Cost Control, Employee Retention Top Manufacturing Concerns

Cost control is the top benefits objective for employers in the manufacturing industry, with 53% of manufacturing employers saying that cost control is very important to them. Cost control is followed very closely by employee retention, which 49% of anufacturing employers list as a very important benefits objective.

Voluntary Benefits are one strategy to help achieve both objectives:

1. Many voluntary benefits can be offered with little or no additional cost for the employer
2. Insurers have harnessed the capabilities of technology to offer more robust offerings to even small businesses and bundled packages make administration easy; and
3. 95% of Manufacturing employees say they would be interested in their employer providing a wider array of voluntary benefits that they could choose to pay for on their own, with 37% saying they are very interested. Employees cite the convenience of payroll deduction, group rates, and limited medical underwriting as key advantages of voluntary benefits.

When considering employee retention goals, it may be important for manufacturing employers to know which benefits are most important to their employees. Manufacturing employees list the following as their most important benefits:

1. Health Benefits
2. Retirement Benefits
3. Vacation Time
4. Dental and Prescription Drug Coverage (Tied)

Only 31% of manufacturing employees say they are satisfied with the benefits they receive through their employer. This could be because only 34% of manufacturing employees feel that their employer's benefits communications effectively educate them.

Consider the following of the total employee population: Of employees that believe their employer's benefits communications educate them effectively, 70% said they were satisfied with their benefits. On the contrary, of those employees that do not believe their employer's benefits communications educate them effectively, only 7% said they were satisfied with their benefits.

To access the Benchmarking tool visit www.whymetlife.com/benefitsbenchmark