By Lisa Gillespie
October 3, 2011
Things have changed.
Health care costs have turned benefits from HMOs to consumer driven health care. Pensions have long been a thing of the past and the process has shifted onto the consumer and onto benefit managers.
According to Jennifer Benz, chief strategist and founder of Benz Communications, this also changes the role that benefit managers play. [Read More]
By Lisa Gillespie
September 15, 2011
The latest federal data shows that benefits costs account for about 30% of employees’ total wages, as private-sector employers spent an average of $28.13 per hour worked for employee compensation in June 2011. Further, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports, wages and salaries averaged $19.81 per hour worked and accounted for 70.4% of these costs, while benefits averaged $8.32 and accounted for the remaining 29.6%.
In June 2011, average costs in private industry for retirement and savings benefits were $1.03. [Read more…]
Source: Employee Benefits News article used by permission
By Lisa Gillespie
September 12, 2011
Against conventional wisdom, the
recession didn’t spur employees toward increased short-term and long-term
disability claims. On the contrary, a new study of employers
from the Integrated Benefits Institute indicates that key aspects of lost-time
benefits programs have remained remarkably stable.
“I expected to see one of two things: Because
of the tremendous changes in the economy, I expected to see dramatic changes in
disability,” says IBI President Thomas Parry. The second: That it would stay
flat. “Employees are so concerned abut not having a job when they returned from
disability that they sucked it up and decided not to file a claim.”
Though costs for longer leaves of
absence have not gone up, Parry warns employers that they may go up if
employers opt-out of the health care system.
“Employers have traditionally
focused on health care costs as the big ticket item, but the real cost of
health is when you bring in things like productivity and absences; health care
cots can be smaller than the lost-time costs,” Parry says. “If employers
bifurcate those programs, they risk exacerbating the outcomes of health.”
Source: Employee
Benefits News article used by permission
By Lisa Gillespie
September 8, 2011
Benefits and benchmarking go hand in hand, particularly for health and retirement plans. The National Compensation Survey on Health and Retirement Plan Provisions in Private Industry report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics provides benchmarking data for workplace health and retirement benefits.
Among the data published for health benefits, the report finds that 76% (of the 3,200 employers surveyed) enrolled in medical plans are in fee-for-service plans while the remaining 24% are in HMOs. The median deductibles in fee-for-service plans were $500 for individuals and $1,000 for families. The median out-of-pocket maximums were $2,000 for individuals and $4,000 for families. HMOs had the same medians for out-of-pocket expenses as the fee-for-service plans.
On the retirement side, the BLS report reveals that 68% of workers participating in a defined contribution plan are in a savings and thrift plan. Other types of defined contribution plans include deferred profit sharing, employee stock ownership, money purchase pension, simplified employee pension and savings incentive match plan. Looking at all workers participating in defined contribution plans, 86% defer contributions on a pretax basis, while 23% contribute post-tax to a Roth 401(k). In some cases, employees contribute to both, making the total greater than 100%.
In addition to these highlights, the BLS report includes much more data in 40 tables with estimates broken out by worker, establishment, and geographic characteristics. The complete report can be found on the agency’s website.
Source: Employee Benefit News article used by permission
By Judith Aquino
September 6, 2011
They may long to give up their daily commutes and have wide-open schedules, but far too many baby boomers are largely unprepared to leave their jobs, according to a new
report by the Insured Retirement Institute.
Only 54% have tried to calculate a financial goal for retirement, just 45% have consulted
with a financial planner and 43% do not consider themselves knowledgeable about
making financial investments, according to the report
When asked to name the most important feature of a retirement investment product, the mostpopular trait was “guaranteed monthly income,” which was selected by 18% of the
respondents. This was followed by rate of return (17%) and principal protection
(15%).
In terms of preparedness, the overall attitude of Boomers nearing retirement is pessimistic, with six out of 10 expressing concern about outliving their retirement savings.
Seven out of 10 are “afraid” that their household is not saving enough to cover future needs and more than one-third of pre-retirees indicate that they did not know the age
at which they would retire.
The study was conducted in February by phone with 801 adults aged 50 to 65.
“Unfortunately,overall, Boomers are lacking the confidence that they will be able to enjoy a
financially secure retirement,” says Cathy Weatherford, CEO of the institute.
And although employers have been slowto adopt guaranteed income products, Weatherford notes that such options provide a boost to boomers’ retirement confidence. “Boomers who own insure retirement products have a higher confidence in their overall retirement expectations, with nine out of 10 believing they are doing a good job preparing
financially for retirement,” she says.
Sophie Schmitt, a senior analyst at research firm Aite Group, adds that “studies have
shown that getting financial advice is a confidence booster. With the market so
unstable, now is a good time to get help.”
Judith Aquinowrites for Financial Planning, a Source Media publication.
Source: EmployeeBenefits News article used by permission
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