Benefits March 12, 2007
Workers Spend an Average 1.4 Hours Annually Reviewing Benefits
March 12, 2007 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - The average
person spends or will spend 1.4 hours reviewing their
benefits packages each year and nearly half of Americans
spend either no time or less than an hour, according to a
recent study.
Reported by Adrien Martin
According to a company press release, the study by the
Guardian Life Insurance Company found that employees say
they consult a variety of sources before making any
decisions about their benefits each year.
The most common way that employees sought information about
their benefits was through reading employer-provided
benefits literature (50%), followed by discussing choices
with family members (45%); talking to their human resources
department (42%) and meeting with benefit advisers (36%).
The study also revealed some fallacies employees hold about
their benefits packages:
- Almost half of the 70% of employees who say they understand the difference between group and individual coverage say they thought a physical examination was required to purchase group life insurance – which is typically not the case.
- More than 35% of those whose employers offer disability insurance did not know how much coverage they have
- 27% of respondents who have disability coverage didn’t know what percentage of their income is protected.
- 24% of respondents say they believe group disability insurance is more expensive than individual policies, but most group policies are less expensive.
- 48% of respondents don’t realize that employer-paid disability income benefits are taxable.