Overtime pay and private insurance: Top 10 work perks employees want this year

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Employers are desperately searching for creative ways to simultaneously keep their current employees and recruit new workers. For many, their greatest tool is the perks and benefits they have to offer.

The workforce has made it clear that the decision to stay with or choose a company comes down to how valued they feel. And whether it's flexible working hours or doing more to support employee health and wellness overall, workers want their companies to provide solutions and resources to help them. 

Hiring platform Remote surveyed over 2,000 full-time employees in the U.S. to reveal the 'work perks' employees are looking for in 2022. Overtime pay came out on top as Americans' most desired work perk, followed by services supporting employee health and wellness.

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Remote's research revealed that seven out of the 10 most-desired perks pertained to healthcare, including private health insurance, healthcare cost reimbursements, paid self-care days or PTO for mental health. 

The benefits that made the list also varied depending on workplace demographics. For example, individuals who work in IT and telecoms, as well as manufacturing and utilities placed high value on company-sponsored retirement plans or pensions. HR teams, by contrast, prioritized a more flexible schedule as their most desired perk. 

And for stressed out execs in the HR sector, online therapy and mental health support was more in demand than any other industry. A similar trend could be found among Gen Z workers, too, who favored access to mental health coaching as their top employer-provided benefit.  

Here are the top 10 most-desired work perks on Remote's list:

Overtime pay (79.3%)

Private health insurance (77.3%)

Flexible working hours (77.0%)

Company-sponsored retirement plan or pension (76.4%)

Family health insurance (75.0%)

Private dental insurance (74.8%)

Private vision insurance (71.8%)

Healthcare cost reimbursements (68.9%)

Private life insurance (67.1%)

Paid self-care days or time off for mental health (65.1%)

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