Benefits Advisory and Compliance Update: Deadline for Amending DB Plans to Reflect PPA Benefit Restrictions Nears
Defined benefit plan sponsors must amend their plans by the last day of their 2011 plan year to reflect the benefit restrictions linked to funded status enacted by the Pension Protection Act of 2006. Although the IRS may release its model amendment before the deadline, time is running short. Share this:
Benefits Advisory and Compliance Update: DOL Finalizes Investment Advice Regulation
The DOL finalized its regulation allowing investment advice to be provided to participants in defined contribution plans either through a fiduciary advisor compensated on a level-fee basis or by using a computer model certified as unbiased. Share this:
Stable-Value Strategies
It is time to ask tough questions about a stable value investment strategy. Share this:
Towers Watson Study: Investing in workforce health generates higher productivity
As Canadian organizations search for ways to improve workforce productivity, they are trying new approaches to combat the double-whammy of rising health costs and increased employee absence, stress and disability – and some are succeeding more quickly than others. Share this:
More Companies Worldwide Embracing New Media for Employee Communication, Towers Watson Study Finds
A majority of companies worldwide say they are becoming more knowledgeable about the use of social media tools to connect with and keep their workforces informed. In Share this:
Accounting for Pensions and Other Postretirement Benefits, 2011
In this report, Towers Watson analyzes disclosures for fiscal year (FY) 2010 under the Financial Accounting Standards Board’s (FASB’s) Accounting Standards Codification (ASC) topic 715 Compensation-Retirement Benefits. The disclosures are from the most recent annual reports or financial statements of the nation’s largest public companies — those in the most recent listing of the Fortune [...]
Towers Watson to Open Southeast Brokerage Operation
In a move that expands its reinsurance brokerage business in the Southeast, Towers Watson has established a brokerage operation in the Burlington-Greensboro, NC area. Share this:
Turkish businesses challenged by talent shortage
Four out of five Human Resource (HR) professionals are concerned about finding and recruiting critical-skill talent*, according to a study by Towers Watson. As the Turkish economy continues to grow and the business environment becomes increasingly favourable for international companies, Turkey’s HR professionals face a shortfall in the critical-skills talent amid increasing competition. Share this:
Pension Freezes Among the Fortune 1000 in 2011
From 2010 to 2011, the number of Fortune 1000 pension sponsors that froze at least one of their plans increased by 6%. Only 35% of these companies maintain a DB plan and have no frozen plans, compared with 59% in 2004. Share this:
M&A HR Readiness
This piece describes how HR can prepare for its critical role in all phases of a corporate transaction — from target evaluation and due diligence, through integration planning and implementation. Share this:
Talent Management Navigator
Towers Watson’s Talent Management Navigator (TM Navigator) is a simple, powerful tool that will help your organisation assess your talent management programmes and practices against leading organisations, priority changes to ensure you will get the biggest return on investment and develop a multiyear road map sequencing and implementing. Share this:
Barry Perkins joins Towers Watson’s International Consulting Group
Towers Watson has further strengthened its international consulting group in London by appointing benefits financing specialist Barry Perkins. Prior to joining Towers Watson, Barry spent eight years with HSBC, first as an Employee Benefits consultant manager in Employee Benefits with HSBC Actuaries and Consultants Ltd and more recently as a Senior Manager within the Group [...]
Perspectives : Incentive Plan Risk Assessment
Incentive Plan Risk Assessment — What Canadian Companies Need to Know Share this:
Building HR Capabilities Through the Employee Survey Process
While most Fortune 1000 companies regularly conduct employee surveys, survey results are only data unless you have the capabilities to analyze, interpret, understand and act on them. Share this:
Netherlands: Further Progress in the Pension Agreement
On October 12, as part of the fundamental restructuring of the national pension system (the “Pension Accord”), the Dutch government published a formal proposal to change the retirement age, a follow-up to a draft issued in June of this year. Further changes are expected between now and spring of 2012, since the Ministry of Social [...]
£27bn added to pension deficits this week as eurozone crisis continues
FTSE100 companies’ pension deficits have grown by £27 billion since the end of last week, according to Towers Watson. The consultancy estimates that aggregate deficits in FTSE 100 companies’ defined benefit pension schemes started the week at £8 billion but had increased to £35 billion by the time that markets closed on Thursday. Share this:
Towers Watson to Expand DriveAbilitySM Program
With an increasing number of automobile insurers implementing usage-based insurance (UBI) products that analyze data from in-car devices (telematics), Towers Watson has made several senior appointments to lead the wider rollout of its DriveAbilitySM program. Share this:
Capital Markets Review – Third Quarter 2011
Towers Watson’s quarterly Capital Markets Review provides a high-level summary of capital markets and economic developments. Share this:
Balancing Cost and Talent Objectives Amid a Massive Change Agenda – Why Hospitals Are Taking a Fresh Approach to Rewards
While the hospital industry takes time to develop a long-term vision for what appears to be a massive shift in its traditional business model, there are steps health care executives can take right away in the workforce area to begin to address the risks associated with shrinking revenue and growing costs. Share this:
Most U.S. Employers Have Restored 401(k) Matching Contributions, Towers Watson Analysis Finds
NEW YORK, November 2, 2011-The vast majority of U.S. employers that suspended their 401(k) plan matching contributions during the recent economic downturn have since restored them, according to new analysis by Towers Watson (NYSE; NASDAQ: TW), a global professional services company. Share this:
