SHRM Survey Findings: Employee Benefits in California—Leveraging Benefits to Recruit Employees

April 23, 2014

Employee Benefits in California—Leveraging Benefits to Recruit Employees ©SHRM 2014 2

• This is part five of a series of SHRM survey findings examining employee benefits in the workplace of California organizations.

• The following topics are included in the six-part series titled Employee Benefits in California:

» Part 1: Wellness initiatives » Part 2: Flexible work arrangements» Part 3: Health care» Part 4: Leveraging benefits to retain employees» Part 5: Leveraging benefits to recruit employees» Part 6: Communicating benefits

Introduction

Employee Benefits in California—Leveraging Benefits to Recruit Employees ©SHRM 2014 3

• For the purpose of this survey, the term highly skilled employees is defined as employees with skills that are critical to the short- and long-term success of their operating unit or the organization.

Definition

Employee Benefits in California—Leveraging Benefits to Recruit Employees ©SHRM 2014 4

Leveraging Benefits to Recruit Employees at All Levels of the Organization

• Do organizations leverage their benefits program to recruit employees? Thirty percent of organizations in California reported having difficulty recruiting employees; one-third (33%) indicated leveraging their benefits program to recruit employees.

• What benefits offerings have been leveraged to recruit employees? Similar to the overall findings, health care (85%) and retirement savings and planning (61%) still remain the top two benefits that organizations in California most frequently leverage to recruit employees. These benefits are followed by flexible working benefits (39%), leave benefits (38%), and professional and career development benefits (37%).

• What benefits offerings will increase in importance to help recruit employees in the next three to five years? Organizations indicated that retirement savings and planning benefits (69%), health care benefits (62%), and flexible working benefits (62%) are the benefits that will increase in importance the most with respect to recruiting employees in California.

Key Findings for Recruiting Employees at All LevelsCalifornia

Employee Benefits in California—Leveraging Benefits to Recruit Employees ©SHRM 2014 5

Leveraging Benefits to Recruit Highly Skilled Employees

• Are organizations leveraging their benefits program to recruit highly skilled employees? Although more than one-half (54%) of organizations in California indicated having difficulty in recruiting highly skilled employees, only 35% reported leveraging their benefits program to recruit these applicants.

• What benefits offerings have been leveraged to recruit highly skilled employees? Health care (73%) was the benefit most frequently leveraged to recruit these employees in California. Compared to the overall findings, many benefits were leveraged less frequently by organizations in California, with the largest difference of 15 percentage points for flexible working benefits (40% in California, 55% nationally).

• In the next three to five years, what benefits offerings will increase in importance to help organizations recruit highly skilled employees? In 2013, HR professionals in California organizations indicated that retirement savings and planning benefits (70%) and heath care (63%) would be the most important benefits to leverage during recruitment.

Key Findings for Recruiting Highly Skilled EmployeesCalifornia

Employee Benefits in California—Leveraging Benefits to Recruit Employees ©SHRM 2014 6

• California organizations use benefits as a recruitment tool at a higher rate than the rest of the United States (33%, compared with 26% nationally). Those are not significant rates, but many recruiters now advocate using a “total rewards” approach to attracting new employees, and they encourage leveraging an employer’s benefits package as part of that strategy. HR professionals cannot always use higher salaries as a draw for new talent because wage growth has been weak in the post-recession economy.

• With medical costs on the rise and many workers unprepared financially for retirement, HR professionals should consider leveraging health care benefits and retirement savings and planning benefits as part of their recruitment strategy. Even with some uncertainty surrounding health care plans in connection with the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, HR professionals should view this benefit, if offered at their employer, as a valuable tool for attracting workers.

• Several studies have shown that members of the Millennial generation, or those born between 1982 and 2002, place high value on flexible work schedules and managing their own time. Many HR professionals have recognized this trend: 40% of California organizations and 55% of organizations nationally leveraged flexible working benefits to recruit highly skilled employees in 2013. If this benefit is offered at their employer, HR professionals should highlight this aspect of their overall benefits plans as a tool to attract younger, talented workers to their organizations.

What do these findings mean for the HR profession?

Leveraging Benefits to Recruit Employees at All Levels of the

Organization

Employee Benefits in California—Leveraging Benefits to Recruit Employees ©SHRM 2014 7

Employee Benefits in California—Leveraging Benefits to Recruit Employees ©SHRM 2014 8

Over the past 12 months, has your organization had difficulty recruiting employees at all levels of the organization?

Note: Respondents who answered “not sure” were excluded from this analysis.

Yes

No

30%

70%

26%

74%

Overall (n = 351)

California (n = 310)

Employee Benefits in California—Leveraging Benefits to Recruit Employees ©SHRM 2014 9

Over the past 12 months, has your organization leveraged your benefits program to recruit employees at all levels of the organization?

Note: Respondents who answered “not sure” were excluded from this analysis.

Yes

No

33%

67%

26%

74%

Overall (n = 341)

California (n = 298)

Employee Benefits in California—Leveraging Benefits to Recruit Employees ©SHRM 2014 10

Which of the following benefits has your organization leveraged to recruit employees at all levels within your organization?

Note: Only respondents whose organizations leveraged their benefits program to recruit employees at all levels within the organization were asked this question. Respondents who answered “not sure” were excluded from this analysis. Percentages do not equal 100% due to multiple response options.

Health care

Retirement savings and planning

Flexible working benefits

Leave benefits

Professional and career development benefits

Preventive health and wellness

Family-friendly benefits

Housing and relocation benefits

85%

61%

39%

38%

37%

29%

25%

20%

81%

70%

43%

50%

45%

33%

33%

24%

Overall (n = 88)California (n = 97)

Employee Benefits in California—Leveraging Benefits to Recruit Employees ©SHRM 2014 11

Within the next three to five years, what benefits offerings will increase, remain the same or decrease in importance in your organization’s efforts to recruit all levels of employees?

Note: n = 76-94. Only respondents whose organizations leveraged their benefits program to recruit employees at all levels within the organization were asked this question. Respondents who answered “not sure” were excluded from this analysis. Percentages may not equal 100% due to rounding.

Retirement savings and planning

Health care

Flexible working benefits

Professional and career development benefits

Preventive health and wellness

Family-friendly benefits

Leave benefits

Housing and relocation benefits

69%

62%

62%

51%

49%

43%

34%

14%

29%

37%

37%

49%

44%

54%

63%

64%

2%

1%

1%

0%

7%

3%

2%

21%

Increase in importance Remain the same Decrease in importance

Leveraging Benefits to Recruit Highly Skilled Employees

Employee Benefits in California—Leveraging Benefits to Recruit Employees ©SHRM 2014 12

Employee Benefits in California—Leveraging Benefits to Recruit Employees ©SHRM 2014 13

Over the past 12 months, has your organization had difficulty recruiting highly skilled employees?

Note: Respondents who answered “not sure” were excluded from this analysis.

Yes

No

54%

46%

50%

50%

Overall (n = 353)

California (n = 309)

Employee Benefits in California—Leveraging Benefits to Recruit Employees ©SHRM 2014 14

Over the past 12 months, has your organization leveraged your benefits program to recruit highly skilled employees?

Note: Respondents who answered “not sure” were excluded from this analysis.

Yes

No

35%

65%

30%

70%

Overall (n = 343)

California (n = 296)

Employee Benefits in California—Leveraging Benefits to Recruit Employees ©SHRM 2014 15

Health care

Retirement savings and planning

Professional and career development benefits

Flexible working benefits

Leave benefits

Housing and relocation benefits

Family-friendly benefits

Preventive health and wellness

73%

48%

45%

40%

32%

29%

22%

21%

70%

61%

41%

55%

46%

33%

35%

25%

Overall (n = 104)California (n = 103)

Which of the following benefits has your organization leveraged to recruit highly skilled employees?

Note: Only respondents whose organizations leveraged their benefits program to recruit highly skilled employees were asked this question. Respondents who answered “not sure” were excluded from this analysis. Percentages do not equal 100% due to multiple response options.

Employee Benefits in California—Leveraging Benefits to Recruit Employees ©SHRM 2014 16

Within the next three to five years, what benefits offerings will increase, remain the same or decrease in importance in your organization’s efforts to recruit highly skilled employees?

Note: n = 83-98. Only respondents whose organizations leveraged their benefits program to recruit highly skilled employees were asked this question. Respondents who answered “not sure” were excluded from this analysis. Percentages may not equal 100% due to rounding.

Retirement savings and planning

Health care

Professional and career development benefits

Flexible working benefits

Family-friendly benefits

Preventive health and wellness

Leave benefits

Housing and relocation benefits

70%

63%

56%

55%

46%

41%

29%

24%

28%

36%

44%

42%

51%

55%

69%

61%

2%

1%

0%

2%

3%

3%

2%

14%

Increase in importance Remain the same Decrease in importance

Demographics

Employee Benefits in California—Leveraging Benefits to Recruit Employees ©SHRM 2014 17

Employee Benefits in California—Leveraging Benefits to Recruit Employees ©SHRM 2014

18

1 to 99 employees

100 to 499 employees

500 to 2,499 employees

2,500 to 24,999 employees

25,000 or more employees

31%

36%

18%

10%

5%

Demographics: Organization Staff Size

n = 310

Employee Benefits in California—Leveraging Benefits to Recruit Employees ©SHRM 2014

19

Privately owned for-profit

Nonprofit organization

Publicly owned for-profit

Government sector

Other

60%

19%

13%

7%

2%

Demographics: Organization Sector

Note: n = 322. Percentages do not equal 100% due to rounding.

20Employee Benefits in California—Leveraging Benefits to Recruit Employees ©SHRM 2014

  PercentageProfessional, scientific and technical services 24%Health care and social assistance 13%Manufacturing 12%Finance and insurance 10%Government agencies 8%Educational services 8%Transportation and warehousing 7%Retail trade 7%Whole trade 6%Real estate and rental and leasing 5%Accommodation and food services 4%Administrative and support and waste management and remediation services 4%Construction 4%Information 4%Utilities 4%Religious, grantmaking, civic, professional and similar organizations 3%Mining 2%Arts, entertainment and recreation 2%Repair and maintenance 2%Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting 2%Personal and laundry services 1%Other 9%

Demographics: Organization Industry

Note: n = 328. Percentages do not equal 100% due to multiple response options.

Employee Benefits in California—Leveraging Benefits to Recruit Employees ©SHRM 2014

21

Demographics: Other

U.S.-based operations only 79%

Multinational operations 21%

Single-unit organization: An organization in which the location and the organization are one and the same. 30%

Multi-unit organization: An organization that has more than one location. 70%

Multi-unit headquarters determines HR policies and practices. 59%

Each work location determines HR policies and practices. 5%

A combination of both the work location and the multi-unit headquarters determines HR policies and practices.

37%

Is your organization a single-unit organization or a multi-unit organization?

For multi-unit organizations, are HR policies and practices determined by the multi-unit headquarters, by each work location or by both?

Does your organization have U.S.-based operations (business units) only, or does it operate multinationally?

n = 324 n = 325

Note: n = 234. Percentages do not equal 100% due to rounding.

Corporate (company-wide) 78%

Business unit/division 15%

Facility/location 16%

Note: n = 234. Percentages do not equal 100% due to rounding.

What is the HR department/function for which you responded throughout this survey?

Employee Benefits in California—Leveraging Benefits to Recruit Employees ©SHRM 2014

22

SHRM Survey Findings: Employee Benefits in California—Leveraging Benefits to Recruit Employees

• Response rate = 13%

• 373 HR professional respondents in California organizations from a randomly selected sample of SHRM’s membership participated in this survey

• Margin of error +/- 5%

• Survey fielded May 3 - June 7, 2013

Survey Methodology

23

• SHRM Research Findings: State of Employee Benefits in the Workplace—Leveraging benefits to recruit employees 

• SHRM Research Findings: The Ongoing Impact of the Recession—California Recruiting and Skill Gaps 

• SHRM Research Findings: Employee Benefits Landscape in California

• California Resources Page 

• Managing the Hiring Process in California 

• Benefits Underused to Recruit, Retain, SHRM Finds

Additional SHRM Resources

Employee Benefits in California—Leveraging Benefits to Recruit Employees ©SHRM 2014

About SHRM Research

24

• For more survey/poll findings, visit www.shrm.org/surveys

• For more information about SHRM’s Customized Research Services, visit www.shrm.org/customizedresearch

• Follow us on Twitter @SHRM_Research

Project leaders:Christina Lee, researcher, SHRM Research Yan Dong, SHRM Research

Project contributors:Alexander Alonso, Ph.D., SPHR, vice president, SHRM ResearchEvren Esen, director, Survey Research Center, SHRM Research

Copy editor:Katya Scanlan, SHRM Knowledge Center

Employee Benefits in California—Leveraging Benefits to Recruit Employees ©SHRM 2014

About SHRM

Founded in 1948, the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) is the world’s largest HR membership organization devoted to human resource management. Representing more than 275,000 members in over 160 countries, the Society is the leading provider of resources to serve the needs of HR professionals and advance the professional practice of human resource management. SHRM has more than 575 affiliated chapters within the United States and subsidiary offices in China, India and United Arab Emirates. Visit us at shrm.org. 

25Employee Benefits in California—Leveraging Benefits to Recruit Employees ©SHRM 2014