If you’re a benefits leader, you know how much time, money, and energy goes into creating a benefits package that is relevant to your workers’ needs, fits your budget, is used and loved by your employees, and delivers positive outcomes and measurable ROI.
As rising healthcare costs continue to eat into total rewards budgets, offering benefits that align with your employees’ perceptions of value has become even more important.
Keep reading for five key takeaways from WTW’s 2024 Global Benefits Attitude Survey to help ensure that every dollar you invest in benefits works for your organzation and your employees.
1. Benefits have become more important for employers and employees
Benefits are an increasingly important reason why employees take a job and decide to stay with their employer. In 2017, 35% of respondents said their benefits were an important reason why they took their job. In 2024, more than half agreed with that statement.
2. Employers are investing in the wrong types of wellbeing benefits
More than 60% of employees have a moderate or major issue in at least one of the core areas of wellbeing (physical, emotional, financial, and social), making continued investments in these areas a wise choice.
When asked which type of wellbeing benefit they’d most like their employer to support over the next three years, 59% of employees ranked financial wellbeing as their most desired wellbeing benefit. Yet, employers ranked it among their lowest priorities.
3. Employers underestimate how much financial help employees need
The panel of global employee respondents ranked long-term and short-term finances as their third and fourth biggest priorities. In stark contrast, employers ranked these areas among their lowest priorities and areas of focus when selecting benefits.
In addition, 33% of North American respondents said they are financially worse off compared to last year, and 37% said their financial concerns negatively impacted their wellbeing.
As WTW pointed out in the report, these are concerns employers should be aware of and work to address: “We find that employees with worse financial wellbeing show higher levels of mental distress, poor lifestyle choices, and worse health outcomes. At work, they are also less engaged and more likely to leave their job.”
4. Employees’ emotional wellbeing is improving, but still needs work
One in three employees globally reported suffering from anxiety and depression, but only a third of them are getting help. Despite mental health benefits an employer may offer, employees may not seek treatment for a variety of reasons, which may include cost of treatment, shame, and lack of awareness that the benefit exists, or how to access it.
Part of our approach at Brightside involves helping employees understand and navigate to other benefits such as an EAP or similar mental health benefit, when it’s relevant to their situation. This not only makes it more likely that employees get the help they need to address root causes of their financial challenges, it results in improved benefits utilization and more positive outcomes for employers and employees.
5. DEI efforts should remain an area of focus
Despite recent reports of major companies abandoning their DEI focus, employees feel there’s still work to be done. Though 46% of respondents in North America said their employers’ DEI progress was either better or much better, 44% said it still needs work.
Poor financial health disproportionately impacts people of color and marginalized groups, and remains a DEI issue.
By prioritizing employees’ financial health and offering benefits that effectively address their core financial issues, including living paycheck to paycheck, debt, and lack of savings, employers can foster a more engaged, productive, and loyal workforce—while also controlling costs, making the most of their benefits budgets, and improving organizational outcomes.
To learn how Brightside Financial Care improves the financial health of working families and delivers measurable ROI, click here.
