Evaluating Employee Wellness Benefits to Improve Retention

According to new data released last week by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in April 2022, more than 4.4 million Americans voluntarily quit their jobs. These numbers are consistent with resignation numbers over the past several months since the beginning of the “Great Resignation” in late 2021.

Since the beginning of the Great Resignation, employers have been looking for ways to improve retention and avoid becoming one of the companies that experiences massive workforce exits. As the large number of resignations continues in the U.S., there is more and more research coming out on what is driving employees to leave their current workplace in favor of a new employer. While money does continue to be a factor in resignation decisions, new data suggests employees feeling aligned and connected with a healthy corporate culture has emerged as a mega trend in determining employee retention.

Given this, for companies looking to improve employee retention, they must begin looking beyond just employee compensation. This means evaluating all benefits your company provides to employees to ensure the benefits offered align with what employees are wanting. These benefits could include equal parental paid leave, family wellness, mental health services, and diversity, equality, and inclusiveness initiatives.

Steps to evaluate if your benefits are aligned with the desires of your workforce include:

1. Survey Employees

• When conducting annual employee surveys, expand the types of questions asked to include specifics on the types of benefits employees want to see provided by the company and the ones they value most. It is important to be transparent with how the survey results will be used. Employees who share an opinion and then feel it is ignored by company leadership quickly become upset with the employer.

2. Annual Evaluation of Used Benefits

• By reviewing the annual utilization of your current benefits, a company can see how employees are using the benefits provided. If a company makes regular changes to benefit offerings, it’s important to monitor use.

Based on the survey and benefit-use data collected, companies can develop plans to best align benefit offerings to employees improving employee satisfaction and increasing retention.