Employees may have hit their breaking point when it comes to the amount of benefits cuts they’re willing to accept without looking for other employment.
In 2008, 62% of small business employees said they felt a strong sense of loyalty to their employer.
Since then, they’ve endured a major recession, wage freezes and benefits cuts. As a result, in the fourth quarter of 2010, fewer than 50% said they felt a strong sense of loyalty to their employer.
And 34% said, flat out, they’d rather be working for another organization.
The reason so many employees are considering jumping ship: Nearly half of those surveyed blamed company benefits.
That data comes from MetLife’s 9th Annual Study of Employee Benefit Trends. The study consisted of two sets of research:
- An employer survey comprised of 1,508 interviews with benefits decision-makers at companies with staff sizes of at least two employees, and
- An employee survey comprised 1,412 interviews with full-time employees age 21 and over, at companies with a minimum of two employees.
Cost-shifting the culprit
It should come as no surprise that one of biggest reasons employees are unhappy with their benefits is that employers continue to shift more the health insurance cost burden on to employees.
In fact, more than a third of employers (36%) said cost shifting is one of their most important strategies — and close to two out of three companies (61%) recognize that shifting costs to employees is now an accepted practice, and is necessary if they are to continue to provide the benefits.
Voluntary benefits
A close look at the data did reveal one way employers may be able to strengthen employee loyalty: Provide voluntary benefits.
The study found about half of employees surveyed wanted their employers to make less prevalent benefits — like dental and disability coverage — available to them, even if it meant employees had to pay for them.
For more info and a complete breakdown for the 68 page study Click Here!
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