By Sherron Lumley. Whether a distant dream or just around the bend, retirement benefits hold significant sway with employees making decisions about where to work and for how long. In fact, a 2011 Mercer What’s Working survey of 30,000 workers found that, among American and Canadian employees, retirement plans placed second only to base pay among the most important employee value proposition elements. Despite this emphasis, modern-day employees are notoriously poor at following through...

Why 2010 will likely bring higher costs for your small business and what you can do about it By Reed Richardson While Congress and the White House are still struggling to craft a health care insurance reform bill that, if it passes, will mostly take effect in 2011 or later, many small business owners may wonder where health care costs are headed in the short term. The answer, perhaps unsurprisingly, is up, but not quite as much as in years past. Nevertheless, entrepreneurs may find that the...