In a Harvard Business Review Analytic Services and Unum survey, human resources leaders said that as businesses recover from the recession, chief challenges will be demonstrating to employees their value as they deal with the effects of health care reform.
Other top challenges are managing benefit costs, boosting employee engagement and retaining quality employees.
Almost 40 percent of those surveyed said they witnessed changes in their company's medical benefits carrier or design during the difficult economy of the last two years. Among them, 35 percent saw a staff reduction of more than 10 percent. Thirty-six percent saw a transfer of benefits costs from employer to employee, and more than 25 percent saw a reduction in human resources staff.
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Eighteen percent of HR leaders who did not already see changes said they expected to see a change in their company's benefits plan design or carrier in the second half of 2010, and 22 percent more predicted benefits costs would transfer from employer to employee in the same time period.
Many companies are offering voluntary benefits as a way to balance the need to manage costs and boost engagemen, with close to 70 percent of HR leaders saying they offer voluntary benefits employees can purchase. Nearly 70 percent also said financial protection benefits, such as disability and life insurance, are a very important piece of an overall benefits package.
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