Page 18 - BusinessWest June 23, 2021

Insurance
Give and Take
New Challenges Emerge in Employee Benefits — but More Options, Too
With five generations in today’s workforce, employee benefits are no one-size- fits-all proposition — yet, they remain a key issue for employers looking to attract and retain a skilled workforce. Striking a balance between what employees want and what the business can afford is certainly a challenge — but the flexibility and options available to employers these days makes the task a little easier to navigate.
By Mark Morris
etween demographic changes in the workforce and the impact of the pandemic, employers face multiple challenges these days in offering health insurance and other benefits to their workers.
In the U.S., 49% of people receive health-insur- ance coverage through their employer. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, that percentage represents approximately 156 million Americans. Many of those workers also receive cov- erage for dental care and disability, as well as access to a retire- ment plan as part of a complete benefits package.
And, despite the increasing costs of health insurance, employers are not cutting back on this essential coverage, said Peter Miller, partner with Millbrook Benefits and Insurance Services in Springfield.
“They are trying to strike a balance between offering a ben- efits package that is attractive to new hires, while also trying to control costs and keep the business running,” he noted.
Traditional benefits, such as healthcare coverage and retirement plans, have always been important to employ- ees. According to Patrick Leary, vice president of Work Ben- efits Research at LIMRA in Windsor, Conn., traditional ben- efits make up the core of an employer’s value proposition to employees.
18 JUNE 23, 2021
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