June 26, 2007 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - The Committee on
Investment of Employee Benefit Assets of the Association for
Financial Professionals (CIEBA) has released an updated
version of its primer, "Defined Contribution Fee Disclosure
Best Practices."
The revised document provides a guide for plan
sponsors to use as they develop fee disclosure materials
for defined contribution plan participants, according to
a CIEBA press release. The primer outlines principles on
fee disclosure, general guidelines, and
investment-specific information for sponsors to
consider.
In addition, the booklet contains sample disclosure
statements for different types of plan services and
investments.
Comp/Benefits Top Factors for Employee Job
Satisfaction
June 25, 2007 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Compensation/pay
and benefits tied as the top factor for job satisfaction by
employees participating in the Society for Human Resource
Management's (SHRM) 2007 Job Satisfaction Survey.
According to the survey report, both factors were
ranked as “very important” by 59% of survey respondents.
Specific benefits that ranked as most important among
employees surveyed were health care benefits (60%), paid
time off (55%), and retirement benefits (56%).
Other top contributors to employee job satisfaction
were job security (53%), flexibility to balance work/life
issues (52%), and communication between employees and
senior management (51%), the data showed.
Benefits and compensation/pay have been rated by
employees as the top two aspects most important to job
satisfaction for the past four years of SHRM’s survey.
“It should come as no surprise that employees remain
concerned about their compensation,” said Susan R.
Meisinger, President and CEO of SHRM, in a press release.
“With the rising costs of health care premiums and
prescription drugs, employees know they need to put more
of their money toward covering health care and
retirement.”
The survey found differences in what employees of
different genders, ages, and at different-sized employers
valued for job satisfaction. While male employees ranked
health care/medical benefits as the top aspect for job
satisfaction, female employees ranked feeling safe in the
work environment as number one. In 2006, compensation/pay
topped the list for both males and females.
Employees from large staff-sized organizations
valued health care/medical benefits the most for job
satisfaction, employees at medium staff-sized
organizations selected compensation/pay as the top
factor, and employees from small organizations chose
feeling safe in the work environment.
For both the 35 and younger age group and the 36 to
55 age group, compensation/pay was indicated as the most
important job satisfaction factor by employees. Employees
age 56 and older ranked feeling safe in the work
environment as their top factor.
As in other survey years, SHRM found that HR
Professionals had different views of what is important
for employees for job satisfaction. The top five factors
as ranked by HR Professionals surveyed were relationship
with immediate supervisor; compensation/pay; management
recognition of employee job performance; benefits; and
communication between employees and senior
management.
The survey results were based on responses from 713
HR professionals from a random sample of SHRM members,
and telephone interviews with 604 employees randomly
selected from an outside survey research organization’s
Web-enabled employee panel. The full survey report can be
accessed by SHRM members at
www.shrm.org/surveys
.