Best & Worst Industries for Benefits in 2014

"77 percent of employees said benefits are extremely or very important to their job satisfaction..."

The majority of Americans say that having benefits at work is essential to job satisfaction in 2014.  So where does your industry come out on the Best & Worst Industries for Benefits in 2014?

The 2014 Workforce Report, recently released by Aflac, compared benefit offerings among six private sector industries: manufacturing, education, retail, technology, financial services and health care.

It asked companies in these sectors whether they offered specific benefits to employees, including major medical coverage, dental insurance, life insurance, vision insurance and disability insurance.

Across the six industries, 77 percent of employees said benefits are extremely or very important to their job satisfaction, while 63 percent said they're extremely or very important to work productivity. Sixty-three percent of those interviewed also said that they'd likely accept jobs with lower pay if the benefits were good.

Here’s a breakdown of the best and worst industries for specific benefits:

MEDICAL INSURANCE
Best: manufacturing; 87 percent of companies offer it
Worst: retail; 70 percent of companies offer it.

DENTAL INSURANCE
Best: manufacturing and health care; 83 percent of companies in these industries offer it
Worst: retail; 67 percent of companies offer it

"Sixty-three percent of those interviewed also said that they'd likely accept jobs with lower pay if the benefits were good."

LIFE INSURANCE
Best: manufacturing and health care; 74 percent of companies in each industry offer it
Worst: retail; 51 percent of companies offer it

VISION INSURANCE
Best: financial services; 73 percent of companies offer it
Worst: retail; 57 percent of companies offer it

DISABILIT Y INSURANCE
Best: manufacturing; 71 percent of companies offer it
Worst: retail; 47 percent of companies offer it

Aflac based its report on feedback from 1,856 benefits decision-makers and 5,209 employees at small, medium and large companies in these six industries.

Generally speaking, large companies with more than 500 employees were more likely to offer benefits than medium and small companies, except for major medical insurance.  Eighty-nine percent of medium-sized companies (those with 100 to 499 employees)


Source: Cole, Marine. 6/6/2014 Best and Worst Industries for Benefits in 2014 | The Fiscal Times
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