“Helping employees make better benefits decisions” and “addressing the diverse benefits needs of your employee population” are at the bottom of the list of objectives in terms of importance, with 35% and 28% of plan sponsors rating them as “highly important,” according to Prudential’s Fifth Annual Study of Employee Benefits: Today & Beyond. “Increasing employee education and/or advice” was the top-rated benefits strategy with 34% of plan sponsors rating it as “highly important” in 2007, while this year, it has fallen to fourth with 28%.

For “tailoring communication and enrollment,” 21% rate it as highly important this year, compared to 26% in 2007. In 2007, plan sponsors rated benefits education (34%) as a more important strategy than cost-sharing (19%) or giving more financial responsibility to employees (21%).  

The study found few plan sponsors give their benefits communications/enrollment efforts high marks on overall effectiveness; only about one in five (23%) rate their communications as “highly effective.” This number has remained flat over the past few years. In 2007, 21% of plan sponsors thought that their benefits communications were “highly effective.” 

Targeted communications?

Plan sponsors remain cautious about targeting communications to specific employee segments. Just one in five companies are “very willing” to use select personal information about their employees (with their permission) so that benefits providers could more effectively tailor communications to better address employees’ and/or their families’ situations and needs. This is a decline from 2007, when one in four plan sponsors said they would be “very willing.”  

This year, 44% of plan sponsors “strongly agree” that they give their employees adequate time to make employee benefits decisions. This figure also has not moved in the past few years; in 2007, 45% of companies surveyed said they give their employees adequate time.  

In 2007, 35% of plan participants rated their benefits communication as “highly effective,” compared to 34% today. Plan participants who are among the least satisfied with their employers’ benefits communications (highest “neutral/not effective”ratings) tend to be male workers, those under age 35, and workers in the manufacturing industry.  

Most employees (68%) indicate that they tend toward the “little to no effort” end of the spectrum when it comes to benefits selection; 24% tend to just choose the same benefits and 44% read some information and possibly discuss options with a relative/friend, but in general don’t make many modifications from year to year.