GreatWork Blog

Building better workplaces through compliance, culture, connection

If you’re a small business owner, you know that shopping for employee health insurance can feel like an uphill climb. Premiums go up year after year, and the quote you receive from carriers often feels like it’s based on factors completely outside your control.

Cascade is excited to announce that the 2025 Northwest Employee Benefits report is now available! This regional survey report is a great resource for benefits and policy data for organizations that want to ensure their benefits and rewards are competitive in today’s market.

Attracting and retaining top talent hinges on a competitive benefits package. As HR professionals, understanding how your offerings compare to others in the Northwest region is crucial. The Northwest Employee Benefits Survey provides valuable insights into regional benefit averages.

Starting January 1, 2025, the most impactful change to Medicare Part D will be the reduction of the annual out-of-pocket (OOP) maximum from $8,000 in 2024 to just $2,000. This adjustment is most relevant for groups with HSAs and high deductible health plans (HDHPs), which traditionally feature higher out-of-pocket costs. As a result, many of these plans may no longer be considered "creditable" under Medicare Part D standards.

Since its inception, Paid Leave Oregon has faced significant challenges, including delays in processing claims, technical issues, and fraud attempts. These problems have highlighted the program's shortcomings and the need for more effective solutions.

Are you an Oregon or Washington employer looking to attract and retain top talent? In today's competitive job market, offering a strong benefits package is crucial. But how do you know if your benefits are keeping pace with industry standards?

Here's where our 2024 Northwest Employee Benefits Survey comes in!

Total rewards, at a high level, divide into two categories:  1) direct compensation (i.e., salary), and 2) indirect compensation (i.e., benefits, schedule, training, development, etc.). These two pieces work together to provide rewards to employees for performing work on behalf of the organization, and ideally motivate them to continue working toward the organization's goals.

Cascade is excited to announce that the 2023 Northwest Employee Benefits report is now available! This regional survey report is a great resource for benefits and policy data for Oregon and Washington organizations that want to ensure their benefits and rewards are competitive in today’s market.

The 2023 Northwest Employee Benefits Survey is here, and it is time to participate! Previously known as the Regional Benefits Survey, this Cascade survey is an in-depth review of organizations’ benefits and policies.

With the continued challenges related to recruitment and retention, access to reliable benefit data is more important than ever to make sure your benefit packages and organization policies are remaining competitive in a market where employees are expecting more.  

Not only is it true, but it can also often be a cost-saving benefit option. Through its sponsored Pacific Northwest Employers Life, Health Insurance Trust, Cascade recently partnered with Nonstop Health™, bringing a unique health plan option to Oregon employers and their workforce. The plan pays all employee upfront out-of-pocket healthcare costs including copays, coinsurance and deductibles.

“Do you know what other employers are doing to help out employees with inflation?” This is a question our consulting team gets asked quite often and rather than speculating, we asked YOU. Cascade recently conducted its Quarterly HR Trends Survey in which we asked participants what they’re doing about inflation for their employees. The results? Here are a few highlights.

The 2022 Northwest Employee Benefits Survey is here, and it is time to participate. This survey is an in-depth review of organizations’ benefits and policies. With the “Great Resignation,” access to current and reliable benefit data is more important than ever to make sure your benefit packages and organization policies are competitive in a market where employees are expecting more.

It seems like every other conversation I have is around something to do with stress: workplace stress, personal stress, financial stress, legal stress, the effect of stress on productivity, the effect of stress on personal health, the effect of stress on, well, you name it.  For employers, the effects of stress on their workforce can lead to increased absenteeism and medical costs, and more. 

2022 is here, and with it, a new round of surveys! Download our new survey calendar for the year, which includes estimates for launch dates, close dates, when reports will be available, and pricing. Explore our survey website for more information on all the amazing surveys we offer.

Measuring and evaluating the effectiveness of your employee benefit offerings enables you to maximize both your organization’s and your employees’ unique nature and needs.

The stock market ended its 11-year bull run earlier this year as fears over the coronavirus (COVID-19) gripped investors. With volatility returning to the stock market with moves of up/down 5-9% a day frequently occurring, retirement plan investors are left feeling very anxious and wondering what to do next. The following are six tips designed to help employees assess their 401(k) accounts in the current market environment and get through this difficult period.

With small and large group health insurance premiums continuing to rise, savvy employers look for ways to control costs while maintaining benefit value for their employees.

No matter your age, you probably have lots of questions and concerns about saving for retirement. How to save for it, what options are available, and, most importantly, how much money should you be socking away?

The last year had its share of dark times, but periods of volatility, poor returns, economic downturns, and geopolitical chaos are inevitable and, in the end, create the opportunities that allow fundamental strategies to work. Just like water doesn’t instantly vaporize, but instead needs to first boil and churn to transform into rising steam, transitions in capital markets are painfully chaotic in the short term. But this “phase transition,” to borrow a term from physics, is ultimately necessary to move us to a new state. 

Whether a target-date retirement fund is the best choice for an investor depends on a few different factors, including the degree to which the investor wants to manage his or her own retirement portfolio. Below are some pros and cons of using target-date funds.

Approaching retirement with too little money is unfortunate. Furthermore, getting sucked into the daily hype that has people jumping in and out of the stock market can be disastrous. The market will inevitably go down once in a while, but history proves that despite this, the long-term trend for the market is up. Taking that into account, the earlier an individual begins to invest, the better.

Is it too early to start planning for retirement in your 20s? The answer is no. As life expectancy continues to increase, planning early can ensure a comfortable retirement. While planning for retirement at this age may be the last thing on your mind, the earlier you start the better chance you have of achieving your retirement goal. An early start also allows more time for your investment to grow through compound interest.

For nearly six decades Cascade Employers Association has offered group health insurance to qualifying members through its sponsored Pacific Northwest Employers Life, Health Insurance Trust. And we’ve just taken that offering to a new level.

OregonSaves, a new state-sponsored retirement plan, according to the State Treasurer’s office, it could assist up to 1 million Oregon employees in their efforts to save for their future.

If you are an employer that sponsors a 401(k) or 403(b) plan, chances are good that you’ve had a discussion with your service provider about the default investment choice for your plan.

You know how much employees enjoy holidays off … especially when they get paid for them. So, to help you determine if your holiday practices are competitive, Cascade Employers Association just conducted a Holiday Practices Survey to provide you with valuable insights regarding the remaining 2013 and all 2014 holiday practices for employers in Oregon and Southwest Washington.

According to research conducted by the Families and Work Institute (FWI), providing workplace flexibility improves business results.  Workplace flexibility (or workflex as they often call it) matters to all employees to some degree. 

Issue: Many of your employees have taken out loans from their 401(k) plan accounts in the last few years. You have a rather large downsizing of employment coming up.

Lately we’ve seen an uptick of inquiries with respect to 401(k) plans, specifically around benefit eligibility requirements when writing policies for employee handbooks.