HR Resources: Jump Aboard the Benefits Benchmarking Bandwagon

“Demographic data and benchmarking should inform your recruitment and retention goals and strategy.”

By the time the popular publication BenefitsPRO published those words in the July 15 article “Using data to better understand employees’ benefits priorities,” Alera Group had already:

• Collected responses from more than 2,500 businesses around the country for our 2022 Employee Benefits Benchmarking Survey;



• Produced a comprehensive report on the survey results;



• Planned a webinar to discuss our findings, “Grow Through Benchmarking: 2022 Survey Results Reveal.”

In short, we haven’t been just riding a benchmarking bandwagon; we’ve been driving it.

And we’d like to welcome you aboard. The webinar on the survey results, which took place on July 21, is now available in a recording, which you can access here. The published report is available here.

Illustrated throughout with user-friendly tables, charts and graphs, the report provides insights into benefit and plan trends aimed at employee recruitment and retention, as well as strategies employers are implementing to offset rising healthcare costs. Key findings include:

• Health Insurance and Life Insurance continue to trend as the most common benefit offerings.



• Employers are offering greater choice in medical plans, with many offering two or more options.



• Retention and recruitment are the top human capital management challenges.



• Cost containment is a key motivator for plan design changes.



• Employers place a high priority on employees’ physical and mental health, with increasing emphasis on financial wellness.

At 34 pages, the report offers almost granular detail on the respondents and their industries, as well as the employee benefits they offer. You’ll see that of the 27 benefits we asked about, close to 100% offer health or medical while fewer than 10% offer the least common benefit, student debt repayment. Conversely, however, student debt repayment also is the benefit most commonly under consideration, with nearly 10% of respondents saying they may include it in their Total Rewards package for 2023.

You’ll also see that the survey report and benchmarking webinar address more than benefits. For example, we found that the most common uses of human resources technology among our respondents are payroll, with 66% reporting use of that feature, followed by benefits administration (56%), employee onboarding (48%), time and labor (40%), ACA tracking and reporting (36%) and more.

From what industries did we collect responses? Manufacturing was No. 1, with 16% of the responses, followed by healthcare at 10%, construction and scientific/technical tied for third at 9%, retail and wholesale at 8% and 16 other industries represented among the respondents.

Geographically, the four regions we categorized — West, South, Northeast and Midwest — had strong participation, each providing at least 19% of the responses we received.

In terms of organization size, businesses with 100-499 employees led with 32% of responses, followed by those with 50-99 employees (19%), and those with 25-49 and 1,000-4,999 employees (15% each).

Of course you’ll learn much more by reading the report and/or watching the webinar. And the learning doesn’t stop there.

To ensure you’re up to date on the latest compliance regulations and ask about changes affecting your business, join us on Thursday, August 18, for our next Alera Engage webinar, “Q3: What’s Trending in Compliance.” In addition to addressing the hot topic of benefits in the aftermath of the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision overturning Roe v. Wade, we’ll discuss upcoming compliance deadlines and other issues human resource managers are confronting as they prepare for open enrollment.

REGISTER FOR THE COMPLIANCE WEBINAR

About the Author

Danielle Capilla 

Vice President of Compliance, Employee Benefits 

Alera Group 

Danielle Capilla is focused on enhancing Alera Group’s existing compliance capabilities and building new, world-class compliance solutions for our employee benefits clients. Her 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 J.D. in Health Law from DePaul University College of Law. Her background in law enables her to simplify complex topics, helping Alera Group clients navigate the intertwined landscape of healthcare regulation and their benefit plans.  

Contact Information: 

• danielle.capilla@aleragroup.com 



• (312) 498-8837 



• Connect with Danielle on LinkedIn