The percentage of 401(k) plan sponsors who say participation by eligible employees is greater than 70 percent rose from 63 percent last year to 67 percent this year, according to a survey by Deloitte Consulting LLP.
At companies that offer a Roth 401(k), the average participant adoption rate is 8 percent, but the rate is higher among younger workers and those who are newly enrolling in the company's 401(k) plan, according to a report by Hewitt Associates, a human resources services company.
The rising cost of health care and the growing use of outsourcing are two of the top trends HR professionals say will have the most impact on the workplace in the next 10 years, according to a survey by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM).
All sponsors of insured defined benefit pension plans will soon be required to submit their premium filings electronically with the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC).
The United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York has served the parent company of Monster.com with a subpoena related to the company's stock option practices. The company says it will cooperate fully.
A new law, the Heroes Earned Retirement Opportunities (H.E.R.O.) Act, permits military personnel earning hazard pay to make contributions to an individual retirement account (IRA). The legislation was signed by President Bush on Memorial Day.
An annual study by Hewitt Associates on employees' saving and investing habits reveals that employers that offer automatic enrollment into their 401(k) plans are having a significant and positive impact on employee participation.
Flexible work arrangements are more than a benefit--they are a low-cost business tool that can improve productivity, recruitment, and retention, said Bernadette Fusaro, director of work/life services at Harris Rothenberg International, during WorldatWork's Total Rewards Conference & Exhibition in Anaheim, California.
More than two-thirds of workers (68 percent) say they are very confident or somewhat confident that they will have enough money to live comfortably in retirement, but almost the same percentage of workers say they and their spouses have accumulated less than $50,000 in retirement savings, according to the Employee Benefit Research Institute.
