Can Personal Benefits Statements Close The Employee Benefits Appreciation Gap?

Beginning this month, full-time staff at Duke University will begin receiving personal benefits statements - a growing trend that may help employees better understand the scope of their compensation and the investment their employer is making in them beyond just salary for services rendered.

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Put together by the university human resources department, these statements break down all of the various components of each employee benefits package and the accompanying amount of employer contribution, personalized for every employee. This structure and format helps employees better conceptualize their current benefits/compensation plans to ensure the benefits offerings are tailored sufficiently to the needs of their present circumstances.

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For context on the scale of the program, Duke University paid about $3.4 million in monetary wages last year while making an additional $826 million in employee benefits contributions, about half of which went to health care expenses and a quarter of which went to retirement plans.

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You can read more about Duke’s personal benefit statement program here.