Keith Bruhnsen, assistant director of benefits at the
For more information, visit the corresponding article in Employee Benefit News, “Employer brings simplicity to specialty pharmacy benefits.”
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Overheard At: Specialty pharmacy management tricks
Tip of the Day
Like the Boy Scouts, be prepared. Don't let disasters -- natural, technological or otherwise -- derail your business or wipe out vital employee and benefits information. EBN contributor Charles Denyer outlines the must-haves in your corporate disaster recovery plan.
News You Can Use: Merit pay increases shrink further
The slumping economy has caused merit pay increases to decrease to 2.8%, down from the 3.71% expected in June. Cost of living increases are budgeted at around 1.2%, and higher among small businesses, states new data from Business and Legal Reports.
Merit increases remain the largest at companies with over 1,000 employees, hovering at around 3%, while cost-of-living increases are the largest at nonprofit companies.
"We are just trying to keep doors open," one respondent reportedly said.
According to the survey, 38.5% of respondents are changing plans because of the economy. An additional 30.5% are considering changes. Only 23.6% are moving forward with initial budget expectations. Nearly four-in-ten companies responding plan to reduce pay, offer smaller or no rate increases (24.4%) or delay effective dates of raises (15.3%).
One respondent said that while they were not freezing increases, they were cutting back on employee's eligible hours.
The survey was conducted in late October via online polling. 541 people responded.
Merit increases remain the largest at companies with over 1,000 employees, hovering at around 3%, while cost-of-living increases are the largest at nonprofit companies.
"We are just trying to keep doors open," one respondent reportedly said.
According to the survey, 38.5% of respondents are changing plans because of the economy. An additional 30.5% are considering changes. Only 23.6% are moving forward with initial budget expectations. Nearly four-in-ten companies responding plan to reduce pay, offer smaller or no rate increases (24.4%) or delay effective dates of raises (15.3%).
One respondent said that while they were not freezing increases, they were cutting back on employee's eligible hours.
The survey was conducted in late October via online polling. 541 people responded.
Monday, November 10, 2008
News You Can Use: Pregnancy discrimination persists
It's difficult enough being pregnant. Employers absolutely must stop making matters worse by discriminating against moms-to-be.
Thirty years after the enactment of the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, which outlaws employment bias due to pregnancy and/or childbirth, a study from the National Partnership for Women and Families finds that, according to EEOC data, pregnancy discrimination charges increased 65% from 1992 to 2007. Among minorities, such charges rose 76% in the same period.
Even worse, “The increase in complaints about pregnancy discrimination far outpaced the increase in women in the workforce during this time period,” said National Partnership General Counsel Jocelyn Frye, who authored the report. “Because many women who face pregnancy discrimination are reluctant to file charges with the EEOC, the problem may be even more widespread than these figures suggest.”
Thirty years after the enactment of the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, which outlaws employment bias due to pregnancy and/or childbirth, a study from the National Partnership for Women and Families finds that, according to EEOC data, pregnancy discrimination charges increased 65% from 1992 to 2007. Among minorities, such charges rose 76% in the same period.
Even worse, “The increase in complaints about pregnancy discrimination far outpaced the increase in women in the workforce during this time period,” said National Partnership General Counsel Jocelyn Frye, who authored the report. “Because many women who face pregnancy discrimination are reluctant to file charges with the EEOC, the problem may be even more widespread than these figures suggest.”
Tip of the Day
Be a "wicked cool" communicator.
The consumer marketing strategy of hooking employees with "cool" features - can easily apply to benefits communication, the current EBN reports.
"You've got to meet the wicked cool factor," says Elizabeth Byerly, office practice leader in communications for Watson Wyatt's Atlanta office. For example, use a different voice or action for all communications (like the Geico commercials). Make a simple e-mail stand out with a popular song playing in the background, she suggests.
Upping an organization's cool factor also can involve leveraging cool employees, the pros assert. Think of them as employee-Fonzes. "Find who the opinion shapers and vocal people are within your organization and get them involved," says Michal Kisilevitz, managing director of the Benefits Roundtable at Corporate Executive Board.
Read the full article here.
The consumer marketing strategy of hooking employees with "cool" features - can easily apply to benefits communication, the current EBN reports.
"You've got to meet the wicked cool factor," says Elizabeth Byerly, office practice leader in communications for Watson Wyatt's Atlanta office. For example, use a different voice or action for all communications (like the Geico commercials). Make a simple e-mail stand out with a popular song playing in the background, she suggests.
Upping an organization's cool factor also can involve leveraging cool employees, the pros assert. Think of them as employee-Fonzes. "Find who the opinion shapers and vocal people are within your organization and get them involved," says Michal Kisilevitz, managing director of the Benefits Roundtable at Corporate Executive Board.
Read the full article here.
News You Can Use: Oil companies post record profits, pensions in the red
From the "misplaced corporate priorities" files, energy companies -- led primarily by oil titans Exxon Mobil, Chevron and ConocoPhillips -- posted the lowest levels of pension plan funding across the 10 industries studied in a Citi analysis of S&P 500 companies.
Exxon Mobil, whose quarterly profits steadily break the company's own earnings records, had the highest pension deficit, with $27.8 billion in assets to cover $34.5 billion in liabilities, a $6.7 billion deficit.
Exxon Mobil, whose quarterly profits steadily break the company's own earnings records, had the highest pension deficit, with $27.8 billion in assets to cover $34.5 billion in liabilities, a $6.7 billion deficit.
Friday, November 7, 2008
News You Can Use: CDH 2.0
Don't miss the next big thing in CDH. According to Aaron C. Davis, president of NextLogical Benefit Strategies, LLC and speaker at EBN's recent Benefits Forum & Expo, the new CDH takes consumer-driven health one step further and transforms it to "compliance-driven health."
Davis defined compliance as "both a patient's commitment to following accepted protocols of disease management [and] a health plan member's commitment to following accepted standards of wellness, health maintenance and improvement."
Read more compliance-driven health in the current EBN.
Davis defined compliance as "both a patient's commitment to following accepted protocols of disease management [and] a health plan member's commitment to following accepted standards of wellness, health maintenance and improvement."
Read more compliance-driven health in the current EBN.
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