When participating in today’s job market candidates are requiring a few must-have benefits from employers when looking into a new position. Most survey’s on candidates find that health insurance, retirement plans and dental or vision coverage are the must-haves. These benefits are also important for employers that want to keep employees happy.
But according to a recently released Employee Benefit Research Institute/Greenwald & Associates Health and Voluntary Workplace Benefits Survey, more than half of employees are only somewhat satisfied or dissatisfied with their employers’ benefits packages.
Many workers aren’t very optimistic about the future of their benefits packages, either. Half of workers (51 percent) aren’t sure they’ll have the same benefits package three years from now, and of those, almost half (43 percent) believe those benefits packages will worsen in the next three years.
EBRI identified the following as the key findings of the 2016 survey:
- One-third of workers (32 percent) are only somewhat satisfied with the benefits offered by their current employer, and 20 percent are not satisfied.
- One-half (49 percent) are extremely or very confident that their employer will continue to offer a similar benefits package three years from now. Those who are less confident that their benefits will remain the same tend to believe their benefits will weaken.
- Workers continue to value employment-based health insurance as their most important benefit. Eighty-seven percent of workers report that employment-based health insurance is extremely or very important, followed by a retirement savings plan (77 percent) and dental or vision (72 percent).
- Two-thirds are confident in their ability to make informed benefits choices. Yet, nearly as many would welcome benefits advice from a third-party adviser or an online program.
- Workers identify lower cost, choice, and the convenience of paying pre-tax and through payroll deductions as strong advantages of voluntary employment-based benefits.
The 2016 survey was conducted online June 16-23, 2016. A total of 1,500 workers in the United States ages 21-64 participated in the survey. The data were weighted by gender, age, and education to reflect the actual proportions in the employed population.
