Categories: In The News

Solving New Retirement Challenges with Your Benefits Plan

Rear view of a senior African American couple walking on the beach with blue sky and sea in the background, holding hands

The American workforce is aging. Nearly a quarter of employees are estimated to be over fifty five years of age by 2026. This means an increasing amount of employees are approaching retirement while also potentially having to move their parents into long term care facilities. Many employees consider retirement during the course of their employment, but navigating long term care options for loved ones is something few people plan for. As more people continue to work into their sixties and seventies, concerns about retirement and caring for aging family members could become more prevalent in the workplace. Many enter this territory blind and may feel they are navigating these challenges alone. The stress of balancing work, planning retirement and caring for a loved one can affect your people financially and emotionally while making it difficult for them to be present at work. By thinking of your benefits program as more than an insurance plan, you can relieve that stress to a large degree. Benefits Retirement, although intimidating, is an inevitable transition that occurs for most of our staff reaching sixty five. A bittersweet happening of employment rather than an unexpected circumstance. As a leader, you don’t know when someone will get sick or need medical care, but you do know that your employees will retire and that some will need to take care of their loved ones. In these cases, preparing your organization and your people for these life events becomes a logical, beneficial business decision. Aging and caring for aging family members is one of the few business scenarios you can predict with almost 100% accuracy because getting older is such a common human experience. By ensuring your employees receive benefits designed for them you can work towards eliminating the pressures caused by the uncertainty retirement and long-term care brings. When you address their concerns this way, you can also increase retention rates and decrease absenteeism within your organization. Employees that are given the time and resources to organize these matters can remain focused and continue contributing to a business that hears them. Education Retirement is more than a 401k. Your people have a lot of decisions ahead of them, and if you help them navigate those choices they will be much better off, which means a better quality of life for everyone, including the business. Providing educational material, training and workshops that focus on Medicare and other benefits available to your people can help them successfully plan — or begin the transition into — retirement, Medicare, and long-term care for their parents. Moreover, by promoting resources within the business, you create a return on investment, ensuring that the provided benefits and tools are utilized to their full potential. After all, no one benefits from an unused plan. As leaders, we want the best for our people, and that could mean bringing in help from outside sources, because sometimes, businesses need a team of experts. Experts Basketball coaches rely on the expertise of advisors, doctors, and nutritionists for their players’ success. Without this guidance the team as a whole may not be successful. This metaphor can be applied to the internal workings of a business. Having one person, the coach, be responsible for the entirety of a benefits plan is unfair to everyone involved, including that person. Your HR person is probably wonderful, but no person can know and manage everything about a topic as big and complex as retirement. By utilizing specialists, experts, and consultants to help guide individual needs, you can focus on moving the business forward to success. That’s where we come in. As experts in health insurance and with partners in benefit plans, we position ourselves as advisors that can offer professional guidance. We teach, train, and problem solve with your business. Sometimes that means helping younger employees think about paying down their college loans. Sometimes that means helping older employees tackle the challenges of retirement planning and choosing care homes for their loved ones. We believe that every situation is unique and we focus on helping people understand what the right decision is for them, as an individual. Even if you aren’t working with us to do this, your benefits plan should have this flexibility and personal touch built in. Culture Providing the support and education your people need to make the right decisions, by addressing the aging population, you can alleviate the stress of retirement and better promote overall job satisfaction. When you begin conversations about navigating health insurance, benefits, Medicare and retirement you begin to enhance company culture and employee experience by showing your people you truly want the best for them. In today’s workforce, people are working well into the age of retirement, while also having to care for elderly family members. As a leader you have the opportunity to take an active role to prevent stress and support your employees while they navigate these challenging life stages.

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