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Compensation

Major Compensation Issues and Trends in the USA
Compensation, Health Care, Outsourcing, and Retirement

Abstract
Organizations are constantly trying to meet the challenges to retain and motivate their workforce. Meeting the challenges of demographics, increasing regulatory demands, and steadily rising costs is creating tension and strain on organization efficiencies. Attracting a good workforce depends on compensation, retirement benefits, and an excellent health plan. Human Resource Department are being squeezed by cost-of-labor issues such as compensation, retirement, outsourcing, and health costs and getting the right dollars to the right people has never been more complex. Global competition has profound effects on company’s people requirements. Traditional human resources activities, a strong human capital strategy allows for direct connection between the value employers place on their workforce in these difficult times. Using innovative resolutions to improve compensation, retirement, health costs and outsourcing will eventually lead to operational proficiencies.

Past and present benefits
According to the Minnesota Employee Benefits Survey (MEBS) (1998), in the past 5- 10 years, different types of benefits included the following: 1) Paid time off, 2) Retirement, 3) Disability insurance, 4) Education and training programs, 5) Health insurance, 6) Family benefits, and 7) Life insurance (MESBS, 1998). First, we have paid time off which is earned separately for sick leave, vacation, etc (MESBS, 1998). However, other times it is in the form of flexible-paid-time off (MESBS, 1998). This is where sick leave and vacation are combined into one general poor for the employee to use as needed (MEBS, 1998). With both types of programs, there may also be paid leave-time for holidays where employees are given the day off such as Labor Day and Thanks Giving (MEBS, 1998).
Retirement Benefits
Retirement benefits are second, which are funds set aside...