Excerpt

Executive Summary

During the third quarter of 2003, company commissioned a national study of employee
benefit trends, surveying both employees and employers.
For employees, the study focused on:

• Assessing basic financial security and work/life goals for their families and
  themselves;
  
• Determining areas of financial concern, what benefits they have and how these
  benefits address their needs;
  
• Identifying their attitudes toward benefits; and,
  
• Identifying the channels that employees use – and prefer – for receiving information
  about enrolling in, and obtaining service related to, employee benefits.

For employers, the study focused on:

• Identifying their overall benefits objectives and strategies;
  
• Monitoring financial products and services offered at work;
  
• Assessing attitudes regarding voluntary benefits and job satisfaction issues; and,
  
• Understanding the extent to which the Internet is being used to deliver their benefits
  programs.

The results of this study demonstrate a number of significant trends. Economic times
have made it difficult for employees to do financial planning, especially because so many
are living paycheck-to-paycheck. Lack of planning, however, does not mean lack of
concern. Employees are worried about health insurance, job security and making ends
meet. They sense that they don’t have the skills to do their own financial planning, yet
they do not seek professional assistance.

Work/life worries among employees also center on personal retirement and the welfare of
their families, including the desire to protect their families’ needs and spend more time
with their families. Employees have not adequately planned for their retirement and fear
they will not have enough money on which to live once they stop working. Furthermore,
they have not provided for the financial well-being of their families in the event of a
disability or premature death. Consequently, they are dependent on their employers to
provide key insurance coverage.

Although employers still are paying at least some of the costs of traditional employee
benefits, they are trying to reduce benefits costs by shifting them to employees and
providing employees with financial planning services. They also are promoting the use
of voluntary benefits, for which the employee pays some or all of the cost.