For most of us, understanding how to develop and promote superior benefits packages for today's age-diverse work force is a bit like talking on the phone, texting on our Blackberries, and checking e-mail on our laptops - all at the same time. In other words, it's complicated, requires concentration, and demands that we keep track of our various and simultaneous audiences, lest we send a text to our client that should have gone by e-mail to our colleague. The fact is, employers today, along with their HR managers, must navigate a complicated work place that is, for the first time in American history, comprised of four generations of workers. To help them meet the multigenerational challenge, we must become experts at multi-tasking, developing a deep understanding of the needs and desires of both younger and older employees, and assembling flexible benefits packages that target multiple goals at once.
By now, the story of our increasingly age-diverse work force has become clear. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics, the older labor force is projected to grow more than five times faster than the overall labor force by 2016. By 2014, nearly a third of the work force will be age 50 or older. In fact, by 2011, baby boomers - or those born between 1946 and 1964 - will make up almost 40 percent of the country's work force. At the same time, almost seven million members of the "Traditionalists" or World War II generation - born before 1945 - will still be at work. Generation X-ers, born between 1965 and 1980, will comprise 32 percent of the work force by 2014, and members of Generation Y (or the Millennial Generation), born between 1980 and 2000, will make up approximately 25 percent.
Facing financial pressures, economic uncertainty, and a desire to remain active and social, people are simply working longer, a fact that is radically altering the work place dynamic on a variety of levels. At the same time, as we all know, employers are confronting their own financial pressures and economic uncertainty, and as they work to manage and retain employees with very different goals, experiences and even values, they are searching for benefits packages that are viewed as rewarding and helpful by everyone.
The first step in developing benefits for this new work force is to truly understand the unique perspectives of each audience. While it is important not to stereotype, there are some basic differences - and similarities - between each generation and their experiences that guide their overall perception of what is valuable and necessary, and what is superfluous and even burdensome. As employers look to operate with lean budgets and quality staff, they are asking benefits mangers to do more to establish perceptible value with less, and so the job of demonstrating knowledge and understanding of generational trends is critical for agents and brokers.
As the largest segment of the employment market today, boomers have been the target of analysis and marketing for some time now, and so as a group their interests and preferences are fairly well understood. A recent AARP study, "Leading a Multigenerational Work Force," suggests that boomers intend to "revolutionize retirement" by continuing to work well into their golden years, by finding new careers late in life, and through investment. In general, this group values and expects good benefits, and because they are advancing in years, they worry about having the right health insurance. Many are also taking care of aging parents.
Members of Generation X are, as a rule, more concerned with salary than benefits. Like the Generation Y-ers who follow them, they are more focused on shorter-term goals than boomers, and tend to expect less from their benefits. As AARP suggests, Generation X-ers are more self-reliant, and more concerned with getting results fast by simplifying processes. They helped revolutionize the use of technology, and were in turn changed by it.
Members of Generation Y, because of their age and the influence of the Internet, demand quick results. They expect a great deal from their employers, but in general have not made the connection between their employment expectations and their benefits packages. As a group, they seem to view benefits as less valuable and less connected to their overall career goals. Generation Y members tend to move jobs frequently, and as AARP writes, "they can notify thousands of their cohorts about which companies match or fall short of their ideals" with the click of a mouse.
Finally, the smallest segment of the work force is still having a big impact on organizational decisions. Millions of World War II generation workers are on the job, and their view of benefits was in many cases shaped in a very different era. They value experience and reputation, and they are often used to having comprehensive health benefits. Given their years, they are worried about health care, long-term care and retirement benefits.
Stay tuned to Benefits Selling Weekly for the second installment of this series.
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