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 From health insurance to stock options to paid vacation, today’s workforce expects to receive perks. All employers, however, do not provide them. At 95.5%, health insurance is the number one perk provided by participants in this survey, followed by paid holidays (92.1%) and life insurance (87.9%). Long-term disability comes in fourth at 72.7% and paid vacation is provided by 70%. Rounding out the top 10 benefits is short-term disability (69.4%), employee assistance programs (61.6%), paid sick days (61.1%), tuition reimbursement (48%), and PTO plans (44.8%).
At the other end of the spectrum, the least offered benefit is concierge service at 1.4%. The bottom 5 benefits also include on-site childcare (2.2%), job sharing (3.9%), childcare referral options (4.4%), and gradual retirement (4.6%).
Supplemental insurance
Voluntary supplemental insurance plans offered to employees include dental insurance, topping the list at 90.2% of employers, and vision insurance, coming in second at 78.1%. Accident insurance is next at 60.1%. Lump sum cancer or critical illness insurance is offered by 52.7% and the least offered supplemental benefit is Medicare supplement by 5.5% of the employers responding to our survey.
Tuition reimbursement
Tuition reimbursement is a benefit for 52.5% of survey participants and 21.9% offer it to part-time employees as well. Of those that offer this benefit, 30.7% consider tuition reimbursement as important or very important to their recruiting and retention efforts.
 Less than a year of employment is required for employees to be eligible at 40.5% and at least one year is required for 51.3%. The maximum annual amount of tuition reimbursement is less than $1,000 for 15.6% of survey participants. It is up to $2,000 for 26.7% and as much as $3,000 for 11.8% of employers. The reimbursement level is above $3,000 for 45.8%.
Repayment of tuition reimbursement is never required by 26.9% of employers, even if the employee leaves the company. Repayment is required on a case-by-case basis for 14.6%. It depends on the timing of the departure for 56%.
Telecommuting
Telecommuting benefits are provided by 37.5% of survey participants with 44.2% of that group indicating they offer the benefit because it improves employee morale. Improved recruiting and retention is realized by 36.1%. Telecommuting reduces absenteeism for 25.5% and reduces infrastructure expenses for 17.3%. Higher employee productivity is a benefit of telecommuting for 43.6% of employers.
 Formal telecommuting agreements are required by 29%. Those agreements cover performance criteria (63.3%), equipment requirements (62.8%), hours of work (54.4%), and “checking-in” (53.3%). An “at will” disclaimer is included by 35.6% and environmental requirements are specified by 48.3%.
An allowance to cover employee expenses for setting up telecommuting at their home is provided by 14.6%, with 70.1% reimbursing telecommuting employees for monthly Internet connections, and 66.7% reimbursing for telephone expenses.
Of those that offer this benefit, 39.7% consider it to be important or very important to their recruiting and retention efforts. Some survey participants, however, have concerns regarding their telecommuting programs, including:
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Employee management (out of sight, out of mind), 44.4%
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Monitoring productivity (are they really working), 56.7%
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Effective two-way communication, 24.3%
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Scheduling meetings with telecommuters, 21.6%
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Inadequate technology, 8.6%
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Security risks (data breach during information transit), 20.5%
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Liability for employee accidents while working at home, 13.1%
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Increased costs to employer, 3.4%
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Morale issues of employees not telecommuting eligible, 39.9%
 Dress codes
Dress codes are in place for 79.5% of survey participants, with 66.9% of them opting for business casual and “very relaxed” as the norm for 15.8%. The matter of dress is left up to departments for 27.7% but it’s strictly suits for 6.2% (less than 1% in 2014). Of those who have them, their dress code is considered important or very important to recruiting and retention for 23.1%.
Their dress code is relaxed during the summer months for 32.7% of survey participants. Dress-down days are offered by 79.2% but only for employees with no customer contact for 12.2%. Friday casual is the norm for 43.7% but only on or near holidays for 15.3%. Dress-down is a reward for performance or fundraising for 8.8%.
Insurance
Health insurance is offered as a benefit by 95.8% of the employers represented in our survey. Packages for 2015 are about the same as in 2014 for 77% of survey participants and 8.1% have a more generous package. Their 2015 package is less generous than last year for 14%.
 Plan options
A PPO (Preferred Provider Organization) is offered by 73.7% of survey participants and an HMO (Health Maintenance Organization) is offered by 30.1%. Point-of-service plans are available for 9.6%, traditional indemnity plans are available for 4.9%, and open access plans are an option for 6.1%. High-deductible plans are a benefit for 31.8% and have been considered as a potential offering by 22.9% of survey participants.
A Health Savings Account (HSA) is offered by 32.8% and 14.2% provide a Health Reimbursement Account (HRA) as a benefit option. FSAs (flexible spending accounts) are not an option for 28.3%. They are available, however, to 63.9% for childcare, 15.6% for eldercare, 68.4% for healthcare, and 1.7% for disability insurance.
Dependent coverage
Unmarried partners are included in their benefit plans for 30.6% (up from 28% last year), but 62% of our survey participants do not offer such benefits and 7.4% are not sure. The numbers are a bit different, however, for same-sex partners with health insurance benefits offered by 26.2% and available for 37.5% if married or a registered domestic partner. That benefit is not offered by 25% (37% in 2014 and 48% in 2013).
Plan changes
A hefty 59.6% conducted a comprehensive review of their benefits package in 2014 and 29.4% have done or plan to do the same in 2015. No changes to their 2015 insurance plan designs are anticipated by 20% of survey respondents. Significant changes, however, are expected by 3.7% and minor to moderate changes are planned for 30.2%. “Unknown at this time” rounds out the field at 46.1%.
Priorities
For healthcare benefits in 2015, the main priority for 41.7% of survey participants is reining in costs. It is complying with healthcare reform for 39.2% and rethinking their long-term benefits strategy for 13.8%. Though offering healthcare benefits is neutral or not important to the recruiting and retention efforts of 12.4% of survey participants, it is important or very important to 86.8%.
 Plan costs
Health insurance costs in 2015 increased from 1-5% for 29.3% of survey participants and from 6-10% for 26.6%. The cost increase was 11-15% for 8.6% and 16-20% for 3.9%, though 2015 costs stayed the same for 10.6%.
For survey participants who had increased health insurance costs for 2015, 57.2% passed some of the increase along to employees, 5.8% passed along most of the increase, and another 2.8% passed on all of the increased cost to employees. A generous 18.5% of employers represented in our survey absorbed all of the increased cost this year. A lucky 11.1% did not have increased costs in 2015.
While a little over half (51.7%) of our survey’s participants cover 75-99% of the premium for employee coverage, 19.6% cover 100% of employee health insurance premiums. Another 20.5% pay 50-74% of the premium and 4.4% cover 1-49%. Zero employer contribution to health insurance premiums is made by .4% of survey respondents, while 3.4% responded with “don’t know.”
 Employer contribution to family coverage paints a different picture, though, with 5% of employers paying 100% of the premium for family coverage and 31.7% paying 75% to 99%. One-half to three-fourths (50-74%) of the family premium is paid by 29.5% of survey participants and 1% to 49% of the premium is covered by 11.9% of employers. The employee pays 100% of family coverage for 16.3% of the employers in our survey and 5.5% selected “don’t know” as their response.
Cost containment
Though 33.7% made no changes in 2015, some employers took steps to reduce their organizations’ 2015 health insurance costs, including:
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Raising the employee portion of the premium, 31.3%
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Implementing wellness programs, 15.6%
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Raising employee deductibles, 29.9%
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Offering HSA/HRA high-deductible plans, 16.1%
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Raising employee copayments, 20.9%
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Introducing managed care programs, 4.1%
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Conducted employee dependent audits, 5.3%
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Offering opt-out incentives, 4.1%
 When asked how they think their organization’s healthcare costs will change in 2016, 28% indicated their costs will increase significantly, 49.1% believe their costs will increase but not significantly, 18.1% expect their costs to stay the same with a small inflationary increase, and .9% think their costs will go down.
To help reduce their organizations’ 2016 health insurance costs, 36.6% plan to increase employee premiums, 22.4% plan to implement wellness programs, and 46.1% plan to raise employee deductibles or copayments. Some employers plan to offer HSA/HRA high-deductible plans (14.9%) and 7.4% plan to conduct dependent audits.
Healthcare reform
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) caused 2015 insurance costs to increase for 54.5% of our survey participants. It has not caused significant increases in costs, though, for 30.9% and 12.8% don’t know yet.
Survey participants
 Organizations with up to 250 employees account for 62.1% of our survey participants and 20.6% have 251 to 1,000 employees. Another 17.2% work in organizations with more than 1,000 employees.
Privately held for-profit organizations are represented by 60.5% of survey participants and privately held nonprofits account for 20.4%. The public sector makes up 19.2%.
Industries include manufacturing (16.7%); health care and social assistance (13.7%); finance and insurance (9.2%); and professional, technical, and scientific services (9.6%). Educational services represent 5.8% of our survey participants and retail trade accounts for 3.5%.
Our 1,401 survey participants include those in staff positions (15.4%), supervisors (3.9%), manager or director level (64.3%), and VP or above (16.4%).
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