Today’s multigenerational workforce is the most age-diverse in modern history. It spans four, or sometimes even five, generations. A person’s age influences many of their characteristics over time, including their preferred benefits.
One of the biggest challenges for employers is finding benefits that suit employees of all generations. A benefit valued by millennials might not be useful for a baby boomer. People in different generational segments have varying expectations about what a benefits program should entail shaped by their own experiences, culture and lifestyle situations. If employers want to provide benefits that their employees will actually use, they must take their varying preferences into account.
Use our multigenerational workforce benefits toolkit to see which benefits are most valued across different cohorts.
How employers can use this toolkit
This toolkit will help employers understand employees’ shared concerns and distinct needs. Employers can then tailor their benefits offerings to their employees’ needs.
Employers may have discretion when structuring their benefits plans and may be able to make distinctions among employee segments regarding access to and the level of benefits offered. However, they cannot do so based purely on protected characteristics, such as age.
Employers may choose to tailor their benefits offerings to employees based on employment-based classifications such as length of service to the company. When structuring your organization’s benefits plan, you are strongly encouraged to consult with legal counsel. In this toolkit, employers will find overviews of each generation, their preferred benefits and tips for creating a multigenerational benefits plan. Be sure to check out the appendix for even more resources.
Have questions? Contact us today!
Please reach out to HANYS Benefit Services to learn how our employee benefit services could help your organization structure its benefits plans. Our dedicated team of experts is more than happy to help you go over your available options.