Benchmarking: Here Are the Employee Benefits Your Peers Are Offering
June 27, 2023
Employee benefits benchmarking is an essential step toward designing a Total Rewards program that helps attract and retain a talented and engaged workforce while keeping an eye on your company’s bottom line. If you’re not sufficiently informed on what kind of benefits and working conditions your peers and competitors provide, you’re putting yourself at a competitive disadvantage in the employment marketplace and/or increasing your company’s financial risk.
Good news: Alera Group has done the benchmarking work for you.
Learn what benefits other companies — those in your industry and those of various sizes — are offering their employees from our upcoming Alera Engage webinar, How Benchmarking Can Change the Game for Your Benefits and Your Business. An informative and insightful presentation on performance metrics and employer best practices based on Alera Group’s fourth annual Healthcare and Employee Benefits Benchmarking Survey, the webinar is scheduled for Thursday, July 20, at 3 p.m. ET.
The webinar will coincide with the release of our 2023 Healthcare and Employee Benefits Benchmarking Report, which includes details on and analysis of responses from more than 5,300 unique employers and information on the combined 11,000-plus major medical plans they offer.
Report Highlights
Among the key findings detailed in the report, we provide detailed information on key factors in determining and managing health plan features and costs, including:
- Medical plan rate increases;
- How funding mechanisms vary based on the number of lives an employer’s medical plan insures;
- Types of plans and plan options employers are offering;
- What businesses are doing to mitigate soaring pharmacy prices;
- Which treatments – including for behavioral/mental health – are most commonly covered;
- Ancillary coverage, such as Life and Disability Insurance.
Regarding plan types, we’ll pay particular attention to high-deductible plans and their alternatives, as well as to how employers use health savings accounts (HSAs) to help defray employee expenses. And we’ll explain how net deductible — the deductible minus employer contribution to an HSA — provides a more valid comparison of plan costs.
Infused with insights from Alera Group experts in data analytics and population health, our findings on plan offerings across industries may be especially interesting — and useful – to companies struggling to fill vacancies in fields where benefit offerings tend to be less plentiful and behavioral/mental health issues more prevalent, such as construction. In an article title “Attract and retain: Employee well-being in construction,” the U.K.-based trade website Construction Digital noted, “If we, as an industry, want to stem the impact of the chronic staff shortages we’re already experiencing, prevent more workers from leaving the sector, and look after our people, employee well-being must become a priority.”
The upcoming Alera Engage webinar and 2023 Healthcare and Employee Benefits Benchmarking Report will provide important information and insights for not only the construction industry but for all businesses.
When Smaller Employers Hire From Larger Companies
Recent layoffs in tech and other industries offer both opportunities and challenges to smaller employers in the same and adjacent fields. Smaller companies are likely to find that prospective hires who worked for larger corporations are accustomed to generous and expansive Total Rewards programs. How small to midsize employers design their own benefit programs and how they communicate the net value of their Total Rewards may determine whether a prospective hire accepts a job offer.
In a recent article on a survey by the anonymous job reporting site Blind — Tech workers are willing to give up on high salaries and take a pay cut amid mass layoffs, survey shows — Business Insider reported:
“While tech workers are struggling to find security in the job market, they're also concerned about working in a healthy environment. Other top reasons for accepting equal or lower pay included concerns about company culture and work-life balance, as well as workers who preferred to stay remote as many companies continue to push for staff to return to the office ...”
(Alera Group’s recent “tradeoff survey,” the results of which are yet to be published, produced similar findings.)
Whether your organization is large or small, whatever your industry, you’re sure to gain valuable, actionable insights from our July 20 webinar. To register for How Benchmarking Can Change the Game for Your Benefits and Your Business, click on the link below.
About the Authors
Danielle Capilla
V.P. of Compliance, Employee Benefits
Alera Group
Danielle Capilla’s areas of expertise include healthcare and employee benefit compliance, with an emphasis on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Additionally, she regularly works with issues regarding Section 125 plans, COBRA, ERISA, Medicare, HIPAA and consumer-driven healthcare plans. Danielle earned her JD in Health Law from DePaul University College of Law. Her background in law enables her to simplify complex topics, helping clients navigate the intertwined landscape of healthcare regulation and benefit plans.
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Marcy Updike
National Director, Market Research
Alera Group
March Updike has more than two decades of experience market research, customer analytics and product insights. She became Alera Group’s National Director of Market Research in 2022.
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