The Changing Face Of Employee Benefits In A Pandemic

2020 will likely go down in history as the year Americans started working from home. Data is showing that many companies expect the work-from-home experience to continue beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.

A LIMRA summer survey found that 70% of employers were "somewhat likely" or "very likely" to continue having employees work from home at least part of the time after the pandemic ends. That survey looked at the pandemic impact on employers and employee benefits.

A new LIMRA survey looks at workplace benefits from the consumers' perspective. Patrick Leary, corporate vice president for workplace benefits for LIMRA, will discuss the new findings at a session Wednesday during the group's virtual annual conference.

Titled "CX at the Workplace: The Employee Experience," Leary will attempt to reframe how employees are looking at benefits now and how companies can better communicate with them and tailor offerings to the new normal.

"I think the key takeaways from that research was that employees are much more focused on their benefits," Leary told InsuranceNewsNet. "They're taking a more serious look at them compared to in the past, and they're more likely to sign up for benefits."

The new LIMRA Customer Sentiment Survey finds that 67% of employees are "paying more attention to the benefits my company offers," while 64% say they are more likely to sign up for benefits.

Various studied have pointed to health care options, mental health, paid time off, and telehealth capabilities among the employee benefits that consumers are most interested in having.

Can We Talk?

How to communicate with employees is as important as the topic of the conversation. As employees get more and more comfortable working from home, they are possibly having to learn new ways to sign up for benefits, or change existing benefits. Only 3% of mid-to-large employers were using digital technology to enroll employees in 2001. That figure is 64% today.

Overall, 77% of respondents said they are able to "make informed decisions regarding my benefits using the online tools available to me." However, within the real workforce, there could be as many as five generations, Leary explained, all with differing comfort levels with technology.

"Someone from Generation Z is going to want to learn about benefits, enroll in benefits and engage with their benefits differently than older baby boomers or folks from the silent generation," Leary said. "Our organization may need to understand how the different generations want to engage."

One thing that came through is the role of the benefits broker or agent. Their role remains part of the equation, as it has in previous studies. For as much as consumers love the convenience of online access, they want a human to talk to, Leary noted.

"My takeaway is that people are comfortable going through it, but they kind of need the safety net," he added. "If I have a question or I go through the process and I'm almost there and there's one twist and I want to be able to do a quick chat with someone pick up the phone and talk to someone."

It can be challenging right now for carriers and agents trying to identify which processes fit best for which clients, Leary said. For example, with the youngest Generation Z consumers, text messaging is their preferred means of communication.

"Organizations are trying to think about where to allocate their resources and where they place their bet," Leary said. "This information will help them understand that."

InsuranceNewsNet Senior Editor John Hilton has covered business and other beats in more than 20 years of daily journalism. John may be reached at john.hilton@innfeedback.com. Follow him on Twitter @INNJohnH.

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