employee benefits

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.

Amid high unemployment rates and rising health-care costs, a smaller proportion of Americans -- less than 45% -- are getting health insurance from their employers, according to a recent Gallup survey.

During the past three decades, businesses of all sizes have shifted away from traditional defined-benefit plans to defined-contribution plans, also known as 401(k)s. Now, states and local governments are doing the same, even though many workers lack the necessary investing savvy.

To retain and attract top employees, U.S. companies are turning to perks such as subsidized training and flexible work conditions rather than raises. These incentives are finding a welcome among employees, too, especially educational benefits.

Highly skilled women will lose about a quarter of a million dollars, or as much as a third of their lifetime earnings, by choosing to have a child, making the prospect of raising a family a far more expensive one for college grads than their less-educated counterparts, a new study shows.

Recession-weary workers may finally get some encouraging news: Private-sector annual wages will improve in the coming months, albeit modestly, according to data compiled by BNA, publisher of Daily Labor Report.