Employee benefits are taken for granted by most employees. In past generations, employee benefits were one way that employers used to enhance employee loyalty. Today, due to rising costs of benefits and shrinking profits, this concept is changing. Gone are the days when a company offered employees benefits past the date of employment. Also fading quickly are benefits for those who work part-time as it is just too costly.
Most healthcare professionals have an array of benefits that are part of their employment package while they are working full time. But in most cases benefits come with co-pays and employee contributions. Health care is one benefit that seems to change frequently due to the rising cost of services. Most people today see their contributions increase at the same time they are presented with a more limited choice of types of plan to choose from.
Healthcare professionals have the rare advantage of being able to ask for more in terms of employee benefits. This is mostly due to the growing shortage of healthcare professionals and the increased need of professionals due to the aging population. It is a complex and sophisticated industry.
In this week’s edition of Across My Desk, we are rolling out a short survey that you can complete online that will let us know what benefits are important to you! All who complete the survey and provide an e-mail address at the end of the survey will receive a copy of the completed survey in a PDF format that you can share with your organization.
The results of this survey, together with our 2007 Salary and Trends Survey, provide you with important information that you can use to evaluate your own benefit plan with what others say they are getting to provide suggestions to those responsible for developing benefit packages in your own organization. The survey will begin on Tuesday January 29, 2008 and run through Wednesday, Feb 9. Feel free to direct you co-workers to complete the survey, which can also be found at www.cmrg.com.
Thank you in advance for your assistance.
Anne Llewellyn, RN-BC, MS, BHSA, CCM, CRRN
Editor-in-Chief of Across My Desk, Case in Point magazine, and the Case Management Resource Guide
allewellyn@dorlandhealth.com
