Employee Benefits Are Key to Landing–and Keeping–Employees

By Rieva Lesonsky

Are you using employee benefits as “bait” to lure, land and retain workers in your small business? After a few years in which employers downsized benefits to cut costs, Metlife’s 10^th annual Study of Employee Benefits Trends found that more and more employers are realizing that benefits are more important then ever in attracting and keeping employees.

The workplace has changed dramatically since MetLife did its first such survey 10 years ago. Here’s some of what MetLife found about how generational shifts, the recession and changes in the healthcare outlook are affecting benefits.

Employees are less loyal. The percentage of employees who say they are “very loyal” to their employer hit a seven-year low, at just 42 percent. One-third of all workers in the survey said they would like to change jobs in 2012; however, among Gen Y employees, that number climbs to 50 percent.

Employers are more loyal. The tables have turned and with employer recognizing the economy is beginning to recover, the percentage of employers who feel “very loyal” to their employees has reached a seven-year high. As a result, 60 percent of employers in the survey realize that benefits are a key opportunity to retain workers.

Young workers are more risk-averse about retirement. While younger generations are typically portrayed as carefree, in reality, 81 percent of Gen Y employees favor conservative investments in their retirement portfolio, compared to just 76 percent of Baby Boomers. MetLife theorizes this is because Gen Y may be skeptical of Social Security’s continued existence.

Employees are willing to pay for benefits if necessary. According to the study, 62 percent of Gen Y and Gen X employees said they would rather pay more of the cost of their benefits if the alternative is giving them up altogether. Employers’ responses indicate that many of them will use this approach, especially when it relates to healthcare coverage.

Benefits keep employees happy. More than half of employees in the survey agree that benefits are an important tool keeping them satisfied with their current employer. Overall, 61 percent of employees who are “very satisfied” with their current benefits feel “very loyal” to their employer. In comparison, among employees who are “very dissatisfied” with their benefits, just 24 percent feel “very loyal” to their company.

How are you using employee benefits moving forward?

Image by Flickr user Travel Manitoba (Creative Commons)

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 4th, 2012 at 6:00 am and is filed under small business, Small Business Success Index, Workforce. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.


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