Benefits April 20, 2011

Health Care Costs Rank High on Employer Priorities

April 20, 2011 (PLANSPONSOR.com) – While a large number of employers expect an increase in the cost of providing benefits to employees, two-thirds are making no immediate changes to their benefit programs.
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A news release said research from Deloitte and the International Society of Certified Employee Benefit Specialists (ISCEBS), 2011 Top Five Total Rewards Priorities, indicates employees may need to take on greater health benefit cost sharing to address this strategic challenge facing organizations today. The Top Five Total Rewards Priorities survey series is an annual barometer of talent and benefits management challenges facing organizations.

The survey’s 242 respondents ranked the Top Five priorities for 2011 as:

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  • The cost of providing health care benefits to employees;
  • The willingness of employees to pay an increasing portion of benefit plan coverage and to manage their own reward budget;
  • The ability of reward programs to attract, motivate and retain talent;
  • The ability to adjust to and comply with current and future provisions of Health Care Reform legislation; and 
  • Clear alignment of Total Rewards strategy with business strategy and brand.

Additional survey findings include:

  • A total of 85% of employers expect Health Care Reform to increase benefits costs per employee.
  • Controlling total health care costs is the primary focus of 63% of the employers surveyed; 73% indicated that Health Care Reform will drive them to re-evaluate benefits over the next 12 months.
  • Regarding health and welfare plans, 30% of those surveyed plan to consider increasing employee cost sharing for active employee plans over the next 12 months, 62% have considered increasing cost-sharing for active employee plans over the past 12 months, while another 30% of organizations indicate they will consider increasing employee cost sharing for active employee plans over the next 12 months.

 Meanwhile, from the employee perspective:

  • Three quarters, 75%, of employee respondents ranked their ability to afford retirement, including post-retirement health care, in their top three personal challenges.
  • Down 9% from 2010, 60% of employees ranked job security among their top three concerns.
  • Nearly half (48%) of respondents plan to increase their level of contribution to qualified retirement plans, while those planning to delay retirement also decreased  to 34% in 2011 from 41% in 2010.

More information is here.

Benefits April 20, 2011

Many Workplace Bullies Don’t Get Reported

April 20, 2011 (PLANSPONSOR.com) – Twenty-seven percent of workers in a recent survey admitted they’ve been bullied in the workplace and most have neither confronted the bully nor reported the incident.
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A news release said the segments more likely to report feeling bullied were women, workers ages 55 or older, and workers ages 24 or younger.  

According to CareerBuilder, women reported a higher incidence of being treated unfairly at the office; 34% of women said they have felt bullied in the workplace compared to 22% of men.

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Twenty-nine percent of workers ages 55 or older and 29% of workers ages 24 or younger reported they had been bullied on the job, the highest among age groups.  Workers ages 35 to 44 were the least likely to report feeling bullied, at 25%.

Twenty-eight percent took their concerns to a higher authority and reported the bully to their Human Resources department.  While 38% of these workers stated that measures were taken to investigate and resolve the situation, the majority of workers (62%) said no action was taken.  Of those who didn’t report the bully, one-in-five (21%) said it was because they feared the bullying would escalate.

When asked to describe how they were bullied, workers pointed to the following examples, according to the news release::

  • My comments were dismissed or not acknowledged – 43%
  • I was falsely accused of mistakes I didn’t make – 40%
  • I was harshly criticized – 38%
  • I was forced into doing work that really wasn’t my job – 38%
  • Different standards and policies were used for me than other workers – 37%
  • I was given mean looks – 31%
  • Others gossiped about me – 27%
  • My boss yelled at me in front of other co-workers – 24%
  • Belittling comments were made about my work during meetings – 23%
  • Someone else stole credit for my work – 21%

 

“Bullying is a serious offense that can disrupt the work environment, impact morale and lower productivity,” said Rosemary Haefner, Vice President of Human Resources, in the news release.  “If you are feeling bullied, keep track of what was said or done and who was present.  The more specifics you can provide, the stronger the case you can make for yourself when confronting the bully head on or reporting the bully to a company authority.”

The survey was conducted online within the U.S. by Harris Interactive on behalf of CareerBuilder among 5,671 U.S. workers (employed full-time; not self-employed; non government); ages 18 and over between February 21 and March 10, 2011.

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