Employee benefits other than wages have evolved over the years as companies look for new ways to retain good employees, boost employee morale, and encourage employee loyalty. Each year, we at HRHero and BLR survey our readers to find out what benefits they offer and how their benefits plans are decided and change to fit their company and workers.

The benefits most often offered by our survey’s respondents include the following:

• Health insurance – 92.96%
• Dental insurance – 88.49%
• Life insurance – 86.77%
• Paid holidays – 83.06%
• Defined-contribution retirement plan (such as a 401(k) or 403(b)) – 81.83%
• Long-term disability – 73.93%
• Vision insurance – 71.17%

Other benefits offered by some respondents include the following:

• Short-term disability – 67.94%
• Paid vacation days – 65.94%
• Flexible spending account – 63.75%
• Employee assistance program – 59.28%
• Paid sick days – 58.04%
• Tuition reimbursement – 49.76%
• Health and wellness program – 38.15%
• PTO (paid time off with sick and vacation lumped together) – 34.63%
• Flex time – 32.35%
• Telecommuting – 20.74%
• Defined-benefit retirement plan (traditional pension plan) – 18.74%
• Profit sharing – 18.17%
• Stock options – 5.33%
• On-site childcare – 2.95%

We offered respondents the chance to include benefits that were not included in our standard list of responses. Their responses included pet insurance; free lunches and parking; concierge services; on-site health clinics; birthday holidays; public transportation allowances; paid community service days; child- and pet-friendly offices; backup childcare; shoeshines; summer hours; credit union memberships; employee discount programs; bereavement leave; on-site community gardens; on-site yoga classes, exercise equipment, and personal trainers; flu shots; and free lunches and snacks.

Read all the survey results

Watch for more analysis of the survey results in upcoming issues of HR Hero Line.