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….
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…
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…
Here Come the Robots
Two recent articles illustrate why some workers may be growing uneasy about their future prospects. As Chip Cutter writes in his article, “[the] long-running war for talent sounds more like a war on the talent these days.” He goes on to quote several corporate leaders who are taking a harder line on return-to-office mandates, work-life…
How Supporting Your Employees Can Build MVPs
Congrats to the Los Angeles Dodgers, who won the 2024 World Series by beating the Yankees in five games. There is at least one workplace takeaway from this year’s Fall Classic (I wrote about three workplace lessons back in 2019 when the team I root for – the Nationals – won the World Series). This…
Total Compensation: Why It’s Key to Attracting and Retaining Talent
The U.S. labor market remains strong, which means that employers continue to compete for talent. At the same time, companies do not want to pay more than they have to in order to bring on new employees (and retain their current employees). How can employers attract and retain top talent without breaking the bank? Organizations…
Employers Continue to Absorb Rising Health Insurance Costs
KFF recently issued its 2024 Employer Health Survey and – to the surprise of nobody – found that annual premiums for employer-provided health insurance shot up yet again in the past year, rising 7%. What is interesting, however, is that the share paid by workers was little changed; in fact, according to KFF, the premiums…
Big Changes Ahead for Retirement Plans
Earlier this week, the House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved the Securing a Strong Retirement Act – also known as “SECURE Act 2.0” – in a bipartisan vote (the bill passed 414 to 5). While the bill needs to be taken up the Senate (check out this refresher on how a bill ultimately becomes law), if…