ASHHRA Health and Wellness Pulse

Jack Craver, BenefitsPro
In a poll of 2,200 CFOs in 20 of the largest U.S. metro areas, 42 percent said it was "very important" for employees to have a mentor for career development. An additional 44 percent said it was somewhat important.

Visit http://www.benefitspro.com/2016/01/15/few-employees-have-work-mentors to view the full article online.

Cliff Oxford, Forbes
The key premise to this strategy is hiring employees with the intention of increasing their workplace value and landing them a major promotion with another company.

Visit http://www.forbes.com/sites/cliffoxford/2016/01/12/to-recruit-top-entry-level-millennial-talent-use-this-hr-exit-strategy/#2715e4857a0b1e18da72546f to view the full article online.

HR.BLR
Up until recently, the U.S. Department of Labor has elected to not aggressively enforce new disability regulations under Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act, giving contractors a chance to prepare for the changes in the regulations.

Visit http://hr.blr.com/HR-news/Discrimination/Disabilities-ADA/Reaching-goal-employing-people-disabilities to view the full article online.

Katie Kuehner-Hebert, BenefitsPro
Employee benefits brokers have an increasing number of innovative "value-add" solutions they can offer their employer group clients.

Visit http://www.benefitspro.com/2016/01/13/5-innovative-employee-benefits-solutions?ref=mostpopular to view the full article online.

Sylvia Vorhauser-Smith, Forbes
2015 was a pretty amazing year, jam-packed with innovation, change and the continuing transformation of the world as we know it.

Visit http://www.forbes.com/sites/sylviavorhausersmith/2016/01/12/trends-themes-dominating-the-hr-landscape-in-2016/#2715e4857a0b7e36dc7061de to view the full article online.

Jeanne Meister, Forbes
In 2015, organizations used social technologies for recruitment, development and engagement practices. In 2016, we will see companies bring even more transformation to human resources, and this is much more than simply using social technologies for recruitment, development and engagement.

Visit http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeannemeister/2016/01/07/consumerization-of-hr-10-trends-innovative-companies-will-follow-in-2016/#2715e4857a0b7548be8d247d to view the full article online.

Jack Craver, BenefitsPro
In a recent survey of 148 mobility managers by Cartus Corp., a firm that specializes in relocation services, 78 percent said that controlling assignment and relocation costs was the most significant challenge for their industry.

Visit http://www.benefitspro.com/2016/01/19/how-can-managers-reduce-relocation-costs?ref=hp-news to view the full article online.

World at Work
The average cost increases for employer-sponsored medical plans globally will be 9.1 percent in 2016. This is 5.5 percentage points higher than the global average projected inflation rate of 3.6 percent.

Visit http://www.worldatwork.org/adimLink?id=79730 to view the full article online.

Jack Craver, BenefitsPro
A survey conducted by Harris Poll on behalf of Collective Health, a company that provides health care administration software to self-insured employers, finds that three quarters of U.S. adults say that health care benefits would be a significant factor in their decision to take a job.

Visit http://www.benefitspro.com/2016/01/14/employees-still-value-health-care-benefits to view the full article online.

Kathryn Mayer, BenefitsPro
Workplace benefits are steadily becoming more employee-driven and unconventional. 2016 will be the year of nontraditional benefits — or maybe more appropriately, the year of nontraditional workplace perks.

Visit http://www.benefitspro.com/2015/12/23/4-predictions-about-nontraditional-workplace-perks to view the full article online.

Marlene Y. Statter, BenefitsPro
The Institutional Retirement Income Council has announced the top four retirement industry trends to watch in 2016.

Visit http://www.benefitspro.com/2016/01/15/4-trends-in-retirement-planning-you-need-to-pay-at?ref=mostpopular to view the full article online.

HR.BLR
The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) recently released its annual report for fiscal year 2015. The report shows the agency paid $5.7 billion to more than 800,000 people in failed pension plans.

Visit http://hr.blr.com/HR-news/Benefits-Leave/Retirement-Savings-401k/PBGC-paid-pension-benefits-retirees-2015 to view the full article online.

Paul Katzeff, Investor's Business Daily
Fidelity Investments' rule of thumb just got tougher to meet. The good news is that you can still use it to gauge your financial retirement readiness 10, 20, even 30 or more years in advance.

Visit http://news.investors.com/investing/011516-789955-how-much-retirement-money-you-need.htm to view the full article online.

World at Work
A study from HERO (the Health Enhancement Research Organization), based on an online self-assessment and published in the January 2016 issue of the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, demonstrates a distinct correlation between comprehensive best practice wellness programs and corporate stock performance.

Visit http://www.worldatwork.org/adimLink?id=79663 to view the full article online.

Nicole Fallon Taylor, Business News Daily
Many studies have shown that employees with high job satisfaction are generally more productive, engaged and loyal to their companies. Hiring managers, HR experts and business leaders weighed in on the best ways to keep employees satisfied when salary isn't the driving factor.

Visit http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/6084-employee-happiness-without-raise.html to view the full article online.

Sophie Deering, The Undercover Recruiter
More and more companies are providing health and fitness support in the workplace, with 70 percent of U.S. employers offering employee-sponsored health and wellness programs in 2015, compared to just 58 percent in 2008.

Visit http://theundercoverrecruiter.com/employee-wellbeing-benefit-business/ to view the full article online.

World at Work
Millennials now outnumber all other generations in the workforce and they value work-life integration, personal relationships and a greater purpose more than higher salaries or corporate ladders.

Visit http://www.worldatwork.org/adimLink?id=79708 to view the full article online.

HR.BLR
Deloitte's recently released Workplace Pulse survey reveals that roughly one in three respondents do not feel comfortable taking personal time off/vacation days. Moreover, nearly one-third say they've consistently placed work commitments over family/personal commitments and fewer than half say their organization as a whole values their life outside work.

Visit http://hr.blr.com/HR-news/Benefits-Leave/Vacations/Vacation-time-may-offer-employees-take-it to view the full article online.

Marlene Y. Satter, BenefitsPro
Many employers are concerning themselves with employees’ financial wellness far more these days than they used to, going beyond simply providing a retirement plan and/or health care benefits and offering a number of workplace assists.

Visit http://www.benefitspro.com/2016/01/14/5-signs-of-employee-financial-stress to view the full article online.

Michael Coates, Huffington Post
Work is very much a part of life. We spend more than 50 percent of our waking time working, so instead of looking for a "balance," companies need to strive for policies that help employees better blend the two and move seamlessly between work and life and back again.

Visit http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-coates/the-business-benefit-from_b_8956670.html to view the full article online.

Jennifer Bresnick, Health IT Analytics
Population health management can't just focus on physical health. Providers must also take responsibility for a broader range of behavioral health concerns to succeed in a changing environment.

Visit http://healthitanalytics.com/news/why-mental-healthcare-is-key-to-population-health-management to view the full article online.

Erica Garvin, HIT Consultant
Beyond the hype, what’s to come from the population health management? Wellcentive’s CEO Tom Zajac gives predictions and pointers for those pursuing PHM in 2016.

Visit http://hitconsultant.net/2016/01/11/5-population-health-management-predictions/ to view the full article online.

Zack Budryk, Fierce Healthcare
Population health management (PHM) requires contributions from everyone in a health care organization, but there are several steps hospital leaders must take to ensure the initiative is successful, according to a column from Executive Insight.

Visit http://www.fiercehealthcare.com/story/real-population-health-management-takes-flexible-innovative-leaders/2016-01-19 to view the full article online.

Ellen Gallinsky, Media Planet
More than ever before, employees in every industry are demanding (and receiving) more power in deciding when and where they want to work.

Visit http://www.futureofbusinessandtech.com/workplace-wellness/top-5-work-life-trends-among-2015s-top-employers to view the full article online.

Rebecca Greenfield, Bloomberg
Many employers use a wellness program to cut insurance costs by encouraging healthy employee habits. In the past, submitting to on-site tests of blood pressure, body-mass, and cholesterol meant saving a few hundred dollars. Now companies have gone a step farther, denying health care to those who don't participate.

Visit http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-01-15/employee-wellness-programs-not-so-voluntary-anymore to view the full article online.