These non-traditional benefits are aimed at increasing employees' ease of life outside working hours. Moreover, they aim to benefit not only employees, but also their families. These perks, according to a UCLA compensation expert and management professor, represent an attempt by businesses to offer employees non-financial benefits that will provide them time and peace of mind.

Employers anticipate that these benefits aimed at reducing employees' stress levels at home will have positive effects in the workplace. As Evernote CEO Phil Liblin stated, "Happy workers make better products." Dr. Hannah Valentine of Stanford remarked, "If you're coming home at the end of the day exhausted and you have a pile of cleaning to do, it's the kind of things that leads rapidly to burnout, and burned-out physicians don't give the best care."

Although some compensation experts question whether these benefits help businesses attract and retain talent, the businesses showcased in the article believe they are beneficial, and interviewed workers responded positively to the perks.

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• Expatriates' ability to access foreign and domestic financial institutions;
• U.S. citizenship obstacles facing an expatriate's foreign-born and foreign-residing spouse and children;
• Ability to exercise voting rights;
• Access to federal programs such as Social Security and Medicare;
• Obtaining federal education loans for expatriates and their children.

The bill, which was introduced by U.S. Reps. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), Michael Honda (D-CA) and Charles Rangel (D-NY), has been referred to committee.

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Representative Maloney contends that no centralized focus has been trained on identifying and resolving expatriate issues, even as expatriate numbers have increased and will continue to do so. The proposal has received support from expatriate groups, which welcome the opportunity to open a dialogue concerning challenges faced by U.S. citizens living overseas.

In the past, employees often shunned overseas assignments, believing that they might signal a lack of importance to headquarters' daily operations. Today, however, staying put could prevent advancement. In the article, an executive search firm director contends that 70% of clients request international experience for C-level positions.

Individuals with overseas experience offer various advantages: they maintain a network of foreign connections that can aid a business with current or future projects, they understand consumer markets, and their familiarity with local customs and government practices aids them in effectively guarding against ethical and legal violations, such as illegal payments. The praise for extensive experience working abroad, however, is not unanimous. Some contend that individuals with multiple international assignments are nomadic and lack effective leadership skills, given that foreign assignments tend to reward workers for short-term accomplishments rather than long-term results. One advisor interviewed for the article recommends that, instead of lengthy foreign assignments, employers send high-potential employees to foreign sites for extended trips of up to two weeks every month.

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Employers appear to have caught on to the trend and are taking steps aimed at increasing employee retention rates and attracting new candidates, such as giving greater attention to employees' health and wellness. In recent months, some companies have significantly increased salaries - by as much as 30% - but the decline in applications for vacant positions continues. A study cited by China Daily found that during the same time period that job vacancies increased by more than 30%, applications increased by only 12%.

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• 73% of respondents identified whistleblowing and retaliation as an emerging risk area and 96% are either very concerned or moderately concerned about potential whistleblower claims.
• Although a high percentage of respondents (45%) indicated that their company had experienced a whistleblower claim in the last 12-24 months, 67% anticipated whistleblower claims to increase within the next 12-24 months.
• While respondents were undoubtedly concerned about whistleblowing activity and were anticipating an increase in claims, the financial incentives created by Dodd-Frank are relatively new and it is anticipated that the level of concern will rise in the next 12-24 months as companies continue to feel the impact of these changes.
• Respondents also expressed concern that provisions within Dodd-Frank could undermine their compliance programs. Only 12% of respondents indicated this was not a concern, while 51% were concerned and 37% remain unclear on the impact on their current procedures.

Littler surveyed 51 senior legal, compliance and human resources executives at publicly traded or highly regulated companies, the vast majority of which were based in the United States. Of those participating, by Standard and Poor's definitions, 60% were LargeCap companies, 26% were MidCap and 14% were SmallCap.

The survey also found that companies were somewhat confident about their ability to protect against whistleblower claims, but were taking steps to better prepare and train management on compliance with government regulations and proper handling of whistleblower claims:

• The majority of respondents (65%) believed that their companies were only moderately prepared to handle whistleblower claims and 8% were not prepared at all. Furthermore, only 54% were confident that executives in their organizations understand unlawful retaliation concepts and knew not to engage in such conduct, while 32% were not confident and 14% did not know.
• 84% of respondents indicated their companies had taken preventative steps to protect against unlawful retaliation claims. In addition, whistleblower and/or retaliation-related training appeared to be prevalent at the companies surveyed, with 41% conducting training in the next 12 months, 18% planning to do so and 27% considering implementing such training.
• Respondents from LargeCap companies expressed greater concern about whistleblower claims, with 73% anticipating claims will increase within the next 12-24 months (compared to 66% of all respondents). A higher percentage of respondents from LargeCap companies indicated they have taken preventative steps to protect against unlawful retaliation claims (93%) and 59% will be conducting training in the next 12 months.

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Global technology and accounting firms are leading the way to putting the "fun" back into business fundamentals. For example, one company's game challenges employees to increase a virtual city's efficiency, and another incorporates gaming into its Leadership Academy. While no metrics currently exist to gauge the effectiveness of workplace games, a cited study shows employees who used video games while training had better factual learning skills, reached higher skill levels, and were better able to retain information compared to non-interactive learners.

Despite its noted potential in the workplace, at least one communications professor advises that companies should ensure that games do not get out of hand. He reasons that what might be perceived by some employees as healthy competition could create resentment among others.

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A security expert quoted in a related report by Workforce Management noted that, in addition to physical safety concerns, companies must concern themselves with "computer hacking, pre-employment screening and other types of security concerns." He also noted that businesses need crisis preparedness plans addressing all issues, and recommended that companies with sensitive data perform pre-employment background checks. However, employers conducting such checks must ensure they comply with applicable privacy and discrimination laws.

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• Nearly 75% of surveyed human resources practitioners report a negative impact on benefits due to the economy, up from 70% in 2010.
• Ninety-three percent of respondents' employers offer defined contribution pension plans, compared with only 22% that offer defined benefit pension plans.
• Health savings accounts are becoming more prevalent while HMO plans continue to decline in popularity.
• In the past five years, 25% of employers have offered housing and relocation programs (e.g., assistance selling previous home, cost-of-living differential, spouse relocation assistance), a decrease from 42% in 2007.
• Though employers may see a $6 gain on a $1 investment in wellness programs, the number of companies offering such programs has remained flat, at around 59%.

One offering showing a gain in popularity is workplace flexibility benefits: More than 50% of respondents' companies offer flex time (up from 45% in 2010), and 20% offer full-time telecommuting, up from 17 % in 2010.

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• 2011: The United States placed highest in 2011, and is projected to remain atop the rankings in 2015. However, other countries are becoming increasingly competitive, due to their greater spending on education and more open labor laws.
• 2015 Projections: China will boast the largest score improvement due to its openness to foreign labor, while Canada will experience the most dramatic rankings rise (from 14th to 8th) because of a boom in the gas and oil industries.
• Education is Key: Australia's high rankings - 6th (2011) and 7th (2015) - are attributed in large part to high-quality universities. India, which is ranked 35th in 2011 and 2015, is impressive on some indicators, but progress is impeded by its "poor standard of mainstream education."

Of the more than 400 executives surveyed, one in three are not satisfied with the quality of hires over the last two years. Compared to two years ago, executives are expending more time and resources in order to bring employees up to speed. Additionally, 41% said that management-level hires struggle to overcome challenges, a problem attributed to limited creativity. In Asia, over half of the executives believe employees' creative shortcomings prevent them from adapting to changing circumstances.

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• economic factors (pdf) such as disposable income, housing quality, and ability to hire domestic help;
• experience factors (pdf) such as quality of life, work/life balance, and ease of integrating into the local culture; and
• offspring factors (pdf) such as quality of childcare, education, and safety.

The best overall score went to Singapore, followed by Hong Kong, the United Arab Emirates, Canada, and Spain.

The top five "economic" locations were Russia, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Bermuda and Singapore.

Expats can select from a diverse range of countries rated high for best "experience." Thailand ranked first, followed by Canada, Bahrain, Spain, and South Africa.

Finally, European destinations ranked high for those with concerns about their family's welfare. With the exception of Hong Kong, the top five "offspring" countries were located in Europe. Belgium ranked first, followed by Spain, France, Hong Kong, and Germany.

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As part of this project, a series of surveys conducted in 129 countries concluded that, in 2009 and 2010, 40% of the global workforce were employed full time for an employer and 19% were underemployed. Gallup concluded that its Employed Full Time for an Employer Index has a strong positive correlation with gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, i.e., those countries with high full-time employment rates also had higher GDP per capita. Countries scoring high on Gallup's Underemployment Index tend to have lower GDP per capita. By contrast, when examined across countries, Gallup research has found "no relationship" between unemployment rates and GDP per capita.

Highlights of the surveys' findings by region include:

• Full-time employment rates ranged from 19% (Sub-Saharan Africa) to 59% (former Soviet Union).
• Underemployment rates ranged from 15% (former Soviet Union) to 31% (Sub-Saharan Africa).
• Unemployment rates ranged from 5% (Asia) to 10% (Middle East / North Africa and the Americas).

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The number of charges increased in each individual category (race, sex, national origin, religion, age, disability, retaliation, Equal Pay Act). Retaliation and race discrimination were the most prevalent charges, accounting for 36.3 and 35.9% of charges filed, respectively.

Other highlights from FY 2010 include:

• Two hundred and one charges were filed relating to the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA), which took effect in November 2009.
• Of the 30,989 charges alleging harassment, only 11,717 alleged sexual harassment, with the remainder alleging some other form of harassment, such as race harassment, national origin harassment, or religious harassment.
• The EEOC resolved 285 lawsuits for a total monetary recovery of $85 million and filed 250 new lawsuits.

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Although the slow economy is primarily responsible for the uptick in temporary worker employment, businesses offer additional justifications:

• Project Management: Many business projects are short- to medium-term and can be completed by temporary workers overseen by a full-time supervisor.
• Flexibility: Hiring and terminating temporary workers is less legally burdensome.
• Benefits: Health and retirement benefits are costly, but not required for temporary workers.

Although a surplus worker pool currently exists, when the economy picks up, many believe the environment will change, requiring businesses to make permanent offers, including benefits, to secure talent. This would be welcome news to some: a recent survey found that 68% of temporary workers are seeking permanent positions.

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Presentations at the workshop focused on programs used in Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany:

• Belgium: The "Career Break and Time Credit" scheme allows employees to take up to one year's leave from work, or significantly reduce working hours, without breaking an employment contract or endangering social security rights. The leave may be used in order to look after a child or a disabled relative, to study, or to travel.
• Netherlands: Introduced in 2006, the "life-course savings scheme" allows workers to save, untaxed, 10% of their annual income (with total savings capped at 210% of annual income) to finance a period of unpaid leave in the future, e.g., parental leave, educational leave, sabbaticals, or leave preceding retirement.
• Germany: A corporate participant discussed its programs allowing teleworking, reduced hours, or adjustment of work schedule to an employee's needs. Other initiatives at this company include offering on-site childcare services and encouraging fathers to take parental leave.

Other issues addressed at the workshop include:

• The reluctance of some EU companies and workers to utilize flexible work arrangements during an economic downturn.
• Whether flexible work programs can be sustained purely on employer and employee contributions, or if greater social protections are needed to support them.
• Regarding teleworking, the importance of ensuring that this does not become "a trap where the workers - mainly women - would be working at home while having at the same time to look after the children and care for the household."

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Kellogg's is no stranger to seasonal flexible scheduling arrangements. In past summers it has allowed workers to leave at 1 p.m. on Fridays if they had completed a full week's hours. Seventy percent of employees took advantage of the offer in 2007, and 80% of those workers reported improved job satisfaction.

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Other key findings include:

• One-quarter of businesses reported trouble with employee recruitment generally.
• Sixty-one percent of the companies stated that their cost-saving measures - redundancies, hiring and salary freezes - had increased their employees' workloads, and 53% said such measures had impaired employees' ability to manage work-related stress.

In response to these challenges, the surveyed employers are proactively attempting to remedy deficiencies by, for example, focusing on development of internal talent, and ensuring employees are prepared for critical roles.

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Although employers' concerns are not unfounded, for some businesses the benefits of using social media tools outweigh the risks. Employers can guard against the risks by developing and implementing effective social media policies. However, a Manpower survey found that 75% of employers had no policy on the use of social media in the workplace.