Is the 40-hour workweek dead?

For a growing portion of the workforce, that may well be thecase. According to a survey of 2,000 workers by office equipmentsupplier Staples, only 9 percent of respondents say they never workmore than 40 hours, and about half always or usually work morethan 40 hours.

That workload is taking its toll, according to the study, whichshows that workplace stress affects 65 percent of workers. Half saythey feel overworked, and 40 percent say they are officially burnedout. About half of all respondents say burnout has motivated themto look for work elsewhere.

The implications are real for employers. As bosses nationwideask their workers for more and more, they risk creating a cultureof dissatisfaction and turnover. These companies will ultimatelybear the cost of replacing valued employees who have left for moreaccommodating work environments.

New data from Xerox HR Services suggest more employers are taking that potentialprospect to heart and initiating steps to address employeestress levels through financial wellness programs and voluntarybenefits.

“Workplace stress is more often than not correlated withfinancial stress, and a top driver of financial stress comes fromunexpected medical expenses,” says Thomas Kelly, a principal in theHealth and Productivity Practice of Buck Consultants, an arm ofXerox.

He says organizations are paying more than just lip service tothe value of financial wellness, despite the concept’s relativenascence in the benefits world.

“Companies across the board see financial stress as impactingproductivity, and even workers’ physical health,” says Kelly, whoco-authored Xerox’s inaugural Financial Wellbeing and VoluntaryBenefits study. “They understand the need to take a more proactiverole in addressing the overall wellness of their workers, and thatmeans paying attention to financial wellness.”

To that end, employers are driving financial wellness withvoluntary benefit offerings – and by integrating voluntary benefitofferings with traditional core benefits, Kelly says.

In Xerox’s survey of midsize and large employers, voluntarybenefits are by far considered an employer’s top resource forimplementing and supporting a financial wellness program.

Financial health assessments, along with employee workshops andeducation materials, were ranked as the top financial wellnesstools by about 40 percent of employers. But 76 percent said theirvoluntary benefits offerings were their top tools for financialwellness.

To be clear, voluntary benefits are hardly newto larger employers — Xerox’s survey shows that the vast majorityalready offer at least one voluntary benefit, and most of thosethat don’t plan to add at least one offering in the next one tothree years. What’s new is how employers are approaching the wayvoluntary products are offered, says Kelly.

“In the past, a lot of employers offered voluntary optionsoutside of core benefit offerings,” he says. “Either they wereoffered on a separate web platform, or individual agents wereenrolling participants face-to-face outside of the annualenrollment in major medical plans. It was a different and separateprocess.”

Now, employers are focusing on voluntary benefits integration,which Kelly explains as a twofold process: More employers areoffering voluntary options alongside traditional benefit offeringsat open enrollment, as well as communicating the value of thesebenefits in their efforts to continually engage employees onfinancial wellness.

Xerox’s study shows that full voluntary benefits integration israre among larger employers: Only 11 percent of companies describetheir voluntary offerings as fully integrated, while 37 percent saytheir voluntary products have some integration with traditionalbenefits.

Those numbers are likely to shift, as sixty-six percent ofemployers plan to fully align voluntary enrollment with corebenefits in the next one to three years, and over 88 percent ofemployers listed voluntary benefits as a top priority in theirfinancial wellness strategy.

Lost in the shuffle

Larger employers tend to set market trends for most facets ofbenefits design. But when it comes to integrating voluntarybenefits with core medical offerings, the small and midsize markethas actually outpaced their bigger counterpart.

“Traditionally, the biggest employers have had richer benefitspackages, so voluntary benefits and their value to both employeesand employers were kind of lost in the shuffle,” says Kelly.

The imperative on financial wellness is bound change all that.About 80 percent of the employers in Xerox’s survey either have aformal financial wellness program in place or are in the process ofimplementing one. Employers’ top objective in integrating voluntarybenefits into annual enrollment is to address financial stress,which more employers are realizing can cause health issues in manyworkers, ultimately increasing the cost of benefits claims.

Vision is the top voluntary benefit, offered by 66 of employers,followed by short- and long-term disability.

Critical illness, long-term disability and long term care areviewed as most consequential to financial wellness programs:Seventy-two percent of employers described each product as havingat least a strong impact on these programs.

Non-medical voluntary benefits that address student debt, legalservices and identity theft are also driving the correlation ofvoluntary policies with financial wellness, Kelly says.

Ultimately, communication is key to articulating how voluntarybenefits fit into an organization’s financial wellness strategy, hesays. Brokers and consultants must first clearly understandemployer client’s priorities. From there, they can guide employersin communicating their objectives to their workforces.

“Workers are smarter benefits consumers than they have been inthe past,” Kelly says. “They like choice, and they likeconsumer-driven options once they are in them. But they need helpunderstanding how their options can best work for them. Awell-designed communication program to support voluntaryintegration is essential.”

“In a lot of cases, a less rich benefits program that iswell-communicated to workers is perceived as more valuable than apoorly communicated program that has more benefits,” he adds.