Don’t Underestimate Benefit Value to Younger Employees

June 7, 2013 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - A LIMRA study found that employers underestimate how important benefits are to their younger employees.

Younger employees surveyed indicated they value benefits nearly as much as older employees. Ninety percent ranked medical benefits as a 4 or 5 in importance on a 5-point scale, compared to 93% of older employees. Fifty-two percent each ranked life insurance benefits as important, and 57% of younger employees versus 61% of older employees ranked short-term disability benefits as a 4 or 5.  

However, only 67% of employers guessed younger employees would rank medical benefits as highly, while 25% expected life insurance to be ranked as important, and only 19% said employees would value short-term disability as much.  

LIMRA noted that employers’ perceptions of the value younger employees place on benefits could affect future decisions about what benefits they offer in the coming years.

 

Over the past 12 months, LIMRA has surveyed employers’ perspectives on the impact of health care reform and how they plan to react. The study revealed that nearly half of small business employers feel health care reform will have a negative effect on their ability to offer non-medical benefits within three to five years, and more than one-third of large employers agree with that assessment.  

At least one-quarter of U.S. employers are considering eliminating non-medical benefits — including 25% of those employers offering life insurance — no doubt as a way to defray the increasing costs of medical care.  

LIMRA said it is important that carriers and producers educate employers about how much these benefits are valued by all their employees and introduce ways to allow them offer these benefits to their employees without increasing their costs, like offering voluntary benefits.

 

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