Managing Human Resources

Companies on average pay approximately 40 of payroll on overall employee benefits and 20 percent on voluntary benefits.

A mature firm with well-established products and substantial market share will probably offer low base pay and benefits but high incentives.

The perceived value of benefits rises when employers introduce choice through a flexible benefits package.

In determining the competitiveness of benefits,senior management tends to focus mainly on value,while employees are more interested in cost.

Achieving cost competitiveness assures that employees will perceive the benefits program as valuable to them.

Income-maintenance laws were enacted to provide employees and their families with income security in case of death,disability,unemployment,or retirement.

Under COBRA,following a worker's death or divorce,the employee's family has the right to buy group-rate health insurance for as long as three years.

In providing health and cash payments to disabled workers and their families,workers' compensation is second in size only to the nation's pension fund.

Disability coverage provides a supplemental one-time payment when death is accidental,or when employees are disabled.

LTD recipients typically receive no more than 60 percent of their base pay,until they begin receiving pension benefits.

Although disability benefits traditionally were divided into salary continuation,short-term disability,and long-term disability,combined disability management programs now merge all three.

Because U.S.employers pay most of the nation's health care premiums,over time such increases may make them less competitive in global markets.

An aging population and an increase in obesity are part of the major factors driving increases in the cost of healthcare.

Strategies to contain the high costs of health care are largely being ignored.

In an effort to reform the U.S.health-care system,Congress passed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in 2010.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 requires states to create and maintain health care exchanges in which health insurance providers compete for customers on equal terms.

Pre-existing condition clauses are still common.

ERISA does not require employers to offer a pension plan.

To ensure covered workers will receive their accrued benefits even if they get fired,ERISA created the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.

An incentive for employers to begin and maintain pension plans is that the government defers taxes on the pension contributions and their earnings.