One crucial factor driving the Great Resignation that HR leaders are missing

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About 90% of employees surveyed say this factor matters when considering whether to stay at their current employer or find a new opportunity.

With the Great Resignation taking the working world by storm, much research has been done to understand, and in turn combat, such a phenomenon. Amid the many causes cited – low pay, limited opportunities for job mobility, insufficient flexibility around work-life balance, mental health stressors, and more – a new survey by Nayya suggests that one significant factor has been largely overlooked —  workplace benefits.

Nayya’s Unpacking the Great Resignation research, conducted amongst 600 employees and over 100 HR leaders across ten different US industries*, brings to light a conspicuous disparity between what HR teams and employees themselves believe about benefits.

*Note: While the survey was based in the US, HRO believes that the findings are still relevant to Asia. 

Per the survey, 90% of employees say benefits matter when considering whether to stay at their current employer or find a new opportunity. In fact, benefits such as healthcare plans and other wellness or insurance packages were indicated as the second-most influential consideration, behind salary, when evaluating whether to remain at their current job or leave for a new opportunity. This was closely followed by culture, and a remote/hybrid workplace. 

So, why have benefits been largely overlooked in the conversation around the great resignation?

As cited in the research, 82% of HR professionals surveyed said they are "moderately-to-very" confident that their employees understand their benefits options, with 72% confident in their ability to support employees’ benefit decisions. In spite of that, the majority of employees (63%) said they are unconfident when it comes to selecting their benefits, with 68% feeling that the benefits they received have fallen short of their expectations.

Interestingly, this lack of confidence only grows as the company size increases – specifically when the employee count reaches 15,000 or more – illustrating that a lack of resources is not to blame for benefits dissatisfaction, the research highlighted.

Perhaps most concerning is that probably due to this disparity, far too few HR leaders are taking steps to improve their organisation's benefits offerings. In particular, only 37% of businesses surveyed plan to offer new benefits in 2022. Further, just 32% plan to publicly share their benefit offerings in 2022; and only zero to 20% of HR’s time during open enrollment**, when benefits are chosen, is dedicated to benefits-related education for employees.

In light of this, HR teams and business leaders have been urged to use these findings as a tool, noting that benefits packages not only improve employees’ physical, mental and financial wellbeing, but also allow leaders to hire and retain their most important resource – their people.

Making education and personalisation on benefits confidence a prominent part of an organisation's 2023 planning "might just help lead the way out of today’s challenging employment landscape," it was noted in the research.

**In the US, In the US, open enrollment season is a period of time when employees may elect or change the benefit options available through their employer, such as health, dental, and life insurance, and ancillary or voluntary benefits. Some benefits are fully paid by the employer, some are employee-paid through salary deferral or a section 125 cafeteria plan, and for some, the cost is shared. Read more here. 

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Lead image / Unpacking the Great Resignation: The Impact of Benefits and HR Strategies