The economic turbulence of the past year has driven organizations across the globe to make short- and long-term cutbacks in almost every aspect of their operating costs. In many cases, the single biggest business cost is people: salaries and benefits. Most organizations have responded by implementing salary freezes or containing salary growth. On the other hand, growth in benefit costs remains in the double digits and shows no signs of easing, particularly with medical costs continuing to rise. In July 2009, Towers Watson conducted an Employee Benefits Trends survey with 278 companies across 12 countries in Asia Pacific. The results show that despite the investment made by organizations in benefits programs, a large number of employees still do not understand or fully value their benefits programs.