Understanding Your Employees and Their Behaviors
The first step is getting to know your employees. You can do this in a few ways:
- Review your employee demographics. What is the age range of your staff? Where do they live? How many are just starting their careers versus nearing their well-deserved retirement? Having data on hand to answer these questions can guide you toward benefits decisions that cater to your diverse workforce.
- Review your benefits utilization. It's important to ensure your benefits vendors are transparent and willing to provide you with utilization reports. These reports can help you pinpoint which existing benefits staff are most engaged with and which aren't being used at all. They can also help identify behaviors and preferences.
- When all else fails, ask them! Employee surveys can offer a wealth of information about what your employees are looking for in a benefits package. Sending out an annual survey before you assess your current package can help eliminate guesswork about what employees value and need from the benefits you offer.
You can create the perfect, most cost-effective mix of employee benefits for your staff, but if they don’t understand how they work or how to access them, it doesn’t matter.
Emerging Employee Benefit Trends to Watch
Once you know your employees, you can better assess which up-and-coming benefits are worth considering. Consider these, for example:
- Caregiving Benefits That Consider Dependent Parents
Nearly 70% of Americans over 65 will need long-term care due to physical or mental impairments resulting from chronic illnesses or disabilities. Often, this means family members, like adult children, stepping up to be caregivers for their aging parents. Estimates from the National Alliance for Caregiving state that 65.7 million Americans served as family caregivers during the past year. That’s 29% of adults in the U.S. population and 31% of U.S. households.
Additionally, cultural considerations sometimes lead to entire families — grandparents, parents, and children — living under one roof. Fortunately, there are now benefit carriers that support employees in this situation, allowing those caregiving employees to add dependent parents to their voluntary benefit plans, ensuring coverage for their loved ones. A benefit program that offsets the financial impact for these families can make a huge difference in an employee’s life and your overall benefit strategy.
- Mental Health Benefits That Cover Diagnosis and Treatment
Approximately 46% of Americans will meet the criteria for a diagnosable mental health condition sometime in their life. While the importance of providing mental health resources to staff isn’t necessarily a new or novel idea, it remains a critical and top-trending benefit that many employees may be expecting.
According to a Johns Hopkins study, approximately 94% of employees experience workplace stress. Nearly one-third of these employees also describe their stress levels as “ranging from high to unsustainably high.” Employee critical illness benefits can offer support not only for the diagnosis of mental health issues but also for ongoing treatment of the issue. Addressing these concerns head-on can get employees the treatment they need while improving your district’s recruitment and retention efforts.
- Maternity Benefits That Pay Some Labor and Delivery Costs Before Birth
Giving birth in the United States, which includes pregnancy, delivery, and postpartum care, can cost almost $19,000. With health insurance, that amount can drop to nearly $3,000 out-of-pocket, which is still quite an expense for a growing family to take on. By implementing a hospital indemnity plan that covers a three-day hospital stay at 26 weeks, families have financial support to cover doctor and hospital charges well before delivery.
- Pet Insurance for Those Who Consider Pets Family
According to the 2024 SHRM Employee Benefits Survey, more households in America are likely to have pets than children under 18. In fact, the American Pet Products Association states that 94 million American households own a pet. So, many of your staff likely have a pet they love and consider family. Since pet insurance is a voluntary benefit that's relatively low-cost for an employer to provide, it's a low-risk offering that can show employees you're looking out for their four-legged loved ones.
The Best Benefits
You can create the perfect, most cost-effective mix of employee benefits for your staff, but if they don’t understand how they work or how to access them, it doesn’t matter. That's why it's crucial to integrate the right technology and communication strategies to meet your diverse workforce right where they are. For example, older staff may prefer in-person education or face-to-face enrollment support. At the same time, younger, newer employees might rely on self-serve online platforms and mobile apps to access and manage benefits.
Part of your demographic exploration should also include surveying staff on their education and communication preferences, ensuring you cover all the bases when implementing and rolling out new benefit offerings.
In the world of employee benefits, there will always be factors that cause little-known benefits to trend or prompt companies to create entirely new offerings based on societal needs. As an employer, staying informed and leveraging your unique understanding of your school district to drive and inform decisions is crucial. Combining emerging benefit awareness with data-driven decision-making and thoughtful technology strategies can create an impactful balance of benefits people truly want and know how to use.