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Making Open Enrollment Easier for Your Employees

Making Open Enrollment Easier for Your Employees

by | Nov 1, 2017 | Blog

In this week’s Best Money Moves roundup, we take a look at news stories and new research studies that may impact employee benefits and HR issues. We hope you find this news roundup helpful, and we’d love your feedback.

Open enrollment has officially begun. Chances are, you’re a little overwhelmed and your employees are a little confused — but the news isn’t all bad. Making open enrollment easier (and hopefully a bit more fun) for your employees means finding a way to engage your team in meaningful conversations about their needs and show them all the exciting benefits you have to offer.

Try getting creative to juice the “fun” part of the month!

  • Host a benefits fair in the last afternoon or early evening and encourage your employees to bring their significant others so they can get their questions answered and make important benefits decisions togther.
  • Create posters and flyers, and then hang them around the office.
  • Don’t just post information on your company’s website; bring your message into the physical work environment.
  • Incorporate your important and popular benefits, like health insurance and  retirement options into presentation but spend time on new or unique perks you offer, such as flex time, free snacks, wellness (or financial wellness!) programs, pet-friendly spaces and student loan repayment plans.

Open enrollment is also a good time to see how your employees are utilizing and responding to the benefits they already use. Take a look at which benefits  are doing well and which are underutilized Pay attention to your employees’  suggestions, and consider refining their feedback for the future.

Here are some other suggestions that can help you make open enrollment easier and more fun.

Which benefits do your millennial employees really want? Millennials have been entrenched in the  workforce for quite a while now, but many employers can’t figure out how to convince them to stick around longer than a year or so.  Here’s what Vlad Gyster, Founder and CEO of Airbo and Janet McNichol, HR Director of ASHA, had to say.

Your employees don’t feel financially secure about their retirement. A recent study by Northwestern Mutual found that 58 percent of U.S. adults cited health care as their chief retirement concern, which is a 13 percent increase from the previous year. Learn more.

Many millennials don’t understand how to build a budget. That’s a big problem, especially since people in this generation are frequently saddled with thousands of dollars in student loan debt. Regardless of age, studies show most workers want help from their employers learning about money. Here are some financial questions your young employees might ask.

News on 401ks! As tax reform winds its way through Congress, 401k are said to be targeted for significant changes. One proposal reduces the amount of money an employee can stash away in a 401k plan tax-free from $18,000 per year ($24,000 if you’re over the age of 50) to less than $3,000. Best Money Moves believes that maximizing a 401k, which is a benefit most employers are already providing, is one of the best things employees can do to stabilize their finances and reduce financial stress around retirement. We’ll keep you updated on the latest discussions around 401k plans in the upcoming tax reform bill.  

How can a digital and holistic wellness program help you improve the lives of your team members? When employees have 24/7 access to tools and information right in the palm of their hands and employers are getting real-time data, everyone wins.  See the other ways digital wellness solutions are changing things for the better.

Why is financial wellness more important than ever? According to Bill Chetney, founder of GRP Advisor Alliance, it’s because 64 percent of workers couldn’t even cover a $1,000 emergency without going into debt. Learn how financial advisors are joining this important conversation.

Your employees want help coping with stress. More than 75 percent of workers in a recent Harris Poll online survey said they consider resiliency programs valuable, but only 25 percent of workers said their employers offer them. Could a stress reduction program work for your people?  

People aren’t spending enough time considering their benefits. In fact, according to a recent Prudential study, 23 percent of employees spend less than 30 minutes thinking about the perks offered by their employers. Here are five ways to change that.

Are your employees fighting anxiety? Often overlooked, anxiety can have a major effect on your employees’ stress levels, negatively impacting productivity, health care costs and employee retention. Here’s how you can help.

Are you using the latest HR Tech? Technology is always changing, but some trends were everywhere at the annual HR Tech Conference in Las Vegas. Check out the top 10 HR tech trends.

Have something to add? Email info@bestmoneymoves.com.

Upgrade Your HR Tech and Switch to the Cloud

Upgrade Your HR Tech and Switch to the Cloud

by | Oct 25, 2017 | Blog

In this week’s Best Money Moves roundup, we take a look at news stories and new research studies that may impact employee benefits and HR issues. We hope you find this news roundup helpful, and we’d love your feedback.

Why should you shift your HR tech to the cloud? Because it could make your life easier.

Cloud-based platforms offer HR (and often employees) much more flexibility, so it’s no wonder that 40 percent of the 300 companies recently surveyed by PricewaterhouseCoopers have already switched. But for the 60 percent that haven’t quite taken the plunge, PwC consultants had some advice.

For starters, the firm said in its report, companies need to consider whether cloud providers can meet their individual needs. Software functionality is important, but at the end of the day individual organizations must allow their unique practices and policies to take center stage when choosing a vendor. Security is also a concern for HR departments, which handle sensitive employee data like addresses, dates of birth and Social Security numbers. What else does PwC recommend? Take a look at this slideshow.

Why are your millennial employees so stressed? Only 20 percent of them are satisfied with their financial health, according to financial services technology company Fiserv’s Expectations and Experiences Survey. Read more from Fiserv’s senior vice president of marketing and strategy innovation.

The right employee benefits will make your people want to stick around. In fact, according to Glassdoor, four out of five people would prefer having great benefits to getting a pay raise. See why employees prefer perks to cash incentives.

Your employees are not saving enough for retirement. Could a financial wellness program help them dial back their stress and create the future they want? Only if the program helps address the pain points of each individual. Learn how to get started.

What’s the best way to attract and keep millennial employees? One survey found that 85 percent of millennials, both in the workforce and in school, are more willing to work and stay with a company that has a student loan assistance program in place. See the data here.

Physical fitness and good nutrition aren’t the only things keeping your employees healthy. In a PwC survey of working Americans, 45 percent said dealing with their finances is stressful. Here are four reasons people need financial wellness in the workplace.

Sometimes it’s hard to tell which HR trends are meaningful. While some advancements can dramatically improve workplace processes, others can seem like unnecessary disruptions. How can you tell which trends will stand the test of time? Here’s what the pros say.

Your employees are thinking about their money at work. According to the American Psychological Association, 46 percent of people admit to spending two to three working hours per week on personal financial matters. See what you can do to help your workers focus.

Employees want more than a competitive salary. Understanding which benefits to offer your team could mean the difference between keeping them for the long haul and losing them to a competitor. Content marketing agency Fractl’s recent employee benefits survey asked participants to rank 17 perks from most to least important. Check out the top four.

Many Baby Boomers are struggling with rising healthcare costs. That means more older employees are working well into what could have been their retirement years. What does that mean for employers? It’s time to be proactive.

Have something to add? Email info@bestmoneymoves.com.

It’s a Team Effort: How Engaging Employees Boosts Financial Wellness

It’s a Team Effort: How Engaging Employees Boosts Financial Wellness

by | Oct 18, 2017 | Blog

In this week’s Best Money Moves roundup, we take a look at news stories and new research studies that may impact employee benefits and HR issues. We hope you find this news roundup helpful, and we’d love your feedback.

Are you getting the most out of your financial wellness program?  New research shows that engagement rates are a better indicator of success than ROI.

These days, it’s common for companies to have some sort of financial wellness program in place. But the existing programs aren’t always effective at improving retention, increasing productivity and lowering healthcare costs. Benefits executives are starting to see why: Many employees don’t know these programs are available, and when they do, they don’t always find them relevant or engaging enough to use regularly.  

So what can you do?

“Maximizing ROI starts with knowing your employee base – age, career stage and income ranges,” says a new report by market research firm Ernst and Young. “But fostering engagement depends on more than demographics. It requires a deeper understanding of workforce psychographics [such as] how employees think and feel about money.”

By taking the time to consider employees’ emotional and intellectual responses to financial stress as well as their demographic information, employers put themselves in a better position to address the unique financial stressors their people are facing. Holistic solutions aren’t just better for employees, they’re also ultimately better for your business.

See what else Ernst and Young had to say.

Do your employees feel valued? The 2017 Getting Paid in America survey revealed that employee access to pay and benefits information could help. Read more about empowering your people.

Your employees want meaningful work. According to a new study, that means employers need to clearly communicate the company’s mission, provide opportunities for growth and foster coworker relationships. Learn how integrity and transparency impact employee experience.

Budgeting doesn’t have to be complicated, even if we are getting into the holiday gift-giving season. In fact, helping your workers simplify the way they approach their money will reduce their financial stress in the long run. Here are 3 simple budget saves employees can put into place today.

How happy are your hourly workers? Successful businesses know what causes workers to leave, and work to keep their employees. Check out these five ways to boost employee retention.

American workers don’t understand their benefits. In fact, 76 percent make benefits decisions without understanding their plans, according to the 2017 Aflac WorkForces Report, and it’s getting worse. See the data.

Which benefits are at the top of your employees’ wish list? Forty percent of workers told Glassdoor that affordable healthcare is the number one perk. Here are four more.

Who are your company’s rising stars? As companies prepare for year-end performance reviews and think about goals for 2018, these emerging leaders are waiting in the wings hoping to show off what they can do. Look for employees with these four qualities.

More than half of employees with access to financial wellness programs say the initiatives have improved their health. But, according to a recent study from UnitedHealthcare, some employers aren’t stopping there. Read these five tips for starting a program that really works.

HR professionals are always looking for ways to optimize day-to-day tasks. Tech startups are actively responding to these needs, and providing innovative solutions that benefit employers and their teams. Keep an eye on these 10 HR tech companies.

Have something to add? Email info@bestmoneymoves.com.