Need up-to-date benefits news, information, and articles? Benefitnews.com is one of the most comprehensive and well-rounded information sites on benefits information that I´ve seen, not to mention that access to their resource center and information is free! Named a recommended site by the Dow Jones Business Directory, one of the strengths of this site is its ease of navigation and user-friendliness. Let´s take a look at some of the features and resources that BenefitNews offers...
BenefitNews is a website that is devoted to providing "information, analysis, and work solutions for benefits decision makers." From the producers of Employee Benefit News, BenefitNews.com is the electronic quasi-version of their publication. Some of their highlighted features include:
Daily news update
Industry analysis and features
Source Book Online - a comprehensive, current and user-friendly benefits/HR products and services buyers guide
Benefits Job Board
How is BenefitNews.com organized?
BenefitNews is organized using nine different vertical tabs including their home page. Each of these tabs covers a different issue, such as,
Each of their eight verticals is arranged neatly so that you can check out either their articles, other Internet Resources, participate in a discussion, or view listings of products and services.
Presently, they have some additional features posted under some of the verticals such as Health Plans and Disability and Work-Life. These special features highlight a particular article or report contributed by an independent company. For example, the Working Mother Magazine has contributed their annual report that lists the top 100 companies that provide "cutting-edge" quality of life benefits.
In addition, there is an "HR, Benefits and the Internet" progress report by the former managing editor of Employee Benefit News under Technology and some special features under Health Plans and Disability including:
BenefitNews also has an on site job board. This is a weaker section of their site. The search function is not the most user friendly and under the "job position" field, there is no drop down menu that would make the search much easier. However, the remaining search fields are drop down menus such as Industry, State, and Type of Position. If you decide to search the whole database, you can simply leave the fields blank and select search.
Another weakness of the job board is that there is no way to search through most-recently posted job ads. If you read through the ads, there is a line that indicates when the job was posted. It appears that ads are posted for one or two months and are then removed from the system. Presently, there are only 16 job postings on the site for the month of August and September. I wouldn´t be surprised if these ads are also posted on other HR and Benefits site.
Let´s take a look at their buyer´s guide...
There are currently over 2,500 companies listed in their buyer´s guide source book. The search features for this section of the site are much more comprehensive and allow users to search by such as
The companies are able to list information about the products and services that they provide, as well as provide contact information, and links to where users and get more information or requests quotes. If you´re looking for specific benefits information this is a great resource that concentrates a wide scope of benefits companies into a single guide. The information can be as specific as how you identify your search parameters. Alternatively, you can view the entire listing if you want. Unfortunately, you can only view 25 records at one time and must drag and drop to the end of the listing to get to the link that directs you to the next 25 listings.
They have a link to their updated Employee Benefit News articles and their older archives as well. Using their keyword search function, you can search back in their archives until 1995 or alternatively, you can read the highlights for each back issue and scroll through the print edition articles.
Price
For $94 for 1 year, subscribers can receive 14 Employee Benefit News issues including the Vendor Source guide. There are other payment options if you decide to receive the subscription for longer time frames.
The general access to their site information is free.
Overall Evaluation
Strangely, there are very few citations in their articles, i.e. there are no citations of publication dates or journals in the articles that has led to a problem I had experienced in the past.
A few months ago, I had used BenefitNews resources and had quoted a statistic from an article on their site. An HR.com site visitor contacted me and asked me from where I had taken the stat. I had some difficulty finding it and ended up directing the individual to the article on the site.
I really like the way BenefitNews is organized, as navigation of the site is very intuitive. New features are clearly listed on the front page and are of high value to the reader. The use of large company icons and logos also adds to the appeal and user-friendliness of the site
I would suggest using an alternate job board than BenefitNews´ as there are very few ads (surprisingly) listed considering the usefulness of the site.
Other than the fact that the articles are not annotated, the best feature of the site is the comprehensiveness of their resource center and articles. Their features are timely, written in an easy to understand prose and regularly changed. There are a lot of quick and informative articles here; articles that everyone will find useful and learn something from.
About the company
Thomson Financial, the producer of Benefitnews.com, Employee Benefit News and Benefits Management Forum & Expo, is a global provider of data, analysis and information tools. The corporation offers indispensable, market-leading services and customizable solutions to clients to help them make better decisions, be more productive and achieve superior financial results.