As defined benefit pension plan sponsors seek to transfer pension risk, offering lump-sum pension cashouts for terminated vested participants has been an attractive option to consider. Many plan sponsors embarked on such cashout projects beginning in 2012 and this trend is expect to intensify throughout 2014, according to an analysis by HR consultancy Mercer.
stephen.miller
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Stephen Miller, CEBS, is an online editor/manager for SHRM.
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Stephen Miller
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Articles by Stephen Miller
Employers in the U.S. are continuing to shift health coverage expenses to their workers in response to rising plan costs (growing at a slower rate but still handily outpacing overall inflation) and in an effort to avoid the high-value-plan “Cadillac tax” required by the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in 2018. 
News Updates
May 19, 2014
The Obama administration announced updates to model notices that employers must provide to employees, informing workers of their eligibility to continue health care coverage through the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA).
News Updates
May 9, 2014
Employers that offer them expect greater effort in return, study finds
News Updates
May 5, 2014
The share of employers sponsoring retiree health coverage has declined and employers that continue to offer coverage are redesigning their plans in response to rising health care costs and the Affordable Care Act, according to a new report by the nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation, Retiree Health Benefits at the Crossroads.
News Updates
May 1, 2014
Amazon.com will pay unhappy employees a bonus—up to $5,000—to leave, in a program that the online retail behemoth calls “Pay to Quit.”
News Updates
April 21, 2014
Cancer costs employers in the U.S. about $19,000 annually per 100 employees in lost work time and medical treatments, according to new research findings by the nonprofit Integrated Benefits Institute (IBI).
Specifically, lost work time and underperformance at work (presenteeism) due to cancer costs employers $10,000 per 100 workers, while medical and pharmacy treatments cost about $9,100, IBI found.
News Updates
April 7, 2014
An overwhelming percentage of organizations rely on incentive-based pay practices to compete for top talent and to motivate employees. And, especially when it comes to short-term cash incentives, employers are offering a broader array of bonus rewards, confirms a new survey conducted by WorldatWork, an association of total rewards professionals, in conjunction with Deloitte Consulting and Vivient Consulting.
News Updates
March 31, 2014
Before deciding how to comply with the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) coverage requirements, employers should seriously consider what they want to achieve through their pay and benefits package, advised benefits expert Gary Kushner, SPHR.
News Updates
March 25, 2014
Employer health care costs are expected to reach $9,560 per worker in 2014
News Updates
March 20, 2014
Employers are looking to control benefit costs by asking workers to take on more responsibility for their coverage. There is conflicting evidence, however, as to whether this cost shifting is lowering employees' perception of the value of their benefits.
News Updates
March 11, 2014
Plan designs are rewarding cost-savvy choices
Most U.S. employers plan to continue sponsoring health benefits for active employees and retirees but expect to change the way those benefits are managed and delivered in the coming years, according to research from Aon Hewitt.
News Updates
February 27, 2014
Related proposal addresses employment-based orientation periods
News Updates
February 24, 2014
Last updated February 11, 2014
Below is the article posted in July 2013, regarding the inital employer mandate delay.
News Updates
February 12, 2014
Premiums for employer-provided health coverage in California have risen 185 percent since 2002—more than five times the state's overall inflation rate—according to a new report by the nonprofit California HealthCare Foundation.
News Updates
February 7, 2014
In his 2014 State of the Union address, President Barack Obama announced he would instruct the U.S. Treasury to create a new kind of salary-deferral retirement savings vehicle, the "myRA," to give workers whose employers don't offer 401(k) plans a way to save for retirement.
News Updates
January 30, 2014
Companies looking to pare health costs by requiring working spouses to get health insurance through their own employer may find the move has some unexpected consequences, according to a new study by the nonprofit Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI).
News Updates
January 29, 2014
Confronting the growing burden of health care compliance documents
News Updates
January 27, 2014
When people were asked why they weren’t participating in their employer’s wellness program, most said they felt confident they could make changes on their own, according to new research from the nonprofit Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI).
News Updates
January 19, 2014