Employees Value Voluntary Benefits, but Few Employers Measure Program Success CHICAGO, Jan. 31 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- While workplace differences abound between Baby Boom and Generation X employees, there are at least two similarities, according to Aon Consulting, a leading global human capital consulting firm. (Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20041215/CGW049LOGO ) Aon Consulting surveyed employers nationwide and found that Baby Boomers (ages 45-60) and Generation Xers (ages 25-40) both purchase disability coverage more than any other employer-offered voluntary benefit*. Specifically, 45 percent of those surveyed say Baby Boomers purchase disability coverage, while 37 percent say Generation X workers do the same. In addition, life insurance (individual whole life, universal life and variable life) ranks second for both groups (23 percent for Baby Boomers and 24 percent for Generation Xers). However, the similarities end there, as companies rank long-term care insurance as the third most popular voluntary benefit for Baby Boomers (11 percent), while individual home/auto/liability insurance is third among Generation X workers (14 percent). "Obviously, there are generation-neutral issues, which are represented in the popularity of disability coverage and life insurance," said Garry Sullivan, senior vice president with Aon Consulting. "At the same time, an increasing number of Baby Boomers have begun caring for their parents, which has prompted many of these workers to purchase long-term care insurance as a voluntary benefit for themselves. Similarly, many Generation Xers are buying their first homes, making homeowners insurance a popular voluntary benefit choice for this group." Companies surveyed indicate that disability coverage (37 percent) and life insurance (19 percent) are the most popular voluntary benefits among all employees as well. Long-term care insurance (26 percent) and retiree medical/Medicare supplemental insurance (19 percent) are the top two voluntary benefits that employees are requesting, but currently are not offered by many employers. "It makes sense that disability coverage and life insurance are the two most popular voluntary benefits overall, since that is consistent with Baby Boomers and Generation Xers, the two groups that make up the majority of the workplace," said Sullivan. "However, the fact that long-term care insurance and retiree medical/Medicare supplemental insurance are the top benefits employees are asking for suggests that Baby Boomers are providing the greatest input on the topic." Employees Value Voluntary Benefits, but Employers Fail to Measure Success The Aon Consulting study also found that companies offer voluntary benefits as a tool to attract and retain employees (29 percent), in response to employee requests (28 percent) and to help employees with work/life balance (25 percent). What's more, 80 percent of workers perceive voluntary benefits to be extremely valuable or valuable. However, 67 percent of companies do not measure success of these programs, or do so only as needed. "Employers should measure success of their voluntary benefits programs every 12 to 24 months to ensure employees are getting the most out of the plans," said Sullivan. "These programs can be very beneficial to employees and help serve as a point of differentiation for employers. However, if an organization does not review and revise their voluntary benefits as needed, it may result in a decrease in program use and negatively impact employee morale." Additional Data Points This survey also revealed the following. -- More than three-quarters (77 percent) of surveyed employers offer voluntary benefits. -- Nearly 50 percent of companies surveyed say they will not add any voluntary benefits to their offerings during the next three years. Meanwhile, 27 percent say they plan to add only one voluntary benefit during that time. -- More companies offer pet insurance (4 percent) than identity theft "insurance" (3 percent). Results from the Aon Consulting study, titled "What's Hot and What's Not in Voluntary Benefits," are based on responses from 83 U.S. employers. Forty- three percent of these companies have 500 or fewer employees, 23 percent have between 500 and 2,000 workers, 24 percent have a workforce of 2,000 to 10,000 and 10 percent have more than 10,000 employees. * Voluntary benefits - benefits (other than supplemental group term life insurance) that are fully paid by employees through payroll deductions. For more information, contact: Joe Micucci, Aon Consulting, 312-381-4786, . About Aon Aon Corporation ( http://www.aon.com/ ) is a leading provider of risk management services, insurance and reinsurance brokerage, human capital and management consulting, and specialty insurance underwriting. There are 47,000 employees working in Aon's 500 offices in more than 120 countries. Backed by broad resources, industry knowledge and technical expertise, Aon professionals help a wide range of clients develop effective risk management and workforce productivity solutions. Aon Consulting is among the top global human resources consulting firms, with 2004 revenues of $1.247 billion and 7,000 professionals in 120 offices throughout the world. Aon Consulting delivers integrated consulting solutions to help clients with employee benefits, human resources outsourcing, compensation, communication and management consulting. This press release contains certain statements related to future results, or states our intentions, beliefs and expectations or predictions for the future which are forward-looking statements as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from either historical or anticipated results depending on a variety of factors. Potential factors that could impact results include: general economic conditions in different countries in which we do business around the world, changes in global equity and fixed income markets that could affect the return on invested assets, fluctuations in exchange and interest rates that could influence revenue and expense, rating agency actions that could affect our ability to borrow funds, funding of our various pension plans, changes in the competitive environment, our ability to implement restructuring initiatives and other initiatives intended to yield cost savings, our ability to implement the stock repurchase program, changes in commercial property and casualty markets and commercial premium rates that could impact revenues, changes in revenues and earnings due to the elimination of contingent commissions, other uncertainties surrounding a new compensation model, the impact of investigations brought by state attorneys general, state insurance regulators, federal prosecutors, and federal regulators, the impact of class actions and individual lawsuits including client class actions, securities class actions, derivative actions, and ERISA class actions, the cost of resolution of other contingent liabilities and loss contingencies, and the difference in ultimate paid claims in our underwriting companies from actuarial estimates. Further information concerning the Company and its business, including factors that potentially could materially affect the Company's financial results, is contained in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. First Call Analyst: FCMN Contact: Thaddeus_Woosley@asc.aon.com http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20041215/CGW049LOGO http://photoarchive.ap.org/ DATASOURCE: Aon CONTACT: Joe Micucci of Aon Consulting, +1-312-381-4786, Web site: http://www.aon.com/

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