Benefits education yields recruitment and retention benefits

In an economic climate where memories of recession, layoffs and receding benefits are still very fresh, having an employee celebrate his 13th year with the company is quite the accomplishment. But for Greg Kain, regional operations manager with Chicago’s Integrated Project Management, a consulting company serving the health care, manufacturing and biotechnology industries, it’s the little things at his increasingly complex job that have kept him loyal to his employer for more than a dozen years.

Those include a fully-paid health care plan and unusually transparent communications with staff about how well the company is doing, financially. And they’re topped with an integrated financial education program that’s allowed him to keep on track with his retirement plans, sitting down and getting the direct help of a financial adviser to establish a personalized savings plan. Those efforts, especially the hands-on financial guidance, Kain says, have helped keep him firmly attached to his employer.