Employee retention will continue to be a top issue for companies in 2024. Even as the labor market cools a bit and the quits rate continues its declinefrom a pandemic-era high, over one-third of workers (36%) have considered leaving a job in recent months, according to a new CNBC|SurveyMonkey Workforce Survey.
What could help employers keep the majority of workers around for longer?
It’s not a 401(k) match. It’s not a free lunch. It’s not a gym membership. No. 1 on the wish list of employee benefits sought by workers, according to the CNBC|SurveyMonkey data, is fully paid health-care premiums.
More than half of employees (51%) said they want fully-covered health-care premiums more than any other benefit typically covered by employers, including a 401(k) retirement plan match (37%), reimbursement for health facilities or gyms (27%), and free food onsite (26%).
While a 401(k) match is considered a crucial benefit for long-term financial security, the survey finding reflects a significant cost issue amid sharp income inequality: employees’ ability to afford health-care is being stretched. Roughly three-fourths of employees overall can afford the health-care they need without financial hardship — but that drops to only 50% of employees at the lowest income levels, according to Mercer. Nearly one-in-five workers would even accept a lower wage in exchange for more comprehensive health-care benefits, according to the Employee Benefits Research Institute.https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/ZkOgT/1/
“For some employee segments, affordable health care may be a higher priority than a generous 401(k) match,” said Rebecca Warnken, senior vice president of health solutions at Aon.
She pointed to research showing that Black, Hispanic, Latino, and younger workers are more likely to consider switching employers for better health benefits. Lower-income workers or workers with chronic health conditions may prefer benefits that can support short-term health and financial needs over retirement savings, she said.
Though according to the CNBC|SurveyMonkey data, employee desire for fully-covered health-care premiums only barely drops below 50% at the income level of $150,000 or above — and it still outranks any other benefit among these higher-paid workers.
Health-care inflation will remain high
Currently, employers subsidize about 81% of health-care plan costs, on average, while employees pay the remainder, according to Aon.
Health-care inflation typically rises faster than general inflation, though this was not the case in the pandemic boom years with four-decade-high general inflation. In 2023, the average employee health-care cost rose 5.2%, according to Mercer, to $15,797 per employee.
These costs are expected to stay above $15,000 in 2024.
“As employers are looking to attract and retain top talent, it’s important to consider a range of retirement, health and wellbeing, and other benefits to meet the diverse needs of their workforce,” Warnken said.
Amid rising health-care costs, employers are making some moves to help out employees by limiting annual deductible increases or out-of-pocket maximums. Out-of-pocket health-care expenses have been rising faster than wages in recent years.
“In a tight labor market, plan sponsors are hesitant to shift significant cost to plan participants and make benefits less affordable,” Farheen Dam, North American health solutions leader at Aon, said in a recent release.
Some employers are providing flexible plans to accommodate more financial and medical situations, such as free employee-only coverage, or no deductible plans, according to Mercer.
But covering health-care premiums in full is not a popular benefits approach. Back in 2017, only 9% of the employers on Fortune’s “100 Best Companies to Work For” list offered full health coverage for their employees — down from 34% in 2001. In 2023, only one company on that list — Visa — disclosed that it offered the benefit. Other companies that offer fully-covered health-care premiums include Boston Consulting Group, Capital One, FactSet, GoDaddy, and Meta.
Retirement, finances remain top concern for most employees
The focus on health-care costs comes amid broader employee concerns about personal finance. Short-term financial security issues, such as covering monthly expenses, remain the top concern of all employees, according to Mercer, with long-term financial security and retirement planning coming in a close second.
The CNBC|SurveyMonkey Workforce Survey found that only three in ten (31%) workers say their workplace offers financial coaching or advising, but 401(k) matching was second to health-care premiums among all desired job benefits — across gender, race, income, and political affiliation, and all but the youngest demographic (18-24) of workers.
“Retirement and other financial benefits are an important component of an employer’s total rewards package, as we know the majority of Americans are not saving enough for retirement, many have a significant amount of student loan debt or are struggling to pay for day-to-day expenses,” said Warnken.
Thirty-nine percent of workers aged 18-24 said in the survey that student loans were top on their wish list among benefits.
According to the Plan Sponsor Council of America, 98% of companies that offer a 401(k) also provide employer matching for their employees.
Free food and the shifting preferences of Gen Z
Asking for help paying student loans is not the only way Gen Z workers are disrupting the status-quo in employee benefit wishes.
According to the survey, Gen Z workers ages 18-24 value free food (42%) just as much as fully-paid health-care premiums (41%), compared to the 29% of Millennial and 21% of Gen X workers who prioritize free food.
The 34% of Gen Z workers who put student loan payments first on the list compares to 27% of millennials and 20% of Gen X, according to the CNBC|SurveyMonkey data.
“Gen Z is the most racially diverse generation in history, more likely to self-identify as LGBTQ+ or neurodivergent compared to older generations, and more likely to have different expectations for the workplace,” Warnken said.
To Warnken, it’s crucial for employers to consider the diversity of their workforce’s needs.
“This matters for a company’s bottom line — employees who believe their total rewards meet their families’ needs are twice as engaged as those who do not, which drives 23% higher profitability, 18% higher productivity, and 18% to 43% lower turnover rates,” she said.