The right fit: Survey finds employers optimizing benefit packages for 2023
Growing role for virtual care
One key concern is ensuring all employees have convenient access to affordable healthcare, especially as more employees choose remote or hybrid working. Here, virtual care is playing an increasingly central role, given its potential to replace some in-person care with lower-cost virtual services and engage employees through channels they are more comfortable with. Traditional telemedicine to address certain acute care needs -- a critical source of care during the pandemic -- is now offered almost universally. However, the majority of survey respondents say they will offer virtual care solutions beyond telemedicine in 2023. Notably, over half of large employers (52%) will offer virtual behavioral health care in 2023, up sharply from 28% in our 2021 survey, and 40% will offer a virtual primary care physician (PCP) network or service, more than double the 16% of large employers that offered it in 2021. This type of service typically provide patients with virtual-only access to a team of primary care providers, steering them to in-person care outside the network when needed.
Improving healthcare affordability
Health care affordability is a top concern for many workers, in particular low-wage earners or those coping with a chronic medical condition. A recent poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that half of U.S. adults – including many with employer-sponsored health coverage – don't have the cash to cover an unexpected $500 health care bill. Not surprisingly, medical debt is the most common form of debt on consumer credit records, according to the study’s authors.
While high-deductible health plans have grown rapidly over the past decade, employers have recognized that these plans aren’t a good fit for some employees. Over two-fifths of large employers (41%) currently provide a medical plan option with a low deductible or even no deductible (such as a copay-based plan), and an additional 11% are considering it. In addition, 11% offer free employee-only coverage (i.e., no paycheck deductions) for at least one medical plan option, and another 11% are considering it. While free coverage historically has been relatively common among small employers (29% currently offer it), it is a newer strategy for large employers.
When asked whether benefits enhancements would be targeted to specific employee groups, about a fifth of large employers say they are focusing on their hourly and low-wage workforce. In today’s competitive labor market, employees are willing to leave jobs for others offering only slightly higher pay. Employers are looking to create a stronger bond with this workforce by offering health and well-being benefits and resources that their employees will value.
Addressing benefit gaps and health disparities for Black employees
While there has never before been so much focus on health disparities for Black workers and other underserved populations, employers are just getting started with efforts to address the problem and make a difference. When it comes to closing gaps for racial and ethnic groups, the two most common initiatives currently in place are advanced search functions to help plan members find acceptable health care providers and multilingual communications (each offered by a third of respondents). Specialized behavioral healthcare is provided by 27%, with another 29% planning or considering adding this type of support. Survey respondents also expressed strong interest in enhancing coverage for maternal care to improve birth outcomes for Black mothers and babies; while 11% currently provide this type of coverage, another 20% is planning or considering it.
Family-friendly benefits and support for women’s reproductive health
The survey also showed rapid growth in offerings on a wide range of family-friendly benefits, with 70% of employers currently offering or planning to offer paid parental leave in 2023, and 53% providing or planning to provide paid adoption leave. In addition, nearly one in ten large employers (5,000+ employees) say they provide on-site child care now or will by 2023, and 22% will provide access to back-up childcare services.
Employers are also starting to focus on the special needs of women in regards to reproductive health — from pre-conception family planning to support during menopause. Across US employers of all sizes, 37% provide at least one specialized benefit or resource to support reproductive health, which could include benefits to support high-risk pregnancies, lactation, pre-conception family planning, pregnancy loss, or menopause.
Start by determining employee needs and preferences
Health benefits matter a lot to employees. Mercer’s Health on Demand survey of 13,000 workers worldwide demonstrated that employees who believe their employer cares about their well-being are less likely to leave their jobs. If your benefit programs work better for some employees than other – if there are gaps that leave some employees feeling unsupported – finding and filling those gaps might be the best place to focus for a benefit strategy that strengthens the employer-employee bonds. How to begin? Well over half of the large employers responding to the survey – 61% – say they conducted an employee survey to help them determine employee needs and preferences as they thought about enhancements for 2023. Employers also sought input from Employee Resource Groups (35%) and focus groups (26%). As the saying goes, if you don’t know, ask.