Remote Workers Struggle with Benefits Selection

Most of today’s workforce continues to embrace remote work policies over going to the office, but a new survey finds that location may affect much more than just the daily commute.

In fact, MetLife’s annual open enrollment survey found that nearly half (45%) of remote workers are struggling to understand their employee benefits—significantly more so than their on-site peers (29%). This comes as remote workers also spend more time worrying about their benefits — 55% spent more than an hour per week doing so, compared to just 37% of on-site/hybrid employees who said the same. 

And they experience greater financial stress, with 55% of remote workers citing high financial anxiety, compared to only 46% of their hybrid and on-site peers.

“Benefits play a major yet often overlooked role in employees’ overall financial health. A lack of understanding of benefit options is only compounding the financial insecurity remote workers feel today,” says Bradd Chignoli, Senior Vice President of Group Benefits at MetLife. “Benefits can provide financial stability in times of economic turbulence and, when used the right way, are a tool that can even lighten employees’ financial burdens and anxiety.”

What’s more, as the workforce continues to change post-pandemic, meeting employees’ diverse needs — including location — is a growing challenge. MetLife’s survey indicates potential gaps in communication and benefits education to the remote workforce. In fact, remote employees:

• are twice as likely to say they enrolled in the wrong type of benefits last year; and 
• apparently require more information to make the right benefit choices (57% vs. 47% of hybrid and on-site workers). 

To that end, roughly two-thirds of remote workers (65%) say that a better understanding of open enrollment would help make them feel more financially secure.

MetLife’s data also finds that employees who understand and actively utilize their benefits are more loyal, thus proving beneficial for employee retention. According to the findings, 6 in 10 fully remote workers (61%) say their employer’s benefits are a significant part of what’s keeping them at their company; this is even higher for work-from-home caregivers with children under 18 (72%) and Millennial/Gen Z workers (67%).

Moreover, the state of an employee’s financial well-being is often directly linked to their benefits usage. In this instance, 43% of all employees say their benefits have helped them out of financial difficulty this year and 44% say they have helped improve their overall financial health.

“We’re at a critical moment in the employee-employer relationship. As we look to build more inclusive cultures and further support today’s workforce — including how and where our employees work—benefit communication is vital,” said Jenn Kischell, Vice President of Workforce Engagement at MetLife. “In today’s volatile economic environment, ensuring workers understand and use their benefits is more important than ever for employees’ well-being, as well as overall retention.”

Fielded by Rainmakers CSI, the survey was conducted in August 2022 among a representative sample of 1,000 interviews with full-time employees, ages 21 and over, at companies with at least two employees. Also included were a Millennial and Gen Z employee boost of 452 and 279, respectively.