Dive Brief:

• Employers who fail to fully sponsor their employees' health benefits would face widespread employee dissatisfaction, lower employee productivity and the loss of nearly a third of their employees within one year, according to new research by Accenture 
• The Accenture research, which included a survey of more than 2,700 U.S. workers, found that 76% see health insurance as a vital factor to continue working at their current employer. 
• Roughly one-third (31%) said that if they did lose their insurance, they would leave their job within 12 months, with half of those (15%) saying they would quit immediately.

Dive Insight:

Not surprisingly, the impact of employers not sponsoring health insurance would have a significant negative impact on workforce productivity, including widespread employee dissatisfaction (cited by 64% of respondents), less motivation to work hard (32%) and increased absenteeism (21%). 

For a company with 1,000 employees who earn an average salary of $50,000, these turnover costs could climb to more than $3 million in the first year alone, according to Accenture.

"Employers must carefully consider whether the health-insurance cost savings outweigh the projected impact to turnover and productivity losses," said Rich Birhanzel, managing director for Accenture Health Administration Services, adding that maintaining a relationship with employees may be just as important to companies (if not more important) than the cost of providing those employees with health insurance.