Dive Brief:
- In its latest annual survey of what's in and what's out in the world of employee perks, the Society of Human Resource Management found that wellness benefits are increasing in prevalence.
- For years, companies have been doing things like offering smoking cessation programs and rewarding employees with discounts for taking health assessments, according to the Washington Post. So bumping wellness is not new.
- The SHRM survey examined the prevalence of more than 300 benefits, including perks like dental insurance (offered by 96%), 401(k) plans (90%), on-site massage therapy (11%) and prepared take-home meals (1%).
Dive Insight:
Of the 463 randomly selected HR professionals who answered the survey, 35% said they have raised the number of benefits they're offering this year. That's up from 28% in 2014 - a sign that companies may be piling on perks and one-time rewards rather than raising wages across the board.
Whether spurred by local legislation or in an attempt to pre-empt regulatory changes, 42% of the H.R. pros said their companies now offer a paid sick leave plan, up from 33% in 2014. But some benefits lost favor. Both reimbursing people for personal calls while on business travel (37% from 51% in 2011) and allowing employees to bring their children to work in an emergency (22% from 33% in 2011) fell in popularity.
Evren Esen, director of survey programs for SHRM, told the Post that this year's data show that a greater range of benefits are quickly "becoming more integrated into the organizational fabric of companies."
