According to a poll of federal employees, the TSP, retirement annuities, and the FEHB health insurance program are the most highly regarded benefits. Employees generally see these benefits as satisfying their needs and offering a fair value.
The OPM recently revealed the results of the 2021 Federal Employee Benefits Survey, which were in line with earlier surveys conducted yearly.
The TSP, retirement annuities (FERS or CSRS), FEHB coverage in retirement, and FEHB generally all received ratings of important or extremely important from 96% to 95% of respondents, 93% to 95%, respectively. In addition, the response about FEHB coverage in retirement grew by one point. Otherwise, those were constant from 2019.
Dependent care flexible spending accounts, which increased from 22% in 2019, were again at the bottom, coming in at 27%. Thirty-five addition, percent of those polled claimed they were ineligible because they lacked a qualifying dependent, which keeps the overall number down. Above that was the FLTCIP long-term care insurance scheme, which received a 41% rating of importance or high importance, down one point from 2019.
In a similar vein, 93% of respondents to the TSP and 95% of respondents to the FEHB believed that the latter addressed needs to a significant or moderate level, while 87% of respondents to the TSP and 73% of respondents to the FEHB thought the latter offered a good or exceptional value (since the survey went only to active employees they were not asked whether the FERS or CSRS annuities met their needs or were a good value). They were either identical to the 2019 survey’s responses or were within one point of it.
Like previous studies, the FEHB had a moderate to substantial impact on 72% of respondents’ decisions to accept a federal position. However, it had an even more significant impact on 79% of respondents’ decisions to stay with the government. In addition, 78 and 88% of retirement annuities were available, while 71 and 81% of eligible participants in the TSP did so.
Furthermore, despite being qualified, survey results revealed a pattern as to why employees do not sign up for optional benefit plans. Among individuals who weren’t signed up for the FEHB, FEGLI, and FEDVIP dental plans, the most frequently cited excuse was coverage by comparable other insurance.
However, among those who did not participate in FLTCIP or FEDVIP vision, the most typical justification was that the participants did not think the programs were worthwhile. The most frequent excuse for not participating in dependent care accounts was ineligibility, whereas the most frequent one for flexible healthcare spending accounts was lack of interest.
The most frequent excuse given by the 2% of people who don’t contribute to the TSP is that they can’t afford to.
Breakdown of result Results of Enrollment
The 2021 FEBS included questions that, like earlier surveys, asked respondents to specify which benefits programs they were enrolled in. With modest increases (three percentage points or less) in several programs, reported enrolment remained stable between 2021 and the latest survey administration in 2019. However, the reported enrollment in the Federal Employees Dental and Vision Insurance Program (FEDVIP) Vision increased by five percentage points between enrollment results in 2019 and 2021, which was the most significant shift. Therefore, the 2021 FEBS enrollment figures are shown for all programs.
Reasons for Refusing to Join Benefit Programs
To get insight into the potential factors influencing decision-making and how they might differ between programs, participants who said they DID NOT enroll in each benefit program were asked to explain the primary reason. The survey’s overall findings were basically in line with earlier iterations.
High-uptake programs’ deterrents to participation tend to remain constant over time. For instance, the majority of workers who were not registered in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHB) stated, “TRICARE covers me,” “I receive health insurance via someone else’s job or retirement annuity,” and “I cannot afford to make TSP contributions.”
Finding enrollment obstacles and chances to increase employee uptake can be achieved by analyzing these results for programs with lower enrollment. For example, the program is unavailable to employees who are not responsible for paying for dependent care expenses, even though DCFSA through FSAFEDS had the lowest reported enrollment in 2021 (7%).
According to the FEBS findings, 35% of people who are not already registered in DCFSA reported not enrolling because the program does not apply to them. In addition, employees’ claims that the FLTCIP and FEDVIP-Vision programs are not a good value were cited as the most frequent deterrent to enrollment. This suggests room for program enhancement and improved employee outreach.
Table 2 below lists the primary reasons for not enrolling in each benefit program.
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Bio:
For over 20 years, Jeff Boettcher has helped his clients grow and protect their retirement savings. “each time I work with my clients, I’m building their future, and there are few things that are more important to a family than a stable financial foundation.”
Jeff is known for his ability to make the complex simple while helping navigate his clients through the challenges of making the right investment decisions. When asked what he is most passionate about professionally, his answer was true to character, “Helping my clients – I love being able to solve their problems. People are rightfully concerned about their retirement income, when they can retire, how to maximize their financial safety and future income.” Jeff started Bedrock Investment Advisors for clients who value a close working relationship with their advisors.
A Michigan native, Jeff grew up playing sports throughout high school and into college. While Jeff is still an ‘aging’ athlete, Jeff will take more swings on the golf course than miles running these days. He creates family time, often with weekly excursions to play golf, a hobby he shares with his three young children.
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