What Are the Most Used Employee Benefits?
June 18, 2026The most commonly offered and used employee benefits in 2025 are health insurance, retirement savings plans, paid leave, flexible work arrangements, and life and disability insurance. These five categories form the core of virtually every employer benefits package in the United States. Beyond these essentials, a second tier of high-value benefits, including mental health support, financial wellness programs, professional development, and family care benefits, is growing rapidly in both availability and employee engagement.
The core five: benefits nearly every employer offers
According to SHRM’s 2025 Employee Benefits Survey, which gathered responses from nearly 4,000 HR professionals across organizations of all sizes and industries, health coverage remains the most universally offered benefit, with 97 percent of employers providing it and 88 percent rating it as extremely or very important.
1. Health insurance
Health coverage is the anchor benefit of the American employment relationship. The vast majority of employers offer a preferred provider organization plan, while 64 percent offer a high-deductible health plan linked with a savings or spending account. For most employees, health insurance is the single most financially significant benefit their employer provides, and it consistently ranks as the top factor employees consider when evaluating a job offer.
2. Retirement savings plans
Retirement savings and planning benefits tied with leave benefits for second place in employer priority rankings for the fourth consecutive year, with 81 percent of employers rating them as extremely or very important. Ninety-three percent of employers offer a traditional 401(k) or similar defined contribution plan, with 85 percent of those offering an employer match averaging 6.3 percent. Retirement benefits are considered essential across all employee generations, and employer matching contributions represent some of the most tangible financial value in any benefits package.
3. Paid leave
Vacation leave and sick leave continue to be two of the most provided benefits of any type, and leave benefits have tied for second in employer priority rankings for four consecutive years. Paid time off is among the benefits employees value and use most consistently, and its availability has a direct impact on recruitment, retention, and daily employee wellbeing.
4. Flexible work arrangements
Flexible work arrangements are offered by 68 percent of organizations, underscoring their lasting appeal in a post-pandemic workforce that has come to expect schedule and location flexibility as a standard feature of employment rather than a perk. For many employees, particularly those with caregiving responsibilities, flexibility is as important as compensation in their overall job satisfaction.
5. Life and disability insurance
Group life insurance and short and long-term disability coverage round out the core benefits package for most employers. According to BLS data, benefits average approximately 31 percent of total compensation for civilian workers, and although life and disability insurance represent a small share of that investment, these benefits provide financial protection employees rarely think about until they need them, at which point their value is immeasurable.
The growing second tier: benefits that are gaining ground
Beyond the core five, a second tier of benefits has moved from “nice to have” to “expected” over the past several years, driven by shifting workforce demographics, rising financial stress, and a growing employer recognition that total wellbeing, financial, mental, and physical, drives workforce performance.
Mental health and EAP benefits
Employee assistance programs and mental health benefits have risen sharply in employee demand. Programs that integrate physical, emotional, and financial wellbeing are driving higher engagement and retention, according to SHRM’s data, though structured wellness programs have declined to 39 percent of employers in 2025, down from 53 percent in 2021. The opportunity for employers is clear: mental health benefits that are well-designed, well-communicated, and easy to access generate meaningfully higher utilization and measurably better outcomes.
Financial wellness programs
Financial stress is the most pervasive source of employee anxiety in the American workforce, and demand for employer-sponsored financial wellness benefits has grown significantly as a result. Benefit managers are being advised to focus on financial wellness as a core component of a competitive benefits strategy to meet the changing needs and expectations of today’s workforce. Financial wellness programs that provide employees with access to credentialed financial coaches, such as the program offered by Financial Finesse, go well beyond general financial education to deliver personalized guidance that measurably reduces financial stress and improves employee financial outcomes.
Professional development and learning
Professional and career development benefits are rated as extremely or very important by 65 percent of employers. For younger employees in particular, access to learning, upskilling, and career development resources is among the most influential factors in job selection and retention. Employers who invest in their employees’ professional growth build loyalty that shows up in tenure and engagement data.
Family and caregiving benefits
Caregiving support has emerged as a significant gap in most benefits packages. Only 13 percent of employers offer elder care referral services, and just 10 percent provide paid prenatal leave beyond legal requirements, despite a workforce that is aging and facing growing caregiving demands on both ends of the generational spectrum. Dependent care FSAs, backup childcare, and flexible leave policies are increasingly important differentiators for employers competing for talent.
The utilization gap: offered is not the same as used
One of the most important and underappreciated facts about employee benefits is that availability and utilization are two very different things. Employers invest significantly in building comprehensive benefits packages, yet research consistently shows that a large share of those benefits go unused by the employees who need them most.
On average, only about a quarter of employees with access to wellbeing benefits, including physical, financial, and emotional support, actually use them.[1] For EAPs specifically, industry-wide utilization has held remarkably steady for years, with most traditional EAPs reporting engagement rates between 3 and 8 percent of the eligible employee population, with the median sitting at approximately 5 percent.
This utilization gap matters for two reasons. First, it means that the employees who most need support are frequently not receiving it. Second, it means that employers are not realizing the full return on their benefits investment. A benefit that goes unused generates no value for the employee and no return for the employer.
Financial Wellness Think Tank™ research consistently shows that financial coaching programs with strong employer communication, easy access, and unlimited no-cost engagement for employees achieve significantly higher utilization than benefits that require employees to self-identify a need and navigate a separate access process. The design of the benefit, not just its availability, determines whether employees actually use it.
What employees value most: the benefits picture in 2026
The benefits landscape is shifting in meaningful ways. Healthcare costs are expected to climb in 2026, putting cost control and benefit value at the center of planning discussions, as medical inflation, specialty drug spending, and higher utilization continue to drive spending. At the same time, employees are placing greater weight on benefits that support their total wellbeing, financial security, mental health, and flexibility, alongside the traditional core benefits of health coverage and retirement savings.
For HR leaders, the strategic imperative is not simply to offer more benefits. It is to offer the right benefits and to ensure employees can find, understand, and actually use them. The most competitive benefit packages in 2026 will be those that address the full spectrum of employee wellbeing, with financial wellness, mental health, and flexibility alongside the core five, and that are built for genuine engagement rather than checkbox compliance.
FAQs
What are the most common employee benefits?
The most commonly offered employee benefits are health insurance, retirement savings plans such as a 401(k), paid leave including vacation and sick time, flexible work arrangements, and life and disability insurance. These five categories form the core of most employer benefits packages in the United States.
What benefits do employees actually use the most?
Health insurance, paid leave, and retirement plans see the highest consistent utilization because they are either automatically enrolled or tied to immediate financial need. Benefits like EAPs, financial wellness programs, and mental health support tend to see lower utilization despite high demand, primarily due to awareness gaps, access friction, and stigma.
What employee benefits are growing in popularity?
Financial wellness programs, mental health and EAP benefits, flexible work arrangements, professional development, and family caregiving support are among the fastest-growing benefit priorities for both employers and employees heading into 2026.
How much do employee benefits cost employers?
According to BLS data, benefits average approximately $15.33 per hour for civilian workers, representing about 31 percent of total compensation. For a full-time employee earning $60,000 annually, that translates to roughly $25,000 to $30,000 in annual benefits cost.
This analysis draws on data from the SHRM 2025 Employee Benefits Survey, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, and Financial Wellness Think Tank™ research. The Financial Wellness Think Tank™ is the research division of Financial Finesse, the leading independent global provider of unbiased financial coaching as an employee benefit.
[1] As reported by Harvard Business School.