White papers
Our research-based white papers offer insight and commentary on benefits, compensation, and workforce issues to help organizations make critical decisions.
Communication
Well-designed career sites improve recruiting effectiveness, even in a down economy
For the past few months, recruiting may have been the last thing on many employers' minds given the current state of the economy. But the recently passed stimulus plan could create a need for rapid hiring in selected industries. However, the resourcefulness, innovative thinking, and productivity that proven talent brings to an organization are needed now more than ever in any industry. The question is: How can your organization find such talent?
Managing workforce and benefit program risks during an economic downturn
The United States, along with most countries around the world, is in the throes of a severe economic downturn. The world economy is being buffeted by rising unemployment, capital markets that are volatile and much reduced in value, restructuring in the housing and financial sectors and, in some cases, inflation or deflation. Though no one can be certain when the economy will reach bottom, many expect that the current downturn will continue through 2009 and into 2010.
Compensation
Re-thinking target date funds: no magic formula
Is the conceptual design behind Target Date Funds sufficiently robust to warrant the claim of being "the" ideal solution for defined contribution retirement plans? This article aims to make the case for a complete and consistent framework to vet the risk-and-return proposition of TDFs. In particular, financial operators and regulators should re-examine the existing TDF solutions and encourage more accurate disclosure of the expected risks and returns of each product in a manner consistent with (a) rigorous analysis based on commonly accepted financial theory and (b) realistic empirical market evidence.
Facilitating dysfunction: the dominance of line-of-sight and near-term incentives
Incentives with an unrelenting focus on line of sight and near-term results are more controllable by the employee, but often run counter to value creation. Yet again, history has repeated itself. A narrow focus on near-term revenue and profits has ended in unexpectedly damaging results, now on a global scale. Among the many reasons for the bloodbath experienced in our financial institutions and other sectors is the structure of incentive programs in these organizations. The incentive design principles that have helped push our financial institutions to the edge of the cliff are alive and well throughout much of industry.
Compensation innovations in an economic downturn
Economists continue to debate whether the United States is entering a recession or already in it, but many companies and entire industry sectors are well into a recessionary business environment. Significant reductions in business volume, write-offs of previously recorded revenue, staggering losses of shareholder value, and layoffs are occurring regardless of academic opinion. While recessions are typically announced many months after they have begun — and sometimes after they have ended — many employers are already facing recession-driven decisions.
Corporate governance – a risk-sensitized executive pay governance process: part one
The deterioration of the global economy has occurred with breathtaking speed and unprecedented breadth. As events unfold, one common view has emerged: the crisis is predominantly a failure in human decision-making, influenced by two fundamental pay and performance-related factors.
Corporate governance – a risk-sensitized executive pay governance process: part two
As a result of TARP provisions and proactive shareholder advisory groups, executive compensation is coming under intense scrutiny. The focus is two-fold: (1) are pay-for-performance programs really paying for shareholder value created, and (2) are the incentive systems encouraging inappropriate or excessive risk-taking that may threaten rather than create shareholder value?
Can your long-term incentive plan become more performance based again?
A top responsibility for Compensation Committees is to ensure a strong linkage between executive compensation and company performance. Long-Term Incentive Plans (LTIPs) typically provide the largest component of senior executives' compensation, most often through one or more of three equity-based types: Stock Options, Restricted Stock, and Performance Shares.
Health and Productivity
Welcome to the 2011-2012 flu season: is your business ready?
In an influenza outbreak, you play a key role in protecting your employees' health and safety. The workplace is one place where everyone can help stop the spread of the flu. The actions you take "locally" can help limit the impact of the illness on the economy and society as a whole. Pandemics, like the viruses that cause them, are unpredictable and can occur at any time. As with any potential catastrophe, it's essential to have a contingency plan. We can't afford to let our guard down and let this flu season turn into another pandemic.
Diagnosis HSA — a treatment plan for employers
As the economy continues to contract globally U.S. employers are seeking and finding benefit plan design and funding solutions to control and manage both short- and long-term costs. So what is the diagnosis for Health Savings Account (HSA) qualified plans and HSAs specifically? At the heart of the most innovative approaches is a combination of High-Deductible Health Plan (HDHP) design features joined with a tax-advantaged HSA. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, HSA-qualified plans reduce the premiums to offer health insurance and the savings nearly offset all of the deductible. Even on a risk-adjusted basis, recent studies from the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association (BCBSA), United Health Care, CIGNA, and Aetna all support the notion that HDHP participants have the same demographic, health, and economic characteristics as non-participants and costs are lower, both initially and over a long-term basis. The question is: How are HSAs contributing to these findings?
Health care reform's impact on rewards strategies — is it time to change the mix of compensation and benefits?
Some critics of health care reform predict that the low $2,000 employer mandate penalty will cause many employers to exit the employer-sponsored benefit (ESB) system and dump their entire workforces on the new Exchanges. The truth is that most employers will find it in their best interest to continue to offer coverage.
Beyond words ...engaging consumers in changing health behaviors
In order to positively impact workforce health and reduce costs, employers must move their health programs beyond words to a state of consumer engagement and action. This article summarizes relevant concepts and findings from the fields of psychology, decision research, and social marketing and identifies best practices in developing consumer engagement. Employers can utilize this information when creating health care programs and tools to control costs and improve workforce health and productivity.
Health care consumerism: an employer's perspective
Historical approaches to cyclical health care cost crises have centered on "tweaking" the system. Typical "tweaks" include shopping for better provider pricing between broad networks, attempting to lower administrative costs through competitive bidding, making minor plan design changes, and increasing premium sharing requirements. But these changes have neither prevented the relentless rise in health care costs nor addressed the dysfunctional purchasing and value chain. Health care consumerism is changing that.
Good health pays off! The fundamentals of health promotion incentives
Employer interest in consumer driven health care is accelerating. Shifting more responsibility to employees entails changing a number of well-entrenched assumptions, values and practices related to the way sick care is viewed and utilized. One such shift is getting employees to focus more on maintaining and improving their health rather than on seeking treatment once they are sick.
Retirement
An introduction to international retirement plans. Helping build retirement security for your "global nomads"
For multinational companies, growing a business means leveraging the right talent in the right place. In the world of "global nomads" — expatriates and third country nationals who spend much of their working lives away from their home country — the provision of future financial security becomes ever more important. To attract and retain the right talent willing to move across borders, whether on a temporary or permanent basis, employers need to provide competitive compensation packages that include a retirement savings component. This paper details how to address retirement security for a mobile workforce.
Defined contribution plans: what does "reform" mean to employers?
With some unemployment rates the highest they have been in generations and the economy in a fragile state, many Americans are facing serious challenges to their retirement security. Policymakers, as well as average Americans and employers, are starting to question the overall design of the U.S. private retirement plan system and whether the saving arrangements currently in place give a typical worker a real opportunity to reach his or her retirement income goals.
Talent and HR Solutions
Well-designed career sites improve recruiting effectiveness, even in a down economy
For the past few months, recruiting may have been the last thing on many employers' minds given the current state of the economy. But the recently passed stimulus plan could create a need for rapid hiring in selected industries. However, the resourcefulness, innovative thinking, and productivity that proven talent brings to an organization are needed now more than ever in any industry. The question is: How can your organization find such talent?
Why tech fails
We've all seen technology investments gone bad. Perhaps the promise of technology is the culprit? HR technology has greatly advanced to meet business challenges. We take for granted that it will accomplish what we want it to do rather than what it was programmed to do. This may be part of the problem, but the root cause is deeper than that. We believe that organizations sometimes skirt the process of building (or buying as the case may be) the right solution. When speed seems to define success, organizations want to cut to the chase.