Survey: Employers cutting benefit costs - Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal:

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“The responses indicate that as employerz develop benefit plans for 2010 they are lookinf for ways to reducebenefit costs, withougt further reducing benefits,” said Marianne Fazen, executive director of the “Surprisingly, many responded that they plan to increasre their wellness programs.” • Thirty-five percent of employers respondee that they plan to increase their wellness programs. • Companies identified as its two biggesr concerns limitedbenefits budgets, and limited merir budget and bonus pools. About 68% of companiesz are concerned or very concerned about limitef merit budget andbonus pools, and about 53% are concernec about limited benefits budgets.
• To weathe r the economic downturn, almost half of respondentws are auditing or planningv to audit their dependent eligibility in order to reducde the number ofindividuals covered. And 41% plan to increases employee costs ofbenefit plans, whilse more than one-third have reducedr or are planning to reduce staff. About 89% of employers believwe that workers will respone to the economic downturn bydelaying retirement. 83% of employers say theidr workers are concerned aboutjob security, and 42% think theier employees have been impacted by low The survey was submitted to the association'ds employer members and facilitated by in Houston.
The association'sw 900-plus members represent a broad cross-section of benefitws professionalsin Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana. Missouri and Kansas, but are not limited to those