The days of employers standing pat with health plans year toyear are clearly over.

A study on how employers will respond to the benefits costs ofolder employees offers a stark exampleof that.

LIMRA designed a study to discover what strategies employers arecontemplating for managing the benefits costs of anaging workforce.

It found that 73 percent of respondents are already planning tomanage the additional costs of employing older workers.

They plainly want to have older workers on thejob—90 percent said older workers represented a benefit to theenterprise.

So most are looking for ways to manage this inevitableincrease.

Only 5 percent of the respondents said they weren’t planning todo anything to offset those costs.

Nearly half—49 percent—did say they were going to absorb thecost into the business.

That signals that these employers are monitoring the costs andare ready to make adjustments, but perhaps haven’t determinedwhich levers to pull yet.

When asked for more specifics about managing these costs, fivestrategies rose to the top.

Respondents were able to list more than one, so the totals belowexceed 100 percent. In descending order, here’s what they said:

1. 41 percent plan to pass on increased costs to employees

2. 33 percent plan to reduce healthcare benefits

3. 30 percent said they will reduce overall workforce costs

4. 28 percent plan to reduce their retirement plancontributions

5. 24 percent said they would cut life, disability, or otherspecific benefits

“Despite higher benefits costs, nine in 10 employers believekeeping older workers on the job is good for business,” LIMRAsaid. “Eighty percent of employers said that when olderworkers leave, the company loses experience, leadership andinstitutional knowledge. While leaving may be an employer concern,recent trends suggest older employees want to stay on the joblonger for several reasons, most notably to increase theirretirement savings.”

That trend has gotten the attention of employers; the studyfound that 60 percent were concerned about these postponedretirements and the effect it could have on the career paths ofyounger workers.

“Most employers are looking at benefit plan design to manageboth ends of the age spectrum and remain competitive to workers ofall ages. Advisors have an opportunity to help employersachieve this balance with effective benefit plan designs fortoday’s diverse workforce,” LIMRA concluded.