Midsize employers' top challenge is managing benefits costs: Surveys
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Managing the cost of employee benefits was ranked as the top business challenge facing midsize employers, according to a pair of studies released last week.
Forty-four percent of more than 1,000 mid-market companies identified costs associated with health care coverage and other employee benefits as a top business concern, more than any other issue cited in a survey published Friday by Automatic Data Processing Inc.
Health care and benefits costs were the most frequently cited among top business concerns in 2012 as well, with 38% of midsize employers naming it their top business concern in last year's survey.
Meeting their compliance obligations under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was a close second to benefits costs in the 2013 survey, with 42% identifying the health care reform law as a top business concern — up from 26% of companies polled in 2012.
“Whether it is the cost of benefits, understanding ACA or having mechanisms in place to ensure compliance, business owners continue to struggle with human capital management challenges,” Regina Lee, a division president at ADP, said in a statement accompanying the survey. “The Affordable Care Act has added greater complexity to the health care issue, making it critical that business owners understand and effectively manage human capital needs.”
In a similar survey released on Wednesday by the National Center for the Middle Market, 56% of employers polled cited health care costs as “highly challenging” for their company, more than any other issue identified in the report.
“Few middle-market leaders feel their companies are prepared to implement the new health care laws,” the NCMM said in its Middle Market Indicator for the third quarter of 2013. “Only 43% of companies said they were mostly or completely prepared to implement the law. One-quarter of businesses said that modifying the employer mandate part of the health care legislation would help their business.”
