Survey Reveals Most HR Professionals Want Government to Play Role in Regulating Healthcare Costs

MARLBOROUGH, MA--(Marketwire - August 21, 2008) - A majority of corporate human resource managers believe the federal government should play a role in regulating healthcare costs and coverage, but neither political party offers a clear-cut resolution. This information was revealed via recent survey of human resource professionals commissioned by Workscape, a leading provider of outsourced benefits and talent management solutions.

The 1,242 respondents were almost evenly divided on whether the viewpoints of either John McCain or Barack Obama could positively affect the current state of rising health care costs and coverage in the United States. However, almost half of those surveyed felt that neither the Republican nor Democratic party would be effective in addressing the issue.

Recent statistics show that millions of Americans are uninsured or underinsured because of the rising costs of medical care. Forty-seven million Americans -- including nine million children -- lack health insurance entirely.

"Even though our survey respondents showed skepticism about the two political parties, the upcoming political conventions present a significant forum for each candidate to clarify his position on healthcare costs and coverage," said Workscape's President and Chief Executive Officer Tim Clifford. "As our survey results validate, healthcare costs remain front-and-center in the minds of both HR professionals and the employees they serve."

Clifford added: "Many progressive organizations are already taking steps to minimize the impact to their employees and their bottom line, but it's clear that the majority of those we polled are looking to the government to play a proactive role."

The purpose of the Workscape survey was to gain insight into the trends and techniques that HR professionals employ to address healthcare benefits-related activities for their employees. Respondents represented a diverse array of industries and organizations -- from small employers to those with a workforce of over 10,000 -- and revealed additional information regarding adoption of consumer-driven healthcare plans, health and disease management programs and other related topics.

For more information, or to request a copy of the study, please visit www.workscape.com.

About Workscape

Workscape is a leading provider of business-critical HR solutions that enable hundreds of organizations to manage their two largest workforce expenditures: employee benefits and performance-driven compensation. Workscape's offerings share a common technology platform, can be readily integrated with existing IT investments, serve millions of employees, and are scalable and configurable to meet the distinct requirements of organizations ranging from 2,000 to over 400,000 employees. One client uses the company's award-winning multi-lingual compensation solution to compensate hundreds of thousands of employees across 70 countries. Workscape has outsourced benefits administration offerings backed by U.S.-based 7 x 24 support for managers and employees on policies and processes.

For more information about Workscape, visit www.workscape.com or call (888) 605-9620.