| | Benefits & Administration | | More Employers Offering Overall Financial Help | | Employers are expanding their focus on the
overall financial well-being of their workers, a survey from Aon Hewitt finds. According
to the survey of nearly 250 U.S. employers representing approximately six
million employees, 93% intend to focus on the overall financial well-being of
their employees, beyond retirement readiness. Nearly half (46%) are very likely
and another 47% are somewhat likely to add new plan features, mobile applications
or online tools to assist individuals with understanding financial concepts and
financial planning.Read more > | | Hispanics are more invested in their financial
future compared to the general population, with 61% leaving the well-being of
their finances up to chance, versus 65% of the general population. A survey
from Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company revealed that 42% of Hispanics
are likely to carefully research and plan every detail of their retirement, and
38% are likely to work at their retirement plan until they believe it is
perfect.Read more > | | Employers Continue Health Benefit Cost-Saving Tactics | | United Benefit Advisors (UBA) reveals industry
trends among employer-sponsored health plans in the 2014 UBA Health Plan Survey
of nearly 10,000 employers. According to UBA, among the most striking trends
revealed by the survey, employers have overwhelmingly opted for early renewals
of their plans—a tactic that helped them delay adopting new Patient Protection
and Affordable Care Act (ACA)-compliant plan designs for which insurance
companies charge more. Premium renewal rates increased an average of 5.6% for
all plans—up very slightly from last year’s 5.5% increase. This can be attributed
to a nearly 322% increase in the number of plans utilizing an early renewal
strategy, UBA says.Read more > | | Re-enrollment Keeps Micro Retirement Plans Ongoing | | Andrew Meadows, consumer and brand ambassador at
Ubiquity Retirement + Savings (formerly The Online 401k), tells PLANSPONSOR
that regular re-enrollments can be a lifeline for small business retirement
plans. Ubiquity’s average plan client has just 12 participants, Meadows notes,
calling the small and micro plan segment “our bread and butter.” He says, “Being
in the small and micro plan environment, we’re actually at risk of losing
clients, whole plans at a time, if enough of the employees don’t decide to
participate. If a small business plan is only benefiting a small group of
employees out of a small workforce, you can bet the owners are going to
question the cost of administering the plan.”Read more > |
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