Which Benefits Do Employees Really Want? (10+ Companies With the Best Benefits)

Free lunch! 12 weeks of paid parental leave! Tuition reimbursement! You may have noticed more and more companies offering shiny benefits to recruit top talent. Your employees and top candidates are paying attention to what those companies are offering, too.

When BambooHR surveyed 1,500 U.S. workers, we found that 68% of job seekers want to know what benefits companies offer—yet 36% of HR professionals admit that their company doesn't disclose benefits information up front.

That could be a mistake. Benefits packages are critical when candidates are weighing multiple job offers (or deciding whether to apply at all). Beyond serving as a powerful recruiting tool, benefits also play a large role in how long employees want to stick around.

The benefits landscape is continually changing, and trends differ between industries, locations, and roles. As an HR pro and the architect of your organization’s benefits package, staying on top of what’s expected—and what truly stands out—will help you reach your company’s hiring and retention goals.

At BambooHR, we get a unique look into how companies of all sizes, industry, and geographical location are leveraging benefits to accomplish their goals—and how they’re using our Benefits Administration to do it.

Read on to discover benefits benchmarks that can help you gauge how your company stacks up, plus examples of companies who people really want to work for.

8 Sought-After Healthcare Benefits

When it comes to healthcare, there's a basic set of obvious health and wellness benefits like medical, dental, and vision care. You’d be hard-pressed to find a company that doesn’t offer these.

What makes companies stand out is when they offer additional healthcare benefits that help their employees thrive—both physically and mentally.

Editor's Take: The Best Companies to Watch

• Capital One: Registered dietitians on-site and free virtual fitness classes are just the cherry on top of Capital One’s comprehensive healthcare benefits.
• Salesforce: At Salesforce, employees and their loved ones have access to support for those experiencing addiction, helping them through one of life’s greatest struggles.

The Best Healthcare Benefits

• Long-term care insurance (e.g., financial support such as home health care)
• Pet insurance

Above Average Healthcare Benefits

• Mental healthcare (e.g., access to online therapy)
• Gym discounts

Basic Healthcare Benefits

• Medical
• Dental
• Vision
• Opt-in Health Savings Accounts (HSAs)
• Opt-in Flex Spending Accounts (FSAs)

7 Options for Paid Time Off (PTO)

Work/life balance is increasingly important to younger generations, and PTO is a big part of that. In fact, 37% of workers value paid time off more than pay raises.

PTO is pretty standard across the board, but it’s the amount of time, as well as the types of PTO offered, that really set you apart as an employer. We’re starting to see more companies adopt different types of reduced hours, like 4-day work weeks or Summer Fridays (a policy encourages employees to take Fridays off between Memorial Day and Labor Day).

Editor's Take: The Best Companies to Watch

• Netflix: At Netflix, the PTO policy is “take vacation.” They leave it up to their employees to choose when they need a break, allowing their team members to observe what’s important to them—and when.
• HubSpot: To ensure employees get a break, HubSpot holds a company-wide week off every July. In addition to their generous unlimited PTO policy and four-week paid sabbatical at each employee’s 5-year mark to make sure everyone gets much-needed time out of the office.

The Best PTO Benefits

• Unlimited PTO
• Paid volunteer work
• Sabbaticals
• Reduced hours

Above Average PTO Benefits

• 3+ weeks of PTO
• 10-12 paid company holidays
• 3-5 days bereavement leave

Basic PTO Benefits

• 14-21 days of PTO per year
• 7-10 paid company holidays
• 2-3 days of bereavement leave

3 Ways to Support Retirement

Everybody’s workin’ for … retirement? Between a higher cost of living and longer life expectancies, younger generations have shown increasing concern about their ability to support themselves in retirement.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 67% of workers in private industry have access to employer-provided retirement plans, and the vast majority provide some level of matching. Today, job seekers expect companies to offer retirement benefits that help them find financial peace and security beyond their base salary.

Editor's Take: The Best Companies to Watch

• Google: While many companies offer 401(k), Google goes a step further by offering one-on-one financial coaching. This extra step empowers Google employees to get strategic with their dollars as they plan for the future.

The Best Retirement Benefits

• Stock options
• Equity ownership plans

Above Average Retirement Benefits

• Generous 401(k) matching (aim for 4% or more!)
• Retirement planning services like a financial planner or retirement planning software

Basic Retirement Benefits

• Access to a 401(k), ideally with some employer matching

5 Ways to Improve Quality of Life

The work-from-home standard proliferated during the pandemic and has morphed into a work-from-anywhere mindset. Digital nomads want to work from coffee shops in Spain; parents want to take their kids to 2:00pm dance classes. In short, employees want to mold their work around their lives, rather than forming their lives around their work.

Fortunately, there’s quite a bit of data that shows some people are more productive when they have flexible working conditions. In one Stanford study, remote workers were found to be 13% more productive than their in-office counterparts.

Editor's Take: The Best Companies to Watch

• BambooHR: At BambooHR, we know it can be difficult to step away from work. That's why we offer employees a $2,000 annual stipend that will reimburse them for vacation expenses. All we ask in return is to share pictures of your Paid Paid Vacation when you return!
• Microsoft: Like many major tech companies, Microsoft offers its Redmond, WA, employees access to a WiFi-enabled shuttle bus, making long commutes more manageable.
• Slack: Companies with a high volume of remote employees like Slack offer their employees memberships to coworking spaces like WeWork as a way to help remote team members build connections and experience “water cooler” culture.

The Best Quality of Life Benefits

• Incentives to use PTO (e.g., a stipend)
• Commuter benefits

Above Average Quality of Life Benefits

• Hybrid work options
• Flexible working hours*

*Note: Flex-time benefits differ heavily between industries. Hybrid work options have become the standard in the tech industry but are less common in industries like healthcare.

Basic Quality of Life Benefits

• Manager discretion on employee hours

7 Ideas for Offering Exceptional Family Support

Families come in all shapes and sizes, and the best companies build their benefits packages around that simple fact.

Family support becomes an especially important factor for employees who hope to start families in the near future. They’ll put a sharp eye on your leave policies as they decide whether your company is the right fit for their whole family—something that can heavily affect employee retention.

Editor's Take: The Best Companies to Watch

• Meta: Meta offers their employees coverage for fertility treatments, with access to a nationwide network of fertility clinics, surrogacy agencies, and more, making fertility treatments a more financially viable option for their employees who are looking to start a family.
• Qualtrics: Our Utah neighbors over at Qualtrics recently added a 40,000 square foot, STEM-focused daycare at their expanded HQ, solving the problem of quality, cost-effective childcare for parents at the company.

The Best Family Support Benefits

• 12+ weeks of paid parental leave for both parents
• Reimbursement for adoption expenses
• Coverage for fertility treatment
• Benefits for breastfeeding parents (e.g., lactation rooms, reimbursement for breastmilk shipping, etc.)
• In-office childcare

Above Average Family Support Benefits

• 12+ weeks of paid maternity leave
• 3+ weeks of paid parental leave
• Paid adoption leave
• Extended unpaid leave options

Basic Family Support Benefits

• In the U.S., parents at companies of 50+ employees are entitled to up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave in accordance with the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) for the birth or adoption of a child.
• 6-12 weeks of paid maternity leave

6 Strategies for Addressing Growth & Development

The data doesn’t lie: Professional development is good for business. Employers who offer development opportunities have 15% higher employee engagement and 34% higher retention than those who don’t. It's not uncommon for employees to leave their roles for opportunities that will advance their careers.

Editor's Take: The Best Companies to Watch

• Starbucks: The coffee giant offers eligible employees the opportunity to earn a bachelor’s degree through a special partnership with Arizona State University with 100% tuition reimbursement, effectively removing the barrier to entry for their employees when it comes to accessing higher education.
• Amazon: Through Amazon Technical Academy, Amazon teaches nontechnical employees the skills they need to move into software engineering careers, setting them up for successful careers at Amazon and beyond.

The Best Growth & Development Benefits

• Tuition reimbursement

Above Average Growth & Development Benefits

• Dedicated time allotted for training & development
• Budget for training & development programs
• Mentorship opportunities

Basic Growth & Development Benefits

• Regular conversations about performance
• Opportunities for training and development

Next Steps: Reevaluate Your Benefits Package

With four out of five employees preferring stellar benefits over a pay raise, it’s no surprise we’re seeing companies amp it up on the benefits front. Beyond benefits serving as a recruiting and retention tool, they’re one of the ways you can show your employees that you truly value them as people.

When it comes to benefits, BambooHR makes it easy to choose what, who, why, and when. Not only does it support the full spectrum of benefits—including open enrollment, time off policies, performance reviews, and more—your employees have a user-friendly, one-login view of their benefits.