Benefits and Beyond: A Comprehensive and Strategic Approach to Retirement, Health Care, and More

Benefits and Beyond: A Comprehensive and Strategic Approach to Retirement, Health Care, and More provides readers with a variety of interdisciplinary principles and tools, including labor economics, human resources strategy, tax policy, metrics, and actuarial science. Rather than training students in the details of current benefits offerings, this text prepares students to deal with the future evolution of benefit designs and policy. Numerous cases, examples, and exercises engage readers and help them master the content. Key Features Includes a primer on actuarial concepts, which permeate benefit design and decision making Provides global benefit comparisons between Europe, the United States, and the Pacific Rim and explores issues pertaining to ex-patriot assignments Focuses on fundamental labor economic issues, legal issues pertaining to benefits, and life cycle events and their relationship to benefit needs Covers both privately and publicly funded retirement plans as well as publicly funded retirement and health care programs Helps readers understand how to align business, human resource management, and benefit strategies and how to include them in benefit principles and designs for the workplace Offers a full range of benefit discussions, including retirement plans, health care, life insurance, equity benefits, disability plans, benefit administration, accommodation and convenience benefits, and the financing of private and public benefits

Table of Contents:
Preface 1. Introduction to Benefits The Plan Sponsor′s Dilemma Employers and the Business Strategy Learning Objectives Topics Covered Conclusion Business Strategy Illustration Chapter Exercises 2. Human Resource Economics, Principles, and Actuarial Concepts Applicable to Benefits Total Rewards Monetary Value of Benefits The Benefits Model Actuarial Principles Conclusion Chapter Exercises 3. Lifecycle Events Benefits Respond to Lifecycle Events Health Disability Employee Counseling Childbirth and Adoption Daycare Educational Assistance Caring for Sick Dependents Retirement Retiree Health Care Marriage Separation from Employment Death of the Employee Time Off From Work Cultural and Global Perspective Conclusion Chapter Exercises 4. Retirement Plans--Evolution and Design Introduction Factors Affecting Retirement Plan Design Financing of Retirement Plans Fund Protection The Benefits Model Basic Design Features of a Defined Benefit Plan Defined Contribution Plans The Evolution Continues Evolution and the Small Employer Chapter Exercises 5. Pension Plans for Small Employers and Retirement Planning Evolution Reaches the Small Employer and the Self-Employed Individual Retirement Account (IRA) The Savings Incentive Match Plan for Employees of Small Employers (SIMPLE) Simplified Employee Pension (SEP) Money Purchase Plan The Keogh Contemporary Issues in Retirement Retirement Planning--Will Your Employee Have Enough to Retire? Conclusion Chapter Exercises 6. Health Care Introduction Parties and Interests Involved in Health Care Employer-Sponsored Plans--Taxes, Financing, and Market Factors Financing Market Conditions Inflation Evolution of Health Care Plan Design--Some Principles The Benefits Model--Health Care Design Features of the Major Medical or Indemnity Plan Coordination of Benefits Bundling and Unbundling Plans Conclusion Chapter Exercises 7. The Evolution of Health Care Plan Designs Introduction Preferred Provider Organization (PPO)--Discounts and Volume Point-of-Service Plan (POS) Plan--Management of Referrals Health Maintenance Organization (HMO)--More Managed Utilization and Care Direct Contracting and Capitation Consumer-Driven Health Care Choices of Plans--What Should the Employer Sponsor Offer? [[DELETE]] [[DELETE]] [[DELETE]] Insured Plans Third-Party Administrator (TPA) Selection Conclusion Chapter Exercises 8. Improving Access to Quality Health Care--Do We Need Reform? Underlying Problems of Cost and Affordability--Value and the Lack of Quality Stating the Underlying Problem--High Costs of Health Care Health Care Investment and Efficacy Inappropriate Care and Clinical Quality Measurements Errors Increase Costs Our Culture, System, and Prices Profile of the Uninsured What Are Some Possible Solutions? New Health Care Delivery and Financing Systems--Health Care Reform Conclusion Some Perspective on the Bureaucratic Barriers to Health Care Reform Chapter Exercises 9. Benefit Legal Compliance: Employee Retirement Income and Security Act (ERISA), Internal Revenue Code (IRC), and the Pension Protection Act of 2006 (PPA) History The Basic Provisions of ERISA Tax Treatment of Retirement Plans Nonalienation of Benefits Freezes and Terminations Cash Balance Plans--Legal Phased Retirement Bankruptcy ERISA and IRC Enforcement Insuring Benefits When a Plan Is Terminated Conclusion Chapter Exercises 10. Employee Benefits and Metrics A New Perspective--Benefits Are Not Just Costs The Metrics Template for Benefits The Data and Metrics Toolbox--Surveys and Assessments Toolbox--Efficiency, Costs, and Productivity Toolbox--Data Sources for Measurement--Human Resource Management Systems (HRMS) Sound Measurement--Validity, Reliability, and Practicality Measuring the Financial Value of Benefit Plans--Using Capital Budgeting Analysis Some Perspective Design Principles Data, Metrics, and Retirement Plans--Some Examples Health Care and Measurement--Plan Design Evaluating Providers and Their Clinical Outcomes--Sponsors′ Efforts Conclusion Chapter Exercises 11. Equity Benefits Introduction Retirement Plans and Stock Stock Purchase Plans Stock Option Plans Restricted Stock Stock Appreciation Rights Some Issues Pertaining to Equity Awards Performance-Based Equity Awards Does Equity Compensation Work? Chapter Exercises 12. Government-Sponsored and Mandated Benefits Social Security Retirement Benefit (USA) Some Social Security Economic and Policy Issues Perspectives on Social Security Reform Health Care After Retirement--Medicare Medicare--Some Important Economic and Policy Issues Medicaid Perspectives on Medicaid Veterans′ Health Care Mandated Benefits (COBRA, HIPAA, FMLA, USERRA) Chapter Exercises 13. Global Benefits Introduction Health Care in Europe Some General Principles and Features of European Health Systems Financing of Health Care--European Countries Current Problems and Issues in European Countries Some Perspectives on Costs, Long-Term Health, and Reform China′s Health Care System Some Conclusions--The United States and Other Countries Social Security--Providing and Insuring Retirement Income Some General Retirement Approaches in European and Other OECD Countries China and Social Security Retirement Income Chile and the Personal Account Some Perspectives on Social Security Reform Competitive Labor Costs and Benefits Expatriates and Global Benefits--Taking Your Business Abroad Conclusion and Perspective--The Global Workplace Chapter Exercises 14. Collective Bargaining and Benefits General Obligation to Provide New Benefits Pursuant to Collective Bargaining What Will Happen to the Current Plans? Must the Company Bargain Over an Entry Into a Joint Trust? Joint Trusts--Issues and Challenges MPPAA--What Happens if the Employer Closes His Operation and Leaves the Joint Trust? What if the Company and the Union Cannot Agree on Benefits? What Happens if the Contract Expires and There Is No New Agreement? What Happens if the Contract Expires and the Employees Go on Strike? Bargaining and Retiree Health Care Conclusion and Perspective Chapter Exercises 15. Life and Disability Insurance, Pay for Time Not Worked Life Insurance Disability Insurance Pay for Time Not Worked--Sick Days, Vacation, and Holidays Chapter Exercises 16. Convenience and Accommodation Benefits, Benefits Administration Convenience and Voluntary Benefits Making the Benefits Fit the Workplace Concierge Benefits Flexibility Employee Assistance Plan (EAP) Company-Sponsored Educational Benefits Administration of Employer-Sponsored Benefits Outsourcing Administration Information Systems for Benefits Plan Optimization and Communication Chapter Exercises Index About the Author