Fundamentally, employers offer employee benefits to attract employees to work for them. Particularly in today’s tight labor market, with unemployment falling under 4%, employers struggle to differentiate themselves and attract (and keep) the best and the brightest workers. One way to stand out is to offer a stellar benefits package. But what are the benefits that employees most desire?
Easily the most desirable employee benefit is access to health, dental, and vision insurance coverage. A survey of 2000 US workers found that 88% said they gave “some consideration” or “heavy consideration” to the availability of health, dental, and vision insurance when choosing between a high-paying job and a lower paying job with better benefits. Thankfully, health insurance is one of the most commonly offered employer-sponsored benefits, with a matching number – 88% – of employers offering this benefit, according to Robert Half International.
Flexibility-related benefits have really taken off in the past few years. These types of benefits – the ability to work flexible hours and/or to work from outside of the office part or all of the time – seem to particularly appeal to the next generation of workers. A Deloitte study even found a lack of workplace flexibility to be the top reason a millennial would quit. Altogether, another 88% of U.S. workers cited more flexible hours as a desirable benefit. This benefit appears to be on the rise: Robert Half reports that 62% of employers now offer flexible work hours as a perk, though only 14% offer telecommuting as an option.
The next most desirable benefit is another one of the usual suspects: 80% of workers would like to see more vacation time, and nearly two-thirds would like to see unlimited vacation. In a way, that’s surprising; the average worker doesn’t use all of his or her paid time off time as it stands. Still, more and more people are recognizing the value of maintaining a healthy work-life balance, and having access to ample vacation time can ensure workers have the opportunity to recharge and return to work refreshed and ready to be productive.
Modern workers seem deeply concerned about financial insecurity, and benefits related to financial wellness seem to be increasingly popular. For example, 48% of workers would be swayed by student loan assistance and 44% by tuition assistance. This is an area where there’s room for employers to stand out, however, because fewer employers offer these types of benefits, according to the Society for Human Resource Management.
CoAdvantage, one of the nation’s largest Professional Employer Organizations (PEOs), helps small to mid-sized companies with HR administration, benefits, payroll, and compliance. To learn more about our ability to create a strategic HR function in your business that drives business growth potential, contact us today.