Offering more benefits
Employers are expanding benefit packages to include nontraditional choices.
Long-term care insurance, group auto insurance, group financial planning services and other nontraditional benefits are the top choices for employers planning to expand their benefit programs during the next three years, according to a recent Hewitt Associates survey of 509 organizations.
Another key growth area is alternative work arrangements such as flextime, job-sharing or telecommuting-which by 2000 will be offered by more than half the employers surveyed.
Faced with meeting the needs of an increasingly diverse workforce, most employers are designing flexible programs that allow employees to choose the benefits that best suit their needs and lifestyles. In addition to other benefit topics, the survey queried employers as to what types of flexible benefits they offered in 1997, and what they plan to add in the near future.
The responses point to a strong employer focus on addressing specific needs that occur at different points in the employee’s life cycle. Group financial planning services, now offered by only 9 percent of respondents, are expected to be offered by 29 percent within the next three years. Likewise, the number of employers offering long-term care insurance is expected to grow from 18 to 46 percent over the same period.
In addition, the study indicates that more employers are considering offering group auto and home insurance options, with the percentage of companies offering the benefits expected to climb to 35 percent and 31 percent, respectively, over the next three years.
In other benefits, alternative work arrangements are now offered by 44 percent of employers; that number is expected to increase to 57 percent in the next three years. By contrast, the growth of some other nontraditional benefits, such as choices in personal accident insurance and employer matches to spending accounts, are expected to stagnate and remain in the single digits.
More traditional benefits, such as dependent and health-care spending accounts, should show minimal growth because they’re already offered by most employers.
