Employee benefits management is an area of great concern to human resources administration professionals. Whether for permanent or temporary workers, benefits are important.
New research from the ADP Research Institute shows millennials are relatively unlikely to take advantage of health insurance offered by employers. The reasons for this vary widely. One may be that millennials define health in a way different from their older colleagues. Instead of associating a healthy lifestyle with regular checkups with a physician, millennials think of it as a combination of activity and diet, as research from Harris Interactive and Aetna shows. This gap in perceptions of well-being may account for the relative unwillingness of young people to take advantage of insurance when it is offered. Another reason could be the provision of the Affordable Care Act that allows children to stay on their parents' insurance until the age of 26.
Regardless of the reasoning, young workers should be encouraged to enroll in employer-provided insurance plans. Under the ACA, employer plans will be in competition with public insurance pools. Young, low-risk workers are a valuable asset to office insurance pools. Therefore, employees of all ages should be educated on the value of benefits.
