Examining Satisfaction with State Employee Benefits

Researcher(s):
Dr. Noel Landuyt, Director, IOE
Geoffrey Treitel, Software Developer
Nawal Traish, Graduate Research Assistant

Client(s):
Texas Employees Retirement System

Project Categories/Tags:
Employee Satisfaction, Benefits, Pay

Description:
The IOE (Institute for Organizational Excellence) conducts a 48-item survey of all state employees every two years in order to assess attitudes and perceptions on 48 different items. The survey is known as the SEE (Survey of Employee Engagement) and asks employees to rate aspects of their agencies including teamwork and cooperation, facilities and technology, organizational culture and ethics, the quality of supervision and communication, and the appropriate use of data, among other categories. Respondents rate 48 statements on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 representing strongest agreement and 1 representing strongest disagreement with the statement (a score of 3 suggests neutrality on a statement).

This analysis focused on the three particular items that deal with perceptions of employment benefits, as administered by the Texas Employees Retirement System or the Texas Teacher Retirement System. Participants were able to share their thoughts on the competitiveness of retirement and health benefits and whether they thought their benefits could be individualized to meet their unique needs.

Key Findings:
The analysis revealed some differences in perceptions of benefits based on employee characteristics:

  • The youngest employees are significantly more satisfied with their benefits than older employees.
  • Satisfaction with benefits declines the longer one works at an organization, but begins to increase after about 16 years of service.
  • Satisfaction with benefits increases with salary level.
  • Satisfaction with benefits is higher in smaller agencies (less than 950 employees)
  • Satisfaction with benefits is lower overall in health and human service agencies than in other agencies