Employee participation rates in benefit programs are quite high, but not all employees who are eligible to receive a benefit enroll in the program. Survey respondents ranked the rising cost of providing benefits as the most important issue in their firm. Second most important is flexibility in benefit plans. Minnesota firms average 10 percent of total payroll cost supporting benefit programs. Minnesota firms on average pay a higher percentage of payroll to provide health and dental benefit programs than the national average.
Firm size plays an important role in benefit programs.
In general, as firm size increases, so do the benefits offered to employees. This is especially evident with health insurance and retirement benefits. Industry variations are also reported, but there is not as clear of a pattern as with firm size. Retirement benefits vary the most across industries. Paid holidays are second most common, offered by an average of 77 percent of firms to full-time employees.