FEATURED
Steering employees toward healthy behaviors with
benefits technology
All aboard
BY KATHLEEN KOSTER
(CONTINUED ON PAGE 15)
ALSO INSIDE
Employee-Consumer
Five tips to help employees reduce
holiday stress
Retirement Planning
DIY retirement: the allure of self-directed brokerage accounts
Quality of Life
The true costs of workplace negativity
BY THE NUMBERS
40%
of workers are planning to
retire later than they were
two years ago.
See page 50
DECEMBER 2010 • VOL 24 NO 15 • EBN.BENEFITNEWS.COM
SURVEY NEWS
Benefits tighten employees’ ties
to their jobs, EBRI poll finds
BY LYDELL C. BRIDGEFORD
According to a survey on workers’ perception of employee benefits, both high- and
low-wage earners say benefits are vital to
their health and financial security.
“Frequently when these programs are
offered, there is a notion that … certain
employee benefits programs are mainly
valued and benefited by the highest-paid
population,” said Dallas Salisbury, president and CEO of the Employee Benefit
Research Institute, during a recent symposium on the current state of employee
benefits and insurance in the United
States.
“Yet in this survey, we found consistently, as with life insurance, the population of those rating a [benefits program
highly] was much higher among those
at the bottom end of the income scale,”
he added.
EBRI hosted the symposium jointly
with The Financial Services Roundtable
to highlight the survey findings, which
polled workers’ perceptions of employee
benefits and insurance products. The
event also focused on the workplace as a
venue to educate Americans about voluntary benefits, supplemental insurance
and retirement security.
Protecting the purse strings
In the survey, 52% of participants “felt
confident that benefits offered to them at
work would protect their financial well-being.” When asked to rate (on a scale of 1
to 5) different benefits in terms of providing financial protection, 85% rated health
insurance a 5, while 69% rated retirement saving a 5. The number increased,
(SEE BENEFITS ON PAGE 40)
WELLNESS PLANS
Health promotion programs
take center stage at Forum ‘ 10
By LydeLL C. Bridgeford
Proud to say you have 80% participation in
your company’s wellness/health promotion program? Not to rain on your parade,
but that number may be misleading, according to Dr. Jeanne L. Wendel, professor
of economics at the University of Nevada
(Reno).
Wendel sat on a panel discussion
examining employer-based population
health management at the recent Forum
‘ 10 and Integrated Care Summit spon-
sored by the Care Continuum Alliance,
the National Association of Manufacturers
and Center for Health Value Innovation.
