Top voluntary benefits for today’s employees: report

Attract top talent by adding these employee perks to your benefits packages 

Our new report, featuring insights from over 300 employees across eight industries, outlines the top voluntary benefits driving employee acquisition, engagement, and retention. 

What are voluntary benefits?

Voluntary or fringe benefits are perks that employers can offer to go above and beyond commonly offered benefits like healthcare, vision, dental, and a 401(k). These benefits are an enticing tool to attract and motivate high-value talent, especially if they are weighing multiple offers or thinking about new jobs. 

Remote work, gym memberships, child-care assistance, commuter benefits, pet insurance–which voluntary benefit could be the deciding factor for high-value employees weighing their employment options?

Our findings: the top benefits to attract and retain talent 

Methodology 

In August 2024, we surveyed 327 employees across 8 industries ranging from healthcare to quick service restaurants. They are a mix of hourly and salaried employees and represent remote, hybrid, and in-person workers from every region in the United States. 

We asked workers about the benefits they currently have and the benefits they wish they had. 

Quick stats

Of the employees we surveyed: 

• 91 percent said that benefits are important or very important in their decision to accept a job. 
• Less than half (49 percent) said they were satisfied with their current benefits package. 35.5 percent were somewhat satisfied, and 15.5 percent were not satisfied. 
• 21.4 percent of employees said they would take a pay cut at a new job for better benefits. 47.4 percent said they would consider it. 

Curious to discover more? Get the detailed findings in the full report.

Health and wellness benefits: work-life balance, gym memberships, and more 

Among those we surveyed, the most popular voluntary benefits were related to employees’ health and wellness. 

When we asked why, employees said they wanted these benefits to help achieve better work-life balance. 

Just over a quarter (25.4 percent) of respondents to our survey ranked paid time off (PTO) as the most important voluntary benefit. 

Work-life balance is a win-win for you and your employees. It’s a direct path to increased productivity on your team as it decreases employee stress. 

Alice C., an Administrative Assistant in Connecticut, does not get PTO and ranked it as the most valuable benefit to her, saying: 

“People have less and less time to actually dedicate to the family and to their own being. Prioritizing that, to me, would be the most important thing." 

To learn more about the health and wellness-related benefits needed by today’s employees, including mental health days and gym memberships, read our full report. 

Remote or hybrid work and commuter benefits 

Flexible working arrangements (remote or hybrid) tied with paid time off as the top benefit that today’s employees value most. 

25.4% of our respondents chose hybrid or remote work options as their most important benefit.  

If locational flexibility isn’t possible, what benefits related to working arrangements remain an option?

We asked employees:

“Which benefits do you want, but don’t have currently?”

12.5 percent of respondents said they wished they had commuter benefits. 

Business Insider reported that US workers spend anywhere from $2,000 to $5,000 each year on commuting to work. 

To learn more about how hybrid/remote work flexibility and commuter benefits can help you attract and retain today’s top talent, check out our full report. 

Financial wellness: education subsidies, earned wage access, and more 

For our 2024 State of Employee Financial Wellness report, we surveyed 5000 employees across 8 industries and 500 HR professionals to determine how financial stress impacts performance. We found that:

• Over 52 percent of surveyed employees are stressed about their finances daily or multiple times a day. 

So it’s not surprising that, in our survey about voluntary benefits, financial wellness benefits ranked as the fourth most valuable benefit for today’s employees.

Our full report includes a comprehensive overview of financial wellness benefits you could offer to drive employee acquisition and retention today. Here is a preview of one specific benefit. 

Earned wage access (EWA)

Nearly a quarter of Americans have no emergency savings. 

If an emergency occurs between pay periods, many workers must resort to relying on overdrafts or predatory payday loans, which both have high interest fees and often short repayment schedules.  

Earned wage access (EWA) is rising in popularity–this benefit helps employees get advances on their wages with low or no fees. 

Nearly half (47 percent) of organizations say that implementing EWA has made their operations more efficient. 

An employer who offers earned wage access through ZayZoon says it’s also a helpful recruitment tool: 

“As a hiring coordinator, I don't like telling folks we have a biweekly pay cycle in an industry where weekly is the norm. I explain ZayZoon immediately after and it always helps. I appreciate having it available to our employees because there are many people coming from the gig economy–daily pay to biweekly is very hard and I would lose a lot of good people without it.”

Learn more about financial wellness benefits in our full report. 

Top takeaway for HR pros  

Survey data reveals that today’s employees want more than just the basics when it comes to benefits. Innovative voluntary benefits are a strategic necessity in order to attract, motivate, and retain top talent in today’s competitive market. 

By aligning benefit offerings with their employees’ needs, employers can create an engaged, loyal, and satisfied workforce. As we look into the future, it’s clear that the modern workforce is evolving–so the benefits offered by employers should evolve, too. 

Our full report contains helpful tips, strategies and action items directly from HR and people operations professionals who are well-versed in the world of voluntary benefits. Download it for free today!

About ZayZoon

The earned wage access (EWA) solution for SMBs

With ZayZoon, payday finally comes with the push of a button. Employees can use ZayZoon to get paid part of their earned wages when they need it. The platform also offers educational resources and tools to help workers break the paycheck-to-paycheck cycle. And it works. 

89 percent of employees who use ZayZoon report less financial stress and employers who offer ZayZoon boast a 29 percent reduction in turnover. 

To learn more, book a free demo with our team and chat with a real person about our 100 percent free earned wage access solution.