So which is more important to employees, pay or benefits (specifically health benefits)?
In last week’s Workforce Management’s newsletter, a nationwide survey was recently conducted by the National Business Group on Health that asked 1,619 employed people that specific question. They found that employees in the U.S. consider their health plan to be their most important benefit. Furthermore, in a world of rising health care costs, employees would rather give up wage increases and other benefits to preserve health care coverage.
More than 50% said they would accept fewer choices in order to keep their premiums low and roughly 75% would rather receive employer health benefits than get paid more and need to purchase their own health insurance. Additionally, more than 80% said they would rather see their salary or retirement benefit reduced rather than their health benefits if their employers need to reduce total compensation.
These findings don’t surprise me. These findings follow right in suit with what we often hear from talented candidates as our clients work through offers with them. Health benefits usually are the second item candidates look at in an offer letter. The benefits are viewed in almost in tandem with the compensation (salary/commission) package.
They always go hand-in-hand in today’s world. I remember back in the ’80’s when I would breeze past “rich” co-pay plans – that benefit was expected. Today, candidates view the benefits with more scrutiny than the salary/commission plan. I have seen more offers turned down because of the health plan not being acceptable than I have seen for the base salary and commission schedule.