Fiscal realities and changing social priorities are requiring a dramatic shift in the way that benefits are selected and awarded to employees, especially in the public sector. This means that public administrators and policy researchers must consider new parameters and contingencies, both financial and social, when evaluating choices and making pol

The essential resource for designing and implementing employee benefits—bringing you up to date on critical new industry changes For nearly three decades, HR professionals and consultants have depended on The Handbook of Employee Benefits for authoritative answers to their questions about designing and implementing competitive employee benefits packages. Covering everything from general objectives to costs, this classic reference brings you up to date on critical changes driven by legislative developments, such as the new health-care reform law enacted by the passing of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The seventh edition of The Handbook of Employee Benefits features the knowledge and insights of the leading scholars and practitioners in the field. Filled with new and updated information and real-world examples, this edition focuses on health and group benefits: Health Benefits: health-care reform’s impact on employee benefits, new approaches to cost containment, how to access quality care, consumer-driven health-care plan designs along with dental, behavioral, prescription, and long-term care programs Life Insurance: group term, universal life, and corporate-owned life programs Work/Life Programs: traditional time off and family leave, child and elder care, and assistance for education, financial planning, and voluntary benefits Social Insurance Programs: Social Security, Medicare, and workers’ and unemployment compensation programs Group and Health Benefit Plan Financial Management: federal tax laws, funding health benefit plans—insured, self-funded, and captive arrangements Employee Benefit Administration: flexible benefit plans, fiduciary liability issues, and communications Issues of Special Interest: retiree welfare benefits, small company benefits, multiemployer plans, and international employee benefit planning An innovative, efficient employee benefit program has become one of the primary prerequisites to success in today’s lean business battleground. The Handbook of Employee Benefits provides the knowledge and tools you need to create plans that benefit the greatest number of employees, while allowing employers to maintain fiscal integrity and competitive advantage.

Provides information on the programs and policies selected nonfederal employers have used to help their employees balance work and family responsibilities. Also describes how these employers decided they needed work/family programs, implemented them, and evaluated them. Finally, the report compares federal and nonfederal efforts in this area, noting certain barriers to federal work/family programs. Charts and tables.

This book offers guidance for understanding benefits options and plan structures, and making better decisions for your organization. Writing for both HR and finance professionals, internationally respected compensation and benefits professor and consultant Bashker Biswas drills comprehensively into today's most important benefits-related topics and challenges. Employee Benefits Design and Planning covers all this, and much more: Finance and accounting implications of Healthcare benefits Other risk benefits Severance benefits Disability and group life insurance programs Flexible benefits Non-qualified deferred arrangements 409A plans, ESOPs, Money Purchase Pension Plans, Cash Balance Plans, 401(k), 403(b) plans and 457 Plans Employee benefit plan financial reporting, legal compliance, and auditing Employee benefits in mergers and acquisitions Self-funding vs. insurance funding decisions Global employee benefits including umbrella pension plans and multi-national pooling Equity participation in employee benefit plans Biswas introduces and explains key employee benefit metrics and ratios, and demonstrates best practices for forecasting costs and budgeting appropriately. For all compensation professionals, benefits professionals, human resource professionals, accounting professionals, labor attorneys, financial analysts, and finance professionals. Readers will have roles in benefits-related consulting, finance, accounting, and human resource management, both domestic and international.

The United States is unique among economically advanced nations in its reliance on employers to provide health benefits voluntarily for workers and their families. Although it is well known that this system fails to reach millions of these individuals as well as others who have no connection to the work place, the system has other weaknesses. It also has many advantages. Because most proposals for health care reform assume some continued role for employers, this book makes an important contribution by describing the strength and limitations of the current system of employment-based health benefits. It provides the data and analysis needed to understand the historical, social, and economic dynamics that have shaped present-day arrangements and outlines what might be done to overcome some of the access, value, and equity problems associated with current employer, insurer, and government policies and practices. Health insurance terminology is often perplexing, and this volume defines essential concepts clearly and carefully. Using an array of primary sources, it provides a store of information on who is covered for what services at what costs, on how programs vary by employer size and industry, and on what governments doâ€"and do not doâ€"to oversee employment-based health programs. A case study adapted from real organizations' experiences illustrates some of the practical challenges in designing, managing, and revising benefit programs. The sometimes unintended and unwanted consequences of employer practices for workers and health care providers are explored. Understanding the concepts of risk, biased risk selection, and risk segmentation is fundamental to sound health care reform. This volume thoroughly examines these key concepts and how they complicate efforts to achieve efficiency and equity in health coverage and health care. With health care reform at the forefront of public attention, this volume will be important to policymakers and regulators, employee benefit managers and other executives, trade associations, and decisionmakers in the health insurance industry, as well as analysts, researchers, and students of health policy.

"Wonderful . . . a moving autobiography, the story of a unique business, and a detailed blueprint for hope." —Jared Diamond, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Guns, Germs, and Steel In this 10th anniversary edition, Yvon Chouinard—legendary climber, businessman, environmentalist, and founder of Patagonia, Inc.—shares the persistence and courage that have gone into being head of one of the most respected and environmentally responsible companies on earth. From his youth as the son of a French Canadian handyman to the thrilling, ambitious climbing expeditions that inspired his innovative designs for the sport's equipment, Let My People Go Surfing is the story of a man who brought doing good and having grand adventures into the heart of his business life-a book that will deeply affect entrepreneurs and outdoor enthusiasts alike.

From the creator of the popular website Ask a Manager and New York’s work-advice columnist comes a witty, practical guide to 200 difficult professional conversations—featuring all-new advice! There’s a reason Alison Green has been called “the Dear Abby of the work world.” Ten years as a workplace-advice columnist have taught her that people avoid awkward conversations in the office because they simply don’t know what to say. Thankfully, Green does—and in this incredibly helpful book, she tackles the tough discussions you may need to have during your career. You’ll learn what to say when • coworkers push their work on you—then take credit for it • you accidentally trash-talk someone in an email then hit “reply all” • you’re being micromanaged—or not being managed at all • you catch a colleague in a lie • your boss seems unhappy with your work • your cubemate’s loud speakerphone is making you homicidal • you got drunk at the holiday party Praise for Ask a Manager “A must-read for anyone who works . . . [Alison Green’s] advice boils down to the idea that you should be professional (even when others are not) and that communicating in a straightforward manner with candor and kindness will get you far, no matter where you work.”—Booklist (starred review) “The author’s friendly, warm, no-nonsense writing is a pleasure to read, and her advice can be widely applied to relationships in all areas of readers’ lives. Ideal for anyone new to the job market or new to management, or anyone hoping to improve their work experience.”—Library Journal (starred review) “I am a huge fan of Alison Green’s Ask a Manager column. This book is even better. It teaches us how to deal with many of the most vexing big and little problems in our workplaces—and to do so with grace, confidence, and a sense of humor.”—Robert Sutton, Stanford professor and author of The No Asshole Rule and The Asshole Survival Guide “Ask a Manager is the ultimate playbook for navigating the traditional workforce in a diplomatic but firm way.”—Erin Lowry, author of Broke Millennial: Stop Scraping By and Get Your Financial Life Together