Follow this Record Retention Checklist
Originally posted April 23, 2014 by Paula Aven Gladych on https://www.benefitspro.com
Qualified retirement plans are required to report and disclose certain obligations as part of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, but what isn’t well known is that ERISA also spells out how long a plan sponsor must retain plan documents and records that support those obligations, according to Kravitz.
Kravitz, which represents Kravitz, Inc. and Kravitz Investment Services, Inc., points out that all records that support the plan’s annual reporting and disclosure requirements should be retained. All plan-related materials and records must be kept for at least six years after the date of filing an ERISA-related return or report. Records should be preserved in a manner and format that permits ready retrieval, the company said.
It is the plan administrator’s responsibility to retain these records, even if they’ve contracted with an outside service provider to produce their Form 5500 filing, Kravitz said.
The Department of Labor also requires employers to retain records that show how much benefits have been accrued by each plan participant. Here’s it’s list:
1. Plan documents: ERISA requires that plan administrators retain the original signed and dated plan document and all original signed and dated plan amendments; a copy of the plan’s most recent IRS approval letter; and copies of Form 5500. Plan documents should be retained until the plan is terminated, Kravitz said.
2. Supporting documents: Reports that support the plan documents also should be kept, according to Kravitz, including financial reports, Trustees’ reports, journals, ledgers, certified audits, investment analyses, balance sheets, income and expense statements, corporate/partnership income-tax returns, documentation supporting the trust’s ownership of the plan’s assets, evidence of the plan’s fidelity bond, and copies of nondiscrimination and coverage test results.
3. Census and other data: Payroll records that determine participant eligibility and contributions should be retained, according to Kravitz. Records that establish hours of service data also must be kept to demonstrate the determination of allocations and vesting.
4. Communications: Employers should keep copies of all communications that are provided to participants and beneficiaries
5. Participation forms and tax reporting: Companies need to keep documents that show they have followed plan documents with participant transactions, for plan audit purposes.
6. Duration of storage: Records should be kept for at least six years after a government filing. Kravitz recommends that employers keep these records for the life of their retirement plan. The DOL does allow electronic copies of these documents as long as they meet certain specifications.
76 Percent of Workforce is Tired Most Weekdays
Originally posted April 15, 2014 on www.ifebp.org.
The Virgin Pulse Institute, an evidence-based organization that puts research to work to help employees and companies thrive, today announced the results of a study designed to better understand employees' sleep disturbances and offer actionable insight to both employers and their workforce. The research outlines why employers supporting sleep programs increase employee productivity, and how these programs help employees feel more appreciated and supported.
Leveraging an online sleep program from vielife, the Virgin Pulse Institute conducted a sleep study in November 2013 with approximately 1,140 employees, all Virgin Pulse members, from three U.S.-based companies. Researchers found that:76 percent of employees felt tired most days of the week40 percent of employees doze off during the day once per month30 percent of employees were unhappy or very unhappy with the quality or quantity of their sleep15 percent doze off during the day at least once per week to once per day.
Dr. Jennifer Turgiss, a co-author of the study and director of the Virgin Pulse Institute, said, "Showing up to work sleep deprived can be the equivalent of showing up to work intoxicated. Employees who don't sleep well have poorer concentration, poorer decision-making abilities, are significantly less able to cope with stressful situations, and are more likely to make unhealthy choices. The effects of poor sleep impair people's focus and motivation, preventing them from reaching their full potential. In attempts to encourage employees to live healthier, often employers - with the help of their health insurers or wellness vendors -focus on simply improving diet and exercise, but this approach ignores one critically important habit: sleep. With its direct link to dangerous health conditions and steep productivity losses, a well-rested workforce is critical to a company's success."
The Effect of Sleep Problems
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has called lack of sleep "an epidemic," linking it to motor vehicle crashes, industrial disasters and other occupational errors. Many other studies have found employees who sleep fewer than six hours per day are nearly 30 percent more likely to be overweight and have a whole host of health problems like hypertension, diabetes, depression and cancer. These people also take a tremendous cognitive hit on a daily basis - finding it difficult to concentrate at work or complete tasks, resulting in significantly lower productivity. Sleep disturbances cause fatigue-related productivity losses estimated at $1,967 per employee annually, according to a study published in the journal Sleep.
What Causes Sleep Problems?
The Virgin Pulse Institute study found four key themes keeping employees awake at night: worry/stress, mental activity, physical discomfort and environmental disruptors. Many factors within these categories kept participants awake, including:Temperature too high or too low (85.2%)Their partner (71.9%)Unwanted noise (68.6%)Light - too bright (52.8%)Mattress (40%)Young children (35.9%)Medical condition that disturbs sleep (10.2%)
Sleep deprivation was found to have impacts across four key areas: physical well-being; cognitive abilities and productivity; mood; and stress management. Lack of sleep leaves employees less focused on the job and unable to perform at their peak, and leaves them experiencing a decreased feeling of overall well-being, according to the Institute study.
Participants noted that lack of sleep impacted their energy and motivation to participate in physical activities and eat healthy foods. They experienced difficulty concentrating at work or remembering tasks, and felt more irritable at work and home. Sleeplessness also made it harder to manage stress, further impacting their difficulties sleeping. “I come in here in the morning and it's kind of hard to get motivated. I'll be yawning and carrying on and kind of drag for an hour or so before I'm really probably engaged and back doing real performance type of work I would say. So it will be easy for me to just kind of lag around, drink some coffee, walk around, talk to people, or sit at my desk and read Internet news rather than actually work," said one participant."[I would] blow up at the wrong thing or you blow up at the wrong kid or something. And you just go, oh, man. I should have been able to handle that one," said another participant. “And the other thing that I noticed when I go through the period where I have more lack of sleep, I feel more scatterbrained, like I have all of these things to do. And normally, I'm very organized and prioritize and will at least write a list, and everything goes out the window and I start forgetting to do things or bring this in the morning or things like that. And that really bothers me. I hate it when I drop a ball because I forgot something," said another participant. “I think there is a slow-down, in terms of getting tasks done, just because, again, your attention span isn't fully there. You might not be as with it," said another participant. “I probably have got a shorter fuse, a little grumpier," said a participant.
"Our study made one thing clear: lack of sleep is crippling America's workforce. Employers can't turn a blind eye. Whether they offer an online sleep program, encourage employees to use vacation days, or provide other tools, employers must address sleep issues in order to create a thriving workforce and business," said Turgiss. "Not only will employees be more rested, but they'll feel more supported by their employers, helping them perform better and become better able to engage in work and in life."
Most newly insured Americans covered by employers, study finds
Originally posted April 8, 2014 on www.modernhealthcare.com by Virgil Dickson.
More than 9 million Americans obtained health insurance between September and mid-March, but most did so through employer-sponsored plans rather than through HealthCare.gov or the state exchanges, a survey by the RAND American Life Panel found.
Only 1.4 million of the 3.9 million individuals who enrolled in Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act-related exchange plans through mid-March were previously uninsured, researchers found. The survey concluded before the final enrollment surge that pushed overall marketplace enrollment past 7 million, RAND noted.
Of the 40.7 million estimated uninsured Americans in 2013, 14.5 million gained coverage, but 5.2 million of the insured lost coverage, for a net coverage gain of approximately 9.3 million. That means the share of the population that was uninsured fell from 20.5% to 15.8%, according to RAND.
Less than 1 million citizens who previously had individual market coverage became uninsured, researchers found. RAND was unable to deduce if those people lost their insurance due to cancellation, or because coverage costs were too high. People in this category represented less than 1% of those between the ages of 18 and 64.
Overall, the ACA did not change health coverage choices for most insured Americans, as 80% of those surveyed still had the same type of coverage in March 2014 as in September 2013, according to RAND.
The RAND figures comprised not only signups under the new ACA-established marketplaces, but also new enrollments in employer coverage and Medicaid. Results were extrapolated from a survey of 2,425 adults between the ages of 18 and 64, who responded to the RAND survey in both March 2014 and September 2013.
Workforce aging as boomers stay on the job
Originally posted April 16, 2014 on www.benefitspro.com by Dan Cook.
There's certainly no shortage of advice on managing millennials in the workforce. But when it comes to sheer numbers, baby boomers remain the dominant generation, thanks in large part to that generation's working women.
The Employee Benefit Research Institute has further quantified boomers’ role in the workforce by crunching data found in the U.S. Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey. EBRI's report, “Labor-force Participation Rates of the Population Ages 55 and Older, 2013,” reveals that more than 40 percent of today’s workers are age 55 or older. Additionally, participation has been increasing among the oldest age groups — those 60-64 and 65 and older.
The study found that the participation by those 55 and older steadily fell from 1975 to 1993, bottoming out at 29.4 percent. Then, the trend reversed. The current peak participation by this age group occurred in 2012, when 40.5 percent of all workers were 55 or older. That percent dropped to 40.3 percent last year.
Working older women account for much of the trend.
”The increase in labor-force participation for the age groups below age 65 was primarily driven by the increases in female labor-force participation rates, as the male labor-force participation rates of those ages 55–59 and 60–64 were lower in 2013 than they were in 1975,” the study said. “In contrast, female labor-force participation rates for those ages 55–59 and 60–64 increased sharply from 1975–2013, despite some leveling off in 2010–2013.”
EBRI said women ages 55 to 64 comprised 47.9 percent of that age group in 1975. By 2013, they made up 67.2 percent of workers in the category. Other older worker subgroups showed the same trend, with the number of women increasing vs. men.
When viewed strictly by age rather than gender, the participation of younger workers declined between 1997 and 2012 as that of their elders increased.
“In 1997, workers ages 25–54 accounted for 83.9 percent of all workers ages 25 or older, while those ages 55-64 accounted for 12 percent, and those ages 65 or older, 4.1 percent. By 2012, those ages 55-64 represented 19.2 percent, and those 65 or older 7 percent, while the percentage of workers 25 or older represented by those ages 25-54 had fallen to 73.8 percent,” EBRI reported.
“The upward trend in labor-force participation by older workers is likely related to workers’ current need for continued access to employment-based health insurance and for more years of earnings to accumulate savings in defined contribution (401(k)-type) plans and/or to pay down debt,” said Craig Copeland, senior research associate at EBRI and author of the report. “Many Americans also want to work longer, especially those with more education for whom more meaningful jobs are available that can be performed into older ages.”
There may be a downside to this trend, Copeland noted.
“The data raise a basic question: Are older workers filling the void or displacing opportunities for younger workers?” Copeland said. “The fact is, older workers are more plentiful in the labor force today, whether a result of financial circumstances related to the lack of sufficient or adequate accumulation of resources for retirement or because of the desire to continue to remain actively engaged and productive.”
Innovative employers abandoning outdated management structure
Originally posted April 8, 2014 on www.ebn.benefitnews.com by Michael Giardina.
The ability for staff to incorporate innovative new ideas that bring changes to dilapidated processes can only be fostered in a workplace that allows for an open communicative culture across organizational lines.
This core theme was offered by leaders of both retail home mortgage lender Quicken Loans, Inc. and W.L. Gore & Associates, a technology-driven company at last week’s annual Great Place to Work conference.
“The fluidity of communication, the openness of the communication, the transparency of the communication is absolutely critical.” says Quicken Loans CEO Bill Emerson. “…We win when our team members feel connected to the company.”
Quicken Loans, based in downtown Detroit, has more than 10,000 “team members.” In its family of companies, this comprises more than 112 businesses that envelope everything from consumer services and biotechnology to financial services and even the National Basketball Association’s Cleveland Cavaliers franchise. Dan Gilbert, Quicken Loans chairman and founder, previously became the majority owner in March 2005.
“You really need everyone to participate,” Emerson explains, while noting that every company should “make sure everyone understands their passion and ability to affect that outcome.”
On a monthly basis, Emerson has a face-to-face meeting with 20 team members. The content of these talks are usually open to whatever that employee feels can add value to the organization.
“It’s so important to be close to the business, and understand what’s going on so you can hear what’s affecting people on a day-to-day basis,” Emerson explains. “Email is the bane of American business,” he adds.
Emerson states that most businesses are currently plagued by the “spreadsheet mentality,” but offers that “innovation, creativity are all things that are going to drive the top line of your business.”
Creativity is something that is fostered at W.L. Gore & Associates. The company first introduced GORE-TEX in 1978, a waterproof but breathable fabric that probably makes up your jacket or boots. It was first founded in the late 1950s by Bill and Vieve Gore in Newark, Del. One of its first round of employees were paid, in part, in portions of Gore stock.
The longstanding sense of employer empowerment and connection to the company still resonates today, says current president and CEO Terri Kelly. She explains that she spends about 40% of her time to make sure the organization and employees are “nurturing that environment that will allow us to be successful.”
“If we get that right, that’s what engages our associates, that in turn allows them to do great things, and innovate all these wonderful products that we have,” she says.
When first joining the organization, which currently has more than 10,000 employees in 45 plants around the world, Kelly remembers the Gore family inviting its new crop of engineers to their home for a pool party. She contends that this mentality – one that is conducive to openness and family culture – is still driving the company today.
“This is not a new phenomenon for Gore, it’s something we have been shaping for over 55 years,” she explains. “We are very much relationship-based organization; trust is really important, teamwork is incredibly important and so again, the philosophy here is how do we create a network environment that is not based on hierarchy but the associates go to the folks that they need.”
It even holds the same values and trepidation that its founder held regarding rigid employee guidelines, which is similar the same core concepts at fashion retailer Nordstrom.
“Bill Gore also did not like policy manuals – I think he despised policy manuals,” Kelly explains. “I think he had for good reason because he really understood that you could never write down every circumstance or situation for an associate to make a decision.”
The elimination of bureaucratic lines and management reporting is something that sets apart the company that harbors a team-based, flat organizational culture. Adding to this open approach is employee compensation.
“Every associate is evaluated by their peers, and the question we ask is, ‘who is making the greatest impact to the enterprise success?’” she says. “We think this is very powerful, and it’s a lot of work to accomplish. The message it sends is that it’s based on performance, not on title, or positions or seniority … it’s based on your impact to the organization.
“Those that are making the greatest contribution are also making the greatest compensation,” Gore adds.
Target Date Fund Investors More Confident About Reaching Retirement Goals
Originally posted April 15, 2014 on www.ifebp.org
Individuals investing in a target date fund within their workplace defined contribution (DC) retirement plan feel more confident about investing and meeting their retirement goals than those that don't use target date funds, according to recently updated survey results from Voya Financial's Investment Management business.
The survey was conducted by ING U.S. Investment Management, which plans to rebrand as Voya Investment Management in May 2014. ING U.S. Investment Management is part of Voya Financial, Inc., which recently rebranded from ING U.S., Inc.
In the survey, "Participant Preferences in Target Date Funds: An Update," more than half (56%) of target date fund (TDF) investors felt confident they would meet their retirement goals. In comparison, just over four-in-ten (41%) of non-TDF investors felt confident about their retirement savings. Further reinforcing this confidence among TDF investors is the survey's finding that nearly two-thirds (64%) felt they could turn their plan savings into an income stream at retirement, compared with just 43% of non-TDF investors. These findings compare similarly to results of a similar study conducted in 2011.
Overall, more than two-thirds (68%) of plan participants using TDFs reported that the investments alleviated the stress of retirement planning, increased their confidence that they were making good investment decisions, and helped them feel more assured they could meet their retirement income goals.
Target Date Fund Investors Contribute More
The survey also found that TDF investors contribute more to their retirement plans. Forty-two percent of TDF investors contribute more than 11% of their income to their workplace plan. In comparison, just 23% of those who do not invest in TDFs were contributing more than 11% of their income.
"These findings about how target date funds are influencing plan participants' feelings and savings habits provide some powerful insights that both consultants and plan sponsors can act upon," said Bas NieuweWeme, managing director and head of institutional distribution. "Considering the significant increase in the equity markets in 2013, it is noteworthy that the confidence of those that don't invest in target date funds is no stronger than it was in 2011. On the contrary, those that invest in target date funds continue to be more confident than non-target date fund investors, or demonstrating greater levels of retirement readiness."
Plan Participants Seek Glide Paths Offering Protection and Diversification
In addition to higher confidence and savings levels among TDF investors, the survey found that the vast majority of both TDF investors and non-TDF investors have a strong preference for protection against loss in the years leading up to retirement (92%) and broad diversification among both investments (92%) and investment providers (85%).
"Participants clearly want their investment providers to exhibit great care in the all-important years leading up to retirement," said Paul Zemsky, chief investment officer of multi-asset strategies and solutions. "This knowledge can help consultants and plan sponsors factor in the investment preferences of their participants when customizing glide paths for their plan demographics. Our focus and objective as investment managers is to ensure we apply those risk-return preferences in a thoughtful and disciplined way."
In addition to the updated research on plan participants use of TDFs, ING U.S. Investment Management has published"Rethinking Glide Path Design - A Holistic Approach,"a detailed analysis of how to align investment portfolio risk with the retirement objectives of participants at every stage in the plan life cycle. Understanding participant demographics and knowing their preferences allows us to create custom glide paths which are designed specifically for individual plans.
"A glide path design needs to take into account the risks of the investment portfolio relative to the overall retirement goals of plan participants over the course of a full life cycle," says Frank Van Etten, deputy chief investment officer, multi-asset strategies and solutions. "This helps maximize the probability of successful retirement - namely, allowing participants to maintain their lifestyles in retirement while not outliving their assets. To accomplish this, the investment decision at every stage of the life cycle must incorporate a holistic perspective in which in-retirement objectives are driving the process."
Survey Methodology
ING U.S. Investment Management, in collaboration with the ING Retirement Research Institute, conducted an online survey of 1,017 employer-sponsored retirement plan participants between September 16, 2013 and September 20, 2013. At 90% confidence, the margin of error in the study was +/- 3.5%. Of the respondents, 500 invested in a TDF within their plan, while 517 did not. All respondents to the survey were currently contributing to an employer-sponsored defined contribution plan, were age 25 or older, and were the primary/joint financial decision maker for their account. The survey included plans of all employer sizes. The data was weighted by household income, age and gender, among other variables, to more closely represent the demographics of the general retirement plan population. To prevent bias, ING U.S. Investment Management was not identified as the sponsor of the research.
There is no guarantee that any investment option will achieve its stated objective. Principal value fluctuates and there is no guarantee of value at any time, including the target date. The "target date" is the approximate date when you plan to start withdrawing your money. When your target date is reached, you may have more or less than the original amount invested. For each target date Portfolio, until the day prior to its Target Date, the Portfolio will seek to provide total returns consistent with an asset allocation targeted for an investor who is retiring in approximately each Portfolio's designation Target Year. Prior to choosing a Target Date Portfolio, investors are strongly encouraged to review and understand the Portfolio's objectives and its composition of stocks and bonds, and how the asset allocation will change over time as the target date nears. No two investors are alike and one should not assume that just because they intend to retire in the year corresponding to the Target Date that that specific Portfolio is appropriate and suitable to their risk tolerance. It is recommended that an investor consider carefully the possibility of capital loss in each of the target date Portfolios, the likelihood and magnitude of which will be dependent upon the Portfolio's asset allocation.
Stocks are more volatile than bonds, and portfolios with a higher concentration of stocks are more likely to experience greater fluctuations in value than portfolios with a higher concentration in bonds. Foreign stocks and small and mid-cap stocks may be more volatile than large-cap stocks. Investing in bonds also entails credit risk and interest rate risk. Generally, investors with longer timeframes can consider assuming more risk in their investment portfolio.
The fast-fading days of retiree health coverage
Employers are trying out all kinds of approaches to better manage retiree health costs, though the day will eventually come when just a handful will offer such benefits to the over-65 set.
That’s the conclusion the Kaiser Family Foundation reached in what is essentially a status report titled “Retiree Health Benefits at the Crossroads.”
Companies once offered retiree benefits as a way of retaining workers but have been chipping away at them for years. One of the more recent companies to make the move was Northrop Grumman, which earlier this month told employees it would use a broker to help them choose from a variety of Medicare supplemental options. That's just one of a number of avenues employers are taking.
As Kaiser noted, “several major trends stand out in particular, namely, growing interest in shifting to a defined contribution approach and in facilitating access to non-group coverage for Medicare-eligible retirees, and consideration by employers of using new federal/state marketplaces as a possible pathway to non-group coverage for their pre-65 retiree population.”
The report noted that the number of companies offering coverage of any type to retirees has dwindled, from 66 percent in 1988 to 28 percent last year.
It said even employers that plan to continue providing coverage of retirees are exploring ways to reduce the corporate dollars dedicated to the task.
Though fewer in number, retiree health benefit plans remain an important source of supplemental coverage for roughly 15 million Medicare beneficiaries and a primary source of coverage for more than two million pre-65 retirees in the public and private sectors, Kaiser noted.
The landmark changes brought to health care by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, and the constant revisions of the law, have left employers off balance when it comes to cost-containment measures, Kaiser said. But there are other factors at play that further complicate planning.
For instance, Kaiser says, a consistent push to boost the Medicare eligibility age to 67 could result in companies having to cover their older workers for another two years. That can add up for those with large and experienced workforces.
“In an earlier study, Kaiser Family Foundation and Actuarial Research Corporation modeled the effects of raising the Medicare eligibility in a single year (2014), finding that employer retiree plan costs were estimated to increase by $4.5 billion in 2014 if the Medicare eligibility age is raised to 67. In addition, public and private employers offering retiree health benefits would be required to account for the higher costs in their financial statements as soon as the change is enacted,” Kaiser said in its report.
Options identified by Kaiser for reducing the cost of pre-65 retiree health coverage include “strategies to avoid or minimize the impact of the excise tax (a.k.a. the Cadillac tax) on high-cost plans included in the ACA. Although the tax applies to plans for active employees, as well as pre-65 and Medicare-eligible retirees, there is a focus on pre-65 coverage because of its relatively higher cost. And even though the tax takes effect under the PPACA in 2018, employers must begin to account for any material impact the tax may have on their retiree health programs in today’s financial statements.”
Kaiser also said shifting pre-65 retirees to private and public exchanges, moving to a defined contribution plan, and changing plan design to shift costs to employees are all receiving more attention.
Also, employers are increasingly choosing to trim the cost of drug programs away from plans that provide coverage to Medicare-eligible retirees.
Kaiser concludes that company-sponsored health coverage for retirees will inevitably recede from the benefits landscape.
“Over the next few decades, these trends suggest that employer-sponsored supplemental coverage is likely to be structured differently and play a smaller macro role in retirement security than it has in the past and than it does today. Relatively fewer workers will have such coverage available in the future, to be sure.”
Originally posted April 14, 2014 by Dan Cook on www.benefitspro.com.
3 Tips for Practicing Mindfulness in a Multitasking Workplace
Originally posted by Sandy Smith on https://ehstoday.com
Employers such as Google, eBay, Intel and General Mills offer classes on it. So do Harvard Business School, Ross School of Business and Claremont Graduate University, among other campuses. Mindfulness is not just a social media buzzword or a corporate trend, but a proven method for success, according to neurologist Dr. Romie Mushtaq.
Mindfulness – being focused and fully present in the here and now – is good for individuals and good for a business’s bottom line, according to her.
How can people practice it in a workplace where multitasking is the norm, and concerns for future profits can add to workplace stress? (More than 80 percent of employees report being stressed at work.)
“Even if a company doesn’t make it part of the culture, employees and managers can substitute their multitasking habits with mindfulness in order to reduce stress and increase productivity,” says Mushtaq. “The result that you and your colleagues will notice is that you’re sharper, more efficient and more creative.”
Mushtaq, who is a mind-body medicine physician and neurologist at the Center for Natural and Integrative Medicine in Orlando, Fla., did her medical education and training at the Medical University of South Carolina, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and University of Michigan, where she won numerous teaching and research awards. She says the physiological benefits of clearing away distractions and living in the moment have been documented in many scientific and medical studies.
“Practicing mindfulness, whether it’s simply taking deep breaths, or actually meditating or doing yoga, has been shown to alter the structure and function of the brain, which is what allows us to learn, acquire new abilities, and improve memory,” she says. “Advances in neuroimaging techniques have taught us how these mindfulness-based techniques affect neuroplasticity.”
Multitasking, on the other hand, depresses the brain’s memory and analytical functions, says Mushtaq, and it reduces blood flow to the part of the right temporal lobe, which contributes to creative thinking. In today’s marketplace, she adds, creativity is key for innovation, sustainability and leadership.
Mushtaq offers these tips for practicing mindfulness in a multitasking business:
Focus on a single task for an allotted amount of time. You might say, “For 15 minutes, I’m going to read through my emails, and then for one hour, I’m going to make my phone calls,” suggests Mushtaq.
If your job comes with constant interruptions that demand your attention, take several deep breaths and then prioritize them. Resist the urge to answer the phone every time it rings (unless it’s your boss). If someone asks you to drop what you’re doing to help with a problem, it’s OK to tell them, “I’ll be finished with what I’m doing in 10 minutes, then I’m all yours.”
When you get “stuck” in a task, change your physical environment to stimulate your senses. Sometimes we bounce from one task to another because we just don’t have the words to begin writing that strategic plan, or we’re staring at a problem and have no ideas for solutions.
“That’s the time to get up, take a walk outside and look at the flowers and the birds – change what you’re seeing,” Mushtaq says. “Or turn on some relaxing music that makes you feel happy.”
Offering your senses pleasant and different stimulation rewires your brain for relaxation, and reduces the effects of stress hormones, which helps to unfreeze your creativity center.
Delegate! We often have little control over the external stresses in our lives, particularly on the job. How can you not multitask when five people want five different things from you at the same time?
“Have compassion for yourself, and reach out for help,” advises Mushtaq. “If you can assign a task to somebody else who’s capable of handling it, do so. If you need to ask a colleague to help you out, ask!”
This will not only allow you to focus on the tasks that most need your attention, it will reduce your stress, she says. “And who knows? The colleague you’re asking for help may want to feel appreciated and part of your team!"
While it is possible to practice mindfulness in a hectic workplace, Mushtaq says she encourages business leaders to make it part of the company culture. Stress-related illnesses are the No. 1 cause of missed employee workdays.
“Offering mindfulness training and yoga classes or giving people time and a place to meditate is an excellent investment,” she says. “Your company’s performance will improve, you’ll see a reduction in stress-related illnesses and you’ll be a more successful businessperson.”
Bill bumping ACA to 40-hour work week passes House
Originally posted April 4, 2014 by Melissa A. Winn on https://eba.benefitnews.com
The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday passed legislation that would modify the Affordable Care Act’s definition of a full-time employee from one who works 30-hours a week to one who works 40-hours a week.
The 248 to 179 vote was largely along party lines, with 18 Democrats joining a unanimous block of 230 Republicans to support the bill, H.R. 2575, also known as the Save American Workers Act of 2013.
The Big “I” applauded the bill’s passage, calling it a “common-sense fix.”
“Independent agencies serve many clients who have struggled with the prospect of complying with the employer mandate, and in particular the 30 hour per week definition of a full-time employee,” says Robert Rusbuldt, president and CEO of the Big “I.”
The law’s opponents argue the ACA’s current definition encourages employers to limit employees’ work hours to less than 30 a week to avoid the employer mandate requiring employers with 50 or more full-time workers to provide affordable health care coverage to their employees.
“Implementation of the employer mandate has caused many businesses to undergo the prospect of great financial strain or to contemplate dropping their health care plan altogether,” says Charles Symington, Big “I” senior vice president for external and governmental affairs.
The Big “I” believes this new legislation “would provide much-needed relief for job creators,” he says.
The White House on Tuesday threatened to veto the bill, citing a Congressional Budget Office analysis released in Feb. that found the legislation would increase the deficit by $74 billion and reduce the number of people receiving employment-based health coverage by about one million people. The vote is largely symbolic as it is not expected to make headway in the Democratic-controlled Senate.
DOL cracks down on employer 401(k) issues
Originally posted March 31, 2014 by Scott Wooldridge on www.benefitspro.com
The press release headlines are sobering: “U.S. Labor Department files suit to remove trustees,” “Department of Labor files suit to recover unpaid contributions to 401(k) plan,” and “Judge orders trustees to restore losses.”
The Department of Labor website is overflowing with cases of regulators taking action against employers accused of mishandling employee benefit plans.
Among the most common cases: errors in administering 401(k) plans. Although Labor Department officials and experts in the ERISA field say the majority of cases are errors in reporting and do not result in civil lawsuits, the numbers of benefit plan cases investigated (of all kinds) are still impressive: the DOL closed 3,677 investigations in 2013, with nearly 73 percent of those resulting in monetary fines or other corrective action. Lawsuits were filed in 111 of those cases.
The department says it is working to educate employers about how to avoid errors, including conducting seminars and providing information on the DOL website.
In a March 21 blog post, Phyllis Borzi, assistant secretary of Labor for employee benefits security, noted that employers could find it challenging to administer benefits such as 401(K) plans.
“Most fiduciaries — people who have key responsibilities and obligations to an employee benefit plan — and employers want to do the right thing,” she said in the piece. “However, inadvertent mistakes can create significant problems for fiduciaries and participants.”
The problems can lead to substantial monetary fines and settlements.
In January, for example, the DOL announced that a Chicago-area manufacturing firm, Hico Flex Brass, would pay $79,000 to settle a case in which the company failed to properly distribute 401(k) earnings to employees.
A Jan. 10 complaint by the DOL asked the courts to rule that a machine shop in Santa Maria, Calif., should restore $58,000 in 401(k) contributions that the company improperly mixed with other business accounts.
For large companies, the costs are even higher.
A lawsuit brought by employees of International Paper resulted in a $30 million settlement in January, although that case was litigated by a law firm and not the DOL.
Even when the dollar figures aren’t as high, cases involving 401(k) administrative errors can hit small and medium-sized employers hard.
Lawyers who work on employee benefits cases say many employers don’t pay close enough attention to the complexities of administering retirement plans.
“It’s just difficult at times for employers to keep up and attend to all the details,” said John Nichols, an employment benefits lawyer with Minneapolis-based Gray Plant Mooty. “The rules are complex, and the administration of the plans is correspondingly complex.”
Plenty of room for error
“The reality is that running a benefit plan such as a 401(k) plan has a lot of room for error built into it,” said Stephen Rosenberg, an ERISA attorney with The McCormack Firm, based in Boston. “Many of these small and medium-sized companies are focused on running their business. They need to provide a 401(k) as an employee benefit but they don’t really have the internal resources to do this.”
Rosenberg said even large businesses often stumble with retirement plan administration. “Retirement plans, including 401(k) plans, are probably more regulated than anything in American economic life short of nuclear power plants,” he said. “It’s very difficult for any company not large enough to have a dedicated legal staff to hit every hurdle correctly.”
Nichols said that the DOL tends to investigate certain areas of plan administration pretty consistently. “You see a lot of similarity” of the cases, he noted. “One exercise (employers can consider) is to go down the list of typical cases and say, ‘How are we doing in each of these areas?’”
Common pitfalls
So what are the areas the DOL tends to investigate? The experts interviewed for this story agreed that there are several areas where problems may trigger a DOL investigation of employers.
One is failing to make a timely remittance to the 401(k) plan. Under federal rules, funds from an employee’s paycheck have to be submitted to their retirement account no more than 15 days after the money is withheld from the paycheck.
A second common issue is making sure employees get their statements in a timely manner. Proper disclosure of fees owed to the plan’s fiduciaries (the company in charge of administering the funds for the plan) is another area that DOL looks at closely. And some companies have been found noncompliant for failing to maintain fidelity bonds for their plans, a safeguard against misuse of funds.
“I do see companies who are loose about when they make deposits; they just treat it like the rest of the cash flow in the company,” said Rosenberg.
Avoiding costly mistakes
Rosenberg and Nichols said there are several steps employers can take to avoid trouble with DOL regulators.
They both said companies need to take their fiduciary responsibilities seriously, and not expect that a retirement plan will run itself. An important first step is keeping good records.
“If you have a committee that is responsible for the administration of the plan or its investments, make sure that they meet regularly and that you keep a good record of committee actions, what’s discussed, and how decisions are made,” Nichols said.
Getting help
Rosenberg said companies need to be realistic about whether they have the time, resources, and knowledge to administer and monitor retirement plans themselves.
“The key in many ways for smaller and midsized companies is really to find a very good outside consultant — and I don’t mean your vendor,” he said. “If you have a huge company you have a department to do this. If you’re not, bring in a consultant and outsource that role.”
Nichols agreed that the vendor — the financial services company that provides the investment plan — has a limited role. “Vendors are pretty good at allocating accounts and providing access to account information,” he said. “That doesn’t mean that the whole job is done. You didn’t get a totally turnkey product. There are things you need to do as well.”
Failing to watch, of course, could mean triggering a DOL action.
“There’s always a monitoring responsibility,” a DOL spokesperson said. “The criteria we use is, ‘You should have known. You might not have known, but you should have known.’”