Benefits November 29, 2006

Survey: Compensation Statements Help Employees See Benefits Value

November 29, 2006 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - A majority of human resource and benefits executives say personalized compensation statements would heighten workers' understanding of their benefits packages, but more than half don't use them, a recent survey revealed.
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The survey by benefits communication consultant Charlton Consulting Group found executives believe that very few (5%) employees fully understand the value of their total compensation packages.

Some 96% of these executives said total compensation statements, which give employees a list of their benefits and what their employer pays for them, could help remedy that lack of understanding, according to a press release from Charlton, which provides the statements. However, a little more than half (55%) of respondents do not use the statements.

According to Charlton, the communication tool has been slow to catch on because creating them is viewed as an added administrative task, but 60% of the respondents who already provide the statements say their HR departments produce them in house.

“Helping employees see the full compensation picture is integral to protecting and growing a company’s human capital investment,” said David Janus, a principal of Charlton Consulting Group, in the news release. “Unfortunately, most employees don’t realize their paychecks are just part of the overall compensation equation.”

The study includes responses from HR and benefits executives from more than 128 companies.

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