So, you’ve hired a new employee benefits advisor to assist you in developing and managing your employee benefits program.  Perhaps you interviewed a few different benefit brokers to evaluate your options, or focused on and moved forward with just one firm that seemed like the perfect fit.  Now, how do you measure the quality of service from your new benefits partner?

Update: The decade-long court case on whether Edison International’s financial advisors and investment committee breached their fiduciary duties to retirement plan participants came to an end Wednesday when the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California ruled that the firm breached its fiduciary obligations by not switching participants to lower-fee institutional mutual fund shares.

​With healthcare costs continuing to increase for most employers and employees, many employers are focusing their efforts on building a healthier workforce to make coverage sustainable for the future. One cost-saving, health-promoting benefit employers are turning to is telehealth services.

The majority of employers create and manage an employee benefits program in order to attract and retain top talent.  While comparing its peers or other benchmarks, an employer typically builds a competitive and robust benefits program to entice prospective employees and perhaps offers quality medical and dental insurance, a matching 401(k) plan, life and disability insurance plans, wellness benefits, and other miscellaneous perks. But some of these employers might be missing a great opportunity to utilize employee benefit design and communication to improve its culture, employee engagement, loyalty, and ultimately, its brand.

With Father’s Day approaching, I thought I would take the opportunity and write a little piece about my father who suddenly passed away earlier this year.  As a father, he taught me a lot about life growing up, and as a business partner, he taught me invaluable practices for our business.  Although he is no longer physically here with us, I think of him often, and even hear him echo a variety of Ferris-isms during the workday.
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The two most important aspects of a business – finances and people – are often managed by two different people, with disparate focuses, agendas and personalities.  The CFO and CHRO roles are critical to mid and large-sized businesses, but often challenged to come together to think strategically and develop common goals to meet company objectives.