Many employers are presenting a broader picture of compensation and benefits to candidates, ensuring they appreciate the competitiveness of their employee benefits package as well as their salary. To enable organizations to gain a better understanding of how their benefit programs compare to those of competitors for key talent, Hewitt Associates, a global human resources consulting and outsourcing company, has recently released Benefit SpecSelect.

Benefit SpecSelect is a web-based tool that provides employers with access to comprehensive information in the following major benefit areas:

• Health care (medical, prescription drugs, dental, vision, hearing, and post-retirement medical)
• Retirement income (defined benefit and defined contribution)
• Disability (short-term and long-term)
• Death (basic and contributory employee life, dependent life, survivor benefits, and retiree life)
• Time off with pay
• Work/ life balance
• Flexible benefits

The Benefit SpecSelect database currently houses the details of benefit programs at over 400 major Canadian organizations. Employers that provide their own program information and pay an annual fee can access the online information. They are able to determine what particular competitors offer; compare their programs to others in the same industry, geographic area or with the same number of employees; and gain access to prevalence data. The choice of comparator groups rests entirely with the SpecSelect subscriber.

"We find that many employers are taking a ‘total rewards’ approach and want current and prospective employees to recognize the value of their entire employment package, not simply the salary," says Karen Sciarretta, a senior benefits consultant in Hewitt’s Vancouver office. "If they’re not offering more money, but have better benefits, that might tip the scales in their favour and convince a great candidate to join the organization. Benefit SpecSelect provides employers with the information they need to ‘stay in the game’ when it comes to competing for talent."

For more information on Hewitt’s Benefit SpecSelect tool, please email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or call 1-888-439-4880 / 416-225-5001, ext. 5850.
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Hewitt Associates provides leading organizations around the world with expert human resources consulting and outsourcing solutions to help them anticipate and solve their most complex benefits, talent, and related financial challenges. Hewitt consults with companies to design and implement a wide range of human resources, retirement, investment management, health management, compensation, and talent management strategies. Hewitt has offices in 33 countries, including Canadian offices in Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Calgary and Regina, and employs approximately 23,000 associates who are helping make the world a better place to work. For more information, please visit www.hewitt.com/canada.