Archive for the 'Financial Wellness' Category

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Benefits Communication ROI: FSA Enrollment

Better education leads to higher FSA enrollment, which saves employers money on taxes.

Good benefits communication can raise employee Flexible Spending Account enrollment by 20% or more, a recent study found. The benefits of an FSA may be obvious to the seasoned HR Director, but not all employees – or employers – know how valuable these accounts can be.

Both employee and employer enjoy significant tax savings when FSAs are used. Employees save on federal and FICA taxes, plus any additional state and local taxes on medical items paid for through their FSA.

Published by Sophie Asmar on November 23, 2010

Financial Wellness Makes the “Mega-Trends” List

If you’re a student of employee wellness programs, and if you’re reading this blog, I can assume that you are, you might be interested in a recent Employee Benefits News Blog that breaks down the “7 Emerging

Mega-Trends That Will Change Wellness Communication… Forever.”

Financial Wellness is a Key Component of your Wellness Strategy

Published by Joe Larocque on October 25, 2010

When It Comes to Benefits Communications, Choose your Words Carefully

Some interesting words of advice from Frank Luntz, the American political consultant and pollster at the EBN Benefits Forum & Expo. “Communication matters, language matters,” said the Fox News Channel commentator and analyst in Boca Raton, Fla. “You can put all the effort into policies that you do, but if you don’t have the right words in the right order, then nobody understands it.”

Tips for Benefits Communications

Published by Joe Larocque on October 7, 2010

The Guardian Weighs in on the Life Insurance Educational Challenge

Have you heard? It’s Life Insurance Awareness Month…and soon it will be Open Enrollment. Getting employees to focus on these issues, particularly the younger ones, can be a sizable challenge. Guardian offered a few tips this month to help ensure employees recognize the need for life insurance and take advantage of workplace opportunities for coverage:

The Life Insurance Educational Challenge

Make sure that employees and family decision makers have easy access to educational materials and enrollment forms

Published by Joe Larocque on September 28, 2010

Employees Taking on the Burden of Rising Health Care Costs

A new study was released by the Kaiser Family Foundation showing that employees are continuing to shoulder a larger share of their health care costs. Here are 5 key takeaways that give the substance of the report:

Since 2005, workers’ contributions to premiums have rose 47%, while overall premiums increased 27%, wages jumped 18%, and inflation spiked 12%;
Higher Premiums, Less Comprehensive Coverage
U.S. workers saw the cost of their health care coverage jump by 14% over 2009 rates;

Published by Joe Larocque on September 15, 2010

Financial Wellness – Breaking Down the Barriers to Adoption

In a new study conducted by the Personal Financial Employee Education Foundation (PFEEF) and Employee Benefits News (EBN), 70% of respondents thought that workplace financial education is important or extremely important to the overall level of productivity in their organization.

Other notable findings included:

51% of employers surveyed saw an increase in employee wage garnishments
42% of employers surveyed saw an increase in employee emergency loans
34% employers surveyed saw an increase in employee requests for time off to deal with personal financial issues

Published by Joe Larocque on August 27, 2010

The Latest Symptom of Poor Employee Financial Health – 401(k) Loans/Hardship Withdrawals

Fidelity Investments recently reported a drastic increase in 401(k) hardship withdrawals and loans during the second quarter this year. Over the last 12 months, 11% of active participants initiated a loan, up 2% from the year prior. Some additional statistics offered by the study included:

Retirement Plan Loans Symptomatic of Financial Health Issues

During the second quarter, 62,000 participants initiated a hardship withdrawal, as compared to 45,000participants who initiated one during the prior quarter;

Published by Joe Larocque on August 26, 2010

Financial Wellness – A Key Hiring Criteria?

An amazing 60% of companies used candidates’ credit reports to help make hiring decisions in 2009, according to a recent Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) poll.

So, the natural question is why a credit score of all things would be used to evaluate a prospective employee?

One likely reason might be that employers worry that a poor credit score indicates a lack of responsibility that could ultimately translate into poor performance.

Credit score indicative of a poor performer?

Published by Joe Larocque on August 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

Financial Wellness Eases Presenteeism – Digging Into the Numbers

Historically, presenteeism has been a word used to describe sick employees

Financial Wellness ROI

who “tough it out” and come to work but operate far below normal productivity. But, there are many types of presenteeism. There could be any number of reasons why an employee checks out and productivity suffers. And, while presenteeism is a relatively new term, you likely have some established policies in place for helping employees stay focused at work. For instance, over half of US companies have blocked access to Facebook, Twitter and MySpace. Presenteeism, in its entirety, is a huge productivity issue that far exceeds that of absenteeism.

Published by Joe Larocque on June 9, 2010

Financial Wellness Blog