Passing the Buck If you're asking employees to manage their own benefits, you could be asking for trouble.
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By now, you've heard the phrase consumer driven beingused to describe health care, Social Security and other plans. Butit might be better to use the phrase employee driven.
From health plans to retirement plans, employers are passingmore and more paperwork on to their employees in areas that used tobe the exclusive domain of HR and outside professionals. It raisesthe question: Are employers asking employees to manage too much ofthe work experience? And what are the risks?
Employers benefit from lower fees and fewer penalties by havingemployees manage various plans on their own. Take Health SavingsAccounts, which allow employees to manage their health-caredollars. The employee--not the employer--is subject to a financialpenalty if too much money is contributed to the account within acalendar year.
But there are costs to consumer-driven plans that couldovershadow the transfer of liability. Because consumer-driven planstend to be low-margin products for insurers, employees will bepushed online, where they'll spend work time deciphering theirbenefits. And that means less productivity on the job."Employees have to do more," says JoAnn Laing, presidentof Information Strategies Inc., a Fort Lee, New Jersey, marketinginformation company.
The prospect of more paperwork isn't sitting well withemployees. When Information Strategies surveyed 5,000 managers andemployees in December 2004 to gauge the effect of consumer-drivenhealth plans on worker satisfaction, it found 31 percent ofemployees are uncomfortable with the requirements and educationbeing offered under the consumer-driven plans, and 41 percentindicated they were receiving very little education regarding toolsand programs. "Twenty-two percent said they're notcomplaining loudly because they're afraid of losing thebenefits," Laing says. "But they're feeling put upon,and it demands more of them."
Employers have to recognize employees' differingperspectives, says Susan Battley, leadership psychologist and CEOof BattleyPerformance Consulting in Stony Brook, New York. Employees overage 40 who are used to a paternalistic view of health-care andretirement plans will need more guidance than younger employees."It can affect people differently based on whether they'vehad to adapt to this new environment," Battley says. Shesuggests employers offer resources ranging from a knowledgeableemployee on-site to a toll-free number and online checklists.
Employers who ignore employee grumblings about the amount ofwork they're asked to do to manage their benefits willultimately pay high prices in hidden costs. Do so at your ownrisk.
