Contact Information: Contact: Margaret Plett Illinois Technology Association (ITA) +1.312.924.1044 mplett@illinoistech.org
Illinois Technology Association Releases 2009 Industry Employee Benefits Report
Annual Report Highlights Industry Benchmarks and Practical Strategies for Employee Benefits as National Healthcare Discussion Continues
| Source: Illinois Technology Association (ITA)
CHICAGO, IL--(Marketwire - August 19, 2009) - The Illinois Technology Association (ITA) is
pleased to announce the release of their annual employee benefits survey
for the Illinois technology industry. The subject of employee benefit
offerings is very timely for the technology community and the nation at
large. Given the current discussion around health insurance and the
availability of insurance from employers and/or co-operatives, it is a
great time to discover how ITA membership, which represents almost 600 of
Illinois' small businesses, fared in benefits and cost containment.
This year's survey had 142 participants answer more than 75 questions
related to their health insurance, retirement benefit plans, vacation
policies, and more. The report measures participation in a variety of
benefit programs, providing interesting benchmarks as well as some key
statistical insights.
One of the key insights was related to wellness programs. The study found
that wellness programs appeared to be directly correlated with slower
increases in benefits costs. In fact, every $11M-$25M company in 2009 who
did not have a wellness program, saw increases in medical insurance at a
disproportionately higher rate compared to those who did have a wellness
program in place.
A large percentage of participants reported receiving medical insurance
premium increases again this year, but even more patterns emerged. The
percentage of companies who received large medical premium increases seems
to have declined this year over last, with 34.7% seeing increases of more
than 10%. Last year that same group totaled 46.3%.
While 89.9% of survey participants offer medical insurance, there is a wide
range of additional benefits that businesses can offer. Of the items we
asked about both last year and this year, all showed higher participation
rates among employers in the current year. For example, Dependent Care
Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA) were offered by 46% of participants in
2008. Now, 55.3% report offering Dependent Care. There were similar jumps
in the percentage of firms offering other employee benefits including
Employee Assistance, New-Hire Referral Bonuses, Flexible Spending Accounts,
Health Club Membership, and Adoption Assistance.
One of the survey participants was Jennifer Browning, Director of Human
Resources for Cleversafe. When
asked about her involvement with the ITA Strategic Intelligence effort,
Jennifer said, "The data from ITA provides further validation of our
Benefits Strategy. At Cleversafe, we have a philosophy of emphasizing
employee ownership as a means to managing cost. Our deep focus on engaging
employees through education has fueled a strong return on investment with
regard to the enrollment statistics in our consumer-driven health plan and
resulting cost savings. The ITA Strategic Intelligence report enabled us to
clearly benchmark our results which indicated we are ahead of the curve in
the execution of our strategy."
The full report is available to ITA members and summary information is
available by request at www.illinoistech.org.
In addition to the employee benefits survey, the ITA produces other
strategic intelligence for the Illinois technology community including an
annual industry outlook and salary survey.
About the ITA
The Illinois Technology
Association (ITA) represents the interests of a diverse membership of
more than 550 companies in Illinois that create, deploy and utilize
information technology as a core part of their organization. By connecting
members with industry peers and participants, providing the latest
strategic information, market research and critical market insight and by
promoting key thought leaders to raise visibility and gain a greater market
awareness and presence, ITA is focused on building and developing the
Illinois technology community through collaboration. Additional information
is available at www.illinoistech.org.