The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is, asintended, reshaping the benefits world but many HR managers arestruggling to stay on top of the law's many rules, though there'sno evidence of a looming implementation train wreck.

Those were the big takeaways Sunday from a report released bythe Society for Human Resource Management and a presentation byAlex Alonso, the organization's vice president of research.

Alonso said a quarter of the survey's respondents reported theywere having a tough time keeping up with the changes in the healthcare law and what is expected of them.

Employers have long complained about the complexity of the lawbut SHRM's finding is especially troubling given the short fewmonths left before full implementation of the law begins inOctober.

The nominal good news? Twenty% of those questioned said theywere having trouble understanding the details of the law vs. 31% in2010.

Alonso initially described the finding as “astonishing,” thoughhe later softened his comment, terming it merely “interesting.”

Despite these findings, he said SHRM saw no evidence of “anykind of train wreck” – which is how some critics of the law inCongress and others have described their concerns.

“It's clear there are certain perspectives about the law but Idon't think there's any looming disaster,” he said.

In fact, people are getting ahead of the law, according toSHRM's research.

For example, more employers are offering contraceptive coveragetoday rather than waiting for implementation deadlines to arriveJan. 1.

According to the study, 82% of surveyed employers now offer suchcoverage, up from 66% in 2009.

The PPACA requires that preventive services, includingbirth control, be included in new health insuranceplans.

Another provision of the law requires employers with more than50 employees to provide private space or lactation rooms fornursing mothers. The SHRM report showed that one-third of employers(34%) now have a separate lactation or mother's room that goesabove and beyond the law, an increase from 25% in 2009.

The 2013 Employee Benefits Research Report alsofound that one-quarter of employers in states that have legalizedsame-sex marriage now offer domestic partner benefits, excludinghealth care coverage. That's an increase from 15% last year and 14%in 2009.

The survey of 518 randomly selected HR professionals examines299 benefits. Among other findings:

• Employee referral bonuses are up, with 47% of surveyedorganizations now offering such bonuses, up from 38% in 2012.

• Organizations are developing their employees' skill sets withprofessional development opportunities (offered by 88% ofemployers), cross-training to develop skills not directly relatedto employees' current jobs (44%) and formal mentoring programs(20%). Offsite professional development opportunities are offeredby 85% of organizations surveyed.

• Paid-time-off plans and wellness benefits continued to increasein popularity, while housing and relocation benefits were lesscommon.

• The most commonly offered benefits were: prescription drugprogram coverage (98% of organizations offered them), paid holidays(97%), dental insurance (96%) and defined contribution retirementsavings plans (92%).

• Among health care and welfare benefits, the majority ofemployers provide mental health coverage (89%), and the most commontype of health insurance was a preferred provider organization(PPO) plan (86%).

This article was originally posted at BenefitsPro.com, a sister siteof Credit Union Times.