Study Finds 65% of Workers Would Give Up Bonuses, Vacation, and Flexible Hours for Better Healthcare Benefits
August 17 2021 - 8:00AM
A new study by One Medical (NASDAQ: ONEM), a leading national
member-based primary care organization combining in-person and
virtual care, and Workplace Intelligence, an HR research and
advisory firm, found that best-in-class healthcare benefits will be
extremely important following the pandemic. The study of over 1,600
U.S. employees and HR leaders found that workers are eager to get
back on track with their health after an enormously stressful and
demanding year, and identified significant opportunities for
employers to support them through improvement in healthcare benefit
offerings.
Many employees said their physical and mental well-being
worsened during the pandemic. Over half (54%) skipped or postponed
getting healthcare for themselves and 33% deferred care for their
children, with most citing fears of contracting COVID-19 as a top
reason for postponing care. Consequently, nearly half of
respondents have experienced adverse outcomes as a result of having
to postpone medical care.
Employees’ current focus on their health was further exemplified
by 65% saying they would give up key perks like bonuses, vacation,
and flexible hours for better healthcare benefits. Moreover,
employees expect their employers to support them, not only by
providing better benefits, but also by ensuring that they have
access to best-in-class primary care providers who can guide them
on their journey to better physical and mental health.
Survey Results
The high price of deferred careWhile 85% of the
employees surveyed intend to see their primary care providers at
least once per year after the pandemic, it’s apparent that deferred
care has already taken a heavy toll on workers:
- Adverse health
outcomes: Employees say deferring care made them
feel anxious and worried (55%), negatively affected their physical
health (45%) and mental health (49%), negatively impacted their
ability to work (44%), caused them to lose sleep (43%), and caused
them to struggle with substance abuse (42%).
- Cost
consequences: The vast majority of HR
leaders are worried about employees’ health worsening this year
(86%) and the cost of employee healthcare increasing (88%) as a
result of deferred care. Over three-quarters (78%) predict that the
costs of their healthcare benefits will increase in 2022, by 7.5%
on average.
- New HR
solutions: Nearly all HR leaders (97%)
say they’ll be making changes to help reduce cascading healthcare
costs, including employing care navigation solutions, investing in
virtual care / telemedicine and/or primary care, and identifying
new services to address rising areas of costs.
Employee expectations
vs. HR leader perceptionsWhile
85% of HR leaders believed their company is invested in the
physical and mental health of its workforce, just 32% of employees
rated their healthcare benefits as “excellent” and less than
two-thirds believe their company is invested in their physical
health (64%) and mental health (63%). Employees and HR leaders
indicated that better healthcare benefits could be achieved
through:
- Prioritizing better health
care: 65% of employees say they would give up perks like
flexible hours, monetary bonuses, and paid vacation in exchange for
best-in-class healthcare benefits.
- Improving affordability,
convenience, and quality: The vast majority of workers
noted the importance of affordability (89%), ease of using their
benefits (89%), top quality and trustworthy providers (87%), fast
(86%) and convenient (82%) access to in-person care, a focus on
preventive health (85%), and seamless specialty care coordination
(82%).
- Addressing cost
issues: Over half (55%) of employees and the same
percentage of HR leaders say their health care is too costly. Over
three-quarters (76%) of employees and 87% of HR leaders think
companies should cover “more” or “all” of employees’ healthcare
costs.
- Focusing on primary
care: There’s already widespread agreement on the
importance of primary care: 80% of employees and 89% of HR leaders
say it’s important to see a primary care provider on a regular
basis. However, on average 80% of employees and over 90% of HR
leaders say that in addition to routine care, primary care
providers should play a significant role in coordinating specialist
care and hospitalization, offering advice on health promotion and
disease prevention, and providing mental health care.
Supporting Quotes
“The importance of prioritizing employees’ physical and mental
health is clearer than ever before. We’ve seen many companies take
significant steps to build a healthcare strategy centered around
primary care, including preventive care and chronic care
management. Not only can this approach lead to a happier, healthier
and more supported workforce, it can also help address the adverse
health outcomes and rising healthcare costs that have resulted from
the pandemic.” - Raj Behal, MD, Chief Quality Officer, One
Medical
“Coming out of the pandemic, workers are prioritizing health
care much more and as evidence of this, many would even give up
perks and benefits like bonuses, flexible hours and vacation for
better healthcare benefits. Companies that prioritize the health of
their workforce and invest in better healthcare benefits will be
more likely to retain their workers in this highly competitive
talent marketplace.” - Dan Schawbel, Managing Partner of Workplace
Intelligence
MethodologyResearch findings are based on a
survey conducted by Workplace Intelligence and Savanta, Inc.
between June 2–June 17, 2021. For this survey, 1,618 HR Leaders and
full-time employees were asked general questions around healthcare.
The study targeted full-time working HR leaders and employees who
are 25 years old and above and living in the U.S.. Respondents were
recruited through a number of different mechanisms, via different
sources to join the panels and participate in market research
surveys. All panelists have passed a double opt-in process and
complete on average 300 profiling data points prior to taking part
in surveys. Respondents were invited to take part via email and
were provided with a small monetary incentive for doing so. Results
of any sample are subject to sampling variation. The magnitude of
the variation is measurable and is affected by the number of
interviews and the level of the percentages expressing the results.
In this particular study, the chances are 95 in 100 that a survey
result does not vary, plus or minus, by more than 2.4 percentage
points from the result that would be obtained if interviews had
been conducted with all persons in the universe represented by the
sample.
About One MedicalOne Medical is a
membership-based and technology-powered primary care platform with
seamless digital health and inviting in-office care, convenient to
where people work, shop, live, and click. Our vision is to delight
millions of members with better health and better care while
reducing costs. Our mission is to transform health care for all
through our human-centered, technology-powered model.
Headquartered in San Francisco, 1Life Healthcare, Inc. is the
administrative and managerial services company for the affiliated
One Medical physician-owned professional corporations that deliver
medical services in-office and virtually. 1Life and the One Medical
entities do business under the “One Medical” brand.
About Workplace IntelligenceWorkplace
Intelligence, LLC is an HR research and advisory firm helping
leaders adapt to trends, drive performance, and prepare for the
future. Our mission is to create more intelligent workplaces using
data-based insights. For more information go to
our website and our LinkedIn profile.
Media Contact:
Kristina Skinner, One Medical
Senior Director of External Communications
press@onemedical.com
650-743-5187
Investor Contact:
Westwicke
Bob East or Asher Dewhurst
onemedical@westwicke.com
443-223-0500
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