"The Met Life Study of Employee Benefits Trends"
No author cited
Met Life, November 2004.
Available Online
According to this Met Life study, few employees possess the necessary savvy
to make wise decisions about their benefits. Only 29 percent of those age
21-30 and 40 percent overall understand which employee benefits offerings
best meet their needs.
Twenty-eight percent of respondents report that they have not yet begun
saving for retirement and only 24 percent say they feel in control of their
finances. A significant portion of the sample (28 percent) reported having
trouble paying their monthly bills or living paycheck to paycheck (42 percent).
Seventy-one percent cited the ability to pay bills during a period of unemployment
as their No. 1 concern.
Employers cited health care costs (87 percent) as their No. 1 benefits-related
concern. As a result the majority of companies said that they expected employees
to assume at least some of the cost for their benefits.
Met Life surveyed 903 full-time employees, age 21 and older, at companies
with at least two employees, and 1,542 voting-age consumers for the employee
portion of the study. They talked to 1,528 HR/Benefits executives from companies
with at least two employees for the employer survey.
