Financial Wellness and Benefits Communication News and Articles
UNUM Survey: Effective Benefits Education on the Decline
JUNE 2010
During a year when nearly half (45%) of employees experienced a change in their benefits, education about those benefits dropped off just when it was most needed, according to a study by Harris Interactive conducted for Unum. The online survey of 1,106 working adults shows that across every age group last year, fewer employees said they had received effective education about their benefits than in 2008. In 2008, 39% of workers gave their benefits education positive ratings. In 2009, that number dropped to 29%. Read article
PwC: Medical Cost Trends for 2011
JUNE 2010
This annual report on medical cost trends was published in June 2010 and factored the impact of many variables including the U.S. economy, which continues to emerge from a deep recession, as well as healthcare reform, which has phased-in milestones that begin in 2011. Increases in medical costs are expected to be slightly less than last year but still are projected to significantly outpace the rate of inflation raising questions about sustainability and if health reform can truly create greater efficiencies and cut costs. Read article
Gallup Highlights Money in Its Five Essential Elements of Well Being
MAY 2010
Gallup conducted a comprehensive global study of more than 150 countries, giving us a lens into the well-being of more than 98% of the world's population. From Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, we asked hundreds of questions about health, wealth, relationships, jobs, and communities. We then compared these results to how people experience their days and evaluate their lives overall. They found that financial security has much more influence on overall well-being than income alone. Read article
Obama Names April Financial Literacy Month
April 2010
President Barack Obama named April National Financial Literacy Month. The president said in a proclamation Friday, April 2nd that a better understanding of the financial system can help prevent another economic crisis. He called on Americans during April to recommit "to teaching ourselves and our children about the basics of financial education." The president used the proclamation to push his proposal for a new Consumer Financial Protection Agency, which he said would give Americans "clear and concise financial information." Read article
NBGH/Towers Watson Employer Survey Shows the Growing Popularity of CDHPs
March 2010
Amid heightened cost pressures brought about by the prolonged economic downturn, companies are assessing their health plan programs to control costs and build healthier and more productive workforces. Results from the 15th Annual National Business Group on Health/Towers Watson Employer Survey on Purchasing Value in Healthcare find that companies are taking aggressive actions to overcome these obstacles but their results vary widely.
Today, 54% of companies have a consumer-directed health plan (CDHP) in place, with another 7% of respondents planning to add one by 2011. Total-replacement CDHPs increased to 7.6% compared with 5.4% last year — an increase of more than 40%. Read article
Personal Responsibility Takes Center Stage in 2010 Deloitte Total Rewards Priorities Survey
January 2010
The results of the Deloitte Top Five Total Priority Rewards Priorities survey clearly underscores the impact of the financial crisis at both the employer level and the employee level. Motivated by concerns related to financial and job security, employees are getting their financial houses in order while increasingly participating in wellness and disease management programs. Likewise, employers are stepping up emphasis on such programs in an effort to combat rising healthcare costs year after year. The survey found that companies continue to place a strong focus on cost, making it their number one Total Rewards strategic challenge with a 15 point lead over the second ranked challenge of talent. Read article
Aetna Announces Results of a Six-Year Study of Consumer-Directed Health Plans
December 2009
The Aetna HealthFund study included 200 plan sponsors who offered an Aetna HealthFund Health Reimbursement Arrangement (HRA) and/or an Aetna HealthFund Health Savings Account (HSA). The study looked at 2.6 million members across the spectrum of Aetna medical products, including 410,000 Aetna HealthFund members. Key findings include:
- For full replacement HRA and HSA plans, employers saved $21 million per 10,000 members over the five year period.
- For employers who offer Aetna HealthFund plans as an option, they experienced savings of $7 million per 10,000 members over the five year period.
- For employers who offer Aetna HealthFund plans as an option and implemented the strategies that Aetna identified as best-in-class, they achieved savings of $23 million per 10,000 members over the five year period. Read article
Tailor made – benefits communications campaigns must be tailored to your specific employee audience
November 2009
Americans are used to sound bites - in fact, they're quite comfortable with them. Keith Kitani, CEO of GuideSpark, thinks he's found a way to harness this truncated turn at communication with a new Web 2.0 platform.
The first lesson in communication is how to say more with less, he says.
One way to do this is to allow employees to filter their own information by choosing when and how to absorb information about their benefits.
"People are getting used to accessing information in a variety of different learning styles - from highly structured to informal. With the Web, they can get information the way [and the order in which] they want to. They can control the learning experience," says Kitani.
He suggests using video portals that can be searched and skipped in any order the employee or their spouse desires, and allowing workers to ask questions via e-mail or phone through a call center.
"Most employees get over 50% of their health and financial services from their company now. It's important for people to start thinking about it across both. The 401(k) vendor and the healthcare vendor have education, but they tend to be more focused around their piece," says Kitani. "Nobody starts to take a look at education holistically in a very comfortable format, and that's what we're trying to provide for companies." Read article
Financially Literate Workers Feel Secure
August 2009
Human resource managers report a surge in requests for emergency loans from cash-strapped employees. Even if employers oblige, such loans don't address the root cause of the problem. There are more preventive steps that firms can take to assist workers. Many organizations offer educational programs that employers can make available to their workers. These programs include on-site financial seminars, online tutorials and one-on-one phone coaching from a credit counselor or other money expert. Some financial education firms, such as GuideSpark in Los Altos, Calif., offer Web-based lessons on dozens of topics. "We've built more than 50 online multimedia programs that are each eight to 10 minutes," said John Wolff, co-founder of GuideSpark. "We've found employees like shorter lessons." Read article
Employee Financial Problems Cost Employers $4.5 Billion Annually
JULY 2009
As more Americans face financial distress, small businesses are trying to find solutions that benefit employees and companies alike. Workers' money problems manifest on the job in poor performance and turnover. While it's hard to measure the toll that personal financial woes take on employers, one estimate from the Personal Finance Employee Education Foundation put it as high as $4.5 billion annually—the cost of missed time, hours on the phone with creditors, and low performance because of stress, for example. Janet Raffel, a Chicago consultant on workforce development, estimates that a financially unstable worker can cost a business as much as $480 per month in lost productivity and absenteeism. Read article
Education is Needed for Consumerism to Survive
JULY 2009
CIGNA Choice Fund account-based CDHPs reduced medical cost trends by 13% relative to HMO and PPO plans, according to a recent multi-year study that compares the health-care claims experience of nearly 440,000 covered lives. The principal conclusion was that CDHP enrollees were more apt to use more preventive services and comply with their medical treatments. However, in order for this concept to thrive, much less survive hard times, industry observers say better employee education and plan designs will be needed. A move to consumerism will fail unless employers actively engage their workforce in a meaningful conversation about why the change is being adopted and how the concept works, cautions Paul Fronstin, EBRI's Director of the Health Research Program. Read article
Employers Add Financial Components to Wellness Programs
May 2009
Wellness programs and financial education aren’t new to the workplace. But in recent years, companies have been marrying these two concepts. Read article
MetLife Study Reveals Impact of Troubled Economy on American Financial Stability
March 9, 2009
Work - and the paycheck and benefits associated with it - is the linchpin holding together the American dream, according to The 2009 MetLife Study of the American Dream, which was released today. A disturbing 50% of Americans say they are only one month - or only two paychecks - or less away from not being able to meet their financial obligations if they were to lose their job, and more than half of these, a startling 28% of the total respondents, couldn't survive financially for more than two weeks. Even the "mass affluent" - those making $100,000+ in income per year - aren't immune with more than one-quarter (29%) saying that they couldn't meet their financial obligations for more than one month following a job loss. Read article
Increased Participation in Tax Advantaged Benefits Lower Costs
March 2009
In a volatile market, employee benefits can provide that extra layer of security not only for employees, but also for employers searching for ways to generate cost savings and do more with less. Read article
2009 Top Five Total Rewards Priorities Survey
February 2009
The tug of war between rewards costs and attracting key talent rages on among employers. Containing healthcare costs is now the No. 1 Total Rewards strategic challenge facing organizations today, cited by 68 percent of respondents. Read article
The Impact of the Recent Financial Crisis on 401(k) Account Balances
February 2, 2009
The average workplace retirement savings account balance declined by 27% in 2008. Going into 2008, nearly 40% of people aged 56-65 had more than 70% of their 401(k) invested in equities and almost 25% had more than 90% of their balances in stocks. Read article
Education to Promote Employee Financial Well-Being: What's the Role for Employers?
2009
Researchers have found that financial distress spills over into the workplace, contributing to such work-related occurrences as personal finance-work conflict, lower organizational commitment, less pay satisfaction, work time wasted dealing with personal finances, more absenteeism, and poorer health. Read article
SHRM RESEARCH - Employees' Financial Stresses
January 8, 2009
In the previous 12 months, SHRM members have seen a 26 percent increase in employees having their wages garnished by collection agencies; a 39 percent increase in requests for 401 (k) plan loans; a 20 percent increase in requests for pay advances; and a 14 percent jump in employees reporting having lost their homes. All are symptoms of the very real impact of our troubled economy. Read article
Stress Affects Health and Coping Behaviors According to the American Psychological Association
October 7, 2008
In June 2008, more people reported physical and emotional symptoms due to stress than they did in 2007, and nearly half of adults reported that their stress has increased in the past year. More people report fatigue, feelings of irritability or anger and lying awake at night as a result of stress, in addition to other symptoms including lack of interest or motivation, feeling depressed or sad, headaches and muscular tension. Almost half of Americans reported overeating or eating unhealthy foods to manage stress, while one in four skipped a meal in the last month because of stress. Almost one-fifth of Americans report drinking alcohol or smoking to manage their stress. Read article
2008 Employer Health Benefits survey reveals High Deductible Healthcare plan enrollments remain low at 8%
September 24, 2008
This annual survey of employers provides a detailed look at trends in employer-sponsored health coverage, including changes in premiums, employee contributions, cost-sharing provisions, and other relevant information. Read article
Survey finds limited number of employers believe employees have a good understanding of benefits
September 22, 2008
More than 90 percent of employers who responded said it was important to their business that employees understand and appreciate the value of their benefits. Only 21 percent of employers think their employees have a good understanding of their benefits. Nearly 5 percent think their employees know nothing at all about their benefits. Read article
Can worrying about the health of your bank account really make you sick?
August 12, 2008
Those who report high levels of debt stress suffer from a range of stress-related illnesses including ulcers, migraines, back pain, anxiety, depression, and heart attacks. Read article
MetLife Survey Reveals that a Majority of U.S. Employees Get a Majority of their Financial Products from their Employers
March 23, 2008
In 2007, for the first time since MetLife began running their annual benefits survey, over half of employee respondents indicated that they receive the majority of their financial and health products from their employer. This was also true in 2008. The study also revealed that 38% of employees were interested in receiving financial planning advice at work and 41% consider their workplace benefits to be the foundation of their financial safety net10. Read article
Study estimates that workplace financial education and assistance programs can generate a return on investment of 3:1.
February 2007
Employers can expect a 3:1 return on investment from workplace financial education assistance programs through greater employee awareness of personal financial issues and the value of employer benefit programs. Read article
The Financial Distress of Today's Worker
March 23, 2005
30 Million Workers in America—One in Four—Are Seriously Financially Distressed and Dissatisfied Causing Negative Impacts on Individuals, Families, and Employers. Read article