The Most and Least Valued Employee Benefits

By Karyn Glogowski on August 29, 2024 in Dental benefit information

The most and least valued employee benefits

If you’re looking to hire top talent in a competitive job market, your employee benefits package could be key. About 60% of workers say benefits and job perks are a major factor in their decision to accept a job offer. And 80% would choose additional benefits over higher pay.¹

While it’s clear that your benefits package plays a large role in recruiting and retaining workers, do you know which benefits are truly valued by employees?

Traditional benefits are the most appreciated.^2,1 

When given a choice between a high-paying job with fewer perks and a lower-paying job with more perks, these are the benefits that workers say would most frequently be taken into consideration:

• Better health, dental, and vision insurance (88%)
• Flexible hours (88%)
• More vacation time (80%)
• Work-from-home options (80%)
• Unlimited vacation (68%)

No other benefit was chosen by even 50% of job seekers, including student loan assistance, paid maternity/paternity leave, and free daycare.

Less traditional benefits lack popularity.

Since the tech boom, it’s been a growing trend to offer perks like table tennis, free food, laundry services, and more.² However, surveys find trendy benefits to be among the least valued — including team bonding events, on-site gym, weekly free employee outings, company-wide retreats, and freebies like coffee, snacks, and fitness classes.³

Additional surveys found:

• Only 5% of employees value office games like table tennis.
• More than half say games are distracting and decrease productivity.
• Less than 9% of employees think company outings are valuable.⁴
• Employees ranked pet insurance, pet-friendly offices, and health coaching as the least desired items out of 15 possible perks.⁵

Almost half of employees say they have never been asked by their employer about what makes a positive work experience.⁶ As you evaluate your benefits, ask your employees whether the benefits you offer are the ones they value most.

Sources:

^{1 https://hbr.org/2017/02/the-most-desirable-employee-benefits}

^{2 https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbusinessdevelopmentcouncil/2018/04/17/three-most-in-demand-employee-benefits-of-2018/#1de9d4fa5510}

^{3 https://hbr.org/2017/02/the-most-desirable-employee-benefits}

^{4 https://www.sagepeople.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Why_your_workforce_is_not_working_Sage_People-Research_report.pdf}

^{5 https://www.benefitnews.com/list/the-15-most-popular-employee-benefits}

^{6 https://www.sagepeople.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Why_your_workforce_is_not_working_Sage_People-Research_report.pdf}