Benefits Buzz

Do As I Say And Not As I Do When it Comes to Wellness?

Could research in ethics and management shed any light on the impact that culture can play with regards to wellness? 

Studies have shown that management behavior influences workplace ethics.  A Deloitte and Touche study showed that among working adults, the behavior of management (42%) and that of direct supervisors (36%) were considered the top two factors contributing to the promotion of an ethical workplace.  Ethics training ranked much lower (16%) as a factor.

Other studies have shown that corporate codes of conduct and the degree of "implementation strength and embeddedness" of such codes seems to deter self-reported unethical behavior in employees.


If it works for ethics, can it work for wellness?

If corporate code and management conduct are so influential when it comes to ethics, could their example also improve workplace health and productivity?  A new body of studies in health promotion seem to point in that direction. 

An article published in the Journal of Occupational And Environmental Medicine, looked at nine quality components of worksite health management programs and compared the results of those programs between best practice and common practice organizations.  Best practice organizations showed higher levels of program engagement than common practice organizations and were 1-2.3 times more likely to see population health improve.

Everyone wants to be the best
So what are some of the distinguishing characteristics of best in class programs?

• Comprehensive program design
• Integrated incentives
• Comprehensive communications
• Management support
• Dedicated onsite staff
• Multiple program modalities
• Health awareness programs
• Biometrics health screenings
• Vendor integration

The first step in really showing the value of any wellness program is always to form a cogent plan, make the case to management and then to execute that plan with enough discipline and flexibility to achieve results.  It's no small job, but what worth doing is?

Editor's Note - It's hard to be humble when you're bloggin' straight out of Portland, Oregon.  Tanya Barham is the Founder and CEO of Recess Wellness, a company where all the staff works like little elves at Christmastime to transform their client's workplaces into healthy, happy, productive places akin to Santa's workshop at the North Pole.  Seriously.  Of course, Santa's fat, so they still have work to do.

Tweet Your Way to Better Benefits Communication...

Do you tweet?  If not, you ought to think about it.  Chances are a lot of your employees are either tweeting or are following tweets of friends, newsgroups, or other organizations.  You yourself may be following any number of firms that work in the HR consulting space: @towersperrin, @hewittnews, @watsonwyatt, etc.  And if you’re reading this blog, you probably follow the tweets of various bloggers, as well.  Why, then, would you not consider tweeting to your employees about their benefits?

Think about it.  Annual Enrollment is just around the corner for most employers.  And setting up a Twitter account couldn’t be simpler.  All you need is a name and an e-mail address, both of which I’ll assume you have or can scrounge up.  Then, in your more formal communications to employees, simply add somewhere, “Follow me on Twitter @inserttwitternamehere”.  That’s it.  Interested employees will subscribe, and those who aren’t won’t.  The initial investment outlay is almost nothing.

I know what you’re thinking: “How could I communicate, in 140 characters or less, enough information about our benefits to be of value to employees?”  Well -- you could use it as a mechanism to point employees to articles posted to your intranet about benefits changes for the new plan year, remind employees about that start and end of Annual Enrollment, and direct employees to resources they can use to make intelligent benefits decisions.

This is going to be a hard sell for some people.  Even as social media has grown so explosively over the past several years, Twitter seems to be the medium that’s received the least attention.  Facebook and MySpace are easy to explain to not so tech savvy people.  They’re simple applications that allow you to connect with and follow the lives of friends, colleagues, bands, movie stars, etc.  Your grandmother may even have a Facebook account.

Twitter, on the other hand, generally requires some explanation.  When you tell your vice president of compensation and benefits that you think tweeting during this year’s Annual Enrollment could help drive active participation and facilitate effective benefits communication, you may be met with a blank stare and/or glazed eyes.  S/he is going to ask the same question you were thinking earlier: “How could I communicate in 140 characters or less enough information about our benefits to be of value to employees?”  The real investment here may be the time spent garnering support from management to implement Twitter as a communication mechanism.

Full disclosure -- I’m not an attorney.  There may be legal implications to using Twitter to communicate with employees in your organization regarding benefits.  You should consult with your own legal counsel before doing so.  You may also be opening yourself up to employee responses to your tweets with how they really feel about your company or its benefits offering.  These responses can (and likely will) be read by people outside of your organization.  There are two ways to view this.  On one hand, it’s good to get candid feedback from employees.  On the other, most of us would rather not air our dirty laundry for the viewing public.  You’ll have to weigh the risks and benefits of this before taking any action.  If you ultimately decide that tweeting leaves your organization too exposed, you may want to consider private microblogging networks like Yammer.  I think the primary issue with these private networks will be adoption by employees, since they won’t already have accounts setup.

Can Twitter replace your formal benefits communications materials?  Of course not.  It’s impossible to explain all that needs to be understood about your company’s benefits in 140 characters or less.  And I suspect employees would be less than receptive to receiving multiple 140 character tweets in consecutive order that, when combined, communicate a cohesive message.  But using it as a mechanism to point employees in the direction of more formally developed communications, sending reminders about key dates during Annual Enrollment, and guiding employees to resources that help them make educated decisions about their benefits would be useful.

So let’s hear it.  Have you used Twitter or other forms of social media to communicate to employees about their benefits?  What were your biggest challenges in rolling it out?

And, if you’re interested, follow me on Twitter @g_dagley.

Editor's Note - Greg Dagley is a Benefits Consultant for a large multinational employer in Houston, TX. While his company has employees all over the globe, his job keeps him focused on US benefits and spending a lot of his time managing external vendors.  Is there any doubt his Excel skills are more advanced than yours?

Open Enrollment IS Different This Year...

Open enrollment is just around the corner and many of you are already feeling like this year is going to be different. And, it will be. There’s a lot going on--the economy, the national debate on health care, the increased influence of social media. And, all of this is changing the way employees think about their benefits--and should be changing the way you think about enrollment.

Three big factors are shifting the employee mindset faster than you can say "default elections" and you need to know how to react:

1. Employees care about their benefits more than ever before. Survey after survey shows how much employees value their benefits–-both health care and financial. With salaries frozen, or decreasing, and the value of health care benefits always on the rise, benefits make up a larger part of total compensation than in years past--and, as a result, a larger part of your employment brand and value proposition.

2. At the same time, benefits are on the national stage--and you’re going to get more hard-to-answer questions. Health care reform has put health care benefits front-and-center in the national news. CEOs are getting in the debate. Employees and families will want to know how legislation may change their benefits and their health care.  As such, this is a prime opportunity for you to demonstrate and reinforce the value of your benefits offerings. 


3. And, if that wasn't enough, social media is changing (edit: has already completely changed) expectations for how, when, and why employees receive information. In an age of iPhones, Facebook, Twitter, and real-time access to any piece of information, the traditional methods of communicating benefits information are just not good enough. Employees want easier access to information and they want it to be easy to take action on the information they receive.  


So, great, but what do you do with that information? It is almost September, so a little late to overhaul your technology systems or completely change your communication strategy. But, there are simple ways you can improve your enrollment communication this year:

Connect benefits to the business. If you’ve never educated your employees about your benefits philosophy and how it is connected to your business, now is the perfect opportunity. Arm managers with information about total compensation and use them to help tell the whole story. Simple talking points or checklists will allow them to push your benefits message further.

Keep it simple. Employees' top concerns during enrollment always are: What's new? What will it cost me? This is no different than in years past, and you can spell out these answers (and why) in simple, easy-to-understand terms along with simple step-by-step instructions on how to enroll. If you haven’t already done so, create a one-page enrollment “Tip Sheet” that lists what’s changing in as simple a format as possible (perhaps just a list), gives brief enrollment instructions, and tells employees and families where to go for all the details. 

Focus on employee’s personal needs.  Resist the temptation to include figures about your total benefits spend or tell employees how many billion dollars per year bad health care decisions are costing the U.S. They are hearing this enough in the news and are already zoned out before you finish saying "billion." Your employees need to know how it impacts them, their lives and their families. If you talk about your overall health care costs, break it down into what the company spends per employee. When you talk about changes that could decrease costs, tell your employees what that will mean to their pocketbook. 

Promote missed or under-utilized benefits. Put together a list of the 5 to 10 benefit plans employees aren't using enough--health savings account, fitness benefits, voluntary insurance, hidden features of the EAP, preventive care benefits, commuter benefits, etc.--as a one-page tip sheet. Title it “The Top 10 Employee Benefits You’re Missing” or “10 Ways You’re Not Getting The Most From Your Benefit Plans."  Ask employees for their ideas. 

Start using social media. Now that 80 percent of Americans are using social media, do you think you can start integrating it into your benefits communication? It doesn't have to be intimidating. Start a benefits blog to focus on reminders and tips, and give employees a way to join the conversation. Use Twitter to post frequent updates and provide low-cost customer service. Social media is a perfect--and cost-effective--way to get employees engaged and to be responsive to their needs this year. This is especially important if enrollment meetings have been cut.

Editor's Note - Jennifer Benz is founder and chief strategist at Benz Communications, a boutique consulting firm that focuses on employee benefits communication. You can reach her at jen@benzcommunications.com or via Twitter @jenbenz. 

How Are Benefits Managers Responding to Tough Economic Times?

Chances are, given current economic conditions, you aren’t rolling out many new benefits this year.  In fact, you’ve probably received direction from your e-suite to “cut costs” without much direction regarding where those savings should come from.  There’s a fine line that folks who work in benefits are walking these days.  On one hand, we’re looking for opportunities to control or cut costs.  On the other, we want to continue offering benefits programs that help attract and retain talent.  The challenge is finding ways to balance these competing interests.
 
If you believe the media, the easy cut for many employers is the employer match on 401k contributions.  Others are making changes to what they contribute toward medical coverage or changing medical plan design.  Still, others are moving away from traditional health coverage altogether toward consumer driven health plans (CDHP).  In a recent survey, Watson Wyatt found that 51% of employers responding currently have a CDHP in place -- up 9% from the prior year.

While it may feel like every employer is reducing benefits, the results of a recent Tower Perrin survey seem to indicate otherwise.  The survey found that few respondents were planning to make dramatic changes to their benefits during the next year.  Many employers are taking this opportunity to communicate with employees about their concerns and take a harder look at their benefits strategies.  Here’s an excerpt from their press release:

“Amid worries about their 2009 performance (56% of respondents expect to see revenues decline, in some cases by as much as 20% or more), a fair number of respondents see the economic crisis as a catalyst for constructive action.  For instance:

• 70% are increasing communication to address employee concerns, and more than 57% said they were not cutting back on investments in benefit communication or education.
• 53% are trying or considering new benefit strategies they would not have considered otherwise.
• 47% reported they are taking a more holistic approach to reward management.”

The argument against making drastic cuts today is that employees tend to have long memories.  While they may not walk out your door in the current economic environment, they’ll remember how you treat them today when the environment improves.  There are certainly employers making changes to their benefits programs just to survive.  If a choice has to be made between reducing benefits and closing your doors, obviously a reduction in benefits makes more sense. 

Let’s face it -- benefits are offered as part of a total compensation package to attract and retain talented employees.  Benefits managers around the country will be faced with tough decisions this year.  Over the next 6-18 months, they’ll need to be strategic about decisions they make.  Looking for opportunities to control or cut costs will be imperative.  But employers should think twice before taking an axe to their benefits programs at will.  If they do, their employees will remember it when times aren’t quite so tough.

Editor's Note - Greg Dagley is a Benefits Consultant for a large multinational employer in Houston, TX. While his company has employees all over the globe, his job keeps him focused on US benefits and spending a lot of his time managing external vendors.  Is there any doubt his Excel skills are more advanced than yours?

The Utilization Gold Rush - Scared Employees Rushing to Use Benefits...

In a down economy, there's plenty of humanity to go around.  Layoffs, how to find the next job, financial stress, etc.  One thing you may not have added to the list.  A mushrooming utilization of your medical plan, including big ticket items, as employees rush to have procedures that (1) they might have put off having done, or (2) are borderline necessary.

Bad knee?  Sure you might be able to work through the issue with some therapy, but if you're worried a job loss might be in your future, you might want to go ahead and get that 30K knee surgery performed next month.

Multiply that by 10% of your employee base and you've got an issue.  From Time Magazine:

"When Sophie, a financial analyst in Paris, learned that her bank would lay off 50 employees by this summer, she didn't react by mailing out résumés or trying to ingratiate herself with her managers — she scheduled arthroscopic knee surgery. "I'm doing it now because I won't be able to if I wait and lose my job," says the 27-year-old, who, fearing questions from her employer, spoke with TIME on condition of anonymity. By going under the knife ahead of her potential job loss, Sophie can use the firm's supplementary health insurance to cover the $4,000 procedure. As she says: "Insurance is one of the parts of having a good job you take for granted until you realize you may lose it all."

Sophie isn't alone. As the global economy continues to tank — the U.S. shed 663,000 jobs in March, and millions of jobs are disappearing from Madrid to Mumbai — employees are scurrying to exploit company benefits while they have them, scheduling dental exams, indulging in massages, utilizing company-covered therapists and buying bicycles at discounted rates. "People are petrified," says Dai Williams, an occupational psychologist at Eos, a career-consulting firm in the U.K. "It's a question of grabbing what you can while you can."

You can't really stop the thought process, and for the most part, you won't be able to stop the marginal calls on whether to have a procedure performed.  The economy's doing what I always thought about employees who opted for COBRA - my take was that if an employee takes COBRA, why wouldn't they take every opportunity to get procedures completed ASAP, in case they couldn't afford the payments down the road?

Now the economy's taken that same fear to employees who won't be impacted by layoffs, etc.  Nice...

The Pefect Storm - Reporting ACTUAL Liabilities for Municipal Retireee Health Benefits...

If you've been in HR for more than 5 years, you've been a part of what I'll call the "Great Benefits Crunch", which has forced your company to reduce overall benefit levels and/or pass along greater costs to employees.

You don't have to explain it to me.  I've had to explain those decisions to employees, and I'm aware that you didn't create the economic problem that is the "state of health care".  Sadly though, if you're in HR, you're left to explain the realities to a set of employees that doesn't feel great about costs being shifted their way.

You and I can understand that, because we're employees too.  Just because you manage the plan doesn't mean your health insurance is free. 

With all that said, a crazy day of reckoning is probably on the horizon for city employees nationwide. From the Whittier Daily News:

"For the first time ever, cities in the San Gabriel Valley are providing realistic estimates on the future costs of retirement benefits for their municipal employees - and the amounts are in the hundreds of millions of dollars.  But in the San Gabriel Valley and Whittier areas, only 12 of the 24 cities that responded to public records requests seeking retirement cost estimates know what their actual anticipated employee retirement obligations are.

Of those 12 cities, only four have started socking away money in preparation for the increasing costs, which total more than $200 million in the two eastern county regions.This year alone, 24 cities in the Valley and Whittier area will spend nearly $11 million on retiree health benefits. That number is expected to grow exponentially as the number of retirees grows, life expectancy rates increase and health premiums continue to rise.

"Up until this point, no one knew how big these unfunded obligations were," said Dean Mead, research manager for the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB), a nonprofit board that sets financial reporting standards for public agencies.

That changed three years ago, when the standards board implemented regulation GASB 45, which requires public agencies to report what retirees' health benefits will cost before they retire."

Just so you know, here's what the public meetings look like when the city in question comes to the conclusion that in order to survive the real cost structure, they need to reduce retiree benefits.  Watch it and ponder...

Is Twitter a Viable Tool for Employee Benefits Communication?

Twitter is everywhere. The micro-blogging platform, that asks you “What are you doing?” and only gives you 140 characters to respond, gets more press lately than celebrity mishaps. It is growing crazy fast, CNN loves to integrate it into the newscast and it gives even the biggest celebrities a chance to seem like real people.

Often dismissed as “fluff” in the social media landscape, Twitter is actually an invaluable tool for business, letting you quickly interact with a huge group of industry thought leaders, grab news headlines and even see what your competitors are talking about. The uses of Twitter have surprised even the founders themselves. It took me a little while to really buy in to the power of Twitter, but now I’m officially hooked.

But, can this platform be effective for employee benefits communication? Can it handle the complex needs of communicating to employees and their families about health care, 401(k)s, stock options, wellness programs, EAPs and all the other crazy and complex programs that are out there? 

I asked that on Twitter, and here are just a few of the replies:

So, it is a resounding YES. And, I agree completely. Here's why.

Four Reasons Why Twitter Works for Benefits Communication

Short and sweet. Twitter forces you to keep things to 140 characters, or about 20 words. That means you have to get to the point fast and entice your audience to link for more information. This is precisely the way effective communication should be structured, especially in our media-saturated world. And, this works really well for benefits information, where each individual needs to quickly find the information that is relevant for them and go. Too often, benefits communication is delivered in a one-size-fits-all package that has so much technical information and detail that the actual message is lost completely. There is a place for that (in your Summary Plan Description, for example) but the majority of benefits communication should be about engaging employees and families so they take action and make good decisions. Twitters’ quick to-the-point format would be great for delivering those action items in clear and simple terms.

On the Internet, for everyone to see. There’s nothing private about Twitter, as some have learned the hard way, but that is a good thing for your benefits communication. You want to get information into the hands of your employees (and new hires!) and their spouses and families as easily as possible. Unnecessary passwords are just an opportunity for your audience to get distracted by YouTube or Facebook and never return to your site or the important task they meant to do. There are Twitter-esque tools for the enterprise, like Yammer, that can live behind a firewall, but sequestering your benefits info behind all that security keeps it out of the hands of the spouses and families who are driving the largest portion of your costs. Not convinced? Here’s a full article on this topic alone.

Interactive. The @ feature on Twitter makes it easy to send a quick question or direct a reply at an individual. This makes the platform incredibly interactive—and efficient. The vast majority of benefits questions that are handled either by self-service websites and costly call centers are simple, simple, simple. “What’s the phone number for our health plan?” “Where do I submit claims for the FSA?” “What’s the deadline for the stock plan enrollment?” “Can I get reimbursed for salsa dance lessons as part of our fitness incentive?” All of these are simple less-than-10-word answers that could be handled by a benefits team member or a call center rep with minimal effort. I’d love to see a company roll out Twitter help as an adjunct to their call center. (Yes, obviously, there must be some common sense training that goes along with this but call center reps and benefits pros who are sophisticated enough to handle HIPAA regulations and FMLA rules are also smart enough to know when to say “we can’t answer that in a public forum—call us at this number.”)

Twitter can come to you. I know someone is thinking “but our employees aren’t on Twitter yet, why would we use that?” and that is a valid point. You have to go where your employees and families already are. And, you can do that with Twitter. All of the applications and widgets and add-ons that make putting a Twitter feed into another website easy are part of the reason the platform has grown so quickly. So, yes, you have to go where your people already are—is that your Intranet, your benefits website, Facebook, LinkedIn? Or, is it their mobile phones? Twitter can work anywhere and I think the mobile applications are going to become even more interesting and useful.

BUT, (there has to be a “but” right?), I do have a few cautions before you drop all your current communication channels and hire someone to man Twitter 24/7.

Some Cautions

If you use Twitter for benefits communication, it MUST be part of an integrated campaign. Twitter is just one tool and you have to give employees and families comprehensive resources and frequent updates in other media, of course. The ideal communication strategy is going to have a mix of online, print, interactive and hopefully face-to-face communication. And, just like any website, you can’t have an “If we build it, they will come” mindset—you have to consistently remind employees about the resources out there and why they should bother taking a look. (And, no, I don’t think good old-fashioned print communication mailed to homes is going away anytime soon—especially among companies who do not have completely wired workforces.)

Jargon alert. Benefits has enough jargon and silly acronyms already without throwing a new language of “Twitter” and “Tweeting” in the mix. If you use Twitter for your benefits communication, you must be very cautious not to further confuse employees or forget to define acronyms. It is no fun to spell out "high deductible health plan" when you’ve only got 140 characters to work within, but chances are pretty good your employees are not going to know HDHP, at least not the first time around. 

Understand the time commitment. An investment in any social media takes time and you need to accurately understand the commitment required, which could be significant. If you have someone on your benefits team monitoring Twitter and answering questions in real time, it might make sense to say “We respond between 10am and 2pm PT Monday-Friday. We’ll get back to you as soon as we can” so that you set appropriate expectations with employees—and so that individual can actually get some work done outside of those hours. 

I'm convinced Twitter holds tremendous promise to help engage employees and their families and get them taking action with their benefits. What do you think? Please comment below or let me know on Twitter.

Editor's Note - Jennifer Benz is founder and chief strategist at Benz Communications, a boutique consulting firm that focuses on employee benefits communication. She helps companies, large and small, connect with their people so that those people (and their families!) understand all the confusing, but oh-so-important, benefits programs that are out there. She's located in San Francisco.

Friday Telecommuting - Can You Smell the Organizational Backlash?

Here's a nugget of wisdom from a manager I know.  Enjoy the organizational savvy:

Me: How's the Telecommuting Program going?  Did you get it launched?

Manager: Yes, we're starting this week in our department.  Everyone is looking forward to it, although I've got a couple of people who are unsure about how working from home is going to go.

Me: How did you split up the department in terms of what days everyone gets?

Manager: I thought it through a little bit, and I decided to make some standard telecommuting days for the department.

Me: Really?  Tell me more.

Manager: Well, the last thing I wanted, for the departments that rely on my team, is for them to come in looking for anyone on a Monday or a Friday, and not be able to find them.  To me, the perception is that the employee is creating a 3 day weekend by telecommuting on a Monday or a Friday.  Plus, let's face it, it's human nature at 3pm on a Friday to want the weekend to get here already, so it would be tempting to play a little frisbee, etc.  So, I've opted to nip that in the bud.

Me:  Smart idea...

So, here's the story...  New telecommuting program, lots of desire to telecommute in the organization, and the manager proactively takes a look at a potential organizational reaction to his team being out on a Friday afternoon, and institutionalizes something to control for that.

Smart idea, especially given the fact that the program is new and still has to "prove in."

If I could, I'd do one of those "Real Men of Genius" commercials to celebrate the organizational savvy.  I'd call it "Mr. Anticipate the Organizational Backlash" guy. 

What An Angry Mob Looks Like - Reducing Healthcare Benefits of Retirees...

If you've been in HR for more than 5 years, you've been a part of what I'll call the "Great Benefits Crunch", which has forced your company to reduce overall benefit levels and/or pass along greater costs to employees.

You don't have to explain it to me.  I've had to explain those decisions to employees, and I'm aware that you didn't create the economic problem that is the "state of health care".  Sadly though, if you're in HR, you're left to explain the realities to a set of employees that doesn't feel great about costs being shifted their way.

You and I can understand that, because we're employees too.  Just because you manage the plan doesn't mean your health insurance is free. 

But being in HR means you take ownership of the employee relations side of the business, which means at times you're going to feel the laser on your back when employees vent their frustrations.

Watch the whole video below, which is one of the hardest rants about cost shifting I've ever seen captured on video...

Wow.  Did that get your attention?  Here are the details from the Santa Rosa Press Democrat:

"Convinced that the county no longer can afford spiraling health insurance premiums, Sonoma County (CA) supervisors told thousands of retirees and employees Tuesday that they will have to pay an increasing share of the cost.  Supervisors conceded their vote would be unpopular with the 2,500 retirees and 650 non-union workers who will be affected by the cost restructuring beginning in June.

Currently, the county provides non-union workers 85 percent of the premium for any plan selected, and gives retirees 85 percent of the lowest-cost premium, either for an individual or couple. Under the adopted recommendations, there will be a gradual reduction of 20 percent annually over the next five years in the county's contribution to retiree and non-union health benefits to $500 a month.

Nearly two-thirds of the 2,400 retirees would experience a drop in county contributions to their medical premiums. Those who insure dependents or who retired before age 65 are likely to see the biggest reductions. For example, an early retiree insuring a dependent under age 65 on the least expensive PPO plan is now getting $1,043 a month. That amount would be reduced by 20 percent each year until 2013 when the $500 monthly level would be reached."

I suspect retiree benefits will continue to be under pressure based on the economics of health care, as will the plans for active employees. 

I don't have the answers, but I do know this.  If you're an HR pro with 20 years left, you're going be a part of transitions and cost-shifting that spur reactions like what you see in the video above.  Brace yourself for a bumpy ride.

The employee relations portion of the HR Manager's role - it's the toughest job you'll ever love...

Dude! We're Getting an HMO!!!

You spend 30% of payroll on benefits for your employees.  You'd probably like them to understand the benefits you're spending all the cash on, right?

So, do they actually understand what you're providing?  They can't value what they can't understand, and of course, there's the whole thing about ensuring the spouse understands the benefits as well.

Don't bet on the fact that employees have any clue about the total value of the benefits package you're provdiding.  From CBS Marketwatch:

"Colonial Life surveyed more than 650 human resource managers and benefits administrators at the recent national conference of the Society for Human Resource Management. Employers were asked about the benefits they provide and how much their employees understand those benefits.

More than 90 percent of employers who responded said it was important to their business that employees understand and appreciate the value of their benefits. Only 21 percent of employers think their employees have a good understanding of their benefits. Nearly 5 percent think their employees know nothing at all about their benefits.

In a research study conducted by Watson Wyatt Worldwide(1), a global consulting firm that specializes in employee benefits, employees gave higher marks to employers who provided fewer benefits but explained them well, rather than a richer array of benefits they didn't understand."

If we're rating the understanding of benefits that low in a self-reported fashion, how bad must the reality be?  Additonally, what's the understanding of benefits mean?  With the right investment, can you get the number past 50%? 

If not, should your strategy be to "lead" the market when it comes to benefits?  Is it better, as the Wyatt study concludes, to do fewer things and drive the value proposition harder through a real communications plan?

What leads to increased retention or engagement?

Heavy questions to ponder.  Apparently, it takes more than the "Dude, we're getting an HMO campaign"... 

Put The Krispy Kreme DOWN! Because Ulrich Says So...

Going through Medical Plan renewal in our company, so living healthy, and the cost of not living healthy, is kind of on my mind.  Then I got the latest issue of Time, which confirms that the unhealthy trend is a lot bigger than what I can influence with Consumerism in my medical plan...

From Time, focused on the supersizing of America:

"We're not only programmed to eat a lot," says Sharman Apt Russell, author of Hunger: An Unnatural History, "but to prefer foods that are high in calories." What's more, the better we got at producing food, the easier it became. If you're a settler, you eat a lot of buffalo in part because you need a lot of buffalo — at least after burning so many calories hunting and killing it. But what happens when eating requires no sweat equity at all, when the grocery store is always nearby and always full?

What happens is, you get fat, and that's precisely what we've done. In 1900 the average weight of a college-age male in the U.S. was 133 lb. (60 kg); the average woman was 122 lb. (55 kg). By 2000, men had plumped up to 166 lb. (75 kg) and women to 144 lb. (65 kg). And while the small increase in average height for men (women have remained the same) accounts for a bit of that, our eating habits are clearly responsible for most. Over the past 20 years in particular, we've stuffed ourselves like pâté geese. In 1985 there were only eight states in which more than 10% of the adult population was obese — though the data collection then was admittedly spottier than it is now. By 2006, there were no states left in which the obesity rates were that low, and in 23 states, the number exceeded 25%. Even those figures don't tell the whole story, since they include only full-blown obesity. Overall, about two-thirds of all Americans weigh more than they should."

The first thing I thought of after reading that is what a muscle-bound cat I would have been in college back in 1900.  6"2", 170, and I would have looked HUGE!!!

Second thing I thought of was that not many cats went to college back in 1900.  No Internet either...

Third thing, and the most sobering thought, is that I'm limited in my ability to control the lifestyles of employees via adjustments to our Medical plan.  It's a society thing, and the most progressive of programs are going to struggle against that.  Even with the headline focused on the guy losing 80 pounds eating nothing but McDonalds....

Dave Ulrich said it best in the most recent issue of Workforce when he said the following about his own weight loss - "Those who have not seen me for five or six years almost always remark that I have lost a lot of weight.  They want to know how I did it, and are suprised when I tell them that I have in fact discovered the secrets of losing weight.  With bated breath, they listen to my secrets: Eat less, eat right and exercise more".  As the reality of these "insights" sinks in, they are disappointed".

Everyone's looking for the gimick.  Ulrich's advice sounds simple, but it's hard to implement for so many people.  For a variety of reasons. 

So take your double digit trend increases to your Medical plan, and sit down... There's not a big turnaround in sight....

Going through Medical Plan renewal in our company, so living healthy, and the cost of not living healthy, is kind of on my mind.  Then I got the latest issue of Time, which confirms that the unhealthy trend is a lot bigger than what I can influence with Consumerism in my medical plan...

From Time, focused on the supersizing of America:

"We're not only programmed to eat a lot," says Sharman Apt Russell, author of Hunger: An Unnatural History, "but to prefer foods that are high in calories." What's more, the better we got at producing food, the easier it became. If you're a settler, you eat a lot of buffalo in part because you need a lot of buffalo — at least after burning so many calories hunting and killing it. But what happens when eating requires no sweat equity at all, when the grocery store is always nearby and always full?

What happens is, you get fat, and that's precisely what we've done. In 1900 the average weight of a college-age male in the U.S. was 133 lb. (60 kg); the average woman was 122 lb. (55 kg). By 2000, men had plumped up to 166 lb. (75 kg) and women to 144 lb. (65 kg). And while the small increase in average height for men (women have remained the same) accounts for a bit of that, our eating habits are clearly responsible for most. Over the past 20 years in particular, we've stuffed ourselves like pâté geese. In 1985 there were only eight states in which more than 10% of the adult population was obese — though the data collection then was admittedly spottier than it is now. By 2006, there were no states left in which the obesity rates were that low, and in 23 states, the number exceeded 25%. Even those figures don't tell the whole story, since they include only full-blown obesity. Overall, about two-thirds of all Americans weigh more than they should."

The first thing I thought of after reading that is what a muscle-bound cat I would have been in college back in 1900.  6"2", 170, and I would have looked HUGE!!!

Second thing I thought of was that not many cats went to college back in 1900.  No Internet either...

Third thing, and the most sobering thought, is that I'm limited in my ability to control the lifestyles of employees via adjustments to our Medical plan.  It's a society thing, and the most progressive of programs are going to struggle against that.  Even with the headline focused on the guy losing 80 pounds eating nothing but McDonalds....

Dave Ulrich said it best in the most recent issue of Workforce when he said the following about his own weight loss - "Those who have not seen me for five or six years almost always remark that I have lost a lot of weight.  They want to know how I did it, and are suprised when I tell them that I have in fact discovered the secrets of losing weight.  With bated breath, they listen to my secrets: Eat less, eat right and exercise more".  As the reality of these "insights" sinks in, they are disappointed".

Everyone's looking for the gimick.  Ulrich's advice sounds simple, but it's hard to implement for so many people.  For a variety of reasons. 

So take your double digit trend increases to your Medical plan, and sit down... There's not a big turnaround in sight....