Multinationals Aren't Fully Using Cost-Cutting Initiatives

October 29, 2001 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Multinational companies recognize the importance of controlling costs of their global benefit plans, but many aren't taking full advantage of the available cost-saving opportunities.

These are some of the key findings in the latest Towers Perrin Worldwide Benefits Management Survey, which covers 157 global companies.

Half of responding companies considered cost control to be the core reason for establishing a global benefits strategy; 44% said recruitment and retention were critical, and 35% said that a global benefits strategy would make their organization more competitive.

Other survey findings include that:

  • while more than half of the survey respondents said they believed the elements driving their benefit strategy related to their company’s key business objectives, only 5% felt they were successful in their efforts to align benefits with their business goals and objectives.
  • almost half of all respondents felt that communication of benefits details was a local rather than global issue; only 2% of respondents felt they were successful in communicating benefit messages on a global basis.
  • more than 50% did not measure employees’ perceptions about their benefit plans.

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