Employers across the country are recognizing the benefits of pets, especially dogs, in the workplace and implementing policies that allow employees to bring their pet companions to work.

Studies and anecdotal evidence have shown that pets in the workplace reduce stress1, increase trust and collaboration at work, stimulate creativity, reduce absenteeism, provide sensory stress relief2, and boost productivity. A 2012 study from Virginia Commonwealth University3, found that employees who were allowed to bring their dogs […]

In our posts over the past two weeks, we discussed some of the myths surrounding target benefit plans (TBPs), clarifying that:

while the introduction of TBPs as an option for single employers is a welcome innovation, target benefits have been prevalent in the multi-employer context for some time; and
permitting plan design options, such as TBPs, should be encouraged as a progressive alternative that could, in many circumstances, be preferable to exiting traditional defined benefit (DB) […]