2. Life Cycle Events What are they? How to respond? These are the drivers of employer sponsored benefits. Do different demographics have different events? How do benefits in response to events improve productivity? October 25, 2010
4. Older employees have different needs – college tuition for kids, pension, long-term care for parents, longer vacations, what else? Young and healthy don’t need a high value health care plan. Workers with families need broad health care coverage. Employees with pre-school age children need day care. Employed spouses have their own coverage. October 25, 2010 Strategic Value
6. Health problems, disability, injury Chronic health conditions What about “wellness,” and fitness – quality of life? Can health insurance sort certain demographics of workers? Marriage, birth, death, long-term care Education, family protection, vacation, retirement What are some examples? October 25, 2010
7. What are some issues? A Buffet? Babies and Workers What and who should be covered? What about face lift? Should there be cost sharing? Should the employer offer voluntary benefits? October 25, 2010
8. What are some examples? Ride to work? Free Diagnostic tests? October 25, 2010
9. Disability can lead to work disruptions, loss of productivity, extra costs. Should the plan accommodate such life events? What does the ADA, FMLA do in this regard? Should the employer aggressively pursue workplace safety – prevention? Disability pay – short term, long term? Employee disabilities . . . October 25, 2010
10. What happens when employees confront stressful events such as divorce, death in the family, or other crises? Should the employer provide a benefit here? How should it be designed? How would you measure its effectiveness? What is an Employee Assistance Program? Employee Assistance Programs . . . October 25, 2010
12. Pregnancy Child birth Adoption Time off for children issues The FMLA? Child Care IVF? HRT? October 25, 2010 Employees with children . . .
13. Financial counseling- retirement, savings English, GED training for entry level employees Healthy living programs October 25, 2010 More examples
14. Some employees have significant obligations to care for ill or disabled relatives. Should there be a “benefit” offered to accommodate this? How does the FMLA apply? What about Long Term Care for Family? Design alternatives Measure effectiveness Caring for Sick Dependents October 25, 2010
16. What are the employee demographics? When do employees want to retire? What limits on retirement should employer impose? How should employer allocate risks: longevity, investment, and inflation? How should benefit be financed? What about phased retirement? Retirement October 25, 2010
17. What is the Social Security benefit and how would it complement a retirement program? Should the employer provide retiree health care? Should the employer facilitate counseling for retirement? What HR strategy does providing a retirement plan serve? What does the Mercer article say about employee loyalty and retirement? Retirement October 25, 2010
19. Add dependents to health care? Add beneficiaries to other plans? What about domestic partners? Job accommodations What life events are a consequence of divorce? Is the employer involved in a division of spousal assets? (QDRO – COBRA) Marriage . . . Divorce October 25, 2010
21. Involuntary separation Unemployment insurance paid by employer Should employer do more? What HR objective does this serve? What about continuation of benefits? (COBRA, HIPAA) and possibly more? What about voluntary “early retirement?” Impact of PP&ACA Separation October 25, 2010
23. How old is your workforce? Should employer consider dependents of employee? Is life insurance an appropriate benefit? What about beneficiaries for a deceased retiree? How should benefits be designed and evaluated? Death and Benefits October 25, 2010
25. Vacation How much and how soon? Sick time or paid FMLA leave? Can these serve the HR strategy? Lumping it all in one category: “paid time off.” What is relevance of Benefits Model See: Credit Lyonnais PTO October 25, 2010
27. Do European countries mandate better balance between work and leisure? Do they work to live? How is this manifested? Statutory vacation, leave, and long-term care for elderly. Health care not always linked to employment Higher % of replacement income from SSA. Global Perspective October 25, 2010
28. What about China and India? Do they offer benefits? How does this affect the cost of their products and services? Why is this important? October 25, 2010 Global
29. What are your demographics? What are unique lifestyles and life events of your employees? Not just age, sex, economic and educational background, but also growing Asian, Muslim, Latino workforce. How does offering benefits fulfill a HR strategy? What are the financial returns of particular benefits at the workplace? How to measure effectiveness? October 25, 2010
30. Can you think of other life cycle events that would create a need for an employer-sponsored benefit? What role should employee have in choosing. . . What about health insurance and open enrollment? October 25, 2010 And . . . .
