I know I’ve taken my shots at Gen Y in the past — and quite honestly, will continue to do so, so long as they insist on texting rather than take up the fine art of actually speaking to one another — but nevertheless I was quite encouraged by the EBN InBrief post, “Under-35 crowd becomes more benefits savvy,” which revealed the economy and health care reform may have prompted younger workers to engage in benefits —  the big ones, not just vacation days and flextime.

Looks like all those benefits tweets are working!
 
The online poll, taken by Harris Interactive on behalf of Unum, found larger numbers of workers age 18 to 32 say they are extremely or very familiar with retirement accounts, disability insurance and life insurance.

Note that Gen Yers understanding of these benefits wasn’t surveyed, but familiarity is a start. Baby steps!

What is your company doing to improve younger workers’ engagement in and understanding of core benefits programs? Are you using blogs, texts and Twitter or are you bringing the mountain to Muhammad in other ways? Share your thoughts in the comments.