Employees Turn To Workplace For Broad And Growing Array Of Insurance And Investment Products, MetLife Study Shows.Business Editors NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 12, 2002 Findings Point to Growing Popularity of Voluntary Benefits, Increased Need for Employee Education and Advice; Young, Web-Savvy Employees Most Likely to Purchase Workplace Products The workplace has become increasingly popular for the purchase of insurance and investment products and other voluntary benefits, and employees are looking for Looking for In the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with. a wider array of workplace offerings. Currently 59% of employees surveyed purchase voluntary benefits -- defined as products for which the employee pays all of the cost -- at work. There also continues to be a strong appetite among employees for additional voluntary offerings. Three in five (61% of employees surveyed) are interested in having their employer provide a wider array of voluntary benefits. These are some of the findings from MetLife's 2002 Employee Benefits Trend Study released today. "With Gen Xers and Baby Boomers See generation X. facing a triple threat to their financial security -- planning for retirement, saving for a child's education and caring for an elderly parent -- more employees are appreciating the convenience and value of purchasing insurance and investment products in the workplace," notes Rob Henrikson, president of MetLife's U.S. Insurance and Financial Services The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please [ improve this article] or discuss the issue on the talk page. Businesses. Traditional benefits, paid for by the employer, still dominate the workplace benefits market, with over 50% of employers surveyed offering products such as basic life insurance, dental insurance Dental insurance is insurance designed to pay the costs associated with dental care. Dental insurance pays a portion of the bills from dentists, hospitals, and other providers of dental services. , disability insurance and vision care insurance. In addition to traditional benefit offerings, less traditional protection products and investment offerings -- normally purchased outside the workplace -- are making significant strides as voluntary benefits, with the employee paying all of the cost. A significant number of companies surveyed now offer -- or are planning to add -- the following products in the next 18 months: optional term life insurance (40%), long-term care long-term care (LTC), n the provision of medical, social, and personal care services on a recurring or continuing basis to persons with chronic physical or mental disorders. insurance (37%), critical illness insurance Critical illness insurance or critical illness cover is a contract, invented by Dr Marius Barnard[1], where an insurer makes a lump sum cash payment if the policyholder is diagnosed with one of the critical illnesses listed on the insurance policy and survives a (21%), travel accident insurance (19%), auto insurance (15%), group legal services Legal services provided under a plan to members, who may be employees of the same company, members of the same organization, or individual consumers. Group legal services resembles group Health Insurance. (14%) and homeowners insurance (11%). A growing number of companies also currently offer -- or are planning to add --personal finance products in the next 18 months, such as stocks/bonds (21%), financial planning Financial planning Evaluating the investing and financing options available to a firm. Planning includes attempting to make optimal decisions, projecting the consequences of these decisions for the firm in the form of a financial plan, and then comparing future performance against (16%), mutual funds (14%), 529 college savings plans (14%) and annuities (11%). Employees Need Education, Want Financial Planning The survey also points to a greater need for education about benefits. For example, 51% of employees surveyed agree that their employer should provide them with more information to help them make decisions about their benefits. The need for education is also apparent when comparing employees' concerns about protection and savings issues with their levels of coverage and preparedness pre·par·ed·ness n. The state of being prepared, especially military readiness for combat. Noun 1. preparedness - the state of having been made ready or prepared for use or action (especially military action); "putting them : - 75% are concerned about financial security in the event of a disability, yet 31% do not have disability coverage and 48% feel their coverage is inadequate or don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. if it is. - 79% of employees surveyed are concerned about outliving their retirement assets yet only 24% feel they are on track toward their retirement savings goals. - 73% are concerned about providing for their own or their spouse's long-term care (LTC LTC abbr. lieutenant colonel ) needs and 24% believe they have LTC insurance. However, that percentage is significantly higher than industry statistics show. This discrepancy DISCREPANCY. A difference between one thing and another, between one writing and another; a variance. (q.v.) 2. Discrepancies are material and immaterial. suggests the need for more education about long-term care coverage. In addition to education about protection products, the survey reveals that nearly three in five (61%) employees surveyed are interested in having access to a financial planner Financial Planner A qualified investment professional who assists individuals and corporations meet their long-term financial objectives by analyzing the client's status and setting a program to achieve these goals. at work. The survey also found that 76% of employees are concerned about having a financial plan, but only 18% indicate that they have a formal financial plan. "Increasingly, employees are making their financial and insurance decisions at work and, as a result, need education and access to financial planning advice," adds Mr. Henrikson. Younger Employees: More Web-Savvy, Purchase Products at Work While there is widespread popularity for the purchase of workplace benefits across all ages, younger employees age 21-30 are most likely to purchase workplace products, followed by employees age 31-40. Younger employees (21-30) are more likely to buy financial and legal products at work such as annuities (56% vs. 43% overall), college savings plans (19% vs. 14% overall) and wills (13% vs. 7% overall). They also prefer enrolling for their benefits on the Web (57% vs. 45% overall) and obtaining service for their benefits online (43% vs. 34% overall). "The eagerness of young employees to purchase workforce products bodes well for the long-term Long-term Three or more years. In the context of accounting, more than 1 year. long-term 1. Of or relating to a gain or loss in the value of a security that has been held over a specific length of time. Compare short-term. strength of this market," notes Jim Gemus, MetLife's vice president responsible for Voluntary Benefits and Institutional eBusiness See e-business. . "This growing trend is prompting employers to provide employees with tools and solutions such as financial planning, benefits education, and multiple points of access to benefits information, including Web access, in order to help them make the right decisions towards financial freedom." Among the other survey findings: - Work/Life Balance is the most important benefit strategy for employers. As employers continue to focus on ways to balance their two most important benefits objectives: employee retention and benefit cost reduction, work/life balance is the most important benefits strategy used by surveyed employers to meet these objectives. Other key strategies include providing retirement planning Retirement financial planning refers to a collection of systems, methods, and processes which, in their aggregate, support a family unit's (client's) desire to achieve a state of financial independence, such that the need to be gainfully employed is optional. services and enabling all employees to access the intranet/Internet. - The Web is emerging as the channel of choice for benefits enrollment and service. This year, the Internet Internet Publicly accessible computer network connecting many smaller networks from around the world. It grew out of a U.S. Defense Department program called ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network), established in 1969 with connections between computers at the was cited by employees as the channel of choice for benefits enrollment and the second most preferred channel for service. In addition, more employers are delivering benefits via the Web, 44% of employers this year versus 30% last year. - Employees view voluntary benefits as a convenient, disciplined way to save. The two most popular reasons cited by employees surveyed for purchasing workplace benefits include "the convenience of payroll deduction deduction, in logic, form of inference such that the conclusion must be true if the premises are true. For example, if we know that all men have two legs and that John is a man, it is then logical to deduce that John has two legs. " (86%) and "disciplined savings" (82%). Other perceived advantages include "no medical exams" (71%), "better rates/group rates" (75%) and "time savings" (71%). The MetLife Employee Benefits Trend Study was conducted during the third quarter of 2002 and consists of two distinct surveys: an employer survey conducted by Innovative Concepts Inc., and an employee survey conducted by RoperASW. A total of 605 HR/Benefits executives from companies with at least 50 employees were polled for the employer survey. The employee survey was conducted among 1,038 active full-time employees, age 21 and older, and also from companies with at least 50 employees. Both surveys were fielded during July and August via a Web-based survey method. MetLife, a subsidiary of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE NYSE See: New York Stock Exchange : MET), is a leading provider of insurance and other financial services to individual and institutional customers. The MetLife companies serve approximately 12 million individuals in the U.S. and companies and institutions with 33 million employees and members. MetLife also has international insurance operations in 13 countries. For a copy of the survey's executive summary, please contact: Gene Lanzoni (908) 253-1775 Glanzoni@metlife.com |
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