A recent survey conducted by M Lee Smith Publishers offers some surprising insights on non-healthcare benefits. For example, only about 19 percent of respondents offer telecommuting, although 35 percent allow flex time. Nearly a third offer PTO, and about a third offer a wellness program.
About 500 employers participated in the survey, which revealed many intriguing trends, including the following:
- Most of respondents’ non-health insurance benefits offerings are about the same as last year’s (80.31%).
- A majority of respondents aren’t planning to make changes to their Non-health insurance benefits offerings in 2011 (57.2%).
- Most respondents believe that non-health care benefits costs will either stay pretty much the same in 2011 (33.86%) or will rise but the change won’t be very significant (38.98%).
- For organizations with a 401(k) or 403(b) employer match, many indicated that they haven’t stopped it in the last few years (48.12%).
- A surprising number of employers reported offering “atypical” benefits such as on-site fitness centers (14.96%), flex-work arrangements (24.41%), financial planning assistance (13.78%), and legal assistance programs (13.39%).
Want to know what your competitors are offering? Here are the detailed results:
Which of these benefits do you offer to your employees?
| Answer |
Count |
Percentage |
|
Health insurance |
487 |
95.87% |
|
Life insurance |
462 |
90.94% |
|
Dental insurance |
460 |
90.55% |
|
Paid holidays |
432 |
85.04% |
|
Defined-contribution retirement plan (such as a 401(k) or 403(b |
427 |
84.06% |
|
Long-term disability |
392 |
77.17% |
|
Paid vacation days |
360 |
70.87% |
|
Short-term disability |
351 |
69.09% |
|
Vision insurance |
349 |
68.70% |
|
Flexible spending account |
334 |
65.75% |
|
Paid sick days |
323 |
63.58% |
|
Employee assistance program |
305 |
60.04% |
|
Tuition reimbursement |
269 |
52.95% |
|
Flex time |
179 |
35.24% |
|
Health and wellness program |
169 |
33.27% |
|
PTO (paid time off with sick and vacation lumped together) |
165 |
32.48% |
|
Defined-benefit retirement plan (traditional pension plan) |
121 |
23.82% |
|
Telecommuting |
95 |
18.70% |
|
Profit sharing |
91 |
17.91% |
|
Stock options |
23 |
4.53% |
|
On-site childcare |
11 |
2.17% |
|
None of the above |
1 |
0.20% |
|
Other |
42 |
8.27% |
Do most of your business’ competitors offer similar non-wage benefits?
| Answer |
Count |
Percentage |
|
Yes, about the same |
238 |
46.94% |
|
No, our company’s benefits are MORE generous than our competitors |
113 |
22.29% |
|
No, our company’s benefits are LESS generous than our competitors |
25 |
4.93% |
|
Don’t know |
111 |
21.89% |
|
Other |
2 |
0.39% |
|
No answer |
18 |
3.55% |
What type of retirement benefits do you offer your employees?
| Answer |
Count |
Percentage |
|
Traditional 401(k) |
327 |
64.37% |
|
Company pension plan (defined-benefit plan) |
112 |
22.05% |
|
Roth 401(k) |
102 |
20.08% |
|
457 plan |
75 |
14.76% |
|
Profit sharing |
70 |
13.78% |
|
403(b) plan |
69 |
13.58% |
|
SIMPLE or SEP |
18 |
3.54% |
|
ESOP |
15 |
2.95% |
|
Union-sponsored pension plan |
15 |
2.95% |
|
Employer stock options |
8 |
1.57% |
|
Other |
39 |
7.68% |
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Do you outsource the administration of any of your benefits plans?
| Answer |
Count |
Percentage |
|
Retirement plan |
310 |
61.02% |
|
Flexible spending plan |
259 |
50.98% |
|
Health plan |
249 |
49.02% |
|
No, we do it all in-house |
101 |
19.88% |
|
No, we don’t offer these benefits |
7 |
1.38% |
|
Other |
14 |
2.76% |
Is your organization considering making changes to its benefits package in 2011?
| Answer |
Count |
Percentage |
|
Yes |
123 |
24.21% |
|
No |
215 |
42.32% |
|
Not Sure |
140 |
27.56% |
|
No answer |
30 |
5.91% |
How does your organization determine what benefits it will offer to employees?
| Answer |
Count |
Percentage |
|
Evaluate benefits packages offered by other companies and our competitors |
256 |
50.39% |
|
Work with a consultant to create a plan |
179 |
35.24% |
|
Survey employees to see what they are interested in |
131 |
25.79% |
|
Not sure |
53 |
10.43% |
|
Other |
68 |
13.39% |
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When was the last time your organization did a comprehensive evaluation of its benefits package?
| Answer |
Count |
Percentage |
|
Within the past year |
253 |
49.90% |
|
2009 |
68 |
13.41% |
|
2008 |
33 |
6.51% |
|
2007 |
11 |
2.17% |
|
before 2007 |
62 |
12.23% |
|
Other |
12 |
2.37% |
|
No answer |
68 |
13.41% |
If your organization has a 401(k) or 403(b) plan, what is the status of your employer match?
| Answer |
Count |
Percentage |
|
We have an employer match and haven’t stopped it in the last few years. |
243 |
48.12% |
|
We have never had an employer match. |
74 |
14.65% |
|
We stopped our employer match but plan on reinstating it. |
36 |
7.13% |
|
We stopped our employer match for a while but have reinstated it. |
19 |
3.76% |
|
We have an employer match and plan on stopping it. |
0 |
0.00% |
|
Other |
58 |
11.49% |
|
No answer |
75 |
14.85% |
In tomorrow’s Advisor, more survey results including “Atypical Benefits,” and an introduction to a special program just for smaller or one-person HR departments.
This survey has interesting results but key items left out of the article are: sizes, locations, and industries of the surveyed companies. I’m in manufacturing so it is hard to assess if any of the data has relevance without details on the source of the data.
This was really useful one to a student like me who is doing HR survey for final year thesis. It would have been more effective if the nature of industry, size of business were mentioned in which this survey was done. Thanks