1. SHRM Survey Findings: State of Employee Benefits in
the Workplace—Health Care
December 18, 2013

2. Introduction
• This is part three of a series of SHRM survey findings examining employee benefits in the
workplace.
• The following topics are included in the six-part series titled State of Employee Benefits in the
Workplace:
»
»
»
»
»
»
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
State of Employee Benefits in the Workplace—Health Care ©SHRM 2013
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3. Definition
• For the purpose of this survey, total health care costs includes employer-paid premiums,
administration costs and any possible individual medical claims covered by the employer.
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4. Key Findings
• How are organizations trying to control the costs of health care? The majority (83%) of
organizations are “very concerned” about controlling health care costs. The top three activities
organizations have engaged in to control health care costs are providing educational initiatives
related to health and wellness (45%), increasing employee participation in preventive health and
wellness initiatives (43%), and creating an organizational culture that promotes health and wellness
(41%).
• Can employees expect to pay a larger portion of total health care costs in the future? Looking
into plan year 2014, 24% of organizations reported they plan to increase the employee share
contributed to the total costs of health care, whereas 21% do not plan to increase the employee
share, and 55% were unsure.
Focusing on the next three to five years, 21% of organizations currently paying the majority or an
equal portion of health care costs believe that employees at their organizations will eventually be
paying the majority of health care costs.
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5. What do these findings mean for the HR profession?
• The current expectation of whether employees will take on more of their health care costs is
unclear, but organizations are hopeful that the employees’ share contribution will be smaller
than employers’ share contribution in the future. Although there was a decline in the number of
organizations raising the employee share contribution compared to 2012, a moderate percentage of
organizations still chose to implement such policy to battle health care costs. Nevertheless, many
organizations are optimistic that employers will cover a larger amount of total health care costs in
the future.
• Organizations’ strategies to control health care costs have shifted within the last year, and
may continue to transform as organizations comply with the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
Compared to last year, more organizations shifted the burden of high health care costs to their
employees (e.g., increasing the employee share contribution). This year, however, organizations
placed more emphasis on encouraging awareness and engagement of health and wellness.
Organizations taking this more proactive approach to support preventive health may see outcomes
such as fewer health care claims.
As health care costs continue to increase, HR professionals will have to determine modifications to
their organization’s health benefit plan, and whether these changes will have any impact on their
organization’s overall total rewards strategy. For instance, will trimming or eliminating health care
benefits hinder an organization’s ability to attract and retain talent?
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6. How did your organization’s total health care costs change from last
plan year compared with the plan year before?
72%
Increased
74%
19%
Remained
the same
17%
2013 (n = 366)
2012 (n = 399)
10%
Decreased
9%
Note: Only respondents whose organizations provide health care were asked this question. Respondents who answered “not sure” were excluded from
this analysis. Percentages may not total 100% due to rounding.
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7. How concerned is your organization about controlling health care costs?
83%
Very
concerned
84%
16%
Somewhat
concerned
16%
2013 (n = 411)
2012 (n = 437)
Not very
concerned
Not at all
concerned
1%
1%
0%
0%
Note: Only respondents whose organizations provide health care were asked this question. Respondents who answered “not sure” were excluded from
this analysis. Percentages may not total 100% due to rounding.
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8. Which of the following activities has your organization engaged in for the
purpose of controlling the costs of health care?
2013
(n = 417)
2012
(n = 405)
Provided educational initiatives related to health and wellness
45%
52%
Increased employee participation in preventive health and wellness
initiatives
43%
44%
Created an organizational culture that promotes health and wellness
41%
45%
Offered consumer-directed health plans (e.g., HRAs, HSAs)
40%
42%
Increased the employee share contributed to the total costs of health
care
39%
52%
Provided lower-cost generic prescription or over-the-counter drugs
39%
50%
Provided incentives or rewards related to health and wellness
35%
40%
-
3%
7%
2%
Activity
Changed health care provider*
Other
Note: Only respondents whose organizations provide health care were asked this question. Respondents whose organizations had not conducted any
activities to control the costs of health care were excluded from this analysis. Percentages do not equal 100% due to multiple response options. An
asterisk (*) indicates that this response option was not asked in 2013.
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9. Which of the following activities has your organization engaged in for the
purpose of controlling the costs of health care?
Comparisons by organization staff size
•
Organizations with 500 to 24,999 employees are more likely than those with 1 to 99 employees to indicate they provided
lower-cost generic prescription or over-the-counter drugs to control the costs of health care.
Comparisons by organization staff size
500 to 2,499 employees (51%)
2,500 to 24,999 employees (64%)
•
>
1 to 99 employees (27%)
Organizations with 100 to 24,999 employees are more likely than those with 1 to 99 employees to indicate they increased
employee participation in preventive health and wellness initiatives to control the costs of health care.
Comparisons by organization staff size
100 to 499 employees (47%)
500 to 2,499 employees (59%)
2,500 to 24,999 (49%)
•
>
1 to 99 employees (25%)
Organizations with 500 to 2,499 employees are more likely than those with 1 to 499 employees to indicate they provided
incentives or rewards related to health and wellness to control the costs of health care.
Comparisons by organization staff size
500 to 2,499 employees (63%)
>
1 to 99 employees (16%)
100 to 499 employees (31%)
Note: Only statistically significant differences are shown.
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10. Which one activity has been the most successful in terms of helping
your organization control the costs of health care?
2013
(n = 365)
2012
(n = 380)
22%
15%
20%
25%
13%
17%
Created an organizational culture that promotes health and wellness
12%
11%
Provided lower-cost generic prescription or over-the-counter drugs
10%
12%
Provided incentives or rewards related to health and wellness
9%
9%
Provided educational initiatives related to health and wellness
7%
5%
-
4%
7%
0%
Activity
Offered consumer-directed health plans (e.g., HRAs, HSAs)
Increased the employee share contributed to the total costs of health
care
Increased employee participation in preventive health and wellness
initiatives
Changed health care provider*
Other
Note: Only respondents whose organizations provide health care and conduct some kind of activity to control the costs of health care were asked this
question. An asterisk (*) indicates that the option was not asked in the 2013 survey.
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11. In plan year 2013, did your organization increase the employee share
contributed to the total costs of health care?
45%
Yes
47%
2013 (n = 389)
2012 (n = 410)
55%
No
53%
Note: Only respondents whose organizations provide health care were asked this question. Respondents who answered “not sure” were excluded from
this analysis.
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12. In plan year 2013, did your organization increase the employee share
contributed to the total costs of health care?
Comparisons by organization staff size
•
Organizations with 500 to 2,499 employees were more likely than organizations with 1 to 99 employees to increase
the employee share contributed to the total costs of health care in plan year 2013.
Comparisons by organization staff size
500 to 2,499 employees (57%)
>
1 to 99 employees (33%)
Note: Only statistically significant differences are shown.
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13. In the next plan year, does your organization plan to increase the
employee share contributed to the total costs of health care?
24%
Yes
22%
21%
2013 (n = 406)
No
2012 (n = 439)
18%
55%
Not sure
60%
Note: Only respondents whose organizations provide health care were asked this question.
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14. In plan year 2013, is your organization paying the majority (more than
half) of the total health care costs?
Yes, the
organization is
paying the majority
of health care costs
No, the
organization and
employee pay an
equal share of the
health care costs
No, the employee
is paying the
majority of the
health care costs
92%
90%
5%
6%
2013 (n = 402)
2012 (n = 438)
3%
3%
Note: Only respondents whose organizations provide health care were asked this question. Percentages may not total 100% due to rounding.
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15. In three to five years, do you believe employees at your organization will
be paying the majority of health care costs?
21%
Yes
15%
39%
2013 (n = 390)
No
50%
2012 (n = 421)
40%
Not sure
35%
Note: Only respondents whose organizations provide health care were asked this question. Respondents whose organizations indicated that employees
were paying the majority of total health care costs were excluded from this analysis.
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16. Organization Demographics
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17. Demographics: Organization Staff Size
1 to 99
employees
33%
100 to 499
employees
32%
500 to 2,499
employees
17%
2,500 to 24,999
employees
25,000 or more
employees
12%
6%
n = 363
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18. Demographics: Organization Sector
Privately owned for-profit
51%
24%
Nonprofit organization
Publicly owned for-profit
12%
Government sector
11%
Other
2%
n = 377
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19. Demographics: Organization Industry
Percentage
Professional, scientific and technical services
Health care and social assistance
Manufacturing
Government agencies
Finance and insurance
Educational services
Religious, grantmaking, civic, professional and similar organizations
Accommodation and food services
Administrative and support and waste management and remediation services
Construction
Mining
Transportation and warehousing
Arts, entertainment and recreation
Information
Retail trade
Real estate and rental and leasing
Repair and maintenance
Utilities
Whole trade
Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting
Personal and laundry services
Other
21%
17%
15%
12%
10%
9%
5%
4%
4%
4%
4%
4%
3%
3%
3%
2%
2%
2%
2%
1%
1%
7%
Note: n = 375. Percentages do not equal 100% due to multiple response options.
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20. Demographics: Other
Is your organization a single-unit organization or a multiunit organization?
Does your organization have U.S.based operations (business units) only,
or does it operate multinationally?
U.S.-based operations only
80%
Multinational operations
20%
n = 381
Single-unit organization: An organization in which
the location and the organization are one and the
same.
39%
Multi-unit organization: An organization that has
more than one location.
61%
n = 381
What is the HR department/function for
which you responded throughout this
survey?
For multi-unit organizations, are HR policies and practices
determined by the multi-unit headquarters, by each work
location or by both?
59%
73%
Multi-unit headquarters determines HR policies
and practices.
Business unit/division
16%
Each work location determines HR policies and
practices.
4%
Facility/location
11%
A combination of both the work location and the
multi-unit headquarters determines HR policies
and practices.
37%
Corporate (company-wide)
n = 244
n = 244
State of Employee Benefits in the Workplace—Health Care ©SHRM 2013
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21. SHRM Survey Findings: State of Employee Benefits in
the Workplace—Health Care
Survey Methodology
• Response rate = 11%
• 441 HR professional respondents from a randomly selected sample of SHRM’s membership
participated in this survey
• Margin of error +/- 5%
• Survey fielded May 3-22, 2013
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22. Additional SHRM Resources
• SHRM Research Findings: Health Care Reform—Impact of Health Care Coverage and Costs
• SHRM Research Findings: Health Care Reform—Challenges and Strategies
• Health Care Reform Resource Page
• SHRM Toolkit: Managing Health Care Costs
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23. About SHRM Research
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
Project contributors:
Alexander Alonso, Ph.D., SPHR, vice president, SHRM Research
Evren Esen, manager, Survey Research Center, SHRM Research
Copy editor:
Katya Scanlan, SHRM Knowledge Center
State of Employee Benefits in the Workplace—Health Care ©SHRM 2013
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24. About SHRM
The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) is the world’s largest association devoted to
human resource management. Representing more than 250,000 members in over 140
countries, the Society serves the needs of HR professionals and advances the interests of the
HR profession. Founded in 1948, SHRM has more than 575 affiliated chapters within the United
States and subsidiary offices in China, India and United Arab Emirates.
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