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FAMILY-FRIENDLY
Adoption Benefits Find a Home in Corporate America
While the medical bills from childbirth have long been covered by corporate health plans, it wasn't long ago that employees who chose to adopt children were pretty much on their own in terms of coping with the cost. But today, companies that do offer adoption benefits are rapidly becoming the rule rather than the exception.
Read more about adoption benefit programs.
Also:
With Flextime, Less Can Be More
Adoption Programs Gaining Ground
A 'Family Friendly' Backlash
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PATIENT ADVOCACY
Filling the Gaps in a Porous Medical System
After some initial resistance, the employees of Hess Print Solutions, which hired a patient advocacy company to help improve care and reduce cost, embraced the idea of getting help in negotiating a health care maze that can be full of dead ends. But, as the company learned, advocacy can't resolve every health issue.
Read more about patient advocacy.
Also:
Health Advocates Deliver a Dose of Knowledge
Calculator Estimates Cost of Employee Health Problems
Smoking May Be Hazardous to Your Bottom Line
The Cost of Chronic Diseases
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COMMENTARY—RETIREMENT BENEFITS
Is Defined-Contribution Plan Communication and Education Dead?
Now that plans can be automated to a large degree, do communication and education have roles to play? They do indeed. Getting workers into a 401(k) plan, increasing their savings rate, and improving their diversification through default mechanisms is not necessarily synonymous with financial security.
Read more about why merely automating a 401(k) plan is not enough to help employees plan for retirement.
Also:
Commentary: Give Young Workers the Straight Dope on Retirement Savings
Critics Wary of Target-Date Funds Despite DOL Approval
Lifecyle Funds Can Help Companies Mitigate Risk and Boost Employee Savings
Disclosure Gone Wild
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NEWS
AND EVENTS
Quick Takes
Retirement Changes: Defined-contribution pension plans are becoming more popular among leading employers worldwide, but the details differ within each country, according to a study by Mercer.
Click
here to read more.
Better Informed, But in Denial: More people today are going beyond their doctor to seek health care information, according to a National Business Group on Health survey published in December.
Click
here to read more.
Call for Transparency: Federal officials want to require companies that provide services to employee benefit plans to disclose conflicts of interest.
Click
here to read more.
Conflicting Rulings The fate of a San Francisco health care mandate is uncertain after federal judges issue contradictory opinions on its legality.
Click
here to read more. |
DISCUSSION
New Sabbatical Program
Posted in the Benefits
& Compensation Forum:
A reader writes: "We are a small company (less than 50), and we are interested in implementing a sabbatical program for our associates. I'm interested in hearing (at a high level) what other companies are offering."
Join the discussion. |
METRICS
Prevalence and Types of Employer Supplementary*
Retirement Plans
|
%
of supplementary plans
|
| Country |
Multinational
or local leading companies providing supplementary plan(s) |
Defined
benefit |
Defined
contribution |
Hybrid
(mixture of DB/DC features in one plan design; definition
varies across countries) |
| Ireland |
100% |
37% |
38% |
25% |
| Israel |
100 |
70 |
30 |
0 |
| Norway |
100 |
50 |
45 |
5 |
| Sweden |
100 |
0 |
0 |
100 |
| U.K. |
100 |
18 |
18 |
64 |
| U.S. |
100 |
30 |
60 |
10 |
| Denmark |
98 |
2 |
98 |
0 |
| South
Africa |
98 |
15 |
83 |
2 |
| Switzerland |
98 |
10 |
0 |
90 |
| Belgium |
95 |
58 |
38 |
4 |
| Japan |
95 |
95 |
5 |
0 |
| Germany |
90 |
50 |
10 |
40 |
| Philippines |
90 |
90 |
5 |
5 |
| South
Korea |
90 |
100 |
0 |
0 |
| Netherlands |
86 |
82 |
8 |
10 |
| Canada |
80 |
50 |
15 |
35 |
| Hong Kong |
80 |
5 |
90 |
5 |
| Brazil |
75 |
4 |
85 |
11 |
| Luxembourg |
75 |
28 |
55 |
17 |
| Malaysia |
70 |
40 |
60 |
0 |
| Mexico |
70 |
77 |
10 |
13 |
| Indonesia |
68 |
36 |
64 |
0 |
| Czech Republic |
60 |
0 |
100 |
0 |
| Greece |
60 |
30 |
65 |
5 |
| Spain |
57 |
9 |
78 |
13 |
| Thailand |
55 |
<5 |
95 |
<5 |
| India |
50 |
35 |
60 |
5 |
| New
Zealand |
50 |
20 |
60 |
20 |
| Taiwan |
50 |
65 |
30 |
5 |
| Turkey |
50 |
2 |
98 |
0 |
| Slovakia |
47 |
0 |
100 |
0 |
| Finland |
45 |
85 |
15 |
0 |
| Portugal |
45 |
59 |
35 |
6 |
| Hungary |
42 |
0 |
100 |
0 |
| France |
40 |
15 |
45 |
40 |
| China |
35 |
15 |
80 |
5 |
| Russia |
33 |
10 |
80 |
10 |
| Argentina |
29 |
8 |
92 |
0 |
| Poland |
29 |
0 |
100 |
0 |
| Venezuela |
27 |
82 |
9 |
9 |
| Italy |
25 |
0 |
100 |
0 |
| Austria |
17 |
20 |
70 |
10 |
| Chile |
13 |
17 |
83 |
0 |
| Australia |
10 |
10 |
90 |
0 |
| Colombia |
<10 |
1 |
99 |
0 |
| Singapore |
<5 |
40 |
60 |
0 |
| Vietnam |
<1 |
100 |
0 |
0 |
*Supplementary
to mandatory practice (social security and any mandatory
employer plans) |
| Source:
Mercer, "Introduction to Benefit Plans Around the World: A Guide for Multinational Employers" |
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