The good news? According to a recent survey from Prudential Financial, a majority of plan sponsors and brokers have a positive outlook for 2010.

"Both plan sponsors and brokers expect their companies to be doing better financially a year from now," said Lori High, president of Prudential's Group Insurance business.

The bad? Less than half of plan sponsors say their benefits budgets increased from 2008, compared with increases reported by two-thirds of those surveyed the prior two years.

Specifically, about one-third of companies are maintaining their 2008 budget levels, while another 15 percent say their budgets have decreased by an average of 16 percent over last year.

Additional trends shaping the employee benefits landscape, according to Prudential Financial, include:

• Companies hurt by the economy are altering their expectations regarding benefits staffing levels. Those affected most by the recession are forecasting a downsizing of their benefits staff over the next five years.
• Cost cutting measures are impacting strategic initiatives such as improving employee education and advice.
• Using Internet technology to increase efficiency and control benefits costs will be important objectives by 2014.

Prudential's "A New Day in Employee Benefits" report, the first in a series of five, stems from the company's broad Study of Employee Benefits: 2009 and Beyond report which was fielded via the Internet during April and May of 2009 and consists of three distinct surveys: one among benefits plan sponsors, one among benefits plan participants, and one among employee benefits brokers and consultants. The surveys were conducted for Prudential by the Center for Strategy Research, Inc., a Boston-based, independent, market research firm.