decision by the U.S. Department of Labor may encourage more employers to consider…