Size, industry and location of the employer also influence how much workers value their benefits and account for fluctuations in scores. Workers at larger companies (median of 500 employees) tend to have more robust benefit offerings, benefits support and employer contributions, and therefore score significantly higher. These workers usually have greater access to effective benefits-related communication, education and a diverse set of products than employees at smaller companies.

What's driving satisfaction?

Offering more benefits products and support resources, and doing so in the manner employees prefer, has a significant positive impact on the value employees place on their benefits.

While a majority of workers report turning to friends, relatives or spouses for help making benefits decisions, those who do tend to be less confident in those decisions and ultimately place a lower value on their benefits package overall.

Conversely, workers who take advantage of the educational resources, tools and information made available by their employers have a more positive perception of their benefits decisions and a higher-than-average BVI score. Therefore, giving workers access to resources that will allow them to make the best benefits decisions is a critical element in getting workers to feel more confident and satisfied about their selections. Ultimately, this raises the value workers place on their benefits.

Personalized, benefits-related content can improve workers' attitudes toward the value of their overall benefits package, which contributes to engagement. More than nine in 10 workers are interested in receiving personalized recommendations about benefits and coverage levels from insurance carriers for specific benefits and coverage levels, and not coincidentally, these workers score very highly on the BVI.

Content targeted to a worker's background, life stage or even household can allow workers to make more informed decisions about their benefits and ultimately lead to greater confidence that they have made the right decisions.

Increasing employee engagement

Delivering benefits communications and enrollment in the channels most preferred by workers also contributes to higher perceived value and engagement. Notably, workers who prefer a high-touch method of receiving benefits information such as meeting face-to-face with a benefits advisor tend to score well above the average on the BVI.

Online is the preferred and most satisfying enrollment channel. Employees who enroll online score significantly higher on the BVI than those who enroll via other methods. This means that workers who enroll online are much more likely to value their benefits and ultimately be more engaged.

Regardless of which enrollment channel is used, employees have a clearer sense of benefits satisfaction when they are provided the option of selecting their own channel of enrollment. This helps employees project more confidence in the benefits that they select, thus contributing to greater loyalty and engagement and a higher score. Equally, this segment of employees also tends to have a longer tenure with their employer, places greater value on their benefits and is predicted to have an increased likelihood of working at the company one year from now.

Employees welcome access to financial products

Increasingly, workers are looking to the workplace for financial products and services as a result of the economic conditions of the past several years. And workers who obtain most of their financial products at the workplace score significantly higher on the BVI than those who get them outside of work.

In addition, the more financial products workers obtain at the workplace, the more likely they are to place a greater value on their overall benefits package. Offering benefit product breadth can lead to a greater number of products owned, which ultimately translates to a higher value placed on the overall benefits offering.

While employers are juggling both the need to manage benefits-related costs and meeting the needs of their workers, it is necessary for them to increase the effectiveness of their benefits programs in order to help their employees be better protected and feel more confident about their benefits, which can contribute to greater satisfaction and long-term engagement with their employer.

Elena Wu is vice president, group marketing and learning services at The Guardian Life Insurance Co. of America.