The rate reductions range from 1.1 percent for a QHP to be sold by a unit of Kaiser Permanente to 32 percent for a QHP to be sold be a unit of UnitedHealth Group Inc.

The headlines were mostly about Americans lack of confidence in their prospects for a financially secure retirement when the latest Retirement Confidence Survey was released earlier this year.

XpertHR's survey, HR Staffing, Costs and Structure Benchmarks 2013 Report, sifted through data from 156 senior HR professionals.