Reduce Costs of Employee Benefits Plan
Tuesday, October 25th, 2011 | Uncategorized | No Comments
By: Employee Benefits Advisor Read Full Article
Budget woes are hitting public sector employers hard — and the effects are going to be felt in their employee benefits programs. That’s according to a new survey conducted by Colonial Life & Accident Insurance Company with members of the International Public Management Association for Human Resources last month.
”The vast majority — 80% — of human resources managers responding to the survey say their organization is looking at ways to reduce the cost of their employee benefits plan.”
In fact, more than half — 58% — say controlling costs is the benefits program’s top priority. The ability to retain key employees and create employee satisfaction rated a distant second at 20%.
The survey shows public sector employers plan to make significant changes in their benefits programs within the next year, many of them strategies to control costs:
- Increasing employees’ health insurance premiums: 64%
- Implementing wellness programs/promoting healthy behaviors: 52%
- Increasing employees’ health insurance deductibles and/or co-pays: 45%
- Redesigning health plans to include higher deductibles: 27%
“Budgets are tight and organizations are looking to save money,” says Pat McCullough, Colonial Life’s assistant vice president, public sector practice leader. “If they can’t save through premiums or services, they’ll have to reduce head count and nobody wants to do that.”
Read Full Article by Employee Benefits Advisor
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