Benchmarking: How Does Your Company Stack Up?

September 14, 2010

As our economy gradually starts to recover, employees may start to get the itch to see if the “grass is greener on the other side” and test the waters of the employment pool.  For the past few years, employees have understood why there were no pay raises, the rationale behind freezing the retirement plan match, and sometimes even a cut in hours – many have been grateful just to continue to get their paychecks.  But now, is there an increase in the grumbling and are employees starting to resent what they perceive as “taking one on the chin” for their employer?

Maybe what they need is a reality check on how their current benefits compare to other industry standards.  For those employees that are lucky enough to still have a pension plan, are they aware that less than 1/4 of Fortune 500 companies actually still offer a traditional defined benefit plan in addition to the more standard 401k?  For those of us who have been around for awhile, or perhaps have had a few different employers, understanding how the perks compare is more of a given than an entry level employee that has no idea how above or below average their benefits are compared to other job opportunities.  So, if your employer stands above the crowd, make it known!  Include benchmarking as part of your overall benefits communications model so your employees will come to appreciate how green the grass already is where there are now.