Survey: Benefits package key in war for talent

In today's competitive war for talent, employers are turning to and bolstering their benefits packages to give them an edge over competitors, a Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) survey report released in late November showed.

According to the report, 95% of HR professionals rated healthcare as one of the three most important benefits to employees. Other top rated employee benefits included retirement savings and planning (71%) and leave (50%).

Nearly one in five HR professionals (19%) said their organizations had altered their benefits program to aid in the retention of employees at all levels of the company over the past 12 months. HR professionals at high-tech companies were more likely to indicate their organizations altered their benefits program to aid in retention than those in other industries (25% vs. 17%).

About one-third (30%) indicated that controlling healthcare costs was their organization's main strategic focus for its employee benefits package; just over one-quarter (27%) indicated their focus was ensuring employees understood the value of their benefits package.

"As the war for talent wages on, employers will need not only to ensure that they are strategically utilizing benefits to secure talent, but that employees understand the value of their benefits package," said Evren Esen, SHRM's director of workforce analytics.

"Healthcare, retirement, and leave benefits are all highly valued by employees, so bolstering these benefits could go a long way in recruiting new employees and retaining existing ones," Esen explained. "But the rising cost of healthcare adds complex ity to the strategy. Employers are goi ng to have to continue to articulate their choices."

Other survey report findings included the following:

Assessment and communication of benefits

* Just 14% of HR professionals indicated that employees are "very knowledgeable" about employer-sponsored benefits; about two-thirds (69%) said employees are "somewhat knowledgeable."

Healthcare

* About three-quarters (74%) of companies have not considered providing subsidies to purchase healthcare insurance through a private exchange.

* Neatly three-quarters (73%) of organizations anticipated an increase in their company's total healthcare costs between the 2015 and 2016 plan years; one-third anticipated an increase of over 10%.

Flexible Work Arrangements

* Over one-half (56%) of organizations provided employees with the option to use flexible work arrangements.

* HR professionals at high-tech companies were more likely to indicate their organizations provide employees with the option to use flexible work arrangements than those in other industries (76% vs. 46%).

Wellness

* About three-fourths of organizations that had wellness initiatives in place indicated they were "somewhat" or "very effective" in improving overall engagement of employees (74%).

* Almost one-half (48%) of companies indicated their wellness initiatives decreased their healthcare costs, 42% noted a decrease in unplanned absences, and 30% an increase in work productivity.

SHRM surveyed 738 HR professionals from a randomly selected sample of its members throughout the United States.