2016 - Best Money Moves

The Top HR Challenge of 2017? Employee Retention

by Emily Pfund | Dec 21, 2016 | Blog

In this week’s Best Money Moves roundup, we take a look at news stories and new research studies that may impact employee benefits and HR issues. We hope you find this news roundup helpful, and we’d love your feedback.

Unemployment rates dropped throughout 2016 and in November hit 4.6 percent, the lowest they’ve been since August 2007. While that’s good news for the economy, it also means employers face more competition when trying to recruit top talent for their organizations. But focusing only on recruiting — and not making the effort to retain those new employees — can create a cycle where new employees don’t stay long and employers have to recruit yet more employees. This is why employee retention will be the top HR challenge of 2017.

What is the best way to raise employee performance? One recent study found that up to 70 percent of variance in employee performance can be attributed to the quality of their managers. Learn more about how the right manager can help your employees.

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. It also makes your employees less likely to stick around. A new study suggests that allowing employees to loosen up and have more fun at work will actually make them better at their jobs.

Trends in the employee benefits industry come and go with changes in technology, the economy and workers’ lifestyles. Twenty years of research by SHRM gives us a look at the trends that have come and gone and which ones may be coming to your workplace next.

How helpful is an annual performance review? Some research suggests once-a-year reviews don’t affect performance much. If your company does do annual reviews, here are the steps managers can take to make them most effective.

From election uncertainty to wearable fitness trackers to online medicine, there were a lot of changes in the employee benefits industry in 2016. Here are the 12 most influential trends.

Travel is becoming an in-demand employee perk. It boosts morale, reduces stress and encourages personal growth through exposure to new people and cultures. Here are a few ideas for incorporating it into your company’s policies.

Are your employees using all of their vacation time? A new survey from BankRate found that more than half — 52 percent — of employees won’t use all of their 2016 vacation days, and that can have a negative impact on their careers.

From tech CEO to HR professionals, here are 30 people poised to make waves in the employee benefits industry in 2017.

What’s the best way to keep your top employees from leaving? The 2016 SHRM and Globoforce Employee Recognition Survey found that companies budgeting 1 percent or more of payroll toward values-based recognition programs are two times more likely to see increased retention from the programs.

Did you find this Best Money Moves roundup useful? Please let us know. Email us at info@bestmoneymoves.com.

It’s hard to stay on top of everything in the news. That’s why each week our Best Money Moves newsroom will bring you the most important news in financial wellness, employee benefits and financial stress. We hope you like the information and, if you do, please spread the word. For midweek developments, follow us on Twitter and on Facebook.

How 10 Top Companies Improved Employee Benefits This Year

by Emily Pfund | Dec 14, 2016 | Blog

In this week’s Best Money Moves roundup, we take a look at news stories and new research studies that may impact employee benefits and HR issues. We hope you find this news roundup helpful, and we’d love your feedback.

2016 saw many changes to the employee benefits industry and companies have been implementing big changes to the benefits they’re offering to full-time, part-time and even contract employees.

Student loan repayment assistance was one of the most popular new employee benefits offered this past year, and programs allow employers to help reduce their employees’ financial stress by contributing dollars to help employees pay down their student loans faster. Staples and Pricewaterhouse Coopers added this benefit this year, while startup Boxed took it one step further – paying wedding expenses for their employees and college tuition for employees’ children. Learn how 10 companies raised the benefits bar this year.

The way an employee quits can tell you a lot about your company. A by-the-book, in-person resignation with a notice period is the most common, but a rash of abrupt exits could be a sign of deeper company problems. Here are the seven most common ways people quit and what they mean for your organization.

A recent study ranked Switzerland as the top country for attracting, retaining and developing talent for the third year in a row. Here’s what we can learn from the Swiss about building better workplaces.

Financial stress isn’t just about the numbers on your account statement. Financial stress can also cause physical symptoms. Learn the signs of financial-stress-induced illness.

Tuition assistance remains a popular employee benefit, but the programs need to be user-friendly for employees to take advantage of them. Here’s how to pick the program that best fits your employees’ needs.

Study abroad programs aren’t just for students anymore. A Pricewaterhouse Coopers study found that moving staff to offices abroad is good for personal career growth and the success of the business. Here’s how “employee exchange programs” can strengthen employee retention.

Employee stress is bad for business. It lowers productivity and increases turnover – both of which are situations HR managers want to avoid. These strategies can help lower stress in your workplace.

American Express is the latest company to add an extended parental leave program to its benefits package. Under the new policy, all full- and part-time employees are eligible for 20 weeks of paid parental leave starting in 2017. Here’s why they did it.

Trump’s pick to head the Department of Labor could be good for business owners but not necessarily for employees, experts say. Andrew Puzder, CEO of CKE Restaurants, opposes raising the minimum wage and has advocated repealing many of Barack Obama’s pro-labor regulations. Here’s what he could mean for the benefits industry.

What can managers do to prevent employee burnout? When employees at SpotHero started showing signs of burnout, the company took action to improve their office environment.

Did you find this Best Money Moves roundup useful? Please let us know. Email us at info@bestmoneymoves.com.

It’s hard to stay on top of everything in the news. That’s why each week our Best Money Moves newsroom will bring you the most important news in financial wellness, employee benefits and financial stress. We hope you like the information and, if you do, please spread the word. For midweek developments, follow us on Twitter and on Facebook.

2016’s Top Employee Benefit? Mental and Financial Wellness

by Emily Pfund | Dec 7, 2016 | Blog

In this week’s Best Money Moves roundup, we take a look at news stories and new research studies that may impact employee benefits and HR issues. We hope you find this news roundup helpful, and we’d love your feedback.

The idea of “wellness programs” in employee benefits initially focused solely on physical wellness, and included things like helping employees maintain a healthy weight or kick unhealthy habits like smoking.

However, 2016 saw an increase in the number of employers offering employee benefits like student loan repayment programs (Time predicts it will be “2017’s hottest employee benefit”) and encouraging employees to take advantage of mental and social assistance programs.

But by the end of 2016, a growing body of research started connecting physical health and financial stress, leading to an increasing number of employers including financial wellness products in their employee benefits packages. Here’s why employers are putting a growing amount of emphasis on mental and financial wellness in their benefits packages, and where we might see that trend go in 2017.

While 87 percent of HR executives rate employee engagement as one of their biggest challenges, there’s no real agreement on what employee engagement actually is. Learn what employee engagement is and how to use it to improve your company’s culture.

Gender equality in the workplace is becoming an increasingly important issue for women and men. A recent study found that more than half of employees felt gender inequality was a problem at their company and many of them plan to look for a new gig in the next six months.

The holidays are filled with potential opportunities for identity theft. Here are some ways employers can help their employees avoid this stressful holiday hazard.

President-elect Trump campaigned on the promise of reducing regulatory red tape. That could be bad news for consumers’ retirement accounts if he rolls back President Obama’s fiduciary rule, which was set to take effect in April 2017.

Can your physical office environment keep employees from leaving? It might, according to a new survey from the International Interior Design Association. Here are the features you may want to add to the office to boost employee retention.

What is the most important factor in attracting top talent? SHRM’s newest study looked at what HR executives are doing to draw in new employees and keep them with the company.

Are you working on your resolutions for 2017? What about resolutions for your business? Get yourself started with these five financial wellness resolutions for the new year.

A lack of financial knowledge is the root cause of many employees’ financial stress. But why are so many Americans financially illiterate in the first place?

Is your organization struggling with a high turnover rate? Here are some of the most common reasons employees quit and seven simple steps you can take to make them stay.

Did you find this Best Money Moves roundup useful? Please let us know. Email us at info@bestmoneymoves.com.

It’s hard to stay on top of everything in the news. That’s why each week our Best Money Moves newsroom will bring you the most important news in financial wellness, employee benefits and financial stress. We hope you like the information and, if you do, please spread the word. For midweek developments, follow us on Twitter and on Facebook.

Trump’s Insurance Plan, Employee Happiness By State, Financial Stress Reaches PTSD Levels

by Emily Pfund | Nov 30, 2016 | Blog

In this week’s Best Money Moves roundup, we take a look at news stories and new research studies that may impact employee benefits and HR issues. We hope you find this news roundup helpful, and we’d love your feedback.

President-elect Donald Trump wants to allow cross-state insurance sales, a move he says will give consumers and employers more choices and create a “dynamic market.” Proponents of the move say consumers or companies could save money by buying insurance from states that have less expensive insurance requirements. However, industry experts say the move could be a lot of time and effort spent on something that wouldn’t make much of a difference, especially due to the Affordable Care Act’s influence in making insurance policies more uniform in their coverage of expensive conditions like autism and infertility. Of course, that could all change as well with Trump’s repeated promises to repeal and replace the ACA.

Do you think people in your state are happy with their jobs? They are in Hawaii, West Virginia and Maine, but less so in New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Washington.

How serious is your financial stress? A new study found that nearly a quarter of employees report acute financial stress so severe it could qualify as PTSD.

Student loans are a major source of financial stress for America’s workforce, but it doesn’t look like the problem will be solved anytime soon. A recent ProPublica study took a state-by-state look at college tuition costs and income growth – and found they don’t line up.

Is your financial stress hurting your performance at work? According to a new study, about 29 percent of Americans say they’ve skipped work to deal with their money problems.

What does it take to hang on to your company’s best employees? Here’s a four-ingredient recipe for employee retention.

You don’t necessarily need a big company budget for big employee perks. Here are five ways small businesses can offer big employee perks and better retain top talent.

Millennials view employee benefits differently than previous generations of workers, which means companies need to approach benefits for these employees differently. Here’s how HR departments can most effectively reach their millennial employees.

Employers around the country were already preparing for the Department of Labor’s new overtime rules to take effect when a federal court blocked them last week. Should employers now stop what they were doing or continue preparations in case the injunction is overturned? Here’s what the experts say.

Is your office hemorrhaging employees as they move on to other opportunities? Here are five big reasons people leave their jobs – and how to recognize the signs.

Did you find this Best Money Moves roundup useful? Please let us know. Email us at info@bestmoneymoves.com.

It’s hard to stay on top of everything in the news. That’s why each week our Best Money Moves newsroom will bring you the most important news in financial wellness, employee benefits and financial stress. We hope you like the information and, if you do, please spread the word. For midweek developments, follow us on Twitter and on Facebook.

Anthem, Cigna Merger, Health Care Costs, and New Financial Stress Numbers

by Emily Pfund | Nov 22, 2016 | Blog

In this week’s Best Money Moves roundup, we take a look at news stories and new research studies that may impact employee benefits and HR issues. We hope you find this news roundup helpful, and we’d love your feedback.

Is the pending merger of two major healthcare insurance providers a win for employers and consumers or a breach of federal antitrust laws? The antitrust trial for Anthem’s $45 million merger (or takeover, as some have positioned it) with Cigna began on Monday in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, with a lawyer for Anthem arguing that the merger will help insurers lower costs for consumers. The Department of Justice, on the other hand is arguing that the merger will create an insurance behemoth that would create those savings by forcing doctors and hospitals to work for less. The two-phase trial could last for several weeks.

Do your coworkers look listless at their desks? Are they spending more time on their phones than on the job? Research shows young women are more likely than other groups to feel bored at work. Here’s how employees can re-engage with their jobs.

How many Americans struggle with financial stress? Most of them, as it turns out. And recent studies show that financial stress doesn’t stay contained to your finances.

Once companies find great employees, they want to hang onto them for as long as possible. However, that can be difficult to do if those employees clash with their managers. Watch out for these six management behaviors that could send your best people running.

Employers who offer tuition reimbursement or educational assistance report higher retention, employee satisfaction and ability to attract top talent. Read how seven big-name companies have implemented this popular employee benefit for their workforces.

What does the future hold for the HR industry? We may not have a crystal ball to tell us for sure, but we can make some educated guesses. Four industry experts share the trends and changes in store for H.R.

Thinking about retirement savings can be stressful for everyone, but some may feel the stress more than others. A recent study found millennial women report greater stress and uncertainty related to saving enough for retirement.

Are Uber drivers employees or independent contractors? The ridesharing company is working to finalize a settlement with drivers suing it over allegations it didn’t offer the same benefits and protections of other employees, including minimum wage and overtime.

Government jobs once came with the promise of a great pension and health care plan in retirement. Now, cash-strapped cities and other government agencies find themselves able to pay for only a fraction of their promised retirement benefits. Most cities have set aside less than 2 percent of their future healthcare liabilities.

A growing number of companies are using HR analytics to boost their retention and recruiting efforts. This data helps them figure out why employees quit, why they stay and which benefits they use the most. How can you incorporate analytics into your HR programs?

Are you struggling to boost employee participation in your company’s retirement plans? When companies put the responsibility on employees to set up their accounts, it may never get done. That’s why some suggest making retirement enrollment automatic and mandatory. The Department of Labor (DOL) offers a free online brochure on automatic enrollment 401k plans for small businesses that might interest you.

Did you find this Best Money Moves roundup useful? Please let us know. Email us at info@bestmoneymoves.com.

It’s hard to stay on top of everything in the news. That’s why each week our Best Money Moves newsroom will bring you the most important news in financial wellness, employee benefits and financial stress. We hope you like the information and, if you do, please spread the word. For midweek developments, follow us on Twitter and on Facebook.