In a 2017 healthcare survey by Sanofi Canada entitled, “Winds of Change – New Directions In Employee Health Benefits,” author Danny Peak reported some very interesting findings about which health care benefits employees seem to really want.

In this Benefit Strategies blog post we’ll give you a quick overview of the Sanofi survey results and take a closer look at what these results could mean to you and your employees.

Employee Satisfaction with Health Care Benefits Is Falling

According to the Sanofi healthcare survey, fewer employees (only 53%) feel that their employee health benefit plans do a great job at meeting their specific needs. This is down significantly from the 73% reported back in 1999!

Even more alarming is that 68% of the survey respondents (up from 51% in 2000) said they feel that their employers are putting a higher priority on cutting costs, at the expense of providing better health care benefits.

What Health Care Benefits Do Employees Want?

Sadly, only 11% of today’s employees report being content with the current levels of healthcare benefits coverage they receive for paramedical services, vision care, prescription drugs, basic dental, and for major dental services.

A significant number of employees stated that they would like to see an increase in healthcare benefits coverage for the following three important areas:

• 25% want better coverage for Major Dental services
• 21% want better coverage for Vision Care services
• 21% want better coverage for Paramedical Services

Employers should take note since the perception of the employee is that there is still significant room for improvement where coverage is concerned.

Adding Health Risk Screenings As A Possible Benefit

The employees that took the time to complete the Sanofi Canada survey also stated that they would be interested in trying new benefits coverage such as “Health Risk Screenings” in an effort to better address their individual health issues. The survey report indicated that:

• 83% of employees were interested in coverage for cancer screenings
• 80% would like coverage for heart disease screenings
• 71% would like coverage for diabetes screenings
• 64% would like coverage for stress or mental illness screenings

What Health Care Benefits Would Employees Be Willing to Reduce?

If employees had the option to choose and could reduce one benefits plan coverage in favour of another, 60% of those who want major dental services, and 53% who want vision care services, stated they would be willing to reduce their paramedical coverage if necessary.

Conversely, of those who want better paramedical services coverage, 35% of employees would be willing to reduce dental benefits, and 32% would be willing to reduce vision care coverage.

How to Adapt – What Options Do You Have As An Employer?

In our last blog article entitled, “How Are Today’s Health Benefits Plans Changing?” we reported that only 23% of Canadian healthcare benefits plans have a flexible structure while 64% of surveyed employees said the would like to have better control over their own healthcare benefits plans.

Thankfully this is now possible with the League Digital Health Insurance App, which will also help employers save since they will only pay for whatever benefits have been used.

To learn more about how you can adapt your employee healthcare benefits plan to better meet the needs of your employees, or about the League Digital Health App, call Benefit Strategies Inc. in Edmonton, Alberta at 1-780-437-5070 or send us an email.

A Toronto restaurant found a unique approach to employee benefits funding.

The restaurant began adding a 3% surcharge to each bill, with the funds to be used only to help provide employees with health and dental benefits.

Co-owner Heather Mee, was quoted in a May 2017 Benefits Canada article as saying, the surcharge was a “…more honest and transparent way” of funding the employee benefits.

In fact, there will be a separate item on each bill that is easily tracked and accountable so that it cannot be entered into the restaurant owner’s pockets.

The sole purpose for the bill surcharge is to provide a means of self funding employee benefits costs.

According to Mee, the average restaurant diner will spend less than $15 on a meal. This means that the surcharge for the benefits plan for each meal amounts to less than $0.50. As well, Mee states that diners who wish not to contribute will be allowed to opt out of the surcharge.

Aside from helping to cover health and dental, the employee benefits plan also covers services such as orthotics, massage therapy, and life insurance.

Mee acknowledges that the proceeds raised from the restaurant bill surcharge won’t cover all the expenses so the restaurant will pick up the balance.

In a market where few restaurants even offer benefits (because industry margins are minuscule and raising meal prices can be risky for the business), Mee admits that for her restaurant, this employee benefits funding alternative was a no brainer. Happy employees stay longer. And, many long-time restaurant customers are happy to contribute if it means helping the employees.

Need a benefits plan for your restaurant? Benefit Strategies can help.

Call us today at 780-437-5070 or send us an email.

Conducted biannually by Xerox HR Services, a new global survey on workplace wellbeing collected data from 33 countries and across 428 different organizations revealing some surprising statistics for the four top goals measured by global employers:

• 59% ranked increasing productivity in the workplace as their main objective
• 56% ranked improving employee engagement as another major priority
• 54% ranked attracting and retaining employees as vitally important to their success
• 49% ranked increasing organizational values as also being vitally important

While only a third of respondents reported strong cultures of workplace wellbeing, 83% said they aspired towards a strong culture for their future, even though the following were ranked near the bottom of the workplace wellbeing survey:

• Only 45% suggested that reducing costs for insurance and health care was a priority
• Only 34% were interested in minimizing employee absences

Productivity Tops Priorities

The emphasis for almost all the companies who responded seemed to be directed more towards productivity and company growth. In this survey, global health strategies are currently being pursued by 69% of respondents, while only 42% indicated they were pursuing global wellbeing strategies.

As high as 74% indicated that workplace wellbeing programs were an element of importance where their employee value propositions were concerned. If this is the case, it will be necessary for them to invest in resources and programs that make these more readily available to their employees.

There is support from leadership (52%), and 92% credited the efforts of local ambassadors’ with making wellbeing part of their company culture.

Other programs were offered as well:

• 92% of the companies offer financial security and preparedness programs
• 91% offered financial programs for literacy (and skills where finances are concerned)

Employers also realize that to get employees to pay more attention to long-term strategies, employers need to assist employees in making ends meet in the short term. Find our more on our Benefit Services Planning page.

If you are considering the introduction of (or changes to) your workplace wellbeing program to increase productivity, why not discuss your ideas today with one of our experienced Benefit Strategists?

You can reach us at 1-780-437-5070 or by email.