A big thank you to the 700+ SHARE members who participated in the 2014 SHARE Benefits Survey -- the results are now available for viewing online.
SHARE and the UMass Memorial HR Benefits department designed the survey together, because a union-management Health Insurance Committee was talking about possible changes to SHARE members' benefits in the future. We wanted to document clearly what SHARE members care about.
Here are some interesting results:
SHARE and the UMass Memorial HR Benefits department designed the survey together, because a union-management Health Insurance Committee was talking about possible changes to SHARE members' benefits in the future. We wanted to document clearly what SHARE members care about.
Here are some interesting results:
- It is no surprise that benefits are a very important part of the employment package for most SHARE members -- 89% of SHARE members who took the survey agree that benefits are an important reason that they continue to work here.
- Which benefits SHARE members value most are probably not a surprise either: Medical insurance -- 96% said Very Important, Vacation/earned time -- 87% said Very Important, and Dental insurance -- 86% said Very Important.
- When we asked which new benefits people might be interested in, the most popular answer was help with retiree health benefits.
- More SHARE members said that they would rather have a predictable amount of money come out of their paycheck than pay less towards their health insurance premium but take the chance of unpredictable out-of-pocket expenses. We asked these questions because HR Benefits was exploring the idea of offering a high deductible health plan, in addition to the HMO plans.
- When asked which wellness programs people would participate in, if the programs were offered, 43% said a weight loss program, 43% said exercising in a gym, and 38% said stress reduction or meditation.
- 46% of the SHARE members who responded said that they suffer from some kind of chronic condition (like diabetes, high blood pressure, or depression).
We're not sure what's next for the union-management Health Insurance Committee. Donna Hilliard was leading those discussion for HR, and she has now left UMass Memorial. The survey results will be very useful whenever and how ever we start talking with management about benefits again.
