Beyond Making Ends Meet: Employers Strive to Help Employees Gain Financial Wellness and Stability

Employees say they are financially better off now than five years ago, but worry about making ends meet and whether their jobs are secure, according to a new Prudential Group Insurance employee benefits survey released today. Also top of mind are concerns about having appropriate health insurance, being able to save for retirement and being sure those savings will last as long as needed. Prudential Group Insurance is a business of Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE: PRU).

Plan sponsors say they strive to help employees strengthen their ability to protect against these worrisome risks to financial stability, according to Prudential’s Ninth Study of Employee Benefits: Today & Beyond.

“With employees worried about financial stability, especially amid ongoing economic volatility, we’re encouraged that most employers surveyed focus on educating employees about how benefits can help secure financial wellness,” said Andy Sullivan, president of Prudential Group Insurance. “That’s a tall order, as employers seek to control benefits costs, while providing competitive benefits packages that will attract and retain the best talent.”

Employers surveyed seek to enhance existing benefits while trying to reduce group benefit costs. Additionally, many are trying to widen their variety of voluntary benefits and increasingly working with employees to help them understand financial wellness.

The survey confirmed an increase in employee-paid benefits to complement company-paid benefits. For example, 61 percent of employers say they have adopted consumer directed health plans, which provide a personal savings account to offset deductibles borne by employees. Other examples include expanding health and wellness programs, or implementing cost sharing for some benefits.

Among other survey findings:

• Brokers say such external influences as rising healthcare costs and healthcare reform, changing regulations, expanding web technology and competition from non-traditional players are impacting their roles. They say their most important business objectives are retaining current customers, increasing productivity and efficiency, and increasing customer satisfaction.

• Most employees say having options to tap into voluntary benefits increases the value of their company’s overall benefits program, even if they don’t participate. This varies by generation, with a greater percentage of millennials finding value.
• Employers might not realize how important long-term financial wellness is to younger generations. When asked to rate the importance of various financial matters, employer perceptions did not align with the opinions of Millennial and Gen X employees.

“Employees continue to see the workplace as an important source of personal insurance and savings products,” said Sullivan. “The significance of workplace solutions isn’t lost on us. Our marketplace research is essential in informing our efforts to provide innovative solutions to employers that ultimately help secure the financial wellness of their workforce.”

Prudential Group Insurance manufactures and distributes a full range of group life, long-term and short-term disability and corporate and trust-owned life insurance in the U.S. to institutional customers primarily for use in connection with employee and membership benefit plans. The business also sells critical illness, accident, accidental death and dismemberment and other ancillary coverages and provides plan administrative services in connection with its insurance coverages. Group Insurance coverages strive to facilitate protection from risks that are difficult to predict, thus fostering overall financial wellness for employees and their families.

Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE: PRU), a financial services leader, has operations in the United States, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. Prudential’s diverse and talented employees are committed to helping individual and institutional customers grow and protect their wealth through a variety of products and services, including life insurance, annuities, retirement-related services, mutual funds and investment management. In the U.S., Prudential’s iconic Rock symbol has stood for strength, stability, expertise and innovation for more than a century. For more information, please visit www.news.prudential.com.

Group coverages issued by The Prudential Insurance Company of America, Newark, NJ 07102.

© 2016 Prudential Financial, Inc. and its related entities. Prudential, the Prudential logo, and the Rock symbol are service marks of Prudential Financial, Inc. and its related entities, registered in many jurisdictions worldwide.

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