Employee Benefits Benchmarking: What it is and Why it's important

In today’s competitive job market, offering just a salary isn’t enough. The modern workforce values care, flexibility, and well-being  and this is where employee benefits have become a critical differentiator for companies.

For CHROs, regularly reviewing and comparing their employee benefits is a smart strategy that directly affects hiring, retention, and how valued employees feel at work.

According to MetLife's 2023 Employee Benefit Trends Study, over 60% of employees reported that their benefits make them feel more cared for and more loyal to their employer.

Key insight: Employee Benefits Benchmarking ensures your employee benefits remain relevant, competitive, and aligned with both industry standards and evolving employee expectations.

What is Employee Benefits Benchmarking?

Employee benefits benchmarking is the process of comparing your company’s employee benefits like Employee health insurance, paid leave, wellness programs, retirement plans, etc, with those offered by similar companies in your industry, size, or location.

Why Employee Benefits Benchmarking matter

Compensation gets reviewed every year. Performance goals shift every quarter. But benefits? They’re often left behind even as employee expectations keep moving forward.

Employee Benefits benchmarking helps HR teams:

• Understand how their offerings compare to industry peers
  
  
• Identify outdated or underperforming benefit structures
  
  
• Stay relevant to employee needs
  
  
• Justify changes to leadership with data
  
  

Without regular benchmarking, you risk spending on benefits that don’t deliver or missing out on what today’s talent truly expects.

Real-World Scenario: A Logistics Client’s Wake-Up Call

Let’s take the example of a well-established logistics and transport company with over 4,000 full-time employees across India. Even with a strong market presence built over two decades, they were seeing growing employee dissatisfaction, mainly due to outdated and limited employee benefits.

Claims issues, poor maternity coverage, and outdated employee insurance health plans led to a surge in employee complaints.

A newly appointed HR Head stepped in and recognized the growing gap between what employees expected and what was being offered. Instead of making random fixes, they decided to take a data-driven approach by benchmarking their current benefits against those offered by top industry players and high-performing companies.

That’s when Pazcare partnered with them for a comprehensive benefits benchmarking exercise.

How to do Employee Benefits Benchmarking

We partnered with the client to benchmark their offerings against industry peers and top 10% employers in India. Working with benefits consulting experts, the HR team conducted a thorough analysis that examined multiple factors of their employee health insurance and other benefits against:

Benefits Portfolio Analysis:

• Types of employee health insurance coverage offered
• Types of wellness benefits offered 
• Per-employee benefit spend across roles/grades

Coverage and Structure Evaluation:

• Coverage limits in existing employee health insurance plans( Maternity sub-limits,Disease-specific caps, room rent caps & co-pay clauses)
• Claims processing efficiency like Turnaround time (TAT) for claims
• Flexibility in benefits selection and customization options 

Key Findings: The Gaps Were Clear

Our analysis revealed that:

• Their employee benefits package ranked below the industry average across multiple categories, particularly in employee health insurance coverage limits and modern wellness offerings.
  
  
• Survey responses revealed that many employees felt the company’s insurance “looked good on paper” but failed to support them during actual need, especially around maternity, daycare procedures, and Room Rent limits.
  
  
• The absence of online doctor consultations, mental health support, and OPD coverage made the policy feel outdated especially to younger and remote employees expecting digital-first care.
  
  
• Many employees weren’t fully aware of what was covered. This led to underutilization of available benefits, resulting in low employee satisfaction despite ongoing spend by the employer.

With Pazcare, you can Benchmark your employee health insurance plan against industry standards.

What Happened Next: Data-Backed Action

The HR team used benchmarking data to:

• Flexible Benefits Rollout
  Employees were given the power to choose add-ons that matched their life stage whether it was parental coverage,Voluntary group top-up plans, or Access to a corporate buffer, a shared emergency fund to support high-value or sudden medical claims beyond personal limits
  
  
• Acted on Employee Feedback
  They prioritized areas where dissatisfaction was highest such as low maternity limits, unclear room rent clauses, and lack of digital access and worked with Pazcare to identify meaningful improvements.
  
  
• Modern, Wellness-First Perks Introduced
  New-age benefits like EAP programs, telemedicine, and wellness day initiatives were added.

This wasn’t just a fix, it was a culture shift.

 The Business Impact of Smart Benchmarking

• Boosted Employee Morale & Trust
  Employees appreciated the improvements in coverage and the effort made to prioritize their wellbeing. This translated into stronger engagement and more positive feedback across teams.
  
  
• Reduced Claim-Related Escalations
  With better clarity, higher limits, and modern additions like OPD and online doctor consultations, the HR team saw a significant drop in post-claim complaints and policy confusion.
  
  
• Improved Employer Branding
  In recruitment conversations, the upgraded benefits became a talking point, helping the company stand out in a highly competitive talent market, especially in Tier 2 cities and among mid-level roles.
  
  

Conclusion: It’s Time HR Took the Lead

In today’s fast-moving world of work, employee benefits can’t remain static. Regular benchmarking helps HR teams:

• Make informed, confident decisions
• Stay aligned with evolving employee expectations
• Proactively prevent dissatisfaction and attrition

If you're in HR and haven’t revisited your employee health insurance or benefits strategy in over a year, now is the time, because taking care of your team starts with understanding how far behind  or ahead  you are.

Benchmarking with Pazcare isn’t just a review, it’s a strategic reset. Let us help you find out:

• Where your employee health insurance plan stands today
• How it compares to peers in your industry and size
• What you can do to make it more competitive without increasing cost

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