PeopleKeep | 2024 Employee Benefits Survey Report

Introduction

In today’s tough labor market, it’s crucial for employers to do everything they can to keep their current employees happy. One of the best ways employers can do this is by ensuring their benefits package aligns with what their employees really value.

One of the biggest challenges many employers face when offering employee benefits is cost. This is why it's crucial to know which specific benefits are worth the investment.

To help you better understand what today’s employers and employees prioritize, PeopleKeep's 2024 Employee Benefits Survey investigates employees’ benefits expectations and identifies which benefits enhance the employee experience.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Highlights from the survey:

More than half of the employers (56%) said cost is the biggest hurdle when offering employee benefits.
Most employees (81%) said an employer’s benefits package is an important factor in whether or not they accept a job.
Employers saw the most employee participation in health benefits (76%), retirement benefits (76%), and paid time off (75%).
Most employers (89%) plan to enrich their current benefits or add more of them in 2025.

The five benefits most important to employees include the following:

health benefits (92%)
dental insurance (91%)
paid time off (90%)
retirement benefits (89%)
vision insurance (81%)

In the middle of the pack in terms of importance to employees are mental health and/or wellness benefits (80%), life insurance (77%), and paid family leave (77%).

In contrast, the four least important benefits to employees were disability insurance (64%), childcare benefits (53%), educational assistance and/or student loan repayment assistance (52%), and commuter benefits (44%).

"I feel like it's important to show value to your workers. Helping to make sure they stay healthy shows you value them."

"I value PTO the most because spending time with family is what really matters in life."

"My most valued benefit would be retirement or 401k."

EMPLOYEE PARTICIPATION

Which benefits do employees use the most?

Next, we asked employers to share how often they used their benefits. Employee participation is an excellent indicator of which benefits are worth the cost to employers.

Employee benefit	"Never" and "rarely"	"Often" and "always"
	12.36%	58.88%
	18.89%	39.55%
	29.17%	38.69%
	53.42%	34.25%
	69.39%	14.29%
	23.80%	61.27%
	9.88%	64%
	54.93%	25.35%
	34.08%	36.31%
	45.26%	41.05%
	58.78%	22.14%
	51.90%	35.44%

EMPLOYER SURVEY

Which benefits do employers see the most participation in?

We also asked employers which benefits their employees use.

Employee benefit	"Low" and "very low" usage	"High" and "very high" usage
Health benefits	7.40%	76.16%
Dental insurance	12.76%	64.39%
Vision insurance	14.76%	59.04%
Life insurance	19.21%	47.60%
Disability insurance	21.12%	45.34%
Retirement benefits	9.71%	75.71%
Paid time off (PTO)	6.96%	74.65%
Paid family leave	17.96%	53.25%
Mental health and/or wellness benefits	17.95%	53.53%
Childcare benefits	26.09%	48.91%
Educational assistance and/or student loan repayment	29.17%	46.88%
Commuter benefits	37.41%	35.19%

When it comes to participation, employers and employees are on the same page with three benefits: paid time off (64%), retirement benefits (61%), and health benefits (59%).

Health benefits

74.23%

Retirement benefits

61.70%

Paid time off

56.03%

Dental benefits

52.72%

Life insurance

48.46%

Vision benefits

48.23%

Paid family leave

36.64%

Disability insurance

32.86%

Mental health/ wellness benefits

31.91%

Educational assistance

26.95%

Childcare benefits

16.55%

Commuter benefits

10.87%

Why do employers offer employee benefits?

There are several advantages to offering employee benefits, but one reason stood out among the rest to employers. Nearly half of employers (49%) offer employee benefits to improve employee productivity and engagement.

One of the best ways to improve productivity and engagement at an organization is to offer employee benefits. For example, when employees are cared for through health benefits, they’re less likely to take sick days. Education benefits show employees that their futures are worthy investments for the company. An ample amount of paid time off promotes work-life balance, which is important for keeping employees engaged and avoiding burnout.

“The workforce is the beating heart and backbone of any organization. If you take care of the workers, your organization thrives."

“These days, in order to keep quality workers, you must keep your benefits package competitive with your competitors, or your employees who have a lot of experience will leave the organization."

"I want people to know that we appreciate them and that they're taken care of when they work with the company."

How can employers afford to offer the most desired employee benefit?

Year after year, health benefits rank as the top benefit for employees. Unfortunately, this benefit is usually the most expensive one for employers. This is because they often rely on traditional group health insurance to get the job done.

According to KFF, the average annual cost of employee health insurance premiums for family coverage was $23,968 in 2023. The average premium for a self-only plan was $8,435. On average, employers covered 83% of their employees’ self-only insurance plans and 73% of employees’ family insurance plans.

	Employer percentage	Employer dollar amount	Employee percentage	Employee dollar amount
Self-only premium of $8,435 annually	83%	$7,034 annually	17%	$1,401 annually
Family premium of $23,968 annually	73%	$17,393 annually	27%	$6,575 annually

Traditional health benefits also some with unpredictable annual rate hikes and strict participation requirements that small and midsize employers may not meet.

If you want a cost-effective way to offer a health benefit, you can utilize health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs). Stand-alone HRAs like qualified small employer HRAs (QSEHRAs) and individual coverage HRAs (ICHRAs) are popular alternatives to traditional group health plans. They’re IRS-approved, employer-funded health benefits that allow employers to reimburse employees tax-free for individual health insurance premiums and qualifying out-of-pocket medical expenses rather than buying the coverage for them.

ABOUT THE SURVEY

Methodology and demographics

PeopleKeep gathered the data from this report through online surveys from April 11 to 15, 2024. This includes responses from 423 employers and 617 employees. Among employers, 54.17% identified as male and 45.39% as female. Among employees, 44.89% identified as male and 54.78% as female. The remaining respondents choose not to disclose their gender.

We had a nearly even split between employee respondents who employed fewer than 50 workers and those who employed more than 50 employees.

Closing thoughts

While offering employee benefits can be a significant financial challenge for many small and midsize organizations, it doesn't have to be. It comes down to employers investing their money in the benefits their employees will actually use. When employers know what their employees want to see in their benefits package, they can tailor it to their needs. This way, they can invest in their workforce without wasting money.

PeopleKeep helps small to midsize organizations thrive by taking care of their employees with hassle-free benefits. As the leader in personalized benefits, PeopleKeep has learned what the thousands of employers who use our software want: a seamless employee experience, easy-to-use software, and automated compliance.

PeopleKeep, part of Remodel Health, is a personalized benefits administration software company. We serve small and midsize employers across many industries ranging from nonprofits, to high tech, to engineering. Because our software is intuitive and can be managed in minutes per month, we make providing benefits more accessible to organizations that do not want to manage complex and tedious administrative tasks.

Since starting as Zane Benefits in 2006, we've been the leader in cloud-based personalized benefits administration.

Visit our About Us page to learn more

As the industry leader in HRAs, PeopleKeep prides itself on publishing proprietary data on all things HRAs and employee benefits.

We also release annual reports on the QSEHRA and the individual coverage HRA (ICHRA).

We provide software that allows organizations to offer health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs) and employee stipends. Learn more about each of our products below:

Qualified small employer HRA (QSEHRA): A simple, controlled-cost alternative to group health insurance for employers with 1-49 employees.
Individual coverage HRA (ICHRA): A flexible health benefit solution for employers of all sizes that can be used alone or alongside group health insurance.
Group coverage HRA (GCHRA): A group health supplement for employers already offering a group health insurance plan to help employees with out-of-pocket expenses.
WorkPerks: Reimbursable employee stipends that broaden employee benefits. Offer your employees benefits for health, wellness, remote work, education, transportation, and more.

At PeopleKeep, we help you implement budget-friendly, compliant benefits without the hassle. Pricing will vary depending on which product you're interested in and how many employees you'll have enrolled in the benefit.

Visit our pricing page to get an instant quote

PeopleKeep’s 2024 Employee Benefits Survey

Introduction

PeopleKeep surveyed more than 1,000 employers and employees who provided feedback on the following employee benefits:

Highlights from the survey:

Which benefits are most important to employees?

The most important benefits to employers

Which benefits do employees use the most?

Do employees feel their needs are met by employers? Sort of.

Which benefits do employers see the most participation in?

Which benefits do employers offer?

Is competitive compensation enough? Not always.

Why do employers offer employee benefits?

What is the biggest hurdle for employers when it comes to offering employee benefits?

Want to save money? Ask your employees what benefits they want.

How important is having access to remote work or a hybrid work environment?

How can employers afford to offer the most desired employee benefit?

What will employee benefits look like in 2025?

Methodology and demographics

Closing thoughts

Get the infographic summary

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