2015 Strategic Benefits—Leveraging Benefits to Recruit Employees

October 15, 2015

SHRM Survey Findings: 2015 Strategic Benefits—Leveraging Benefits to Recruit Employees

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IntroductionThe 2015 Strategic Benefits Survey is part of a survey series administered annually since 2012 by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). This research is used to determine whether various employee benefits are leveraged to recruit and retain top talent. The six-part series features the following topics:

Part 1: Wellness Initiatives Part 2: Flexible Work Arrangements Part 3: Health Care Part 4: Leveraging Benefits to Retain Employees Part 5: Leveraging Benefits to Recruit Employees Part 6: Assessment and Communication of Benefits

DefinitionsFor the purpose of this survey, a highly skilled employee was defined as any employee with skills that are critical to the short- and long-term success of his or her operating unit or organization.

2015 Strategic Benefits Survey—Leveraging Benefits to Recruit Employees ©SHRM 2015

Introduction and Definitions

Employees at All Levels of the Organization• Difficulty recruiting employees at all levels: About two-fifths (38%) of respondents

indicated their organizations had difficulty recruiting employees at all levels of the organization in the past 12 months, a statistically significant increase from 2013 (26%) and 2012 (23%).

• Leveraging benefits to recruit employees at all levels of the organization: About two-fifths (38%) of respondents indicated their organizations leveraged their benefits program to recruit employees at all levels of the organization in the past 12 months, a statistically significant increase from 2013 (26%) and 2012 (29%).

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Key Findings


Employees at All Levels of the Organization (continued)• Change in importance of benefits to recruit employees at all levels of the

organization in the next three to five years: About two-thirds of respondents thought health care benefits (66%) would increase in importance in their organizations’ efforts to recruit employees at all levels of the organization in the next three to five years. More than one-half indicated the same for retirement savings and planning (59%), financial and compensation (53%), flexible working (52%), and professional and career development (50%) benefits. About two-fifths (42%) of respondents indicated preventive health and wellness benefits would increase in importance to recruit employees at all levels of the organization, a statistically significant decrease from 2014 (63%); just one-fifth (22%) of respondents indicated the same for family-friendly benefits, a statistically significant decrease from 2014 (47%) and 2013 (50%).

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Key Findings (continued)


Highly Skilled Employees• Difficulty recruiting highly skilled employees: More than one-half (55%) of

respondents indicated their organizations had difficulty recruiting highly skilled employees in the past 12 months.

• Leveraging benefits to recruit highly skilled employees: Two-fifths (40%) of respondents indicated their organizations leveraged their benefits program to recruit highly skilled employees in the past 12 months, a statistically significant increase from 2013 (30%).

• Change in importance of benefits to recruit highly skilled employees in the next three to five years: About two-thirds of respondents believed health care benefits (69%) would increase in importance when recruiting highly skilled employees in the next three to five years; more than one-half reported the same for financial and compensation (59%), flexible working (56%), retirement savings and planning (55%), and professional and career development (54%) benefits. About one-third (32%) of respondents indicated housing and relocation benefits would become more important to recruit highly skilled employees in the future, up from 12% in 2013; one-quarter indicated the same for family-friendly benefits (24%), down from 47% in 2014 and 55% in 2013.

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Key Findings (continued)


• The use of benefits as a recruiting tool by HR professionals has increased and is not coincidental, given the rise in recruiting difficulty in recent years. In addition to these survey findings that show an increase in recruiting difficulty, SHRM’s Leading Indicators of National Employment (LINE) survey, which tracks recruiting difficulty in the manufacturing and service sectors, has shown similar results. September 2015 marked the 18th straight month that the recruiting difficulty metric rose in both sectors on an annual basis, according to LINE historical data.1

• As the competition for talent remains heightened, at a time when there has been little growth in base salaries, HR professionals should use benefits as a means of attracting skilled professionals. This total rewards approach to staffing management should include such benefits as health care, retirement savings and planning, financial and compensation, flexible work, and professional career development benefits, which the majority of HR professionals agreed will all increase in importance during the next three to five years as part of recruitment strategies.

• Health care remains the most highly valued benefit for job seekers. HR professionals should devote increased attention to this benefit and its role in the recruitment process, particularly as they face increased requirements associated with the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). More than four out of five HR professionals already leverage health care benefits for recruitment purposes.

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What Do These Findings Mean for the HR Profession?


1 September 2015 Leading Indicators of National Employment Survey Report by SHRM.

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Key Findings

Leveraging Benefits to Recruit Employees


38%

33%

26%

23%2012 (n = 394, 377)2013 (n = 351, 341)2014 (n = 306, 305)2015 (n = 344, 325)

38%

29%

26%

29%

Comparison of Difficulty Recruiting and Leveraging Benefits to Recruit Employees at All Levels of the Organization in the Past 12 Months

1, 2 1, 2

Organizations That Leveraged Their Benefits Program to Recruit

Employees at All Levels of the Organization in the Past 12 Months

Organizations That Reported Difficulty Recruiting Employees at All Levels of

the Organization in the Past 12 Months

Note: Response options provided were “yes/no/not sure.” Respondents who indicated they were “not sure” were excluded from this analysis. Only “yes” responses are shown. 1Statistically significant difference from 2013. 2Statistically significant difference from 2012.

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What do these findings mean for the HR profession?

Benefits Positively Leveraged to Recruit Employees at All Levels of the Organization


Health care benefits

Retirement savings and planning benefits

Leave benefits

Financial and compensation benefits*

Professional and career development benefits

84%

69%

51%

40%

85%

72%

42%

48%

45%

81%

70%

50%

45%

80%

63%

38%

31%

2012 (n = 108)2013 (n = 88)2014 (n = 86)

Flexible working benefits

Preventive health and wellness benefits

Family-friendly benefits

Housing and relocation benefits

35%

31%

25%

14%

36%

43%

34%

21%

43%

33%

33%

24%

30%

29%

27%

19%Note: Respondents whose organizations leveraged their benefits to recruit employees at all levels of the organization were asked this question. Respondents who answered “not sure” were excluded from this analysis.*New item on the Strategic Benefits Survey

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Change in Importance of Benefits in the Next Three to Five Years to Recruit Employees at All Levels of the Organization


Preventive health and wellness

benefits

201320142015

201320142015

2015

201320142015

201320142015

52%67%

50%

56%62%

52%

53%

64%63%

59%

63%66%66%

47%32%

50%

40%37%

47%

46%

35%35%41%

37%32%34%

1%1%1%

4%1%1%

1%

1%1%0%

0%1%0%

Housing and relocation

benefits

Leave benefits


Professional and career development

benefits



Retirement savings and planning

benefits

201320142015

201320142015

201320142015

201320142015

11%16%21%

50%47%

22%

30%30%31%

59%63%

42%

71%69%67%

49%52%

75%

67%70%67%

39%37%

57%

18%16%12%

1%1%3%

4%0%2%

2%0%1%

Increase in importanceRemain the sameDecrease in importance

Financial and compensation

benefits*

Note: 2015 n = 86-106; 2014 n = 58-79; 2013 n = 65-88. Respondents whose organizations leveraged their benefits to recruit employees at all levels of the organization were asked this question. Respondents who answered “not sure” were excluded from this analysis. Percentages may not total 100% due to rounding. 1Statistically significant difference from 2014. 2Statistically significant difference from 2013.

*New item on the 2015 Strategic Benefits Survey

1,2 1,2

11

40%

32%

30%

31%

55%

56%

50%

49%2012 (n = 400, 379)2013 (n = 353, 343)

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Comparison of Difficulty Recruiting and Leveraging Benefits to Recruit Highly Skilled Employees in the Past 12 Months


1

Note: Response options provided were “yes/no/not sure.” Respondents who indicated they were “not sure” were excluded from this analysis. Only “yes” responses are shown. 1Statistically significant difference from 2013.

Organizations That Leveraged Their Benefits Program to Recruit Highly Skilled Employees in the Past 12

Months

Organizations That Reported Difficulty Recruiting Highly Skilled Employees in

the Past 12 Months

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What do these findings mean for the HR profession?Benefits Positively Leveraged to Recruit Highly Skilled Employees



Retirement savings and planning benefits

Financial and compensation benefits*

Leave benefits


82%

66%

45%

41%

77%

57%

55%

49%

36%

70%

61%

46%

55%

75%

58%

34%

33%

2012 (n = 116)2013 (n = 104)

Professional and career development benefits

Preventive health and wellness benefits

Housing and relocation benefits


39%

28%

23%

23%

51%

32%

26%

25%

41%

25%

33%

35%

41%

24%

23%

28%Note: Respondents whose organizations leveraged their benefits to recruit employees at all levels of the organization were asked this question. Respondents who answered “not sure” were excluded from this analysis.*New item on the Strategic Benefits Survey

13


Change in Importance of Benefits in the Next Three to Five Years to Recruit Highly Skilled Employees


Preventive health and wellness

benefits

Housing and relocation

benefits

Leave benefits


Retirement savings and planning

benefits


201320142015

201320142015

201320142015

201320142015

55%47%

24%

38%38%

30%

12%20%32%

47%52%

43%

45%52%

73%

61%60%

70%

75%66%

61%

51%48%

56%

0%1%3%

1%2%0%

13%14%

8%

2%0%1%

Increase in importanceRemain the sameDecrease in importance

Financial and compensation

benefits*

201320142015

201320142015

201320142015

2015

201320142015

56%65%

54%

70%61%

55%

65%63%

56%

59%

66%57%

69%

43%34%

45%

30%37%

44%

33%37%

43%

41%

33%41%

31%

1%1%1%

0%2%1%

2%0%1%

0%

1%2%0%

Professional and career development

benefits


Note: 2015 n = 66-116; 2014 n = 65-88; 2013 n = 77-100. Respondents whose organizations leveraged their benefits to recruit employees at all levels of the organization were asked this question. Respondents who answered “not sure” were excluded from this analysis. Percentages may not total 100% due to rounding. 1Statistically significant difference from 2014. 2Statistically significant difference from 2013.

*New item on the Strategic Benefits Survey

1,2 1,2

2

2015 Strategic Benefits Survey—Leveraging Benefits to Retain Employees ©SHRM 2015 14

Key Findings

Demographics

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Note: n = 361. Percentages do not total 100% due to multiple response options.

Percentage

Manufacturing 23%Health care and social assistance 16%Professional, scientific and technical services 12%Finance and insurance 10%Government agencies 8%Educational services 7%Transportation and warehousing 6%Retail trade 6%Construction 5%Utilities 4%Mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction 4%

Demographics: Organization Industry


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Key FinDemographics: Organization Industry (continued)

Note: n = 361. Percentages do not total 100% due to multiple response options.

Percentage

Wholesale trade 4%Administrative and support, and waste management and remediation services 4%Real estate and rental and leasing 3%Accommodation and food services 3%Religious, grant-making, civic, professional and similar organizations 3%Arts, entertainment and recreation 2%Repair and maintenance 2%Information 2%Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting 1%Personal and laundry services 0%Other industry 11%


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Key FinDemographics: Organization Sector

Privately owned for-profit

Nonprofit

Publicly owned for-profit

Government

Other

57%

18%

13%

9%

3%

n = 355


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Key FinDemographics: Organization Staff Size

n = 343


1 to 99 employees

100 to 499 employees

500 to 2,499 employees

2,500 to 24,999 employees

25,000 or more employees

30%

35%

21%

10%

4%

19

Key FinDemographics: Other


n = 359

U.S.-based operations only 77%

Multinational operations 23%

Does your organization have U.S.-based operations (business units) only, or does it operate multinationally?

n = 360

n = 226

n = 226

Single-unit organization: An organization in which the location and the organization are one and the same.

38%

Multi-unit organization: An organization that has more than one location. 62%

Is your organization a single-unit organization or a multi-unit organization?

For multi-unit organizations, are HR policies and practices determined by the multi-unit headquarters, by each work location or by both?

Multi-unit headquarters determines HR policies and practices. 56%

Each work location determines HR policies and practices. 3%

A combination of both the work location and the multi-unit headquarters determines HR policies and practices.

41%

Corporate (companywide) 75%

Business unit/division 11%

Facility/location 14%

What is the HR department/function for which you responded throughout this survey?

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SHRM Survey Findings:

Survey Methodology

SHRM Survey Findings: Strategic Benefits—Leveraging Benefits to Recruit Employees


Survey Methodology:• Response rate = 12%• 461 HR professionals from a randomly selected sample of SHRM’s membership

participated in this survey• Margin of error +/- 5%• Survey fielded May-June 2015

Project Lead:Karen Wessels, researcher, workforce planning, SHRM Research

Project Contributors:Evren Esen, director, SHRM-SCP, Survey Programs, SHRM ResearchBruce Elliott, manager, SHRM-SCP, Compensation and BenefitsJoseph Coombs, senior analyst, workforce trends, SHRM Research


Additional SHRM Resources

Health Care Reform Resource Page: shrm.org/healthcare

For more survey/poll findings, visit shrm.org/surveys

For more information about SHRM’s Research Services:» Customized Research Service, visit shrm.org/customizedresearch» Engagement Survey Service, visit shrm.org/peopleinsight» Customized Benchmarking Service, visit shrm.org/benchmarks

Follow us on Twitter @SHRM_Research

http://www.shrm.org/surveys

http://www.shrm.org/customizedresearch

http://www.shrm.org/customizedresearch

http://twitter.com/SHRM_Research

http://twitter.com/SHRM_Research


About SHRM

Founded in 1948, the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) is the world’s largest HR membership organization devoted to human resource management. Representing more than 275,000 members in over 160 countries, the Society is the leading provider of resources to serve the needs of HR professionals and advance the professional practice of human resource management. SHRM has more than 575 affiliated chapters within the United States and subsidiary offices in China, India and United Arab Emirates. Visit us at shrm.org.

http://www.shrm.org/

Date post:	15-Apr-2017
Category:	Recruiting & HR
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2015 Strategic Benefits—Leveraging Benefits to Recruit Employees

Recruiting & HR