According to a new July 28 study from Paychex Inc., workers have voted health insurance as the top reason why they stay at a company long-term.
Paychex, a payroll company, and Executive Networks, a human resources professionals organization, surveyed over 600 U.S. employees to determine several key factors that influence long-term career retention.
Insurance just narrowly beat out retirement benefits for first place.
Sixty-four percent of survey respondents cited health insurance as a top reason for staying, while 62 percent of respondents put retirement benefits as a top reason.
Other top answers included financial wellness benefits (41 percent), job stability (60 percent) and meaningful work (45 percent). Gen Z respondents were most likely to value mental health benefits, at 23 percent.
"Perhaps the most compelling takeaway from this study is the confluence of factors that affect employees' decisions to stay with a company," Jeanne Meister, the founder of Future Workplace and executive vice president at Executive Networks, told 401K Magazine in response to the survey data. "We found that only 29 percent of employees have had what we call a 'stay interview.' These open conversations with employees can give HR staff insights into the unique values of their employee populations to increase retention, even in a difficult labor market."