What utilities employers actually offer across medical, ancillary, leave, and retirement, benchmarked against the wider market.
Utility employers operate under regulatory obligation with a workforce that expects to stay for a full career. Benefits are built for longevity rather than for competitive recruiting cycles.
1. Medical
Field work in utilities carries a genuine hazard profile, and a medical plan is assessed on how well it handles that alongside routine care.
Mployer benchmark data for this industry against the market, with the unlabelled bars showing how far the figure moves across employer size.
Axis truncated. The floor is shown on the scale. Cohort low and high are drawn but not labelled.
2. Ancillary
Disability and life cover are central rather than peripheral for a workforce doing hazardous field work, and provision reflects it.
Mployer benchmark data for this industry against the market, with the unlabelled bars showing how far the figure moves across employer size.
Axis truncated. The floor is shown on the scale. Cohort low and high are drawn but not labelled.
| Industry ancillary measure | Benchmark |
|---|---|
| Employer contribution share for dental, single and family | See 50 State DetailSee 7 Size Cohort DetailSee All |
| Employer contribution share for vision, single and family | See 50 State DetailSee 7 Size Cohort DetailSee All |
| Average total monthly dental and vision premium | See 50 State DetailSee 7 Size Cohort DetailSee All |
| Short-term disability offer rate and benefit design | See 50 State DetailSee 7 Size Cohort DetailSee All |
| Long-term disability offer rate and maximum monthly benefit | See 50 State DetailSee 7 Size Cohort DetailSee All |
| Basic life benefit multiple and flat dollar median | See 50 State DetailSee 7 Size Cohort DetailSee All |
| Share of plans where life is fully employer paid | See 50 State DetailSee 7 Size Cohort DetailSee All |
| Voluntary life offer rate | See 50 State DetailSee 7 Size Cohort DetailSee All |
| Critical illness and accident offer rates | See 50 State DetailSee 7 Size Cohort DetailSee All |
| Long-term care insurance offer rate | See 50 State DetailSee 7 Size Cohort DetailSee All |
3. Leave
Leave has to work against on-call and emergency response obligations, which is the operational test of any policy in this sector.
Mployer benchmark data for this industry against the market, with the unlabelled bars showing how far the figure moves across employer size.
Axis truncated. The floor is shown on the scale. Cohort low and high are drawn but not labelled.
| Industry leave measure | Benchmark |
|---|---|
| Consolidated plan accrual at 1, 5, 10, and 20 years of service | See 50 State DetailSee 7 Size Cohort DetailSee All |
| Non-consolidated vacation accrual by tenure | See 50 State DetailSee 7 Size Cohort DetailSee All |
| Paid holidays offer rate and median days | See 50 State DetailSee 7 Size Cohort DetailSee All |
| Paid sick leave offer rate and median days | See 50 State DetailSee 7 Size Cohort DetailSee All |
| Sick leave carryover treatment | See 50 State DetailSee 7 Size Cohort DetailSee All |
| Unpaid family leave offer rate | See 50 State DetailSee 7 Size Cohort DetailSee All |
| Paid personal leave offer rate | See 50 State DetailSee 7 Size Cohort DetailSee All |
| Funeral, jury duty, and military leave offer rates | See 50 State DetailSee 7 Size Cohort DetailSee All |
4. Retirement
Retirement is a defining feature of utility employment and a principal reason staff remain for a full career.
Mployer benchmark data for this industry against the market, with the unlabelled bars showing how far the figure moves across employer size.
Axis truncated. The floor is shown on the scale. Cohort low and high are drawn but not labelled.
| Industry retirement measure | Benchmark |
|---|---|
| Median and percentile employer contribution rates | See 50 State DetailSee 7 Size Cohort DetailSee All |
| Automatic enrollment availability and default rate | See 50 State DetailSee 7 Size Cohort DetailSee All |
| Automatic escalation availability | See 50 State DetailSee 7 Size Cohort DetailSee All |
| Vesting schedule distribution | See 50 State DetailSee 7 Size Cohort DetailSee All |
| Minimum age and service eligibility requirements | See 50 State DetailSee 7 Size Cohort DetailSee All |
| Plan loan and in-service withdrawal availability | See 50 State DetailSee 7 Size Cohort DetailSee All |
| Defined contribution participation rate | See 50 State DetailSee 7 Size Cohort DetailSee All |
| Retiree healthcare availability before and after age 65 | See 50 State DetailSee 7 Size Cohort DetailSee All |
5. Additional optimizations
Optimization attention goes to retiree healthcare and to the well-being provisions appropriate to emergency response work.
| Industry additional optimization measure | Benchmark |
|---|---|
| Waiting period distribution: none, 30, 60, and 90 or more days | See 50 State DetailSee 7 Size Cohort DetailSee All |
| Fertility medication, IUI, and IVF coverage rates | See 50 State DetailSee 7 Size Cohort DetailSee All |
| Cryopreservation and adoption assistance rates | See 50 State DetailSee 7 Size Cohort DetailSee All |
| Mental health resource expansion in the past year | See 50 State DetailSee 7 Size Cohort DetailSee All |
| Telehealth and in-person provider additions | See 50 State DetailSee 7 Size Cohort DetailSee All |
| Wellness programs: coaching, weight management, biometric screening | See 50 State DetailSee 7 Size Cohort DetailSee All |
| GLP-1 coverage and preauthorization requirements | See 50 State DetailSee 7 Size Cohort DetailSee All |
| Remote and hybrid work availability | See 50 State DetailSee 7 Size Cohort DetailSee All |
| Retiree healthcare availability, under 65 and 65 plus | See 50 State DetailSee 7 Size Cohort DetailSee All |
FAQ
Related benchmarks
Figures on this page are drawn from Mployer benchmark data, all region and all size averages unless stated otherwise, and are rounded to the nearest whole point. Values shown in the tables are available inside Mployer Insights+. Read the full benchmarking methodology.
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