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Editor of Special Projects for the Harvard Business Review Angelia Herrin reports the findings of their most recent survey.
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Companies looking to cut costs pay attention -- -- -- -- out and it highlights one area of your business that you don't wanna cut that time.
Joining us now to explain is Angela -- an editor from Harvard Business Review who helped put together this survey -- welcome good to be here first explain this survey what kind of companies did you talk to -- questions which last.
We companies had won the principal ten best award these were companies that were on cited for.
I just have providing great benefits for communicating and building -- -- -- for their employees.
So this contest has been around for ten years and until we thought or what's happened these companies in the past ten years this has been have been.
Tumultuous decade -- a lot of -- lot of economic challenges what do they do it came to benefits.
So -- survey data we first and online tool by the hundred companies and then we get twenty in depth interviews.
A couple surprising things first of all.
98 -- hundred companies are still around.
Pretty good numbers and -- -- large companies fortune 500 companies and companies that are at insights from fifteen to 1000 -- so not yet -- -- Acela business.
And they seem to be doing well -- most importantly when and set apart so you survived the decade but you must've done some cuts what did you do when it came to retirement benefits from your benefit programs.
Amazingly most -- they haven't done any cuts.
They say that this is something they strategically didn't that that was important to them.
We went into twenty companies and only one out of twenty for instance told us they can make any cut in the 401K match and the health benefits let's get right to the point here this was the key thing that the companies that.
Maintained in good health care benefits.
Had the best.
Returning to that -- what is considered a good health benefit they didn't -- cost on to employees they didn't make any big school changed and they didn't do a lot of small shifts that would.
Make an impact on employees and -- one person -- is look we that we don't fit look.
For cuts we -- -- -- 80000 dollars but you know what that -- hit eighty employees.
We didn't want to send that message to these employees right now knows what's so interesting because they saw this as a long term investment in these employees and keeping them.
Because we have great.
Organizational expertise they have incredible customer relationships and -- these companies over and over again drew that line between.
Employee satisfaction.
And customer satisfaction in a perfect world right but you have so many companies -- small now.
Holding back cap ex not hiring because of regulation and uncertainty specifically over rising health care costs and with health took -- it's going to be.
So how do you address that concern a lot of employees are really worried about the -- and they've been.
Victims of of layoffs with the unemployment situation as well everyone in the survey said that the uncertainty around health care as they're number one concern.
However that concern has led them to invest -- wellness programs I was another ha moment for us.
Three quarters of these folks that they have created some kind of wellness program and it it may range from a jam.
And any -- a wellness program to actually giving people reduced did benefit deductions if they if they.
-- it lost -- at the participate if they even had a yearly help the check out.
So that was amazing because -- -- a ten -- -- have never seen companies the size investing in wellness.
Now they really believe this has can have a real impact on controlling costs but house and senate action and it that in the bud right I as a partner Todd that we watchers early in the show that the biggest problem exactly thank you so much Angela your -- -- to.
