Category: Benefits and Compensation

This topic provides guidance on how to handle compensation issues in a way that attracts and retains the best talent and advances the strategic goals of your business. You get news and tips on what’s going on nationally and in the states, and updates on changes in regulations, possible governmental action, and emerging compensation trends.

Another reform rule delayed, offering temporary relief for business

The administration doesn’t mind taking the occasional detour on its route to health reform implementation, it seems, perhaps because until the Supreme Court decides on the constitutionality of its “individual mandate” (oral arguments will be March 27), the fate of the law’s employer provisions has to be considered uncertain. Backpedaling also may be occurring with […]

Smart Comp Strategies for Small Employers: How to Maximize Your Budget

Smaller businesses often can’t afford the resources that larger competitors can, says compensation expert David Wudyka, but that doesn’t mean they can’t have an effective compensation program. What’s Different About “Small Business”? When it comes to running compensation, small business have several challenges, says Wudyka, who is managing principal of Westminster Associates in Wrentham, Massachusetts. […]

IRS Releases 401(k) Compliance Check Survey Results

There are more than half a million 401(k) plans in the United States, covering 60 million Americans, says the IRS. That is just some of the information in the 401(k) Compliance Check Questionnaire Interim Report, which the IRS released on Feb. 16, 2012. The report summarizes survey responses from 401(k) plan sponsors that filed a […]

Executive Compensation 101: Key Terminology

This will help you understand the key elements that every good executive compensation program includes, and ensure you’re knowledgeable about the broad strategies and concepts involved with designing (or re-designing) and administering a successful executive compensation program. In a BLR webinar titled “Executive Compensation: How to Design an Attractive and Cost-Effective Plan for Your Organization,” […]

Paired Comparison: Simple, Inexpensive, and It Works

Big companies use complex quantitative job evaluation systems, says Wudyka, who is managing principal of Westminster Associates in Wrentham, Massachusetts. However, smaller employers don’t need point count systems; they can use paired comparison. Wudyka’s tips came during a recent webinar sponsored by BLR. Paired Comparison One very efficient, effective, and low-cost method of ranking jobs […]

Smart Compensation Strategies for Small Employers: How to Maximize Your Budget

What’s Different About “Small Business”? When it comes to running compensation, small business have several challenges, says Wudyka, who is managing principal of Westminster Associates in Wrentham, Massachusetts. His tips came during a recent webinar sponsored by BLR. Small businesses, he says: Need “flexibility.” Small businesses need flexibility in anything they do when it comes […]

Implementing Pay Grades and Ranges: Common Pay Structure Issues

You also may find yourself facing employees who don’t fit into the standard pay grades for one reason or another or who have maxed out at their existing pay grade. You may even have an employee who is pointing to online salary information and claiming she’s not getting paid enough, which is a position HR […]

‘Occasionally’ Providing Meals to Employees — What Does it Mean for Employer Tax Compliance?

How can an employer best determine whether employer-provided meals qualify as de minimis fringe benefits under the federal tax code? The employer must take into account how frequently the meals or meal money are provided, either on an employee-by-employee basis, or on the basis of the work force as a whole. Then, how should an […]

HHS Delays HIPAA Deadline for ICD-10 Code Sets

Citing concerns from health care providers, federal regulators are delaying the compliance deadline for HIPAA’s ICD-10 code set rules, which had been scheduled for Oct. 1, 2013, the agency announced Feb. 16. “We have heard from many in the provider community who have concerns about the administrative burdens they face in the years ahead,” said […]