Presented by my client, Scot McMurdie of Shea & McMurdie Retirement, at the 2014 edition of the HR Southwest conference in Fort Worth, TX, October 5-7, 2014.
2. Agenda
• 5 Common Misconceptions
• What are the signs of an education
problem?
• Why should you care?
• Barriers to improving communication
• 5 ideas to enhance benefit communication
3. • 87% of employees say it is important to
work for a company that cares about their
well-being.Monster.com survey
• More than 4 in 5 employees who rate their
employee benefits education highly also
rate their benefits package positively and
say their workplace is an excellent or very
good place to work. UNUM 2012
5. Common Misconception #1
The 401(k) Plan is free
• According to the Small Business
Administration 75% of employees who
sign up for their company 401(k) plan are
unaware of the fees associated with the
plan. (sba.gov)
7. How Much do employees know about
the cost of their medical insurance?
All Employees
Surveyed
60% think they know the
cost
15% can provide
reasonable estimate
LIMRA 2012
9. • 61% of employers provide basic
information about their financial benefit
offerings to employees once a year.
• 13% never communicate the value
• 12% communicate the value upon first
eligibility
• B of A Merrill Lynch Workplace Benefits Report
10. Common Misconception #4
Employees understand the
differences in medical plans
and which one is best suited
for their specific situation
11. Tale of Two Medical Plans
• Plan A-- $5,000 deductible 100%
Coinsurance HSA Plan (Cost $400/mo)
• Plan B--$2,000 deductible 80%
coinsurance $4,000 out of pocket
maximum $35 Dr. Co-pay and Rx Co-pays
of 10/30/50 (Cost $475/mo)
Which one is better?
12. • More than half of employees do not
understand what their health insurance
covers. Harris Interactive 2013
14. Flow of News
• Difference between Millennials,
Generation X, and Baby Boomers
15. What are the signs?
• Low Participation
• Constant questions/complaints to
managers or HR
• Exit interviews
• High Turnover
• Reduced Productivity
16. Why should I care?
• Cost of Recruiting/Hiring/Firing
• Loss of Productivity
• Time Waste
• Increased Administration Costs
17. What Keeps Employers From
Enhancing Education and
Communication
• Cost
• Internal Resources
• Complexity of benefits
• Geographic Location of Employees
• Apathy
18. 5 Ideas For Creating an Effective
Education and Communication
Program
• Personalized Benefit Statements
19.
20. 5 Ideas For Creating an Effective
Education and Communication
Program
• Personalized Benefit Statements
• Employee Surveys
21.
22. 5 Ideas For Creating an Effective
Education and Communication
Program
• Personalized Benefit Statements
• Employee Surveys
• Benefits Fair
• Regular Education Meetings outside of
Open Enrollment
• Utilize Providers
23. Benefits of a Well Structured
Education Program
• Decreased Turnover
• Enhanced Recruiting
• Increased Enrollments
• More Engaged, Loyal Employees
• Improved Productivity
• Reduced Benefits Administration
25. Please remember to complete
the session evaluation
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Notas del editor
Can anyone tell me how much their 401k plan actually costs? Either as a percentage of assets or total dollar amount?
According to a Deloitte study in 2012 the average plan cost for a retirement plan with $1-10million in assets was 1.27% Why should you care? What if your plan’s expenses were only .75% and an employee saw that and complained that the fees were too high when in reality your plan was well below the average cost. You just lost points because the employee thinks their plan is too expensive. New DOL and IRS regulations have brought this to light.
City of Terrell—Example—Employee pays 0 for themselves. For dependents it ranges from 250-600 depending on the dependent coverage type. Actual cost to the company is close to $900 per employee per month.
Most employees dont know how much the plan costs. So if they don’t know and you come to them at open enrollment time and tell them their benefits have been cut or deductibles increased, how well do they take that news? Or you raise the deduction from their paycheck? Would it help if employees knew how much the plan actually costs. Another PR problem or eduction and communication problem.
Client Example—wanted to do more for the employees. Important to make list of best places to work. Pay for more of the expenses of the plan. Why?
Bank client who pays for most of the retirement plan expenses. Employees don’t realize it. Current match 4% could go to a 5% match instaed of paying expenses. Same basic difference but which one would the employees appreciate and understand?
How many of you have a dual option or mulitple option medical plan?
How many here have the medical plan decisions as part of your job description and have a lot of experience with medical plans?
Volunteer
Plan A works for the healthy or no kids, or higher income
Plan B heavy users may want this.
What is the normal process to help employees during open enrollment? Get a booklet listen to a quick presentation and then make a choice.
Have you ever had an employee who left because the employer down the street was paying $.50/hr more? Or had 3 days of additional PTO.
How fast does bad news travel?
How do millenials and Gen Xers get information and communicate
Baby Boomer Generation is all about team. Millenials will not value the benefits if they don’t understand how it benefits them specifically.