Today's insurance agents and brokers are much more than middlemen. Savvy producers sell workplace strategies, not just insurance policies, by following business trends that directly affect their clients and offering cost-effective benefits solutions to meet their needs. Comprehensive new data provides timely insight that insurance professionals can leverage to better understand challenges their clients face and offer the best employee benefits insurance strategies.

The 2011 Aflac WorkForces Report, a study conducted by Harris Interactive for Aflac last September, has uncovered trends which show that the country's ongoing economic struggles have left a large segment of the U.S. workforce teetering on the brink of financial disaster. For example:

• Most consumers (51 percent) say they are not at all prepared to pay out-of-pocket expenses related to an unexpected illness or accident
• 31 percent have less than $500 on hand to pay out-of-pocket health expenses
• 22 percent have between $500 and $1,000.

With limited funds to help pay for an unexpected illness, most workers will be forced to turn to other measures and outlets to help cover the costs.

How can agents and brokers put this information to work as part of a new business strategy, helping their business clients reap significant rewards, including healthier, more protected and engaged employees?

One immediate action is making employers aware of the extent to which their workforce may be financially at risk. By doing so, agents and brokers can help clients, whose productivity and own financial livelihoods depend on these workers, realize they must play stronger roles in helping workers expand their protection.

Helping employers focus on a central finding of the Aflac study—the need to more effectively communicate with employees and provide more education for wiser, safer benefits decisions—also will empower clients with information to help put an end to the workforce vulnerability cycle.

Based on the survey results, here are four observations to be aware of when advising your business customers on improving employee communication:

1. Engagement generates success. 

It is potentially damaging for employers to make assumptions about whether employees are satisfied with and understand their benefits and health insurance—not only to workers, who may feel their needs aren't being met, but also to the company's productivity and retention levels.

A mere 8 percent of employers strongly agree that employees are fully engaged in making benefits decisions. Sixty-three percent of companies agree that workers need to be more engaged, and just half feel their employees take full advantage of the benefits they're offered. As a result, they're unprepared and underprotected against an accident or illness, resulting in significant financial implications for both themselves and their employers.

Understanding U.S. workers' preferences and needs will help employers increase employee satisfaction by offering comprehensive benefits packages and providing employees with peace of mind when they need it most. Additionally, a greater recognition of health insurance gaps can help HR executives better address benefits communications needs and find ways to make benefits information more robust and accessible.

2. Information can overwhelm. Expecting employees to comprehend and retain large amounts of benefits information all at once during open enrollment or the hiring process is unrealistic, unfair, and can make them feel overwhelmed.

According to the Aflac study, most employees say their employers communicate less than three times a year about benefits, and 44 percent of employees say they receive too little communication about benefits from their employers. Without real information, employees often turn to poor sources for insight and guidance. Sixty-one percent of workers say they receive information and/or advice about employee benefits via word of mouth, while 45 percent consult colleagues and 36 percent rely on friends or family.Employers should present elements of their benefits programs to employees throughout the year. By doing so, they'll help employees retain the information, making open enrollment a smoother, easier process.

3. Communications missteps affect retention.  Agents and brokers can make a strong business case to clients for improved benefits communications. Forty-one percent of workers agree they would be less likely to leave their jobs if they were well-informed about benefits, according to the Aflac report. The turnover cost alone is an incentive for employers to change when and how they share benefits information.

4. Admit things can be better. Companies also need to acknowledge that their communications need improvement and avoid making false perceptions. For example, 85 percent of employers believe their HR departments are effective at benefits communication. However, more than one-quarter (27 percent) of workers say their HR teams communicate not very/not at all effectively, and another 39 percent say the efforts are somewhat effective. 

Greater workforce insight will help today's agents and brokers cater to clients' needs, assist in needed benefits communication and employee engagement strategies, and make information simple for employees to understand and remember, enabling better decisions for employees' families and greater appreciation for the total compensation package.