For typical U.S. workers, the most popular non-insurance, non-retirement employee benefit may be just about anything that can add more hours to the day, or more days to the year.
Unum Group has published data supporting that conclusion in a summary of results from a new survey of 1,227 working adults in the United States.
The Chattanooga, Tennessee-based company gave survey participants a list of 15 perks that get a lot of media attention and asked the survey participants to choose their five favorite perks.
Three of the five most frequently picked perks — paid family leave, flexible or remote work options and sabbatical leave — are benefits related to schedule flexibility and absence management.
(Related: Starbucks to Spend $250 Million on Worker Benefits After Tax Cut)
Paid family leave came first. It was picked by 58% of the participants. About 55% of the participants chose flexible and remote worked options as a benefit, and 38% chose access to sabbatical leave.
The top-ranked perk that was not directly related to time was professional development benefits: 39% of the participants chose that benefit.
Student loan repayment benefits ranked sixth. Only 35% of the survey participants chose that as a benefit.
Here are the selection percentages for some of the other benefits included:
On-site healthy snacks: 28%
Financial planning resources: 27%
Pet insurance: 15%