Inside the rapidly changing world of employee benefits

Nearly half of CHROs surveyed for The Conference Board’s CHRO Confidence Index said their organizations plan to offer new well-being benefits as engagement levels declined year over year in 2024’s first quarter, the organization said.

The vast majority of respondents said businesses are at least somewhat responsible for employee well-being. Budgetary plans appear to reflect this, with only 5% of CHROs saying their organizations decreased spending on well-being this year, while 1 in 4 said their well-being budgets increased.

Mental health initiatives were the most common category of new benefits on the docket for 2024, The Conference Board found, followed by physical health and fitness initiatives, financial well-being initiatives and work-life balance initiatives.

Workers, contending with cascading crises in the broader world, say they want more support from their employers in the form of well-being benefits, according to recent MetLife survey data. Financial well-being support and mental health support are particularly needed, MetLife found.

This may not surprise employers given a number of warning signs that have cropped up since the pandemic. Last year, most large employers reported an increase in mental health issues among their workforces. And in a 2023 survey by Indeed and Forrester Consulting, fewer than one-third of employees said they were thriving in their current jobs.

Despite those signs — and employer efforts — utilization of mental health benefits may be stunningly low. Sources who previously spoke to HR Dive attribute this to a variety of factors, from confusion about how to access mental health benefits to a lack of time to take advantage of needed services.

On top of these issues, there may be cultural considerations for benefits teams. Black workers, for example, face particularly long-running prejudices and stereotypes when confronted with mental health issues that their organizations may fail to acknowledge.

Employers might seek to take a holistic view of employee well-being as part of their talent retention strategies, Diana Scott, leader of The Conference Board’s U.S. human capital center, said in a press release. Well-being strategies can encompass a wide range of initiatives; flexible work options, work-life balance policies and recognition are just a few of the areas for which employers have sought improvement as they seek to address well-being.

About 7 in 10 multinational employers have established a “global minimum standard” for employee benefits, per WTW’s recently released Priorities for Employee Benefits report. For the survey, WTW tapped into 254 global employers across industries, polling respondents between September and October 2023.

On top of that, about half of employers have an established global benefits strategy — with nearly 4 in 10 employers considering following suit.

WTW emphasized in a statement that taking on a global benefits strategy can ensure that an employer’s goals align with current and prospective employee’s “wants and needs.”

As head count has fluctuated from 2021 to 2023 — and employers recalibrate business needs — benefits are set to change in 2024. WTW has reported that managing the cost of benefits is a “high priority,” with 68% saying it is the “top” or “high” priority over the next two years.

Still, over the next three years, 63% of employers are looking to leverage benefits for employer or company branding, per WTW. And as workers are only marginally more satisfied with their compensation, it tracks that benefits continue to hold a bigger stake in the total rewards conversation.

Workers have told labor researchers at Workhuman candidly that “good benefits” have retained them.

“Global minimum standards are one way to signal an ambition for employee benefits to be inclusive,” WTW Managing Director of Integrated and Global Solutions Rick Sherwood said in a statement.

“Employers are also focusing on how their benefits align with their purpose, convey their values and enhance how they are perceived as an employer,” he added.

During the COVID-19 lockdown, an emphasis on mental health emerged as a priority in the benefits sphere. Part of well-being — and even an extension of the mental health conversation — is also flexibility as a benefit.

In turn, RTO mandates continue to drive a wedge between workers and their employers, straining their loyalty. About 1 in 5 HR professionals told University of Chicago researchers that it was a “major problem” for retention, with at least 50% more saying RTO mandates are at least a “minor problem.”

For a successful benefits strategy, Sherwood said that employers will need “a fundamental shift” in how they operate their benefits programs.

“Employers will need to take a more employee-centric focus on which employee benefits are provided and how they are delivered,” Sherwood added. “Wellbeing will need to be viewed as an outcome to be achieved, rather than a set of programs to be added.”

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By ezCater

Are you offering workers the benefits they want? Sure, you may offer healthcare coverage, retirement plans, and paid time off. But employees today expect more from their employers, and according to a recent survey, only 61% say they’re happy with their work perks.

It’s time for a benefits package revolution — and non-traditional perks could be the solution. Coming up with unique employee benefits that fit your workers’ needs is worth the effort. Good perks boost satisfaction, productivity, and employee retention.

If your head is spinning trying to figure out how much additional perks would cost, we have good news. Outside-the-box perks can be affordable. From subsidized meals to doggy daycare and learning incentives, there are so many options your organization can explore.

Let’s dig deeper into how innovative employee perks could give you the competitive edge you need.

1. Free catered lunches

57% of employees rank free food as their top work perk, according to ezCater’s latest Lunch Report. Turns out, easing the hunger pangs and breaking up the day with a delicious lunch is what employees want, especially Millennials and Gen Z. It even ranks higher than flexible work, wellness benefits, education stipends, profit sharing, and volunteering perks.

Don’t just stick to once-in-a-blue-moon pizza parties. Try ordering a buffet-style spread from a favorite local restaurant or opt for individually packaged sandwiches once a week (or more!).

2. Free fitness classes

Gym memberships and fitness classes are popular perks. If your workplace has the space, you could even have instructors come over and lead a pilates, yoga or dance class. It would be a good team-building exercise, too.

3. Mental health offerings

Keeping employees healthy also means offering mental health support. Consider giving your crew access to guided meditation apps, telehealth counseling, and mental health days off. It means a lot to Millennials and Gen Z.

4. Monthly birthday celebrations

Another way to show appreciation for an employee is to host a birthday celebration. It could be as simple as birthday donuts in the morning or as elaborate as a catered lunch they pick out to share with everyone.

As a bonus, free food will also get hybrid teams back into the office with less friction. Try timing your important in-office days with birthdays to double up on the perks.

5. Free pet care

Plenty of companies offer subsidized and onsite daycare services, and that’s great! But how many offer doggy daycare, dog walking or free pet grooming? Not nearly as many, so the ones that do provide those perks really stand out. Offering services that make their four-legged companions happy and healthy goes a long way in retaining talent — especially Millennials, who make up the largest share of pet owners.

6. House chore assist

There are other ways to support employees outside of work. Here’s an innovative idea: help them with house chores. For example, you could hire a cleaning crew to tidy up their place, have a laundry service onsite at work or get meal kits delivered to their home weekly.

7. Subsidized commute

Need to boost office attendance? Consider helping your employees pay for transportation costs. Set a monthly allowance for gas, public transit cards or bike-sharing memberships.

8. Music streaming subscription

If sharing the cost of the commute isn’t in the budget, you can at least make it more fun. Premium music streaming subscriptions aren’t expensive and employees appreciate them. Who likes being interrupted by ads, anyway?

Great perks at work can be easy to implement

You don’t have to provide all these innovative employee perks. Try picking perks for work that offer the most value to your workers. It’s not as complicated as it may seem, especially if you go with food perks. Something as simple as two catered meals a week has a great impact — and HR professionals agree. They’re 20% more likely to say subsidized food provides the best ROI compared to other perks, according to ezCater’s research. 

The best part is that you don’t have to do it alone. From concierge ordering to employee meals on repeat, ezCater has the tools to help you handle any corporate catering challenge. Learn how today.

“Sabbatical” is typically a word associated with tenured professors, who take time off to pursue intellectual pursuits. But what if you didn’t have to teach university courses to earn extended paid time off?

Bank of America’s new benefits offering, launched January 2023, provides a mini case study. “We really want to give every employee a really fulfilling career when they're here with us,” Kate Phillips, BofA’s head of global benefits, told HR Dive of its sabbatical program. 

“We know that our teammates have both their professional and personal lives,” she said, adding that it’s important to support workers’ “whole selves.”

How the sabbatical program builds on PTO

Regular paid time off at the company varies by department, role and tenure, Phillips explained. But once workers have accrued 15 years of continuous service, they get the opportunity to take an additional four weeks of paid time off. 

Once reaching 20 or 25 years of continuous service, Phillips said, workers are eligible for five extra weeks of PTO. Once reaching 30 years, workers receive an extra six weeks. Employees may take a total of two sabbaticals during their time with the company, according to the bank’s benefits website.

Notably, the word “sabbatical” comes from the Hebrew word שַׁבָּת or “Šabat.” A more familiar etymological cousin, perhaps, is “Sabbath.” This ethos of rest finds a place in the corporate work balance landscape with total rewards perks like that of BofA.

The program allows workers to “reinvest” in their life outside of work. “How they use their time away is really their choice,” Phillips said. “They could go on a volunteer trip, or they could travel, or they could just, you know, simply take time at home to relax with family and reinvest in relationships.”

She noted that this reinvestment time is a way to recognize employees who have spent the majority of their career with a company.

How employee recognition makes all the difference

Studies show time and again that workers want to feel appreciated, but employee recognition appears to be an afterthought in the employee experience arena. 

In a joint Workhuman-Gallup survey, about half of senior leaders said they don’t know how much money is allocated to recognition; the majority of leaders also told Gallup and Workhuman explicitly that employee recognition is not a priority for them. 

Non-leadership respondents voiced that not feeling appreciated or recognized is a cause for attrition. 

“We wanted to provide time to connect with the things, people and priorities that they really care most about outside of work,” Phillips said.

Another way to address work-related burnout

“I can personally attest to how it makes you feel really supported and invested in by the company, and really recognized for what you've given to the company as well,” Phillips explained. Last year, BofA’s head of benefits reached her own 15-year tenure mark. 

“I spent the time with family — my partner, my children, my parents, extended family members,” Phillips told HR Dive. “I love to do yoga and be active, and so it was really able to kind of focus on my health and just kind of general wellness.”

Ultimately, Phillips said she felt refreshed. “Having that time away gave me some space and mental clarity. [The sabbatical] really gives you an opportunity to put away the computer, the BlackBerry or the work device. Coming back, I just felt really excited,” she explained.

Total rewards expansion is key to retention

Bank of America prioritizes emotional well-being through an integrated wellness strategy, Phillips told HR Dive. “We believe it's an essential component of your overall health,” she said. 

She added that BofA’s employee assistance program is a foundational benefit; at least 30 locations have on-site benefits specialists or counselors. 

“For example, here in Charlotte, we have on-site counselors that are available to meet with our teammates, whether it be for a coaching session, to talk about family dynamics or a more involved mental health-related concern,” she said. Another key element is learning and development resources around building resiliency and avoiding burnout.

How to pitch a sabbatical program

Phillips said she anticipates the sabbatical program will improve the overall, long-term employee experience. This rationale can also be held up to senior management, if an HR professional wants to pitch a similar program for their company’s benefits package.

“We anticipate seeing this pay dividends to us over time — whether that's through retention and satisfaction, or, anecdotally, to get a really strong buzz amongst our teammates as something that rewards them again for sticking with us,” she said.

A spokesperson for Bank of America told HR Dive that since the sabbatical program started in January 2023, more than 10,000 employees have taken advantage of it.

The elevator pitch: It’s “an investment in your teammates, and especially in the teammates that have been really committed to the company,” Phillips said.

Unlimited paid time off — or more realistically, open PTO — has garnered interest from employees and employers alike in recent years. But how many have really made the shift to open PTO? And will more jump on the bandwagon soon?

A recent report from the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans sheds some light on these issues. The organization surveyed 266 private-sector employers in October 2023 and found that an overwhelming majority of respondents did not offer open PTO. And among employers that did offer it, most introduced the benefits years ago.

What paid leave systems do employers offer?

The majority of private employers responding to the survey said they maintain separate vacation and personal and/or sick leave banks. Many employers responding to a recent Willis Towers Watson survey said they’re considering improvements to their paid leave benefits this year, but most referenced parental and similar specialized leaves.

Is interest in unlimited PTO waning?

The IFEBP also surveyed public-sector employers, but none offered unlimited PTO. Instead, that trend appears limited to the private sector, and interest may be fading.

Among respondents who said they didn’t limit time off, nearly 87% said they moved to the open PTO model within the last four years. A plurality introduced it three years ago.

What interferes with open PTO use?

One question often arises for employers considering open PTO: How do you ensure workers take enough time off? Vacations can help with engagement and retention, research suggests, but when there’s no bank to lose, some workers ultimately take less time off. 

HR professionals can work to address some of those hurdles — like workload and “sick shaming” — through training and the creation of a supportive culture, experts say.

 

A growing share of U.S. adults believe they would struggle to afford an emergency expense, but a recent regulatory update may present an opportunity for employers to help.

An annual study published last month by financial services company Bankrate found that fewer than half of Americans would pay for an emergency expense of $1,000 or more from their personal savings, a figure that Bankrate said has remained steady since 2022. In September 2023, the company found that 81% of adults had not increased their emergency savings since the beginning of that year — and nearly one-third actually had less saved for emergencies.

“This has been a significant challenge for employers, especially over the last three to four years,” said Dave Amendola, senior director, retirement at WTW.

Employers have taken several approaches to address financial resilience. In one recent example, Amazon announced last July the creation of a savings program that allows employees to automatically set aside a portion of their paychecks toward an emergency fund. Other organizations have pivoted to solutions that offer more frequent access to earned wages, in addition to beefing up financial literacy programs.

Emergency savings products can offer useful features that traditional savings accounts — and other common products of financial institutions — do not necessarily have, said Nick Maynard, senior VP at financial nonprofit Commonwealth.

For instance, savings accounts often require minimum contributions and may place limits on how frequently account holders can take money out — elements that may be absent from workplace savings products. Such products may also offer an automation component that directly places funds from employees’ paychecks into a savings account, rather than requiring them to manually move money from a checking account to their savings accounts.

“All of that is friction,” Maynard said. “Employers can look at their current set of vendors and partners and see who is tackling this challenge.”

What to watch for in 2024: PLESAs

A new option is on the horizon, thanks to guidance published in January by federal regulators on the implementation of pension-linked emergency savings accounts, or PLESAs. 

PLESAs are short-term savings accounts that can be maintained as part of a retirement savings plan, such as a 401(k) plan, according to a U.S. Department of Labor press release. They were established as part of the SECURE 2.0 Act, a component of the 2023 Consolidated Appropriations Act enacted in late 2022.

Only employees who are not highly compensated may participate in a PLESA, according to the joint IRS, U.S. Department of the Treasury and DOL guidance. Employers can set lifetime contribution limits of up to $2,500, automatically enroll employees in PLESAs and make matching employer contributions to linked retirement plans.

Additionally, employees with a PLESA can withdraw their funds without penalty, a key differentiator of the plans from typical retirement savings accounts. That feature might especially appeal to employers and employees given research findings showing increased 401(k) hardship withdrawals in recent years.

Though the law took effect on Jan. 1, many employers and retirement plans sought more regulatory clarity rather than implement PLESAs right away, Amendola said. The federal guidance document “does go a pretty significant way in clarifying how this provision would work,” he added, but does not address every concern. Specifically, plan recordkeepers may need more time to develop administrative structures that support PLESAs.

“I think employers are going to look at [PLESAs] strongly, and we may start to see implementation in 2025,” Amendola said. “This could be a really good tool, but there’s a lot that needs to be done.”

In the wake of the 2022 U.S. Supreme Court Dobbs v. Jackson ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade, only 8% of large firms offering health insurance reduced or expanded coverage for abortion, according to an analysis by KFF. 

Of the firms that cut or reduced abortion coverage, 3% reported doing so since the ruling, per the survey. Of those that cover abortions, 12% said they added or expanded the benefit after the Supreme Court decision, the survey found. 

Only 7% of large firms that provide health benefits said they provide or plan to provide financial assistance for travel expenses, such as airfare and lodging, for enrollees who need to travel out of state for an abortion, per the survey results, while 27% were not sure of their company’s provisions or plans.

KFF surveyed 2,100 employers with 200 or more workers from January through July 2023 about their abortion coverage and spoke to mainly human resources or benefits managers.

Of the large firms that provide health benefits, 10% don’t cover abortions under any circumstance in their largest plan, 18% cover abortions in limited circumstances, and 32% cover abortion under most or all circumstances, per the survey results. 

However, the results note that 40% of respondents didn’t know if their firms’ largest plans covered abortions, “part of which could be attributed to lack of information about coverage for abortion in plan documents unless abortion is explicitly excluded.” 

At the state level, 10 states have laws prohibiting abortion coverage in state-regulated private plans, most of which include exceptions, and 10 states have policies requiring abortion coverage in those plans, according to a KFF tracker. 

But those laws generally don’t apply to self-funded employer health insurance plans, which are instead regulated by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, KFF notes. Sixty-seven percent of workers at large firms are enrolled in plans that are exempt from state insurance laws, KFF found. 

Companies that announced changes to their benefits or made pledges in support of reproductive healthcare following the June 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson decision experienced an 8% uptick in clicks on job postings compared to similar positions at companies that didn’t make those pronouncements, according to an August analysis by Indeed and Glassdoor. The report also found that employers with more women or Democratic-supporting workers were more likely to announce new reproductive health benefits.

One in 4 employers — most of them in the marketing, finance and information technology sectors — are considering offering housing assistance as an employee benefit this year, according to a survey from Pipersville, Pennsylvania-based insurance agency JW Surety Bonds.

In addition, the survey of more than 700 employees and 300 employers found that over 1 in 4 employees said they would consider switching jobs in order to gain assistance with their housing payments. Nearly 1 in 3 said they would prefer housing benefits over a pay raise, and 43% said they would prefer them instead of extra paid time off.

Only 13% of the employee respondents are already receiving housing benefits from their employers. However, those that do reported job satisfaction, good mental health and strong productivity at higher rates than employees that do not receive this aid, the report said.

Half of U.S. renters are considered cost-burdened, spending 30% or more of their income on rent, according to a report from the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University. 

As of January, the national average rent in the U.S. is $1,710, according to Yardi Matrix. In order to pay this rent without being cost-burdened, a household would need to make a total of $68,400 per year. 

On average, employers that plan to start offering housing assistance in 2024 are looking at offering $6,201 per employee each year — enough to pay the national average rent for three and a half months. Enhancing employee well-being and attracting and retaining talent were among the main reasons for the shift, though 1 in 6 employers stated that they planned to offer the benefits to encourage employees to return to the office.  

One solution some employers have turned to is housing that, while open to the public, is primarily for employees of a certain company. Among them is the planned town of Snailbrook, devised by Elon Musk outside of Austin, Texas, for employees of his Boring and SpaceX companies, and Google’s North Bayshore, a planned development near Mountain View, California.

When asked, 44% of respondents said they would be open to living in a community of co-workers; managers were most likely to want to do so at 47% compared to employees at 43% and business owners at 38%. However, a report by the Center for American Progress cautions that company town living situations can lead to wage suppression and restrict job mobility.

Talent attraction and retention needs are motivating many U.S. employers to make changes to their leave programs over the next two years, according to WTW survey data.

The firm found that 84% of the 517 employers surveyed between October and November 2023 planned to make changes, with enhanced parental leave, bereavement leave and caregiver leave being top priorities.

With 25% of respondents already offering paid caregiver leave and 22% planning to do so in the next two years, WTW said this could mean nearly half of employers will offer such support within that time frame.

Talent attraction and retention was the number one driver behind leave program changes, but “nearly as many” respondents cited the need to enhance their employee experience as a motivator, WTW said. Those findings were consistent across all employer sizes and industry types in the survey.

Leave program enhancements have become table stakes in the post-pandemic talent market, with paid leave in particular being a draw for caregivers. A 2023 Bipartisan Policy Center report found that, among U.S. adults ages 20 to 54 who are out of the labor force, caregiving responsibilities and personal health issues were their main reasons for not seeking work. BPC said that a lack of access to paid family and medical leave may exacerbate these barriers.

Aside from market pressure, leave changes have also been spurred by legal requirements, particularly at the state and local levels. That patchwork is expected to become even more complicated in the years ahead, with as many 18 states set to require some form of paid leave by the end of 2026, experts said during a Disability Management Employer Coalition webinar in September.

Meanwhile, lawmakers continue to debate the creation of a federal paid leave standard. No legislative efforts have made much headway despite bipartisan recognition of the need for paid leave protections. Congressional representatives released a “policy framework” earlier this month outlining what a potential agreement could look like.

Leave law compliance creates a number of challenges for employers, though, and WTW found that the share of employers that outsource their leave program management is expected to increase by 22% in the next two years. But “many” of the 64% of respondents that currently outsourced state family and medical leave administration told WTW that they were dissatisfied, and 54% were considering moving to a new administrator in the next two years.

But that work is not impossible. International employers such as Thomson Reuters have addressed paid leave requirements by developing a global minimum standard for certain leave types, for example.

Nearly half of U.S. workers surveyed say they lack the benefits they need at work, according to the results of a survey by Perceptyx, an employee experience company. Of the 1,500 full-time employees surveyed, 59% said they had “benefits envy” of friends’ and family members’ healthcare coverage.

When it comes to benefits equity, the survey found that medical, maternity and mental health are the “magic trifecta,” Emily Killham, senior director of people analytics, research and insights at Perceptyx, said. “When employees have access to all three, women and men feel equally that their needs are met.”

Yet 53% of those surveyed said they don’t have mental health coverage, 51% don’t have maternity leave, and 25% don’t have any medical benefits, per the results.

Men were 1.5 times more likely than women to say their benefits met their needs, the survey found. 

“Despite major strides, workplace benefits are still not aligned with women’s needs,” Killham said. “To attract and retain female employees, employers should make sure their benefits package is serving the workforce they have today — and want to have tomorrow.”

Those women who reported having the magic trifecta of benefits said they were more engaged in their work, more productive, performing better quality work and less likely to search for a job with better benefits, the survey found. 

Incomplete benefits packages can “rob” workplaces of women’s talent, according to survey results published in summer 2023 by the British Standards Institute. Women surveyed said they would be more likely to be able to remain in the workforce if they had better support for maternity and their return to work, perimenopause or menopause and flexibility on when and where they work, per the survey.