Five Benefits Resolutions For Businesses In 2011

Hartford Business.com

Five Benefits Resolutions For Businesses In 2011
By Matthew G. Berger
01/03/11

As Hartford’s unemployment rate begins to show signs of recovery, business owners are shifting their focus to try to identify ways to retain talent, maintain a healthy workforce and provide additional benefits to employees. The aftermath of the recession and the introduction of landmark health reform have made it a critical time to revisit employee benefits.

As we approach the New Year, here are five resolutions that will guide benefits decisions:

1. Demystify health care reform.

Not surprisingly, health care reform tops the list of concerns for human resources executives in 2011. In an Aflac study of employers and employees, HR executives named “understanding the changing health care landscape” as the second-biggest benefits challenge, and 20 percent said appropriately communicating benefits is also a top challenge. Most of the law will be phased in over the next several years, and the regulations to implement those elements may not be published for some time. With so much confusion around these developments, creating a long-term plan to comply with the law and manage health care costs can be an overwhelming task.

HR professionals should seek out benefits options that soften the impact of cost-shifting and rising out-of-pocket expenses for employees. This includes exploring voluntary solutions that provide employers with choices to fit their employees’ needs at no direct cost
to the company.

2. Increase employee engagement and benefits education.

There is often a large disparity between HR executives and their employees when it comes to the effectiveness of benefits communications. According to the Aflac study, 40 percent of HR executives said they believed they were “extremely/very” effective in communications about benefits, whereas 67 percent of employees rated their HR departments “somewhat or not very/not at all” effective.

Given the growing complexities brought on by health reform, 2011 is an ideal time to close that communications gap. For one, employees will need education and advice about the potential impact the flexible spending account limitations and caps will have on their budgets.

3. Address the diverse needs of a four-generation workforce.

As Americans postpone retirement, a growing challenge will be managing the new cocktail of company culture — traditionalists, baby boomers, Generation X employees and Generation Y employees. Each generation has a distinct style of working and abides by different expectations of the workplace, leaving HR professionals to develop strategies to keep the workplace cohesive while meeting the varying needs of each generation.

This rings particularly true when it comes to benefits options. The Aflac study found that only 40 percent of employers tailor their benefits to employees based on needs
at different levels or life stages. Yet, there are clear nuances when it comes to the benefits needs of each generations. For example, life insurance ownership has
reached a 50-year low, with nearly a third of U.S. households having no form of this financial protection.

Company-paid life insurance is among the many benefits that organizations were forced to cut in past years. Employers can make this coverage available at no direct
cost to the company through voluntary life insurance plans.

4. Prepare for potential upticks in adult dependent coverage.

Under the health reform law, young adults up to their 26th birthday can obtain health coverage through their parents’ health insurance plans, marking an important departure from traditional guidelines under which young adults typically lost access to their parents’ coverage once they turned 19 or graduated from college.

HR executives need to forecast and plan for potential cost increases, depending on the number of employee opt-ins. The impact will likely be measureable. The department of Health and Human Services (HHS) estimates that 680,000 to 2.12 million young adults will gain coverage in 2011 as a result of this provision — mostly through new enrollment in employer-sponsored plans.

5. Leverage benefits to set the company apart and motivate employees.

Although we exist today in an employer’s market, it will undoubtedly shift back to an employee-driven environment where top talent will be in short supply and high demand. When this happens, a company’s ability to demonstrate value and goodwill to its workers through an unrivaled benefits package will mean the difference in retention rates.

The establishment of minimum benefits standards and the option to move from employer plans to exchange plans will likely lead to more homogenous major medical coverage. This will make supplemental insurance policies and ancillary benefits offerings a greater differentiator than ever before in the battle to attract a talented workforce.

Simply put, employees will be looking to their employers now more than ever for guidance during this dynamic time in history. Employers who educate and provide employees with benefits choices will be those who can recruit and retain a productive and healthy workforce.


Matthew Berger is the Connecticut state sales coordinator for Aflac. He is responsible for developing and implementing the state’s strategic marketing