Mployer Advisor Blog

In today’s competitive workforce, attracting top talent comes with a price. Your employee benefits package can be a dealbreaker to some (if not most) employees if it’s not top tier, which is why it’s crucial to offer a competitive benefits plan. In fact, Workhuman’s latest Human Workplace Index revealed that a whop...

The national unemployment rate dropped by 0.2% last month–down from 4.8% to 4.6%–with nearly 60% of states seeing significant jobs gains while the rest remained largely stable. The arguably bigger headline, however, was the news that the past four months of economic reports failed to include hundreds of thousands o...

It’s been nearly two years since the COVID-19 pandemic hit and turned the world upside down. Businesses across all industries were forced to stretch themselves, rapidly evolving to manage unforeseen and unprecedented challenges.   For employee benefits brokers and HR managers and leaders, one test that quickly r...

Editor’s Note: News and updates surrounding COVID-19 vaccination mandates continue to evolve rapidly. Check back for news on the Mployer Advisor blog as developments continue to unfold. For state-specific guidance, please refer to OSHA’s site here. Last week, we updated our readers that the upcoming COVID-19 vacci...

Editor’s Note: News and updates surrounding COVID-19 vaccination mandates continue to evolve rapidly. We will update this piece as developments continue to unfold. For state-specific guidance, please refer to OSHA’s guidance here.   Information continues to unfold surrounding COVID-19 vaccine mandates for employ...

Last month saw the addition of more than half a million new jobs compared to the previous months reports, indicating an even stronger and sturdier economy than most experts had anticipated. The unemployment rate dropped another 0.2% over the month down to 4.6%, which is still more than one percentage point above th...

If you closely follow the Mployer Advisor blog or attended our recent webinar extolling the benefits of harnessing a Google My Business profile, it will come as little surprise that this piece of rebranding news from Google caught our attention.   Yesterday, Google announced in a statement that the company’s Goo...

As an HR professional, you know all too well that you and your team are responsible for managing some of your company’s most important business needs. From recruiting to payroll and benefits, HR leaders utilize technology solutions for organizational excellence and efficiency daily.  HR software is designed to help...

Data breaches, cyber extortion, and system hacking: three things your IT, PR, and legal departments dread.  What do they have in common? All of these variations of cybercrimes can lead to real problems for businesses and their customers if sensitive information is compromised.   The COVID-19 pandemic made online...

Building a diverse workplace is essential to creating a welcoming and successful work environment and competing for top talent in your industry. Study after study has shown the incredible benefits of a diverse workplace, specifically how a variety in leadership, work styles and backgrounds can drive innovation and imp...

We are seeing rate increases come in across employers for 2022, and the news is not good. Fully-insured renewal rates are between 10%-20%, and self-insured stop loss is at 5%-10%. Employers have approximately 70 days until coverage takes effect, and there is only one step that can have an impact at this point.  In ...

The unemployment rate fell twice as quickly last month as it did the month before, down from 5.2% to 4.8%.  For context, the unemployment rate has fallen over 3% from a year ago, therefore the current unemployment rate reduction rate is more than 60% faster than the average unemployment rate reduction over the past...

Long-term disability insurance is something no one wants to think about. Both employers and employees alike dread the idea of an employee going on disability insurance, but it is a vital part of a benefits package to understand for both parties.   The insured’s rights can vary greatly from policy to policy, so each...

In recent years, voluntary benefits have become an increasingly important part of employee benefits packages–and for good reason. Voluntary benefits, otherwise known as supplemental insurance, are benefits offered by companies for employees and typically paid for by employees via payroll deductions.   Voluntary ...

Almost 200,000 new jobs were added last month, according to the latest release from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Although this figure falls below what many analysts forecasted, it still represents forward progress in the economic recovery; of course, the speed of that progress may be slower than ideal...

According to Indeed’s recent “Employee Burnout Report,” employee burnout has worsened since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in February 2019. Specifically, more than half of surveyed respondents reported feeling burned out, with more than two-thirds stating they believe that feeling worsened throughout the pandemic...

It’s no secret that the healthcare insurance industry­–like so many others across the country–is rapidly shifting online. No longer is it viable for brokers to rely solely upon word-of-mouth referrals; now, brokers must evolve and learn to navigate a new digital-first landscape if they want to drive new business and e...

Starting on January 1, 2022, the No Surprises Act will become law. In our recent webinar, the “No Surprises Act: Employee Impact & Broker Fee Disclosure,” Mployer Advisor CEO & Founder Brian Freeman sat down with James Bristol and Stacy Hooper of Waller, a Nashville, Tennessee-based law firm.   Here are five key ta...

A new protection in the No Surprises Act will ban “surprise” balance billing beginning on or after January 1st, 2022. On average, 18% of emergency department visits result in at least one surprise bill, but the rate varies by state.   For a deeper dive into how the No Surprises Act will affect employers and brok...

Every year, there seems to be a new, trendy benefits option that crops up in companies across the U.S. However, level-headed employers know that what’s most important to employees goes far beyond the option to bring your dog to work or cans of sparkling water in the break room.   So, what should a top-notch bene...