EmployeeBenefits

With six months of earning, saving, and spending under your belt, you've got plenty of data to project how 2012 is going to play out. So let's lift the hood on your finances and give everything a good once over.

On Friday, Walmart announced it was rolling back is health benefits for part-time workers -- benefits that the nation's largest employer expanded just a few years ago in response to criticism of its labor practices. And even the lucky few employees who get to keep their coverage aren't going to like the new plan much.

With the effective unemployment rate possibly above 16%, the "job-creators" have little incentive to offer robust benefits packages to workers. But a look at U.S. economic history suggests that it's time to revisit the idea that a corporation can remain highly profitable over the long term by providing a floor of economic security for its employees.

What's the secret to good worker attendance, retention, productivity, and the ability to attract top-notch recruits? Employee benefits. Which companies thrive and grow their businesses faster than their peers? Same answer: Those that offer better benefits to their workers.

Too often, driven by the imperative to maximize short-term profits -- and to drive up stock prices, on which their compensations depend -- CEOs make heartless or even foolish decisions, heedless of consequences. But there are some good eggs left in corporate America, like these four enlightened execs.

While surfing the internet today I came across a blog post: High Gas Prices Continue to Cause Employee Pain; Employers are not Offering Help. I thought surely the writer is not going to suggest that it's the employer's responsibility to do something about gas prices. But yes, that's what she was...

Himes & Company of Tokyo's latest employee benefit sets a new standard for employer compassion. Employees distraught over the ending of a relationship are eligible for paid 'heartache leave' to give them time to deal with their misery. Apparently, heartbreak grows harder, not easier to deal...