HR is getting some mixed messages about what part of a job package is most important to employees. While salary, in most cases, still comes out on top–according to Glassdoor, 67% of employees say this is most important to them–benefits and location, at 63% and 59% respectively, are close seconds (although location may matter more to hourly workers). Meanwhile, a Jobvite survey found that career growth trumps pay among 61% of respondents, pushing out salary and benefits for the first time.
While career growth is a key factor in retention, most research agrees that overall pay is the reigning champion for now. Especially while more employers are working towards pay equity and transparency, benefits play a significant role in making your vacancies attractive and having your company perceived as a standout workplace, especially by women. A LinkedIn survey found that 68% of women see salary and benefits information as the most important part of a job description (by the way, are you writing the optimal job ad?).
With all the many elements of modern life, including technology, family obligations, and burnout, people’s needs are changing too. Plus, with millennials leading the charge, employees are becoming more demanding for the elusive work-life balance.
Although you don’t have to offer massages, daily ice cream pints or even no official working hours (!), it’s worth considering how HR and your company as a whole can accommodate workers’ needs and desires in the 21st century.
Evolving and comprehensive healthcare benefits
When it comes to healthcare benefits, there’s a big difference between what employers must do and what they can do, and healthcare law is never static. While you keep your eyes peeled for upcoming federal changes to healthcare law, keep in mind research that shows a large majority (71%) of Americans are satisfied with their employer-sponsored healthcare plan. More companies, states, and municipalities are offering the most popular of health benefits without being federally mandated than ever have before, namely comprehensive health coverage and paid family leave.
In fact, there’s a lot of good news related to employee healthcare plans. Considering the same 71% of Americans worry healthcare costs will continue to rise, it is significant that 46% say their health plan was either a deciding factor or positive influence on their decision to accept their current job–and 56% said their health plan is the reason they’ve stayed at their current job. Despite high costs, “comprehensive benefits ranked higher in importance among respondents (58%) than affordability of plans (42%) [and] Respondents said the most important benefits are prescription drug coverage (51%), preventive healthcare (47%) and emergency services (47%).” This provides a great roadmap for reviewing your current offering and directions for where to supplement or improve your plans.
As women continue to seek equal representation in the workplace, they are key players in changing the health benefits game, but there is still a ways to go. According to a survey of 1,000 professional women by Fairygodboss in partnership with Extend Fertility, 87% of working women said their employer’s benefits package was important or very important to them when considering a job offer, yet 40% found the women’s health and family-friendly benefits at their current employer unsatisfactory. Some women report wanting their employers to be more aware of reproductive benefits like in vitro fertilization and egg freezing. Additionally, employers can improve new mothers’ comfort, engagement, and retention at work by codifying lactation policies alongside access to a wellness room.
Women’s health and family-friendly benefits can create a much more positive image of a company for women talent in particular. Women of all ethnicities and age groups, including those who aren’t planning to have children, reported high enthusiasm for paid leave benefits. Employers advertising these benefits voluntarily increase their chances of women applying for job vacancies and, among female employees, having them remain on staff long-term.
Popular and inclusive family leave benefits
Speaking of policies that are attractive to women and families, paid family leave is on the rise. It’s worth noting that the US lags behind other countries in this regard: The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA) requires 12 weeks of unpaid leave annually, which is below the 16-week minimum recommended by WHO, for new mothers who work for a company with 50 or more employees. Paid or not, 80% of parents take family leave following the birth of a child; however, FMLA requirements have been shown to disproportionately disqualify women of color and low-income women, who are overall less likely to take unpaid leave.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise, then, that paid family leave ranks as a favorite work benefit according to the Unum Caring Report among 58% of poll respondents, despite how widely its accessibility varies across industries. Although 88% of employers in a 2016 WorldatWork study thought they should offer paid family leave, they report facing obstacles in the form of state and local law.
Starbucks, Walmart and IKEA are leading the charge, and their policies apply to hourly and non-hourly workers alike. One company is getting ahead of the curve by offering a phased return-to-work program as an extension of its paid family leave policy, which entails eight weeks of leave for both mothers and fathers (recently increased from six weeks): PwC employees can work 60% of their normal schedule at 100% of their pay for four weeks after returning to work.
Let’s remember, too, how integral family planning benefits are to D&I initiatives. “To combat the rise of potential bias, parental bonding leave should be offered equally to fathers and mothers,” and phased return-to-work policies are a great start. There may be more good news too: According to research by Willis Towers Watson, “A growing number [of employers] (55-73%) are now embedding their inclusion and diversity objectives into workplace culture and benefit programs,” including health care and retirement benefits as well as “employee pay and wellbeing initiatives.”
Benefits that keep on giving…
Healthcare and family leave policies are two of the most popular benefit offerings across industries and signal a large change in the way employees perceive their work life should support their home and holistic lives.
Yet we should never forget the role of company culture in the long-term benefits of offering, well, benefits! There are a few human obstacles to paid family leave in particular. While these policies both help attract and retain prospective and new parents, the retention benefits will not kick in if company culture does not support people taking it. Research has found that both male and female managers see women who take longer maternity leaves as “less committed to their jobs and less apt to be leaders.” Although some men are also reluctant to take leave in fear of stymying advancement opportunities, offering parental leave to men reduces turnover amongst both women and men.
Considering family leave is seen as a top perk by job-seekers, competitive policies can certainly give employers an upper hand in competition for top talent when applied uniformly!
In our part 2 on 2019’s most popular benefits among job-seekers and employees, we have employee training, flexible hours, and remote work on tap. Stay tuned!