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Happy New Year!
As 2012 begins, Prudential's Annual Study of Employee Benefits offers some insight into the Next Generation of Employee Benefits. They surveyed 1,501 employee benefit decision makers with at least 50 full-time, benefits-eligible employees.
Key Themes from this research:
-The Growing Importance of Benefits in the Workplace
-Gauging the Success of Voluntary Benefits
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The Growing Importance of Benefits in the Workplace
80% of employees view the workplace as their source for personal insurance and savings products. As economic trends continue to buffet plan participants, these benefits will take on even greater importance. Employers who offer competitive benefits packages will be able to attract employees.
Determining the best and most effective method of communicating the benefits to employees is essential. When plan participants were asked which ways their company currently communicates benefits information with them, email at the work place was the top response (65%), followed by group meetings during the work day (56%) and mail received at home (52%). These three methods are also the most preferred by employees, email at the workplace (55%), group meetings (49%), and receiving mail at home, (39%) respectively.Companies who are successful with communication find using multiple communication channels to deliver their message most effective.
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Gauging Success of Voluntary Benefits Many employers choose to offer voluntary employee benefits. They believe it helps increase their competitiveness as well as improve overall employee satisfaction. When asked to name the top advantages of voluntary benefits, nearly three-quarters of plan sponsors named the ability to provide some benefits at a lower cost than what employees could purchase outside the workplace. Plan participants also indicated they have increased interest in voluntary benefits.
Those participants most interested in purchasing a voluntary option: - Tend to have higher incomes ($75,000)
- Are less likely to be young (ages 25-34)
- Are more likely to have dependents (51% saying at least somewhat interested vs. 44% for those with no dependents)
- Tend to say employee benefits are very important
As the workforce demographic continues to evolve, often with 4 generations of employees in the same workplace, providing benefits to support all employees and effectively communicating the value of those benefits, will be the hallmark of a successful recruitment and retention strategy.
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Healthy Living News Be on the lookout for our January issue of Healthy Living News. This is a great resource to pass along to employees with tips on how to start the new year on a healthy note!
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