Options to Guide Strategic Benefits Decisions

Questions to Guide Strategic Benefits Decisions

Why are Benefits Important?

As most professionals are aware, employee benefits play an important role in retaining employees. According to a recent zippia.com survey, only about 65% of U.S. workers are happy with their jobs; down almost 24% from a 2017 SHRM survey that put that number closer to 89%. According to zippia, at least 26% want to leave their current job. The study cited higher compensation and higher meaning as playing key roles in engaging employees. A further breakdown in job satisfaction statistics included the following as being most important: Respect (72%), meaningfulness (35%), salary (20%), autonomy (18%), opportunity (15%) and recognition (12%). The benefits employees value most are health benefits (88%), vacation/PTO (82%), 401k, retirement, or pension plan (82%), and paid parental leave (70%). Not to be missed is the notable increase in desire for professional development benefits. Thus, a well-rounded benefits package that includes professional development support, flexible work options, and robust health & welfare benefits that rival those of an organization’s competitors could help with employee retention and recruitment by checking both the “compensation” and “meaning” boxes. What benefits do your employees consider most important?

In the 2022 SHRM Benefits survey we see the breakdown in importance of health-related benefits (fig 1). Our world has changed and the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on employee benefits cannot be understated. Most notably, its effect can be seen in the increase in the prevalence of telemedicine or telehealth offerings (20% increase) and the offering of mental health coverage, which hit a new high of 91% of employers stating they offer the coverage. Why should you care? Your organization depends upon it! The top reason for increasing benefits was to remain competitive in the talent marketplace. A 2022 NFIB (National Federation of Independent Business) study noted that 55% of owners and recruiters admitted to struggling to find qualified applicants for positions they were trying to fill. Organizations need to focus on providing a competitive benefits package to retain and attract top talent or face obscurity. Without human capital, a business cannot grow, nor can it compete. And with the U.S. facing one of the most alarming labor crunches as 10,000 baby boomers will hit retirement age every day for the next 19 years, CREATIVE and AFFORDABLE benefits must be leveraged to help with common recruiting strategies.

Final Analysis

In today’s competitive talent marketplace, it is imperative for organizations to make informed and strategic decisions about what benefits to offer as part of their total rewards strategy. The talent pool is shifting and by 2025 the baby boomers will have passed the baton to Millennials who are projected to make up about 75% of all workers. It is up to you and your Broker to understand this change and to know what the most important benefit trends are. Then you must decide what innovative strategies you can implement to provide offerings that will fit with your company culture so you can secure your organization’s talent needs; thereby, securing its future.