Archive for the 'Benefits' Category

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Mercer: Benefits Communication Foremost Solution in Turnover

Benefits communication used to engage and retain employees as economy improves

Mercer recently announced the results of their Attraction and Retention Survey, covering over 320 employers this year. These are their most valuable findings:

Better economy means higher employee turnover. As the economy and job market continue to improve, 62% of companies think employee turnover will increase as well. When employees have more options, they are less likely to be loyal unless their company puts effort into keeping them.

Published by Sophie Asmar on July 19, 2010

Benefits Education for Optimal Benefits ROI

A new study by UNUM demonstrates the power of effective benefits education. Employers with highly rated benefits education had job satisfaction rates of 88% vs. 45% for those employers with fair or poor benefits education – a difference of 43 points! Employers with effective benefits education programs enjoyed increased employee engagement, loyalty, morale and productivity – ultimately driving up the ROI of significant investments in the benefits themselves.

Here are some highlights from the study:

Published by Sophie Asmar on June 23, 2010

Open Enrollment: How Will You Communicate Medical Care Cost Increases?

While this likely won’t come as a shock to many reading this post, it appears

Benefits Communications for Delicate News

that medical care costs will once again rise at near double-digit rates in 2011. According to PriceWaterhouseCoopers’ Health Research Institute, medical care costs are expected to increase by 9% in 2011, a slight deceleration from the 9.5% rise posted in 2010.

Cost sharing has become a critical tool to help keep medical care costs affordable for both employer and employee. 2011 will be no different. Here are the key findings of the PwC report:

Published by Joe Larocque on June 17, 2010

Gallup Study Highlights Financial Wellness as a Key Determinant of Overall Wellbeing

For many employers, the term “Wellness” is used to encapsulate a philosophy or an approach to employee benefits. In other words, the goal of a benefits program is to improve the overall well-being of employees and their families.

Achieving Well-being

But what does that term wellness really mean? What are the determinants? How do you measure employee well-being and what sort of programs can you put in place to improve it?

Published by Joe Larocque on June 1, 2010

Snoopy Weighs in on Financial Wellness

MetLife released its 8^th installment of its Annual Study of Benefits Trends on Monday. In comparison to prior

Employee financial issues a central theme in this year's survey

years, the themes of employee financial security and benefits communications played a more prominent role than ever before. This was a natural emphasis given the backdrop of economic volatility and a renewed employer focus on benefits cost control.

We wanted to highlight and provide my perspective on three key points that came out of this year’s study:

Published by Joe Larocque on April 14, 2010

Financial Wellness. Why Employees Turn to their Employers.

In 2007, for the first time since MetLife began running their Annual MetLife Study of Employee Benefits Trends, more than half of employees surveyed indicated that they receive a majority of their financial products from their employer.

For most HR professionals this may seem somewhat intuitive. Prior to 2008, many employers had built out their benefits, retirement and equity programs to compete in what was considered an all out war for talent. So, it may not be surprising that the large investments that employers have made to offer a compelling total compensation package have made employers the number one source of financial products for their employees.

Published by Joe Larocque on March 29, 2010

Benefits Communications for Today’s Employee

Traditional Benefits Communications Not Reaching Today's Employee

We used to make this distinction about certain people being “web savvy” but these days it seems we’re all pretty web savvy – perhaps there is just different degrees. One of my colleagues always uses the example of his 85 year old grandfather forwarding him YouTube clips to illustrate this point.

Published by Joe Larocque on March 15, 2010

Contrasting your FSA Employee Benefit and the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit

A mainstay of employer Benefits Communications is to preach the virtues of Flexible Spending Accounts. But is there perhaps a better tax opportunity out there for your dependent care related expenses?

Published by Joe Larocque on January 12, 2010

Financial Wellness in 2010 – Open Enrollment Tips

As November fast approaches, you are likely beginning to receive important communications about Open Enrollment. If you’re like many employees, you may have already decided to just stick with your current elections – after all, they seem to have worked out well enough. This year, more than others in the past, taking a passive approach to Open Enrollment may be an expensive decision.

Published by Joe Larocque on October 25, 2009

Rethinking the 401(k) Pitch

For nearly 30 years, employees have been coached that the best way to save for retirement is to take advantage of tax deferred investing, most prominently through their 401(k) plans. This strategy has always been anchored in the hope that lower tax brackets await us during our retirement years. But current economic realities are causing many in the financial community to question whether tax deferred saving remains a healthy long term strategy for employees.

Published by JS Wolff on September 14, 2009

Financial Wellness Blog