Week’s Best – February 11, 2017 – Trump Halts Fiduciary Rule | Why CyberSecurity May Be Your Biggest Issue in 2017 | Help for Employee Burnout

Welcome to Week 3 in the Trump administration …

Donald Trump’s executive orders continue: This week, President Trump blocked the Department of Labor’s fiduciary rule for further study.  The rule had been scheduled to phase in beginning in April.  According to Investopedia, the rule demands that advisors act in the best interests of their clients, and put their clients’ interests above their own, leaving no room for advisors to conceal potential conflicts of interest.  It also states that all fees and commissions must be clearly disclosed in dollar form to clients.  In addition, the new rule adds brokers, financial planners, insurance agents and financial salespersons to the fiduciary level, increasing their financial accountability.  Formerly, these individuals were protected as long as they provided ‘suitable’ investments; now, however, with the new rule, they are legally obligated to put their client’s best interests first..  The new rule could therefore eliminate many commission structures that govern the industry.

FIDUCIARY RULE – AS STRUCTURED, HELPING OR HURTING EMPLOYEES

However, there is some concern that the new rule may actually be hindering employees from receiving advice and assistance with their retirement investments; therefore, the executive order delays the rule until an ‘economic and legal analysis’ can be performed … At eESI, we believe fiduciary protection is vital.  We encourage you to review the eESI 401k for your company because it provides the fiduciary protections you need.  You can watch a brief video that outlines six advantages of the plan, including its fiduciary protection at the end of today’s post.

In Risk, Forbes posted a story entitled, “Why Cybersecurity Should be the Biggest Concern of 2017.”  Written by a professional hacker, the article outlines the growing threat to business owners.  The day after that post, it was reported that a a Dallas hospital was fined 3.2 million dollars for HIPAA violations due to a security breach.  You can find some very helpful tips on protecting your company by reading our eESI blog post on the subject.

In Benefits, NerdWallet published an excellent article on the differences between FSA and HSA savings accounts, designed to help participants cover high deductible out of pocket expenses.  The post provides a simple comparison of the different features of both plans, making it easy for you to choose the right one for your company.

In Management, the Business Pundit posted How to Decide if You Should Outsource Your HR – a story about the trend among small and mid-size businesses to outsource their HR to PEOs.  The article provides a checklist of sorts that may make it easy to consider whether outsourcing your own company’s HR to a PEO makes sense for you; if it does, please contact eESI for a free proposal so you can compare our services.

In Trends, Fast Company published the Top 3 Non-Profit Jobs of the Future. Of course, Data Scientist is one of those jobs, but you may have a problem guessing the other two. It’s an illuminating read regardless of your ‘profit’ or ‘non-profit’ status.

In Productivity, Inc.’s Amy Marin posted 4 Brain Exercises Champions Use to Build Mental Strength – an article with tips about reaching your peak peformance … and, Christina DesMarais posted 11 Ways the Most Successful People Differ from Everyone Else.  This article contains a summary, of sorts, about the best daily habits for personal productivity.

Lifehacker published a story that helps make the case against the open office in Why You Need Less Noise for Work and Your Health … and, Fast Company highlights the serious problem with workforce burnout, something we touched upon last week in another article.  This one identifies the 5 Things Causing Employee Burnout, and reveals what some companies are doing to prevent it.  Burnout is a growing trend, and the article is instructive and enlightening.

Enjoy Your Weekend.