How do Fortune 100 Best Places to Work communicate open enrollment changes and engage employees on benefit-related topics?
Adobe Systems and Meridian Health have both ranked on the FORTUNE 100 Best Places to Work in recent and multiple years. Both are leading organizations in their respective industries. And both have embraced the trend of using video as an integral part of their benefits communications strategies.
Making its home amongst scores of other technology companies, GuideSpark recently relocated to its new home at:
1000 Elwell Court, Suite #225
Palo Alto, CA 94303
Positioned a stone’s throw from the scenic marshlands of the San Francisco Bay, our new offices have everything a growing company needs, including scores of handy parking spaces, easy access to the freely flowing 101, and a short drive to salubrious downtown Mountain View.
Now if we could just figure out where to eat lunch…
Engage employees with video and social media
Video and social media are the way to engage employees these days, says Brian Baker, Vice President at Aon Hewitt Consultants, in a recent interview with Benefits TV.
Baker discusses balancing the “tell” with the “show” by crafting benefits messages using video.
Aon Hewitt presents their four Cs to an effective strategy for employee benefits communications and change management-through-engagement. They recommend utilizing video and social mediums to disseminate communications that are:
Employees seek retirement advice from their employers
A majority of people have agreed they would like more guidance from their employer about how to achieve retirement goals according to the 11th Annual Transamerica Retirement Survey.
Perhaps not surprisingly, employees with a higher overall education level are more likely to be financially well in retirement. Only 63% of employees with only a high school diploma participated in a retirement plan, as opposed to 84% of those with a college degree.
40-52% of workers are delaying their retirement.
70 is the “new 65,” according to Sun Life Financial. Their Unretirement Index, along with Towers Watson’s 2010 Global Workforce Study, show that 40-52% of Americans will delay their retirement due to ill financial health.
Towers Watson found 68% of those workers will continue working in order to keep their health care coverage, while 61% cited their lacking 401(k) plans as the reason for staying. Sun Life found that only 25% are “very confident” they will be able to cover medical expenses in retirement.
Voluntary benefits are ineffective without proper education.
Conceptually, offering voluntary benefits has a lot of attractive qualities for employers. In fact, 65% of employees said their voluntary benefits made them feel more loyal at work. But is simply offering them enough?
Voluntary benefits are ineffective without proper education, according to MetLife’s 2010 research and survey. These are valuable options for employees and employers alike, yet they are shrouded with misconception.
Consider the following statistics found in the recent studies:
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.
Over half (53%) of large U.S. employers are making changes to their 2011 health plans in order to accommodate the new Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, according to a survey by the National Business Group on Health.
Providers face rising health care costs but still must supply the legally required amount of care. To do so, 63% of employers who are changing plan details have decided to raise the percentage that employees contribute to the premium, while 46% aim to raise out-of-pocket maximums. Another 61% will be offering consumer-directed health plans, or CDHPs, which are a proven method of increasing consumer flexibility while cutting costs.
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?
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:
