Employee engagement is no longer about perks. Here’s what replaced it

Human resources leaders commonly assume that for a company to stand out as a great place to work, it must deliver competitive perks — everything from skills training to pet insurance to foosball. New research finds that this view is outdated: engagement and retention don’t correlate with benefits awards. Employees have begun looking beyond material offerings and assessing how they feel about the company they work for — and that requires a different approach.

Fortune 500 companies spend more on benefits and perks than ever — almost US$2,500 a year per employee, on average. But a study by the research and advisory firm Gartner, comprising global surveys of 5,000 employees and more than 150 HR leaders, reveals that employee engagement has been flat since 2016.