Article at a glance:

Designing better employee benefits

• Health care costs are rising so quickly that they threaten to eclipse profits in many Fortune 500 companies.
• Given the impact of benefits costs, you might think that senior executives would be doing everything possible to control them and make the most of this investment in the workforce.
• But in fact, most companies have failed to approach benefits with the same rigor they bring to other major investments, such as research and development.
• Benefits plan managers should view employees as internal consumers and conduct research to learn how to deliver the most value at an affordable price.