By Fred Schott, Director of Operations, Council for Disability Awareness If you’re one of the millions of working Americans currently making decisions about your employee benefits choices for the coming year, you’ve probably put most of your focus on the health-plan options, including what is or isn’t covered, which providers are or aren’t in-network, and…
By Marjory Robertson, AVP & Senior Counsel and Abigail O’Connell, Senior Counsel, Sun Life Financial When employees need to step away from work — whether to welcome a new child, care for a family member, or another life event — protecting their jobs and benefits, understanding their rights, knowing whether their employers will pay part…
By Carol Harnett, President, Council for Disability Awareness Note: An earlier version of this post appeared in Carol Harnett’s employee benefits column for Human Resource Executive. You don’t know me, but I’m someone people have come to trust when they want to have a conversation about employee benefits. I stand to neither gain nor lose anything…
By Phil Bruen, Vice President, Group Life and Disability Products, MetLife As the annual enrollment period takes place in workplaces around the United States, human resources teams and employees have benefits on their minds. During this time, it’s important for employers to educate their workforces on how the benefits they provide can help workers achieve…
By Ted Norwood, General Counsel and Director of Representation, Integrated Benefits, Inc. The United States Social Security Administration offers two programs—confusingly named Social Security Disability Income and Supplemental Security Income—aimed at providing or supplementing the income of people who are unable to work. SSDI (also called Title II benefits) provides disability coverage for individuals who…
By Larry Alkire, Senior Vice President, Chief Marketing Officer, American Fidelity Assurance Company When Congress passed the Affordable Care Act (also known as Obamacare), the term—”pre-existing conditions”—became a household word. The ACA prevented health insurance carriers from denying you coverage, charging you more money, or refusing to pay for essential health benefits for any…
A smooth on-boarding process is a must for today’s employees; after all, you want their first days to be inviting, and you want them to understand the ins and outs of your workplace. That’s because you have to make sure your employees are engaged right from the start, given today’s often fickle workforce. Although most…
Move over, foosball table and bean bag chairs. If your organization’s goal is to attract the next generation of workers – and it better be, given the fact that millennials are the largest generation in the workforce today, reports the Pew Research Center – you want to make sure you’ve designed a workplace that features…
A recent study from Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. (MassMutual) revealed lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning (LGBTQ) Americans say they want to preserve their retirement savings but tend to take bigger risks when it comes to investing. Forty-two percent of LGBTQ retirees and pre-retirees said the should become more conservative with their money…
Trust falls. Ropes courses. Bowling or mini golf. Many offices plan a summer team-building activity designed for camaraderie, but forced group fun can cause anxiety in many. Maybe your office mates don’t know each other particularly well, or there are people of so many ages and ability levels that anything too physical can be a…
