Study: Communicating Benefits to Employees? Better Do It in Person

We've already shared with you that employees have trouble understanding their benefits. But has there been research done to reveal solutions to the problem?

Gallagher Benefit Services recently released its 2012 Benefit Plan Report, which includes information based on a survey of 264 regional employers employing over 135,000 people.

Many interesting topics were discussed; this post focuses on one in particular: Methods used by employers to communicate benefits to employees and their perceived levels of effectiveness.

The methods used are not surprising. Email tops the list with 95.4% of respondents utilizing it to tell employees about their benefits; group employee meetings follow at 81.8%; and webcasts come in last at 40.5%. But what is surprising, at least to this blogger, is how little faith the respondents have in any of the mediums used.

Only one method received a “very effective” response of over 25%: one-on-one employee meetings, at 42.1%. In terms of combined “very effective” and “effective” responses, only one method received over 80%—again, one-on-one employee meetings. These are the methods that received a combined total of over 50%:

Links You Can Use: August 6-10

It's all about the numbers (lists of easy tips, interesting stats, and money management) in this week's "links you can use."

You don't have to earn a degree in organizational psychology to improve employee morale and engagement. Here are five quick ways to bring positive psychology to the workplace. (Forbes)

A growing trend? A survey of 2,000 employers (with a total of over 20 million workers) revealed that over half offer wellness incentives to improve employees' health and to control healthcare costs. (HR.BLR.com)

A professor from the Harvard Extension School lays down six principles of business ethics. (Huffington Post)

Why Employers Should Care About Employees Who Are Caregivers (Part 2)

In our previous blog post, we talked about why some workers caring for children with special needs may require more health care and lose time and focus at work. But demanding caregiving needs are not just limited to parents of children with special needs.

An increasing number of employees are now also caring for older adults. In fact, nearly 55 million Americans care for an older adult, and 42% of workers reported caring for an older loved one within the last five years. (1)

Research from the MetLife Mature Market Institute and National Alliance for Caregiving (2) revealed the following:

• Each year, employers lose up to $33.6 billion in lost productivity as a result of full-time workers having to provide care to older adults.
• Employers lose an average of $2,110 annually per each full-time employed caregiver.
• The costs are due to employee replacement, absenteeism, partial absenteeism (coming in late, leaving work early), workday interruptions, eldercare crises, supervisor time (supervisors spending more time at work), unpaid leave*, and workers going from full-time to part-time.

*The Family and Medical Leave Act entitles eligible employees to job-protected, unpaid leave for a certain number of days per year. However, employers still have to pay for temporary employees and reassignments.

General population trends show that the aging Baby Boomer generation will continue to require care from loved ones, including those who work full-time or part-time. And many workers experience a knowledge gap when it comes to managing and paying for care.

Links You Can Use: July 16-20

Happy Friday! Here is your week's Links You Can Use.

Unsure about a grammar rule or the correct use of a phrase? Grammar Girl gives you great writing advice via blog posts and podcasts. (Quick and Dirty Tips)

A study on job benefits reveals that employees may need to be educated more about 401(k)s and other types of employer-sponsored savings benefits. (Employee Benefit News)

Why Employers Should Care About Employees Who Are Caregivers (Part 1)

What could be causing millions of people to be called away from work, decrease their work hours, or force them to leave the workforce altogether? Research shows that it’s caregiving for children with special needs or older adults.

Today, caregiving needs have become more demanding, and the costs to businesses come in the form of higher healthcare claims and lost productivity.

In this special two-part post about caregiving, we’ll talk about employees’ caregiving challenges, costs to employers, and what employers can do about it. Part 1 will focus on the challenges unique to caring for children with special needs.

Caregiving for Children With Special Needs

Almost 14% of all children under age 18 in the United States have a special healthcare need (a chronic or severe health or mental health problem that requires more intensive or specialized care than children normally require), according to a 2008 study by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (1)
 

Voluntary Benefits: The Next Big Thing?

The always-interesting MetLife Study of Employee Benefits Trends just hit its tenth anniversary and includes a “Then and Now” section discussing what a difference a decade makes—and doesn’t make.

One of the most interesting findings is this:

Ten years ago employees expected benefits, but were far less engaged in their true value. Today, new economic realities are driving employees to more fully appreciate the coverages that their employers provide – even if they have to pay more of the costs themselves. [Emphasis mine.]

In addition: Younger workers entered the workforce at a time when employers were starting to shift both cost and risk to employees. Perhaps because of this experience, younger generations do not appear to have the same sense of entitlement for employer-paid benefits as older workers. As a result, almost two-thirds (62%) of younger workers are willing to bear more of the cost of their benefits rather than lose them.

Benefits Communication Could Use a Boost

In a recent ADP survey, 500 HR decision-makers estimated that only about 40% of their employees understand their benefits, though 80% of the HR leaders said that it’s important for employees to know how their benefits work. It’s hard to tell which of these figures is more remarkable—though it’s not a stretch to believe that nearly half of employees are thought to lack clarity about one of the most important parts of their financial (and sometimes their medical) lives.

Benefits education couldn’t be more critical than it is now, given the move toward “consumerism” in health benefits, such as high-deductible, account-based consumer-directed health plans (CDHPs) (that’s a mouthful even for benefits planners). Skyrocketing healthcare costs and healthcare reform are driving a need for employees and their benefits decision-makers at home to take on more responsibility for understanding, navigating, and sharing more of the cost for increasingly complex health coverage options and other benefits.