As companies deal with managing benefits costs while attracting and retaining skilled talent, the link between employee benefits strategies and business and financial goals is expected to increase over the next five years, says a report.
Prudential Financial’s Employee Benefits: 2007 & Beyond report finds that plan sponsors are shifting even more benefits costs and financial responsibility to their employees as cost control is a business imperative. Consequently, only 53% of U.S. workers place a “high value” on their company’s benefits package.
Benefits communication and education efforts receive low grades from both plan sponsors and participants, says the report. Just one in three(35%)of plan participants rate their employer’s benefits communication efforts as “highly effective” while only 21% of plan sponsors give their communications efforts high marks.
Plan participants want targeted and personalized benefits communications to help them understand and select their benefits, especially as they pay a larger share of the bill.
Most plan sponsors do not have a global benefits strategy despite the anticipated growth in overseas employment. Those with a global approach to managing benefits tend to have a more strategic orientation to employee benefits and their strategy is better linked to business and financial goals.
The report was fielded via the internet and consists of two distinct surveys: one among benefits plan sponsors and the other among benefits plan participants. The plan sponsor survey is based on an online national random sample of 1,400 benefits decision makers while the plan participant survey is based on a sample of 1,028 employees.
To download the report from Prudential’s website, click here.
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