ISCEBS 18700 W. Bluemound Rd P.O. Box 209 Brookfield, WI 53008-0209 Phone: (262) 786-8771 Fax: (262) 786-8650 iscebs@iscebs.org

3rd Quarter 2001

Executive Summaries

• Rewarding Employees With Psychic Income Pays Long-Term Dividends by Nayda L. O'Connell
• Total Rewards in an iDeal World by Claudia Zeitz Poster and James Scannella
• Issues Surrounding Cash Balance Plans by Richard A. Ippolito
• A Framework for Redesigning or Fine-Tuning Your Benefit Package—Results From a National Survey of Stressful Life Events by Charles J. Hobson, Dawn Kesic and Linda Delunas
• Privatizing Government Pensions: The United States and the Netherlands by Phillip de Jong and John A. Turner
• The Impact of Shifting to a Personal Consumption Tax on Pension Plans and Their Beneficiaries by Jon Barry Forman

Rewarding Employees With Psychic Income Pays Long-Term Dividends

by Nayda L. O’Connell

Using the Aon Consulting Workforce Commitment Index (WCI), the author compares workforce commitment levels across high-technology firms to national figures. After breaking down WCI levels by work/life benefits, she compares the reasons why workers join employers versus why they stay with those employers. Finally, the author identifies the 12 sources of psychic income, concluding that, although engineering benefits and rewards programs to address work/life needs is expensive, it has paid huge dividends for Silicon Valley employers who have made the commitment.

Total Rewards in an iDeal World

by Claudia Zeitz Poster and James Scannella.

The iDeal is the employment relationship in equilibrium, where employer and employee goals are aligned. This article describes how employers can obtain a total rewards strategy for achieving their desired workforce through the iDeal. Specifically, insights about the organization and the business gained from a review of the iDeal should be combined with data about competitive practices to form the foundation of a total rewards strategy.

Issues Surrounding Cash Balance Plans

by Richard A. Ippolito

The author argues that the establishment of the reversion tax, a public policy that has had the opposite of its intended effect, best explains conversions to cash balance plans. Citing historical pension literature, the author claims that issues raised by cash balance conversions are no different than those raised by the plan terminations that the reversion tax sought to arrest. After carefully examining the losses workers incur upon cash balance conversions, he concludes that mandating firms to compensate workers for such losses would further exacerbate the trend away from defined benefit plans.

A Framework for Redesigning or Fine-Tuning Your Benefit Package—Results From a National Survey of Stressful Life Events

by Charles J. Hobson, Dawn Kesic and Linda Delunas

The results of a national survey of stressful life events are introduced as a useful framework for redesigning or fine-tuning corporate benefit packages to better meet employee needs, as well as to attract and retain top talent. Among the specific recommendations are (a) expanded bereavement leave, (b) hospice services, (c) employee assistance program access, (d) child care/elder care and (e) group legal services. Offering benefits that enable individuals to cope more effectively with major life event stressors is viewed as a powerful way of strengthening the psychological contract between employee and employer.

Privatizing Government Pensions: The United States and the Netherlands

by Phillip de Jong and John A. Turner

The Thrift Savings Plan for U.S. federal government workers and the Account Balance Pension for Dutch government employees are two of the largest pension funds in the world. These plans provide evidence on the successful government management of funded pensions, on ways pensions can be privatized for government employees, and on models for privatizing social security.

The Impact of Shifting to a Personal Consumption Tax on Pension Plans and Their Beneficiaries

by Jon Barry Forman

Some advocate replacing the U.S. income tax system with a consumption tax to increase savings. Policy makers should be concerned about how such a move would affect the economy and the private pension system. The author argues that a consumption tax would devastate the private pension system and suggests some alternative approaches for increasing U.S. savings.

Full text copies of these articles are available through the INFOSOURCE™ Document Delivery Service. Article reprints are also available in quantities of 100 or more. For information, call the Publications Department at (888) 33-IFEBP. You can order your subscription (reprints and back issues) online. Four issues for $100 (or $75 for CEBS registrants).