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CCH® BENEFITS — 3/23/07

Americans Spend Less Time Reviewing Employee Benefits Than Managing Their Taxes Or Preparing For The Holidays

from Spencer’s Benefits Reports: Nearly half of working Americans spend either no time or less than an hour reviewing their benefits each year, according to recent research released by the Guardian Life Insurance Company.

The study, “Benefits and Behavior: Spotlight on Group Life and Disability Insurance,” also revealed widespread misunderstandings about workplace benefits, particularly about the underwriting and cost of group benefits.

On average, respondents said that they spent 1.4 hours reviewing benefits this past year

In contrast, survey respondents said that they spent (or will spend) an average of 2.8 hours preparing or filing their taxes, 4.9 hours on holiday shopping, and 2.7 hours preparing for Thanksgiving

“We conducted the survey at the end of the workplace open-enrollment season, a time of year when the review and selection of benefits would reasonably be top-of-mind,” said Craig Guiffre, vice president of group life and disability at Guardian. “But the results show that benefits decisions still take a backseat to other types of planning and preparation such as holiday shopping and filing for taxes.”

Employees generally believe that it is easy to select their employee benefits. Some 71% of survey respondents said that it is “easy” or “very easy” to select their employee benefits, while only 21% said that it is “difficult” or “very difficult.”

Mr. Guiffre said, “We always look for ways to streamline the benefits selection process and we don’t want employees to be overwhelmed when they select their benefits. But given the realities facing today’s workers, with greater personal responsibility for financial decisions, they need to do their homework and devote several hours each year to reviewing their employee benefits and managing their finances.”

Consumer Overconfidence

The study also revealed the following:

1. 73% of the employees surveyed said that they know the difference between group and individual life insurance coverage. Yet, almost half of these employees indicated that they believe a medical examination generally is required to purchase group life insurance. In fact, such a checkup typically is not required.
2. More than 35% of those whose employers offer disability insurance did not know how much disability coverage they have. Similarly, 27% of respondents who have disability coverage did not know what percentage of their income is protected.
3. Nearly two-thirds of respondents said that they understand the differences between group and individual coverage, but nearly half believed that a medical examination is required for group disability coverage. For group disability coverage, as in the case of group life insurance, medical examinations generally are not required. In addition, 24% of respondents indicated that they believe group disability insurance is more expensive than individual policies, but, in fact, most group policies are less expensive. The survey also found that as many as 48% of respondents do not realize that employer-paid disability income benefits are taxable.
4. Employees indicated that they consulted a variety of sources prior to making any decisions about their benefits each year. These included reading the literature provided by employers (50%); talking to their employer’s human resources or personnel department (42%); meeting with benefit advisers (36%); and discussing choices with family members (45%).

The Opinion Research Corporation of Princeton, N.J. conducted the survey for Guardian. The survey sample consists of 532 individuals who are at least age18 and who said that were employed either full-time or part-time. They were interviewed by telephone during December 2006. For more information, visit http://www.guardianlife.com/.

For more information on this and related topics, consult the CCH Pension Plan Guide, CCH Employee Benefits Management, and Spencer's Benefits Reports.

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