What Are Employee Benefits?
That part of the total compensation package, other than pay
for time worked, provided to employees in whole or in part by
employer payments, e.g. life insurance, pension, workers’
compensation, vacation
Why the Growth in Employee Benefits?
• Wage and price controls
• Unions
• Employer impetus
• Cost effectiveness of benefits
• Government impetus
The Value of Employee Benefits
• Research suggests that stating employment benefits in job
ads:
• Leads to applicants’ focusing and relying more heavily
on it in job choice
• Plan and design effective benefit programs
• Communicate the value of benefit programs to the
employees
Key Issues in Benefit Planning, Design, and
Administration
Benefits Planning and Design Issues
Determine how to:
• Attract good employees
• Deal with undesirable turnover
• Integrate benefits with other compensation components
• Design strategies to ensure:
• External competitiveness
• Adequacy of benefits
• Design cost effective employee benefits
Key Issues in Benefit Planning, Design, and
Administration
Benefit administration issues
1. Who should be protected or benefited?
• Series of questions need to be addressed
2. How much choice should employees have among an array
of benefits?
• Concerns choice (flexibility) in plan coverage
• Standard benefit package
• “Cafeteria-style,” or flexible, benefit plans
Advantages of Flexible Benefit Programs
• Employees choose packages that best satisfy their unique
needs.
• Flexible benefits help firms meet the changing needs of a
changing workforce.
• Increased involvement of employees and families improves
understanding of benefits.
• Flexible plans make introduction of new benefits less costly.
• Cost containment: Organization sets dollar maximum;
employee chooses within the constraint.
Disadvantages of Flexible Benefits
• Employees make bad choices and find themselves not
covered for predictable emergencies.
• Administrative burdens and expenses increase.
• Adverse selection: Employees pick only benefits they will
use; the subsequent high benefit utilization increases its
cost.
• Subject to non-discrimination requirements in Section 125
of the Internal Revenue Code.
Key Issues in Benefit Planning, Design, and
Administration
3. How issues associated with flexibility should benefits be
financed?
• Noncontributory
• Contributory
• Employee financed
4. Are your benefits legally defensible?
Administering the Benefits Program
Three Administrative Issues
• Communicating about the benefits program
• Claims processing
• Cost containment
Communicating the Benefits Program
Three elements of effective communications
• Company must spell out its benefit objectives and ensure
communications achieve the objectives
• Match the message with the appropriate medium
• Use of intranet – an internal organizational online Web through
which all forms of communication within the organization can be
streamlined
• Streamlined call center operation
• Content of communications package must be complete, clear, and
free of complex jargon
Communicating Employee Benefits
Methods of communication
• Employee handbook
• Personalized benefit statements
• Meetings with employees
• Multi-media presentations
• Intranet
• Streamlined call center operation
Claims Processing
• Arises when an employee:
• Asserts that a specific event has occurred
• Demands that the employer fulfill promise of payment
• The claims processor must:
• Determine whether the act has occurred
• Determine if the employee is eligible for the benefit
• Calculate the payment level
Cost Containment
Prevalent practices include:
1. Probationary periods:
• Excluding new employees from benefit coverage till specific
period of time
2. Benefit limitations:
• Limit the coverage to a certain fixed amount
3. Copay:
• Employees pay a fixed or percentage amount for coverage
4. Administrative cost containment:
• Controlling costs through policies
“THANKYOU.”
