Despite Pay Dissatisfaction, Most Employees Expect to Maintain Current Level of Benefits in 2010

Open enrollment is on the horizon, typically conducted in the fall for most employers.  So it was with interest that I read the results of a recent survey conducted by MetLife that indicates the vast majority of employees expect to maintain their current level of benefits in 2010.

The poll, knows as MetLife's new 2009 Open Enrollment Poll surveyed 1000 full-time employees in a telephone poll conducted in late July.  Results showed that despite lower discretionary income, nearly 9 out of 10 employees expect to maintain or even increase the number of benefits they select for their coverage next year.

Only 11% of workers indicated they will decrease their benefits coverage for next year, with one-quarter of those planning to decrease coverage indicating they would increase their coverage again in 2011 if the economy improves.

"As we approach the fall open enrollment, employee benefits appear to be 'recession-resistant,' even though quite a few employees are feeling the economic pinch," said Dr. Ronald Leopold, VP for MetLife's U.S. Business.  "Recent economic events have cause many to be more mindful and appreciative of the benefits provided to them at work."

A separate survey conducted by Adecco found that 66% of workers aren't satisfied with their compensation.  No big surprise there, in a year of an average merit increase of 1.8% for a typical non-hourly worker according to Hewitt Associated as reported in a TIME.com article, "Pay Raises Are the Worst in 33 Years."

"What workers are telling us is that even during a recession, just having a job does not equate to job satisfaction," said Bernadette Kenny, Chief Career Officer, Adecco Group North America.  "Employers need to be conscious of the concerns their staff is managing through on a daily basis and proactively come up with the appropriate solutions to improve retention and reduce the current and future high cost of turnover."

By combining the results of these three independent sources of information regarding the current employment mindset, we can reach these conclusions:

• Employees are worried about their pay and benefits plans.
• Yet, they're still willing to use their reduced discretionary income to pay for the same level of benefits coverage in 2010.

Not surprising, really.  We've all "hunkered down" during this recession, due to necessity of financial constraints.  In doing so, we've become more focused on what's essential.  Benefits coverage is essential to our financial well-being.  Minimally, we all need coverage for catastrophic care to protect our family's financial security.

It sounds to me like there's real opportunity for savvy total rewards professionals to take advantage of these dynamics to improve how their employees feel about working for their organization.  Here's just a few ways you can make a difference now....

• We've talked about using Total Compensation statements in past CC blog posts, with Darcy Dee's The Value of Total Rewards Statements among many references.  If your company isn't using this simple, but highly effective way of communicating the sum total of all rewards they receive in exchange for working for your company, now is the time to put this tool into practice.
• Employees are interested in their benefits, particularly with health care being very much the focus of a national debate.  Offer employer communications geared not only to the employee, but also to the family.  Engage them in the dialog, since MetLife reports that fully half of all employees share the benefits decision-making with their spouse or domestic partner.
• Vary the communication tools used in educating employees about their benefits to enhance learning.  Use video, intranet, online tools, newsletters, and offer a real person in your HR department who they can call and talk to regarding making an informed benefits decision.
• Explore using pre-tax accounts such as flexible spending accounts for health care, vision and dental out-of-pocket expenses. 

What are you doing in your organization to educate your employees about their benefits plan choices during open enrollment this year?  Please comment to share your strategies and practices to share with other CC readers.

Flickr photo courtesy of M4gic

Comments

[working girl]

This is great advice all around. The TCS is a great communication tool and not that difficult to pull together. And I particularly like the suggestion to offer people a real person to talk to.

[David Janus]

I certainly second the recommendation regarding total compensation statements. The MetLife study singles out total compensation statements as a key employee communications tool, going so far as to call them a "top and immediate priority."

One thing I would add is that, while putting together a simple total compensation statement is reasonably straight forward, a total compensation statement that has more "meat" to it is a bit more effort (though the extra impact it can have usually makes it worthwhile). See http://bit.ly/K8A1Q for further thoughts on some of the considerations that should go in to the design of a total compensation statement.