Compliance December 13, 2010

IRS Publishes List of Changes in Plan Qualification Requirements

December 13, 2010 (PLANSPONSOR.com) – The Internal Revenue Service has issued Notice 2010-90, which provides a cumulative list of changes in plan qualification requirements.
Reported by

The notice contains the 2010 Cumulative List of Changes in Plan Qualification Requirements (2010 Cumulative List) described in section 4 of Rev. Proc. 2007-44, 2007-2 C.B. 54. The 2010 Cumulative List is to be used by plan sponsors and practitioners submitting determination, opinion, or advisory letter applications for plans during the period beginning February 1, 2011 and ending January 31, 2012.   

The IRS said these plans will primarily be single employer individually-designed defined contribution plans, including employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs), and single employer individually-designed defined benefit plans that are in Cycle A and defined contribution pre-approved plans (that is, defined contribution plans that are master and prototype (M&P) or volume submitter (VS) plans) for the second submission under the remedial amendment cycle under Rev. Proc. 2007-44.   

Never miss a story — sign up for PLANSPONSOR newsletters to keep up on the latest retirement plan benefits news.

Generally, an individually designed plan is in Cycle A if the last digit of the employer identification number of the plan sponsor is 1 or 6.  

Notice 2010-90 is here.
Benefits December 13, 2010

Bad Hires Can be Costly

December 13, 2010 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Two-in-three companies (67%) responding to a recent CareerBuilder survey reported that a bad hire has adversely affected their business in the last year.
Reported by

Nearly one in four hiring managers (24%) said one bad hire cost their business more than $50,000 in the last year. Four in ten said that one bad hire cost them more than $25,000.   

Of employers who made a bad hire, 36% said they think they made a mistake hiring someone because they needed to fill the job quickly, followed by lack of understanding of where their target talent is (20%) and unsuccessful sourcing techniques (9%).   

For more stories like this, sign up for the PLANSPONSOR NEWSDash daily newsletter.

According to a press release, when asked how a poor hire affected their business in the last year, employers cited: 

  • Lost time to recruit and train another worker – 39%; 
  • Less productivity – 38%; 
  • Lost money to recruit and train another worker – 37%; 
  • Had a negative effect on employee morale – 30%; 
  • Had a negative effect on client relations – 21%; 
  • Fewer sales – 11%; and 
  • Legal issues – 9%. 

 

The survey found hiring costs have increased. Fifty-eight percent of employers have an average cost per hire of more than $1,000, up from 29% in 2008. Nearly one in ten (9%) estimate their cost per hire at more than $10,000.   

Specialized areas that are experiencing a shortage of qualified talent are reporting even higher recruitment expenses. Eighty percent of IT employers said it costs them in excess of $1,000 to fill an open position, while 66% of health care employers said the same.

«