The Pandemic’s “Great Resignation” Indicates Employee Feedback Is More Important Than Ever for Benefits Decision-Making

Three out of four companies base employee benefits decisions on employee feedback, up 33% since 2019, an Artemis Health survey shows. It’s a sign that listening to employees is the prevailing strategy for combating the Great Resignation—but some employers lack the tools to use this data successfully.

“Clearly for many benefits leaders, getting access to the right data remains a challenge, and there are wide gaps in what they can see and learn about their population.”

Artemis Health surveyed more than 300 human resources and benefits leaders from U.S. companies with a mix of mid-size and enterprise employers to determine the needs of benefits leaders at a time when rates of employee burnout and turnover are rising. Employee benefits leaders indicated a 23% increase in their focus on fighting attrition. In the healthcare and tech industries, survey results pointed to an especially big jump in “reducing turnover” and “attracting talent” as top goals.

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“Strong benefits can help retain talent granted they are highly valued by the workforce and meet their overall needs in the immediate, short, and long term,” says Jason Parrott, senior vice president of enterprise growth and partnerships at Vida Health.

Yet just 53% of benefits leaders feel “very successful” in using “non-traditional” benefits data—data that falls outside medical and prescription claims data—such as financial, 401k and retirement data, wellness programs, diversity, equity and inclusion statistics, and social determinants of health—to guide benefits decisions.

“Employee opinions are helpful for crafting benefits packages that reduce turnover and attract top talent, but this data is just one input into successful benefits design,” says Grant Gordon, CEO and co-founder of Artemis Health. “Employers must also analyze their benefits data to find out what’s working, what’s delivering better outcomes, and which programs are offering value on investment.”

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Further, the study notes that employers want to leverage data from wellness initiatives, care management programs and point solutions in creating benefits programs that resonate with employees. But most don’t have the tools to access these non-traditional data sources, evaluate their benefits offerings, and objectively evaluate the value and success of these solutions.

Continues Gordon, “Clearly for many benefits leaders, getting access to the right data remains a challenge, and there are wide gaps in what they can see and learn about their population.”

Other key findings from the survey include the following:

• Quality is king: 78% of organizations are more focused on quality of healthcare over cost management. Despite the cost of individual employee benefits reaching an average of $7,739, benefits leaders are focused primarily on healthcare quality as opposed to healthcare costs in designing benefits packages.
• The most challenging parts of the “benefits lifecycle” are choosing and measuring point solutions. When asked to rank the challenges they face in finding and administering new benefit programs, 69% say identifying new programs is among their top 3 biggest challenges, followed by measuring and managing new programs (67%). With the rising demand for condition-specific point solutions, including mental health, new expectations around digital care, and the need for competitive benefits, leading organizations rely on partnerships with brokers, consultants, and benefits analytics solutions to find and implement point solutions that will deliver value.
• The C-Suite doesn’t know how hard benefits management is. Companies that self-identified as “falling behind their peers” in benefits design were more likely to cite lack of C-suite support for benefits data solutions.

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