BOSTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Compt, an employee perk stipend software company optimized for the modern, more-flexible workplace, released today its findings from its mid-year employee perks benchmarking study. The study pulls data from over 140,000 individual stipend purchases from January through July, 2022 and highlights a transformation in how companies support employees with an emphasis on wellbeing. These spending categories are top of mind for HR teams as they go into open enrollment and budget renewal discussions with a desire to continue improving the employee experience through personalization.
The study supports evidence of higher utilization through personalized perk stipend programs over traditional, limited perk programs like HSA or FSA plans and vendor marketplaces or card-based models. Compared to last year, employers are paying more attention to lifestyle benefits as an inclusive business practice that also increases perk usage, raises employee engagement, and improves retention.
There is a continued shift in how employees define health and wellness and other perk categories: In the first half of 2022, the “Health and Wellness” and “Food” perk categories represented over 40% of all claims and nearly one-third of perk dollars spent, but change is happening. “Health and Wellness” are no longer defined as simply gym memberships and receipts from health food stores; rather, there is a greater emphasis on mental health and wellbeing, for which employees expect support from employers.
Employees’ top spending categories reveal purchases to support home life: The “Family” category nearly doubled year over year and encompasses a wider variety of purchases like childcare, groceries, school costs (like tuition reimbursement), household supplies, and even rent.
Inclusive benefits create a happier, healthier workplace: A review of the top 20 perk vendors in 2021 compared to 2022 revealed many employers are staying remote and supporting dispersed teams through a few key stipend categories like internet and phone reimbursement, as well as broadly defined health and wellness benefits.
“Now more than ever HR teams are tasked with what feels impossible – walking the line between competitive and frivolous benefits packages that satisfy both finance teams and the rest of the employee population,” said Compt founder and CEO Amy Spurling. “Our goal with this benchmarking study is to help HR professionals leverage data to design benefits that increase flexibility and engagement for the same dollar amount.”
Additional details are available in Compt’s 2022 Mid-Year Perks Study, available here. For the latest information on important data, products, people, and innovations, subscribe to the PeopleFirst Newsletter.
Methodology: The data from the Compt 2022 Mid-Year Perks Study comes from a review of over 140,000 individual perk transactions that occurred between January 1st and July 31st, 2022. This data is pulled from real companies across a variety of industries, all of which have shifted to personalized perks.
About Compt
Compt is the number one employee stipends platform that gives people the freedom to choose the lifestyle perks that they really want. Founded by a former five-time CFO, two-time COO, Compt’s employee stipend and rewards software is fully customizable to a company’s needs, IRS-compliant, and can support global teams. Compt is proud to be named the #1 HR Tech platform by SHRM’s Better Workplaces Challenge and a Built In Boston’s 2022 Best Small Company to Work For. Compt is based in Boston, MA. For more information, please visit https://www.compt.io/.