Work / Life Issues

Explore benefits to help employees find, afford child day care

04/08/2024

Quality child day care can be crushingly expensive. For many workers, employer assistance is a lifeline that lets them remain in the workforce instead of staying on the sidelines until their kids are old enough to go to school.

Consider adding fertility, adoption benefits

03/20/2024

If you employ lots of young people, many of your staff members may be struggling with infertility or, instead of conceiving, thinking about adopting a child. Employers may be in a position to help by expanding their benefits portfolios—and reaping a retention reward along the way.

College is expensive. Here’s how you can help

03/20/2024

Employees who paid off their student loans long ago are now helping their kids through college, and some are taking out second mortgages to do it. You can ease some of this burden by establishing a tax-free scholarship program for employees’ kids. A private letter ruling shows the way.

Recruiting: Offer work-from-home option, tout opportunities to advance

01/29/2024

It’s tough to attract the best new hires if you can’t pay as much as larger employers can. However, you may have a couple competitive advantages big companies can’t offer: the option for employees to work remotely full-time and the promise of promotion opportunities.

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.

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.

Family health insurance is no longer affordable through small employers

12/20/2023

Workers at small firms—those with fewer than 200 employees—would need to pay $8,334 on average toward the annual premiums for family coverage. But an employee’s share of premiums is often much more expensive—a quarter of covered workers at small firms must pay $12,000 or more annually.

Poll: How employers can improve worker well-being

11/27/2023

Time—not money, not benefits—is the measure most critical to employee well-being, according to a new Gallup poll.

These 8 great holiday perks can reduce employee stress

11/27/2023

You can help ease employee stress this holiday season by adding a few low-cost timesavers to your holiday bonus package. Small holiday kindnesses on the part of the company can pay off in a big way for the organization all year. Here are a few ways your organization can help holiday-harried employees stay productive at work.

How employers can best support grieving caregivers

11/21/2023

Over 40 million Americans care for an unwell relative over the age of 50, a responsibility that can take up as much as 50 hours each week. Those responsibilities can have a significant impact on their work, affecting schedules, energy levels and overall sense of well-being.