US benefit packages continue to expand

EMPLOYEE BENEFITS

US benefit packages continue to expand

Corporate America is offering a much wider range of benefits and is slowly developing packages geared towards the needs of a rapidly ageing population, according to the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), which has gathered some telling data on the make-up of benefits packages in the US.

Family-friendly benefits more widespread

The 551-company survey, which is conducted on an annual basis by the SHRM, the world's largest human resource management association, suggests that as more woman enter the workforce, employers are increasingly recognising the need to offer family-friendly benefits:

• Dependent care flexible spending accounts and flexitime were reported as the most widely offered family-friendly benefits, cited by seven in ten survey respondents.
• Alternative work options that help employees balance their work and personal lives are offered by a quarter of survey respondents.
• Respondents offer several forms of benefit designed to address childcare issues: most notably, allowing employees to bring a child into work in an emergency (30%) adoption assistance (21%) and childcare referral service (20%).

An ageing population

Though still not as mainstream as childcare, some organisations now provide elder care benefits:

• 21% of organisations offer an elder care reference service
• 3% "subsidise cost of paid elder care"
• 2% offer emergency elder care.

Says the SHRM: "With a rapidly ageing population and the anticipated loss of many employees to retirement, small and medium sized organisations may wish to look at offering more benefits or creative benefits. The cost of such benefits when compared to the cost of retention and recruitment may outweigh the costs spent on the benefits themselves."

Entitlement mentality

So, what are the potential problems of these burgeoning benefits packages, according to the SHRM? An entitlement mentality may become a pervasive feature of the organisation - employees expect, and rely on these newer benefits, which may cause problems if their organisations need to trim costs, and hence, cut benefits.

For the SHRM, the best way to avoid these problems is to ensure that HR professionals are "attuned to employee morale and satisfaction issues with regard to benefits, as well as other facets of satisfaction, to avoid a decline in satisfaction or commitment if cost-cutting benefits should need to take place".

What you will find in the SHRM survey

The report offers some fascinating detail on the startling array of benefits on offer in US businesses. It examines the incidence of no fewer than 187 benefits, divided into eight sections:

• family-friendly
• housing
• health care
• personal services
• financial
• business travel
• leave
• other benefits.

Want to know more?

Title: 2002 Benefits Survey, Society for Human Resource Management.

Methodology: An email with the survey's web address was sent to 2,423 "randomly-selected" SHRM members, with a 23% response rate.

Survey sample: The 45-page survey is based on information supplied by 551 human resource professionals. The average workforce size was 1,224 employees.

Business sectors: Participants are drawn from a broad range of sectors across the US, with a particularly large response from manufacturing (16%), followed by services (13%) and high-tech (9%).

Availability: Call the Society for Human Resource Management in Virginia, USA, tel: 001 703 548 3440.

Visit SHRM online at www.shrm.org

Posted 1 May 2002