Health and retirement benefits rise in significance in employees’ decisions to stay or leave

Benefit priorities

Employees want their employers to focus on the following key benefits:^*

• 44% Retirement
• 39% Flexible work
• 33% Health

^*Ranked among top 3

Over a quarter of employees want employers support to help manage their emotional health. Of these, 40% say stress management activities would more help them

What benefit options would most help employees?

Retirement preferences

• 62% A guaranteed retirement benefit
• 58% More generous retirement benefits
• 53% Retiree medical benefits

Flexible work preferences

• 50% More paid time off and sick leave
• 47% Option to work from home/anywhere
• 45% Option to select when I work

Physical health preferences

• 46% A more generous healthcare plan
• 42% Health screenings and risk assessments
• 37% A more generous dental plan

Emotional health preferences

• 53% Mental health days
• 40% Stress and resilience management activities
• 39% More generous coverage of mental health services and medications

Actions you can take now!

• Use employee listening strategies (e.g., surveys, virtual focus groups) to understand the diverse needs and preferences of your employees when it comes to benefits. Be mindful of the broad diversity of your workforce, from critical-skill employees to those in underrepresented groups, including financially vulnerable populations.
• Optimize your Total Rewards portfolio by eliminating underappreciated programs and investing in programs and employees value. Ensure that core benefits, such as retirement and healthcare, can continue to evolve to meet employees' need for security, flexibility and value.
• Understand employees' flexible work preferences and assess whether flexible work arrangements should include the option to work from home or anywhere as well as more generous paid time off and sick leave. Reshape your benefit strategy to highlight your new flexible work policies and amplify your desired culture around flexible work.

About the survey: A total of 9,658 U.S. employees from large and midsize private employers participated in the survey, which was conducted during December 2021 and January 2022.