Employment Resources

Health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs) and health savings accounts (HSAs) share important characteristics: Both allow for tax-free reimbursement of medical expenses and both can encourage employees to have more awareness of how they’re spending their health care dollars, and thus develop more conscious health care consumerism. However, HRAs and HSAs differ in a number of important ways. Therefore, if you are considering adding some type of health care account to your health benefits program, you should exercise care and be sure to understand the ins and outs of both types of accounts, so as to choose the one that is a better fit for your company, as well as your employees.

The following are some of the points that distinguish HRAs from HSAs:

Funding. Only the employer contributes to an HRA (the HRA is a notional account, with contributions made to cover claims as they are incurred). The employer, the employee, or both contribute to an HSA, which is set up as a trust or custodial account. Contributions to both HRAs and HSAs are tax-advantaged (as a deductible business expense for the employer, or made on a pretax basis by the employee; and employer contributions are not taxable to the employee).

Design requirements and flexibility. HSAs must be offered in conjunction with a high-deductible health plan, and are subject to annual account limits and limits on annual out-of-pocket expenses. HRAs do not have these requirements. Other than preventive care, an HSA will cover expenses according to the accompanying high-deductible health plan’s deductible and copay requirements. In contrast, the employer can design coverage features in the HRA as it chooses and, for example, provide first-dollar coverage for selected benefits (or providers).

Unspent money and portability. An HSA is an account owned by the employee. As such, unused amounts stay in the account year to year, with no limit on accumulations, and the account goes with the employee when leaving the company. With an HRA, the employer will determine by plan design whether unused funds roll over from year to year, and whether employees will receive any remaining account balances upon termination (and, generally, they do not).

So which type of fund makes the most sense for your company? Consider what you are trying to accomplish through the account. Both HRAs and HSAs can encourage conscientious health care spending. However, because unused funds carry over year to year, stay with employees when they leave your employment, and may involve the employee’s own money – all factors which generate a feeling of having a greater stake in the money – HSAs are likely to make employees most conscious of their health care spending. The selling point for many employers that choose an HRA is flexibility, in design and in funding. An employer can link an HRA to a health plan of its choosing-and not just a high-deductible health plan-and tinker with HRA design to encourage/discourage use of certain services or providers. Furthermore, an HRA can be easier on a company’s cash flow, since regular contributions are not required and claims are reimbursed as they are incurred.

Both an HRA and an HSA can add a new dimension to your health plan program, in addition to creating the prospect of saving money on your company’s health plan costs. Carefully consider what you are trying to accomplish through the account, and how it fits in with your health benefits and overall benefits program. Regardless of which approach you take, it’s likely to be a new way to look at health care for your employees, so be sure to use comprehensive communications when implementing any changes.

Workplace-based retirement savings plans, such as 401(k) plans, play a crucial role in ensuring retirement income security for U.S. workers. These plans have risen in prominence, as traditional pension plans now cover a shrinking number of workers, and as the future of Social Security continues to be questioned. But as they say with the Lottery, “You gotta play to win,” and a 401(k) plan isn’t worth much unless workers enroll and contribute. 401(k) plan features, design and communications can make or break the success of a plan, so if your company’s employees aren’t flocking to the plan as you expected them to, it might be time to consider where improvements could be made.

Automatic Enrollment. Almost unheard of as recently as a decade ago, this plan feature quickly has become recognized as one of the most effective ways to have an immediate, positive impact on plan participation. According to a report from the SPARK Institute (a coalition of retirement plan service providers and investment managers), the national average participation rate in 401(k) plans increased from an estimated 75% to between 85% and 95% when automatic enrollment was used. Among workers with incomes of less than $30,000, the increase was more dramatic – 44% to 80% – as it was among younger workers (age 25-34) – 56% to 86%.

A survey from Aon Hewitt indicates employers are well aware of the foregoing statistics, with 57% of plans using automatic enrollment in 2010 (up from 24% in 2006), and 36% of the remaining plans expecting to add it for 2011. Related plan features like automatic escalation and automatic rebalancing also are gaining prominence among plan sponsors: 47% of surveyed employers automatically increase participant contributions (up from 17% in 2006), and 26% of the remaining employers were likely to add it in 2011; 49% use automatic rebalancing, with one-third of the rest expecting to add it for 2011.

Employer Match. Traditionally, an employer match has been considered one of the most effective ways to boost plan participation. Research from Watson Wyatt examined the effect of the match rate (the percentage of the first dollar of an employee’s pay that the employer matches). Increasing the match rate from 25% to 50% increases average participation by roughly eight percentage points, according to the research. Employees are 15% more likely to participate in a plan with a 75% match than in a plan with a 25% match. If an employer offers a 100% match, employees are almost 20 percentage points more likely to participate

Other research from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that among lowest income workers, an employer match had little effect on plan participation, but among middle-income workers a match had effects that might be greater than the effects of automatic enrollment.

Financial Education Programs. Richer education programs can raise participation rates to an estimated 84%, compared with 62% in firms with very basic plan communications, according to the Watson Wyatt research. “Rich” education programs encompass comprehensive financial education, retirement projections, and the availability of Web-based planning tools. The research indicated that financial education had significant effects on all workers, but particularly on those at low earnings levels.

Appropriate Investment Choices. Although providing too many investment options can be overwhelming for participants, providing too few can give employees a reason to invest their money elsewhere. Increasingly, plans are offering help to employees to pick the funds that are right for them. Aon Hewitt found that 56% of the employers it surveyed included online investment guidance in their plans, and 83% offered target-date funds.

• The Best of the Rest. Other plan design features might not be documented by research to increase employee interest in the plan, but common sense indicates they should reduce barriers to enrollment. By eliminating, or at least shortening, the waiting period to enter the plan, you showcase the benefits of plan participation during orientation meetings (and use the excitement of being a new employee to encourage enrollment). By providing loan and hardship withdrawal options, you negate the concern of reluctant employees that they won’t be able to get to their money in an emergency.
• Many opportunities are available to employers interested in creating more employee interest in the company 401(k) plan. Look at design and communications options, and try those that seem to be a good fit for your workforce, and for the goals you have for the plan.

Common sense tells us that understanding a situation can enable us to take charge and make informed decisions, which in turn increases the likelihood that we will be satisfied with the results. This wisdom applies to employees and their benefits: Employees who are well-informed about the details of their benefits offerings are more apt to choose the benefits appropriate for them—those they most need and actually use—and thus be happier and more satisfied with their benefits packages. Survey results verify this, providing added motivation to employers to beef up their employee benefit plan communications.

A survey from Harris Interactive and Charlton Consulting Group indicates that most employees do not understand the full value of their salary and benefits, which can lead to dissatisfaction with their compensation package, and with their employer and working situation overall. According to this survey, 51% of workers believe that their employer pays 30% or less for employee benefits, such as health care, life, disability and retirement. However, the Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics puts employers’ contributions at 43%, over and above wages, for employee benefits.

That survey also found a correlation between employees’ understanding of and their satisfaction with their total compensation, with 75% of the employees who said they are very satisfied with their benefits also saying they have at least quite a bit of understanding about their benefits package. Such a correlation also was found in a survey from Univers Workplace Benefits and Employee Benefit News. According to that survey, employees who are knowledgeable about their benefits are almost 30% more likely to be satisfied with the benefit plans offered.

How do these indicators play out in the day-to-day workings of companies? According to the Univers survey, companies that have high employee satisfaction with benefits are 86% more likely to say that benefits positively affect their recruitment and retention efforts. Further, firms with employees who are knowledgeable about their benefits are two-thirds more likely than other firms to report turnover rates of under 20%.

Clearly, effective communications yield positive results, not only for employees, who are empowered to choose and use benefits wisely, but also for employers, who are likely to see a more stable and motivated workforce as a result of satisfied employees. Key elements of effective employee benefits communications include:

• Establishing a specific budget item for benefits communications and funding it adequately.
• Enabling those employees responsible for benefits communications to stay abreast of the latest trends and technologies by investing in their training.
• Creating a benefits communications strategy, a plan for implementation, and benchmarks against which to measure success.
• Using multiple types of media to recognize that everyone learns in different ways, and that some employees will respond to printed materials, others to visual displays, and still others to oral communications such as meetings.
• To the extent possible, targeting communications to individual employees and employee demographic groups.
• Recognizing the difference that one-on-one communications can make to some employees and trying to build time into the communications plan to allow for this.

Remember that effective communications are not a one-shot deal; messages sometimes must be repeated often, albeit in different ways and through different media, to truly take hold with the listener. The result can be employees who are more satisfied, not only with their benefits but with their employer overall, which can lead to a more stable, more productive workplace.

My grandmother once told me that she would save her allowance all month to walk three miles to the soda fountain for a single milkshake. From ready-made foods at the market, to the fast-food drive by, to diet pills purporting instant and effortless weight loss, our culture today is all about instant gratification and results. The basic fact that not everything is obtained without an effort and/or wait seems to be a lost concept.

When it comes to a person changing their mindset to adopt healthy habits and rid unhealthy habits, results and gratification take time. It takes a commitment and constant effort to succeed at losing weight, exercising regularly, tobacco cessation, and other habit changes. If they’re to be successful, workplace wellness programs not only need to recognize the above, but also to understand what elements will engage employees over the long-term.

Let’s say you’ve hosted a health benefits presentation on active lifestyles and eating right. The employee turnout is high, and you had a lot of sincere interest from your employees. However, you observe a week later that very few have made any of the recommended changes. Within a few months, even most of those that made an attempt are back to their regular routines.

The above is an all too common scenario that confirms the reality that most people are more well-intentioned than self-motivated. Therefore, motivation should be one of the key elements provided by your wellness initiatives. Here are a few tips to help you inject motivation into your workforce:

• Make the experience personal for employees by offering a health risk assessment that will show an employee their own unique health risks and what steps he/she can take to address each risk.
• Completion of the assessment and any resulting follow-up recommendations should be tied to the health risk assessment incentives you’re offering, such as reduced health plan premiums.
• Keeping in mind that an individual must be willing, ready, and able to make a behavior change, you might focus on those that express a desire to make positive lifestyle changes. Aside from offering incentives, you might also help employees see the risks of failing to make positive changes, such as by posting charts with comparative lifespan stats on individuals that are smokers and non-smokers; pre-hypertensive, hypertensive, and of normal blood pressure; and are overweight, obese, and of normal weight.
• Provide/encourage support system structures, such as employee-based walking clubs, sponsoring a biggest loser competition, subsidies for joining certain fitness centers, or newsletter articles featuring health-successful employees.

Change is rarely easy for any of us. Employers must be careful that they don’t get so caught up in the black and white of a wellness program that they forget to address what will make or break it – human nature.

As health care costs continue to rise each year, employers also continue seeking methods to curb overspending. One such method is particularly appealing because it doesn’t entail plan redesign, plan cutbacks, changing vendors, or cost shifting. It simply involves ensuring that only those eligible are receiving plan coverage and having their claims paid. This can be accomplished by using a dependent eligibility audit to monitor dependent eligibility, as it allows overspending and coverage errors to be caught.

From employee oversight, poor record keeping, unintentional error, to fraud, there are many reasons why someone ineligible for plan coverage might still be on the plan roll. Often times there are ineligible dependent children past the age of majority; a divorced spouse; or a grown child that was eligible due to a student status, but isn’t currently attending school still on a plan roll. Then, there is COBRA notice requirement and continuation of rights compliance. This could be relevant if a once eligible individual has lost their eligibility status during a qualifying event.

In any event, these ineligible individuals add up when they are maintained as eligible and are thereby having claims paid that shouldn’t be paid. The employer is incurring potentially high overspending and unnecessary added cost by doing allowing such to continue.

The eligibility audit, mentioned above, can help the employer determine if their plan is carrying any person that isn’t eligible. For example, an eligibility audit can catch those enrolled as dependents that don’t actually meet the plans written requirements for what constitutes an eligible dependent, thereby alerting the employer that this individual should be removed from the roll. The audit process will include asking eligible employees with enrolled dependents to provide proof (such as a domestic partnership affidavit, a marriage license, certificate of birth, decree of adoption, Social Security disability determination, or current college transcript) confirming that the dependent does actually meet the plan’s written dependent status requirements.

The employer will need to decide beforehand if the audit should be applied concerning all plan members or only in specific areas, such as verifying specific dependent classes (only college students for example.) The employer will also need to determine beforehand what types verifications of dependent eligibility will be required and whether it will need to be an original or copy of the documentation. Determining who will be responsible for examining and verifying the documentation is also an important consideration. If contracted out verses done within the internal human resource or benefits department, the audit is often more costly.

Aside from having a direct impact on what the audit will cost, all of the above decisions directly impact the quality of the results.

Two last important elements are deciding a time frame for the audit and whether an amnesty period will be offered. Often times the audit time frame will run congruent with the benefits re-enrollment/ renewal period. This also allows employees already thinking about their coverage to make any appropriate changes that have been neglected in the past. The employer should also determine whether an amnesty period will be offered to allow employees to report ineligible dependents and not have adverse consequences as a result. Whatever is decided, the employer must be sure to clearly communicate to their employers what the dependent eligibility standards are, what documentation will be needed to verify a dependent eligibility status, and what the consequences will be for ineligible dependent continuation.

An eligibility audit not only offers a considerable amount of immediate health plan cost-savings, it also provides an opportunity for the employer to review plan provisions related to dependent eligibility. Sometimes the definitions need to be clarified or revised.

Unum is a Fortune 500 company and one of the leading providers of Disability, Long-Term Care, Life, Voluntary, and Disability benefits. In 2010, the company looked at data concerning their long-term disability claims. Unum found that cancer has been the top cause of long-term disability claims within their company during the past 10 years.

There have long been questions regarding the workplace and cancer, but elements like early detection and more advanced treatment options have greatly changed the direction of such questions. It wasn’t that long ago that a worker diagnosed with cancer didn’t have high odds of ever returning to work. Today, just the fact that cancer treatments have become more effective has resulted in improved return-to-work rates for those diagnosed with the more commonly seen types of cancer.

Unum found that cancer was the causative factor in around 14% of their long-term disability claims during the past 10 years. The data showed that back injuries, at 12% of the claims, and other injuries, at 9% of the claims, were among the other most frequently seen causes of long-term disability claims in 2010. However, a comparison of Unum’s 2001 and 2010 long-term disability claims found that a larger percentage of the cancer claimants returned to work in 2010 than they did in 2001. Some of the cancer-specific return-to-work percentages included:

• Breast cancer – 52% in 2010, 47% in 2001
• Prostate cancer – 30% in 2010, 28% in 2001
• Colon cancer – 30% in 2010, 23% in 2001

Most workers are actually highly motivated to return to work following a cancer diagnosis. At a time when the person is emotionally, physically, and mentally overwhelmed, returning to work can help provide a sense of control and normalcy. Of note, the data also showed that the return-to-work rates for breast cancer sufferers on short-term disability doubled during the past 10 years, increasing from 28.8% in 2001 to 60% in 2010. The Unum data showed that other leading causes of short-term disability claims in 2010 included the following:

• Pregnancy (22%)
• Injuries (9%)
• Digestive disorders (7%)

In recent years, employers across the United States have been paying more and more attention to promoting the wellness of their employees. One way that many employers are focusing on the wellness of their employees is by offering a workplace wellness program. The mutual benefits that a workplace wellness program offers to employees and employers alike is just one of the many reasons that these programs are becoming so popular. As any employer knows all too well, healthy workers take fewer sick days. Healthier employees are also more happy, better able to focus on their job duties, and more productive on the job. As the cost of health care continues to rise, employers are desperately searching for ways to get a handle on the cost of employee health benefits. Of course, a healthy employee doesn’t make as many doctor visits and is certainly less apt to need costly medical procedures, treatments, medications, and/or surgeries.

Employers are also constantly seeking innovative ways to attract and retain valuable employees. The benefits that wellness programs offer can help boost employee morale and keep retention rates high. Plus, giving employees more opportunity to socialize in settings outside the office, such as through a weight management program or an exercise class, often makes them more likely to work well together during their working hours. Offering a wellness program can also help an employer compete for new hires by offering an attractive perk. In fact, some potential employees have actually come to expect wellness programs to be part of their prospective employer’s benefit offerings.

The American Journal of Health Promotion recently conducted a study on wellness programs. It showed that the companies involved in the study saw their company’s wellness programs decrease utilization of health care benefits by 26%, sick leave by 28% or more, and workers’ compensation claim numbers by 30% over the last year. This is just one of the many studies showing that companies offering wellness programs and proactively encouraging their employees to make healthier lifestyle choices are seeing results when it comes to areas like reducing the risk of work-related injuries and controlling employee benefits cost.

Employers have an array of options when it comes to setting up an employer-sponsored wellness program. Some companies are choosing to hire coaches and consulting groups to come in and design and/or run their wellness program. Other companies are opting to create and manage the wellness program on their own. The program’s features are also versatile and can include any of the following features:

• On-site fitness facilities
• Massage therapy
• On-site exercise classes
• Smoking cessation support and incentives
• Confidential consultations with health coaches
• Stress reduction classes
• Nutrition classes
• Workplace safety education
• Weight management
• Stretching sessions
• Health risk evaluations
• Walk/run tracks and bike trails near or on-site
• On-the-clock exercise time
• On-site injury rehab and training

Some employers have even extended the offerings of their wellness program to the families of their employees. After all, one of the best ways to ensure workers are staying fit and healthy is by getting their entire family involved in the fitness and good nutrition lifestyle.

Overall, employees generally have an extremely favorable response to the valuable benefits they receive from a wellness program. The countless family, social, and work responsibilities that most people need to keep up with on a daily basis can be challenging and overwhelming. Between it all, it’s easy to put what should be the most important commitment, one’s health, on the back burner. And, this is exactly why workplace wellness programs are equally beneficial and desirable.

Companies devote a great deal of energy and countless working hours to meet the demands of end-of-year enrollment periods. Since the offering of quality benefits is a crucial aspect in keeping existing employees and attracting new employees, having a less than enthusiastic response to an open enrollment can be very distressing for employers. One thing that you, the employer, can do to improve enrollment results is thoroughly evaluate your current benefits and employee pool. Your offerings need to be a good fit for both your business and employees. Some employers will immediately find obvious indicators that their benefits package needs a major overhaul. Meanwhile, some will need to look for more subtle hints. Here are three common signals that it may be time to make some benefit changes:

1. Workforce Demographic Changes. Any shift in the demographics of your employee pool can simultaneously shift insurance needs. Employers often find that this shift occurs every so often from nothing more than time elapsing. For example, the single college graduate that was hired five to ten years ago may now have a family and be interested in supplemental life insurance, day care accounts, flex time schedules, and such. A substantial change to your employment numbers, such as from adding a new department or gaining a competitor, can also signal that a change might be needed. You could qualify for better pricing on your benefits from simply having a larger employee pool.
2. Direct and Indirect Employee Complaints. If employees are grumbling to you, your management team, or their co-workers that they aren’t satisfied with their benefit choices, or they indirectly let you know their dissatisfaction through poor enrollment results, then you need to determine the cause of the dissatisfaction and put your investment in employee benefits to better use.
3. Rise in Costs. Take time to reassess your benefit package when the cost is constantly on the rise and anytime you question if you’re getting the most value for your benefit dollars. Good enrollment results require good planning. This planning should take place long before the open enrollment period arrives to best avoid a poor enrollment outcome. Some key measures to consider during the plan phase include the following:
   • Surveying employees and conducting focus groups are two excellent ways to determine what benefits your employees find most attractive. Of course, you aren’t going to be able to satisfy every need of every employee. However, the communication process can be used to construct a benefits package that’s more on target with the overall needs of your employees. It also shows employees that you care about their needs.
   • Meet with your benefits adviser to make sure that your benefits, such as medical and dental, are competitively priced. If not or you just want to see if you can get a better price, then you might begin the request for proposal process.
   • You should compare your offerings to what your main competitors are offering. It will be difficult for you to hang on to existing employees, much less attract new employees, if your competitor is offering a large selection of well-priced benefits and you aren’t.
   • It might be prudent to consider adding new benefits to your plan. Don’t let the dollar signs scare you away from new benefit offerings. There are supplemental benefits that can be offered on a 100% employee-paid basis. The addition of pre-tax flexible spending accounts for dependent day care or health care is another option. Even when employers aren’t contributing to the cost, studies have shown that employees typically appreciate these types of additional benefits just being available to them.
   • Establish a routine midyear review to see how each of your open enrollments go and to determine ways that future enrollment processes can run more smoothly. For example, you might review the effectiveness of the communication process, if there were better ways to help employees make good enrollment decisions, and the cost-effectiveness and efficiency of in-house and outside resources and technologies.

The evaluating and planning process may be tedious, but the benefits of a smoother running enrollment process and better enrollment turnout are certainly worth it for both you and your employees.

Employee job dissatisfaction is running high these days, meaning that, as the economy recovers, they are more likely to seek new employment opportunities. This finding, from a MetLife survey, indicates employers would be well-advised to work now on strategies geared toward improving employee loyalty and retention down the road.

The MetLife survey, its 9th Annual Study of Employee Benefit Trends, reports that upwards of one in three employees hopes to be working elsewhere in the next 12 months. The specific percentage varies from 34% to 38%, depending on company size. Given this inclination to bolt from their current employers, it’s not surprising to see that the percentage of employees who express a very strong sense of loyalty to their current employer has dipped below 50% (now 47%, compared with 59% in 2008). The percentage of employees who feel their company has a very strong sense of loyalty to them has dropped to 33% (from 41% in 2008).

Employers, understandably focused on recession-related business issues, remain unaware of this change in employee perception. From 2008 to 2010, a consistent 57% say they have a very strong sense of loyalty to their employees, and half consistently say their employees have a very strong sense of loyalty to them.

Employers need to be aware of changing employee sentiment and act now to avoid having to face significant retention issues when the economy improves. As the economy rebounds and business picks up, companies can ill afford to lose staff, particularly top performers. Consider a few of the following steps that companies can be taking today to address this:

• Identify top performers and other employees who, for various reasons, you would hate to lose.
• Make whatever tweaks you can afford to the compensation packages of these employees.
• Employee loyalty isn’t created by money alone. Nurture an “all for one and one for all” attitude, by providing access to owners and executives, fostering teamwork, and making corporate strategies and mission a shared vision to the extent possible.
• Look for non-monetary ways to compensate employees, like offering more flexible schedules where possible.
• Show employees that their company appreciates them, through individual and group recognition.
• Make the workplace a place where employees want to be by cultivating a positive, mutually supportive corporate culture.
• Invest in employee training, giving workers the opportunity to advance and your company better and more productive performers.

As the MetLife survey states, “A loyal and satisfied workforce is part of the foundation of business growth. Widening cracks in this foundation may force employers to pay a price in reduced retention and productivity when the job market improves.” Avoid this potentially expensive price tag for your company tomorrow, by attending to issues of employee loyalty, satisfaction and morale today.

Whether an employee is old, young, male, or female, they most likely already understand the value and importance of benefits such as Dental insurance, Health insurance, and 401(k)s.

That said, the consulting and research firm LIMRA surveyed 1,500 U.S. employees and found that 40% of them didn’t know the cost of their Health insurance. Furthermore, of the 60% that felt they did know the cost of their Health insurance, only 15% could actually state a reasonable cost estimate.

The results of the survey, which were published in LIMRA’s What Is $1 Billion an Hour Worth? Employee Perspectives on Benefits research report, were weighted to be representative of the U.S. labor force, including employer size, private/public company, male/female, and full/part-time employment. Here are some of the key findings:

• Although employers frequently have the common misconception that younger employers don’t value benefits as much as their older employers, the survey suggests that younger employees actually value benefits almost as much as their older counterparts. It appears that the different values an employee places on benefits has more to do with life experience than it does life stage, education level, or salary level.
• LIMRA’s survey showed that U.S. employees in general significantly underestimate the Health insurance premium percentage covered by their employer and the premium percentage they pay for non-medical benefits.
• Participants were asked what their number one factor would be when considering two similar job offers, each with comparable salaries. Benefits, such as Dental, Medical, and retirement plans, were the number one factor for 62% of the participants. Other important factors included: An employer’s stability (59%); paid leave (52%); competitive increases in salary (50%); the work environment (42%); an employer’s location (38%); fulfilling, rewarding, and challenging work (37%); an opportunity for personal growth (33%); an employer’s reputation (32%); a fair balance between personal life and work, such as telecommuting and flex time (31%); the growth potential of the employer (27%); monetary bonuses (26%); and an employer’s size (8%).
• Although it’s clear that most employees value benefits, the research found that the majority didn’t understand the costs and didn’t know how much their benefits were worth. This can often make it difficult for employees to make informed, knowledgeable decisions as they decide who to work for and what benefits to select.
• Considering that around 60% of employers have indicated that they plan to continue shifting the skyrocketing costs of benefits toward their employees, employees must know their benefit package’s price components and any potential lifestyle or financial changes facing them if any of these price components were to change in the future. The survey found that an employee’s decisions about their benefit package as a whole was impacted when they understood how much their benefit was currently costing and any projected cost increases for the future.
• According to the survey, most employees say they’re open to paying higher premiums to retain a current benefit plan that they’ve used regularly, such as their dental, vision, or medical coverages. However, a third of the respondents said that they found it difficult to pay for their benefits. Households with less than $25,000 in annual income found it particularly difficult to pay for benefits, but households with twice that amount of income also reported struggling to afford their benefits.