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Compensation & Benefits

W-2 Wednesdays: What to tell employees about their W-2s

01/24/2024
This week we’re tackling your toughest job of all—trying to explain to bewildered employees what all those box entries mean and why they differ.

Takeaways from the DOL’s worker status rule

01/22/2024
The Department of Labor released its final rule on workers’ status as employees or independent contractors a couple of weeks ago. The rule, which becomes effective March 11 (pending litigation, of course), restores the DOL’s six-part economic realities test, with an eye toward the modern economy. This rule was never meant to upset the apple cart. But some apples will fall by the wayside. Here are some things to think about now.

Provide child-care, elder-care benefits to attract and keep the employees you need

01/22/2024
One obvious tactic to attract and retain caregivers is to offer benefits that help them care for their children and older relatives. Adding either or both to your benefit plan may mark you as a desirable employer. Here are some options.

More SECURE 2.0 guidance: Pension-linked emergency savings accounts

01/16/2024
SECURE 2.0 allows you to offer to enroll or to auto-enroll non-highly compensated employees into pension-linked emergency savings accounts, beginning with the 2024 plan year—Jan. 1, 2024—for calendar-year plans. Working relatively speedily, the IRS released initial guidance on PLESAs last Friday, before the long holiday weekend. More comprehensive guidance will follow.

Report: Health benefit costs projected to rise 9.9% this year

01/08/2024
The WTW Global Medical Trends Survey found the cost of medical care jumped from 7.4% in 2022 to a record high of 10.7% in 2023. The insurer-reported cost trend for 2024 is projected to increase by an average of 9.9%.

DOL offers mental-health assistance, compliance resources for employers

01/08/2024
Worker stress rose to record levels during the pandemic—and has remained high ever since, according to Gallup Poll surveys. In fact, Gallup says 52% of employees report they have experienced “a lot of stress” in the previous 24 hours. Employers are responding, with 63% of HR professionals surveyed by Willis Towers Watson last fall saying they planned to enhance benefits addressing employee mental health in 2024.

Benefits lexicon: Center of Excellence

01/08/2024
Center of Excellence is one of several health-care cost control strategies that has gained currency in recent years.

Grab bag of SECURE 2.0 guidance

01/04/2024
Right before our Christmas break, the IRS issued guidance on SECURE 2.0’s provision allowing you to provide de minimis financial incentives to employees to induce them to participate in your 401(k) plan. Since this provision became effective with the 2023 plan year, and considering that financial incentives are fully taxable for payroll purposes, we rushed out our analysis so you’d have time to deal with it in December. But the guidance contains much more.

Review compensation practices to identify potential sources of pay inequity

01/02/2024
Your employees probably no longer consider it taboo to discuss salaries and benefits with their co-workers and friends. That means they can easily tell how your compensation system compares with that of other employers. It also means they can easily spot inequities in how you pay employees up and down your org chart. If they determine that wage gaps exist, don’t be surprised if they decide to sue you for discrimination.

States considering tax incentives for employers that adopt four-day workweek

01/02/2024
Over the last few years, there’s been a lot of talk about the benefits and desirability of a four-day workweek. If that came to pass, it would fundamentally change a standard set in 1938, when the Fair Labor Standards Act established a 40-hour workweek as the norm for American workers.