The most useful benefits survey questions ask employees directly about satisfaction, awareness, and gaps, rather than assuming leadership already knows the answers. The common thread across all five examples is that none of them require a massive budget. A few concrete program examples show how companies put these benefit types into practice, without necessarily needing a massive budget to do it. The health plan upgrade cost significantly more and moved satisfaction scores less than the scheduling change would have.
A company with teams across multiple time zones, for example, often needs to offer flexible working hours just to keep communication functional across regions, which counts as a benefit even though it costs nothing to provide. Employee benefits are a core part of any competitive compensation package today, not an optional extra. The 7 standard benefit categories, the 5-step strategy framework, the 8-area administration checklist, and the 4-channel communication model in this guide provide the architecture. According to MetLife’s 2025 EBTS, employees who understand and actively use their benefits are 2.6x more likely to feel cared for by their employer — yet low benefits utilization remains a persistent challenge for most HR teams. The 2025 category includes mental health support, therapy apps, Employee Assistance Program (EAP) services, telehealth access, financial wellness tools, and stress-management resources.
In short, any indirect compensation that employers offer their staff, either mandatory or voluntary, can be an employee benefit. But according to our own survey data, four in five employees say a benefits package is a deciding factor in whether they accept a job offer, making it as important as base salary in many hiring decisions. Get a practical guide and 6 templates to improve your benefits package.
Communication Toolkits
Showing your employees that you care about their personal needs can also improve employee morale. Today’s successful companies know that they must instill great company values to engage employees. Even though many employee benefits aren’t mandatory, it’s still a good idea to incorporate them into your team’s compensation package.
Expert resources
- The most useful benefits survey questions ask employees directly about satisfaction, awareness, and gaps, rather than assuming leadership already knows the answers.
- Employee benefits provided through ERISA (Employee Retirement Income Security Act) are not subject to state-level insurance regulation like most insurance contracts, but employee benefit products provided through insurance contracts are regulated at the state level.
- The hardest part of benefits communication is knowing which channels worked.
- A competitive package starts with the benefits employees value most, such as health insurance, retirement plans, and paid time off.
Segmenting responses by department, tenure, or benefit type reveals patterns a single aggregate satisfaction score hides, like a wellness program that’s popular with one team but completely unused by another. Recent reporting found that many U.S. workers still struggle with caregiving demands, while only a small share of employers currently offer eldercare-specific support, making this an area where offering something meaningful can set an employer apart. Most companies combine several of these rather than offering just one, since different employees value different benefits depending on their life stage and personal circumstances. In this blog, we break down what employee benefits are, why they matter, the main types available, how to choose the right ones, and real examples that improve retention.
Pet insurance helps employees cover veterinary costs for their pets. Companies like Uber, Pinterest, and Salesforce provide fertility benefits ranging from $10,000 to $50,000. Fertility benefits help employees cover the cost https://the-business-mag.net/what-legal-mistakes-should-startups-avoid/ of treatments such as IVF and egg freezing, as well as adoption and surrogacy support.
Paid Time Off and Leave
- A single-question pulse survey asking employees to rate their benefits package on a 0 to 10 scale, then segmented into promoters, passives, and detractors.
- If meals are furnished (1) by the employer; (2) for the employer’s convenience; and (3) provided on the business premises of the employer they may be excluded from the employee’s gross income per section 119(a).
- You may ask yourself, “What employee benefits do people value the most?
- Rolling out an expensive new benefit nobody asked for, while ignoring a cheaper one employees have been requesting, is a common and avoidable mistake.
- Its employees receive a laptop and $500 to set up their office, plus additional money for a co-working space.
QuestionPro Employee Experience Software helps HR teams track whether satisfaction with a specific benefit is improving https://www.himeji-city.info/study-my-understanding-of-9/ or declining over time, rather than relying on a single annual snapshot. HR teams that run a structured communication program see measurably higher utilization rates, which directly improves the return on benefits spend. Legally required benefits are ones employers must provide under applicable law, while optional benefits are additional offerings employers choose to attract and retain talent. Running a benefits-specific eNPS 30 days after open enrollment converts soft anecdotes into a number HR can take to leadership. HR’s administration load here includes annual carrier negotiations, plan-design decisions (high-deductible health plans vs. PPO vs. HMO), FSA and HSA enrollment windows, and ACA reporting obligations. As expectations rise, HR needs to design packages that support people’s real needs while staying competitive, compliant, and financially sustainable.
