Healthier employees better able to pursue financial goals

Employees gave their companies’ benefits packages a higher rating in 2013 than they did in 2012, according to a new study.

Guardian Life unveils this finding in “The 2014 Guardian Workplace Benefits Study,” which examines employer benefits strategies and the value American workers place on their benefits packages. Conducted in September 2013, the study is based on two online surveys: one among 1,007 benefits plan sponsors (employers) and another among 1,407 benefit plan participants (employees) age 22 or older who work for a company with at least five employees.

In 2013, the average benefits value index (BVI), which is based on employee ratings of their companies’ benefits package and benefits communications, increased to 7.1 in 2013 from 6.8 in 2012. Each component of the index also recorded increases:

Benefits meet personal needs (7.3 in 2013 vs. 7.0 in 2012)

Benefits are affordable (7.2 vs. 6.9)

Benefits program positively impacts personal health and wellness (7.0 vs. 6.9)

Benefits program positively impacts personal financial security (7.0 vs. 6.8)

Effectiveness of benefits communication (7.0 vs. 6.3)

“Perhaps the turmoil surrounding the changing health care environment has led employees to value and pay more attention to the various benefits they will have in the coming year,” the report states. “Showing the strongest jump from last year’s study is how employees view the effectiveness of benefits communications.”