MetLife’s 13th Annual Employee Benefit Trends Study Finds Satisfaction Highest in Companies That Offer at Least Eleven Benefits
“Throughout the study, the positive impact of the number of benefits an employer offered was clear, likely because the greater number of options provides employees with the opportunity to tailor benefits to their specific needs,” says
Cost is no longer king
In contrast to the 2013 findings, when controlling costs ranked number one, this year’s study found employers ranked employee benefits objectives directly pertaining to employee factors such as retention as extremely important. In fact, 41% of employers ranked retention as their top employee benefits objective, potentially indicating a growing war for talent. This is not surprising given the lowest unemployment rates since the beginning of the financial crisis in 2008.
Yet, despite low unemployment rates, concerns about job security have increased since 2013, with the number of employees reporting that they are extremely concerned about job security jumping from 42% to 51%. This coincides with a decreasing sense of financial security, even as the economy improves, with only about one-third (34%) of employees having a savings cushion of about three months’ salary; down from 46% in 2013. According to the study, 49% of employees experiencing financial stress are looking to their employers for help in achieving financial security through benefits.
Using education and communication to empower
Offering the benefits is not enough; communicating about the significant role benefits can play in an employee’s overall well-being is equally important. Key to this is educating employees about the specific benefits they purchase and the protections those benefits offer. According to the study, while employees are taking on more responsibility for their benefit decisions, they are not always confident in their choices or in their understanding of their benefit options. In fact, less than half, 45%, of employees strongly agree their companies’ benefit communications helped them to understand how they would pay for specific services and effectively educated them on their benefit options. This is especially critical as new medical plans are put into place as a result of health care reform and as employees are being called on to make more complex benefit decisions.
“Ensuring that employees fully understand their benefits is becoming essential as many benefit decisions are being shifted from the employer to the employee,” states Katz. “Communicating during open enrollment season may not be enough. Incorporating personalized benefit messages reflecting employee life stages and events throughout the year, and offering educational tools and channels preferred by employees, can help make sure workers receive the benefits information they need to make better purchasing decisions. This is especially important as employers face a diverse, multigenerational workforce with varying needs.”
To learn more about the link between the number of benefits offered and employee satisfaction, as well as the need for improved benefits communication, access MetLife’s 13th Annual U.S. Employee Benefit Trends Study by visiting BenefitTrends.MetLife.com.
Research Methodology
MetLife’s 13th Annual U.S. Employee Benefit Trends Study was conducted during November of 2014 through
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