Throughout the year, Milliman conducts regular Pulse Surveys focused on benefits topics that employers find meaningful and strategically informative. For this survey, we looked at the topic of nontraditional benefits, which has been top of mind for many employers with the flood of new, highly personalized benefit solutions that are emerging in the market. How are employers and plan sponsors considering nontraditional benefits in their overall strategies?
Survey summary
The interest in the topic of nontraditional benefits is clear, given that the number of survey respondents was the highest of any “What’s trending in benefits?” Pulse Survey Milliman has conducted since 2017. Results from this Pulse Survey represent a broad range of industries and an estimated 1.6 million+ members. Overall, 50% of respondents indicated that nontraditional benefits play an important or very important role in benefit strategy, with 52% of respondents indicating they are likely or very likely to introduce new or additional nontraditional benefits in the next year.
Figure 1: Motivations for change
What is motivating this focus? Surprisingly, it seems that these initiatives are being considered just as much from employee demand (28%) as from the direction of organizational leadership (24%). The emphasis on nontraditional benefits is certainly in reaction to our new normal of remote and hybrid work (61%), as well as the difficult labor market to aid in recruiting and retaining talent (57%).
Benefits and perks
Overall, consideration of nontraditional benefits continues to focus on the reality of a hybrid work schedule as our new normal. Employers continue to look for ways to support employees at home with renewed interest in family forming (+2% from 2022 to 2023) and onsite childcare services (+4%). Pet insurance, which was very popular at the height of the pandemic, continues to be a popular benefit with 37% of respondents saying they would offer this benefit in 2023.
Employers continue to explore ways to access care more. Telehealth services remain a very popular benefit as we emerge from the pandemic with 69% of respondents indicating they will be offering the benefit in 2023. Travel benefits are also seeing a modest increase in popularity (+3%) despite a large amount of focus after the recent Supreme Court decision on the issue of abortion rights at the state versus federal level.
Employers are also searching for ways to provide the appropriate financial assistance to employees in response to the hardships caused by the pandemic, as evidenced by planned increases in financial loan programs (+3%) and student loan repayments (+5%). However, tuition reimbursement programs (-4%) and financial well-being services (-4%) are seeing slight reductions while maintaining their overall popularity as a benefit.
Now that many employees are returning to the office on a more regular basis, benefits that could woo employees back to the office, such as onsite fitness, snacks, transportation benefits, etc., all saw modest decreases across all categories in what is planned for 2023.
Employers are exploring unlimited paid time off (PTO) for employees more with a slight increase in employers under consideration (+2%).
Figure 2: Trends in nontraditional benefits
Looking back five years
Of interest, Milliman conducted a similar Pulse Survey on nontraditional benefits five years ago. We have included the percentage differential of survey respondents offering these benefits in Figure 3.
Figure 3: Percentage differentials over five years
No doubt, the pandemic had a profound effect on the popularity of these benefits in just a short time.
In focus
We have focused on four of the specific benefits and perks we surveyed, showing the differences in the percentage of survey respondents who plan to offer a benefit in 2023 versus what is currently offered. Overall, most benefits we surveyed saw only modest increases for 2023.
Figure 4: Trends in travel benefits
Following the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization in June 2022, overturning earlier decisions in the cases of Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, a number of employers announced they would be expanding travel benefits for eligible medically necessary care. Prior to this, travel benefits were more likely, if offered, to be through the context of travel to select “Centers of Excellence” for certain procedures.
The results from our Pulse Survey reflected this trend, with fewer employers indicating that they weren’t going to offer any travel benefits in 2023. There is an increase in the number of employers offering travel benefits for eligible medically necessary care that includes abortions (+11%).
Figure 5: Trends in paid leave
Overall, paid leave benefits look to largely stay the same, with modest increases and decreases seen for certain benefits in 2023. Both paid leave for a set number of days regardless of reason, as well as paid parental leave, saw no percentage change from what is currently being offered and next year.
Figure 6: Trends in family forming benefits
Rather than solely focusing on traditional maternity benefits, employers are now looking at the full spectrum of family forming benefits from birth through parenting. This additional support allows employers to provide the resources needed for employees to choose how they form and grow their families, including adoption (+4%) and surrogacy (+5%).
Figure 7: Trends in caregiving benefits
Caregiver benefits allow employees to access the right resources when they need them the most. This is evidenced by the decrease in the number of employees who are not offering any caregiver benefits. (-5%)
Many employers are providing backup care, care referrals to vetted providers, and even care-coaching. Caregiver benefits aren’t limited to childcare and eldercare, with so many households adding pandemic pets over the past few years. Employees may need resources for pet care or dog walking, and employers are looking to expand that support.
Telehealth
Perhaps no other benefit has seen as much attention during the COVID-19 pandemic as telehealth. As such, we surveyed for additional detail on how this benefit is currently structured, funded, and measured. There were definitive responses for each category.
Figure 8: Trends in telehealth benefits
Nearly half of survey respondents offer telehealth services through a third-party vendor, with the other half offering telehealth through carriers and third-party administrators (TPAs). This response is reflected in the payment structure for these services, with nearly half of the respondents stating the fees were baked into carrier monthly fees. Additionally, an overwhelming majority of survey respondents indicated that they do not have specific return on investment (ROI) or performance guarantees for telehealth services.
Caveats
This survey summary has been prepared for information only. Milliman does not intend to benefit or create a legal duty to any recipient of this summary.