Should You Rethink Your Benefits Package After a High Turnover Year?

What if your team isn’t leaving just for more money, but because your benefits package feels like a relic of 2013? After a year marked by departures, exit interviews, and seemingly constant hiring rounds, it’s worth asking: is your benefits package still doing its job?

Many employers assume salary is the only real bargaining chip in employee retention. But the reality is more layered. In a post-pandemic work culture defined by burnout, flexibility, and mental health awareness, benefits have taken center stage. If your turnover was high this past year, your current package may not reflect what employees actually value today. The good news? You can fix that, and it doesn’t necessarily require spending more, just spending smarter.

Let’s dive into why rethinking your benefits package may be the smartest move you make this year and how to do it right with insight from the team at Margolis & Associates, a leader in employee benefits in NYC strategy and risk mitigation.

The Hidden Cost of Turnover

Turnover costs more than just time and morale. There’s the obvious financial burden of recruiting, onboarding, and training. But there’s also the cost of lost institutional knowledge, disrupted workflows, and, often, lower productivity as new hires ramp up. For industries where relationships or expertise are critical, frequent turnover can damage client trust and brand consistency.

In many cases, benefits are a key piece of the turnover puzzle. When workers see little distinction between what one employer offers versus another, loyalty erodes. Benefits stop being a retention tool and become a standard checkbox on a job description. That’s where rethinking your strategy can set your company apart. A thoughtful, modern benefits package doesn’t just fill vacancies, it prevents them.

At Margolis & Associates, this is one of the most common patterns clients face after a year of high exits. Companies come looking for answers. Often, the root cause isn’t poor management or culture, but a disconnect between what the benefits offer and what employees value.

What Employees Really Want in Today’s Workplace

The last few years have changed how people approach work. Flexibility, mental health, and personal well-being have become non-negotiables for many. Yet many benefit packages still lean heavily on traditional medical, dental, and retirement options without addressing what employees say they’re missing.

Here are a few of the most sought-after features in modern benefits plans:

• Remote work stipends and flexible hours to support work-life balance
• Access to therapy services, Employee Assistance Programs, and mental health days
• Financial support tools like student loan assistance and savings plan education
• Benefits for caregivers, such as dependent care FSAs and paid parental leave
• Opportunities for professional growth through tuition reimbursement and learning stipends

Many of these perks don’t have to be costly. What matters most is how they’re prioritized and presented. When benefits reflect the realities of your employees’ lives, they show that your company sees them as individuals, not just roles.

Margolis & Associates often advises companies to evaluate their benefits mix by asking what kind of lifestyle and support their team needs, rather than what the company has always offered.

Signs Your Benefits Plan Might Be Outdated

Not all turnover can be blamed on benefits. But if you’re seeing repeated exit interview comments about pay, lack of flexibility, or stress, those are major indicators. Even if no one is saying it outright, declining employee engagement, increased sick days, or stalled internal mobility can point to dissatisfaction with current offerings.

One of the telltale signs Margolis & Associates looks for is benefit usage. If your most-used benefit is PTO and your least-used is your wellness program, something may be misaligned. It could mean that employees are too burned out to engage with optional programs or that your wellness options don’t address the actual challenges they’re facing.

Another red flag is uniformity. While consistency in administration is a good thing, benefits that feel one-size-fits-all rarely succeed. If every department, age group, or lifestyle is receiving the same perks with no customization or optionality, it can lead to disinterest. Choice matters.

Margolis & Associates can help evaluate this through benefits audits, employee surveys, and usage data, giving companies a clearer picture of what’s working and what’s being overlooked.

The Role of Benefits in Recruitment and Employer Branding

Think of your benefits package as your company’s silent recruiter. It tells a story long before a candidate sits down for an interview. When benefits are aligned with employee values, they make a strong case for why someone should choose your company over a competitor.

Job seekers now evaluate benefits as closely as they do salaries. Glassdoor reviews, LinkedIn posts, and word-of-mouth referrals all reflect how a company treats its people—and much of that comes down to benefits. In many industries, candidates are actively comparing healthcare coverage, leave policies, wellness options, and remote flexibility as part of their decision-making process.

Margolis & Associates often works with clients to build benefits messaging into their employer branding. That doesn’t mean overselling it. It means making sure candidates understand what’s available, how it aligns with their needs, and how it fits into the culture you’re building.

After a high-turnover year, refreshing your benefits package can signal change. It shows candidates that your company listens, adapts, and values its people. That message alone can shorten your hiring cycle and improve offer acceptance rates.

Customization Is Key: Building Benefits That Actually Fit

There’s no universal benefits solution. What works for a tech startup might not work for a construction firm. A workforce with many young professionals might care more about student loan support, while one with seasoned experts may prioritize robust health coverage and retirement planning.

That’s why customization is critical. A professional will often recommend segmenting benefits planning based on demographic insights, work styles, and organizational goals. For example, introducing flexible PTO policies for roles with high burnout risk or offering voluntary life insurance for employees with families shows that you’ve taken the time to think beyond the basics.

You don’t need to build everything from scratch. Often, it’s about layering in new options, revisiting underused benefits, or re-negotiating provider contracts to reflect current priorities. Margolis & Associates provides insight into what’s trending in the marketplace while keeping cost-efficiency and compliance top of mind.

The goal isn’t to add more benefits. It’s to create a mix that’s meaningful, engaging, and actually used.

Communication Can Make or Break Your Strategy

Even the best benefits package won’t matter if employees don’t know how to access it, or worse, don’t understand it. Poor communication is one of the most common reasons benefits go underused.

Here are simple but effective strategies Margolis & Associates recommends:

• Reinforce key offerings throughout the year, not just during open enrollment
• Use plain language in benefit materials so employees don’t feel overwhelmed
• Encourage managers to speak knowledgeably about benefit access during check-ins

We frequently help clients design benefit communication strategies that are simple, timely, and recurring. Rather than just delivering everything in an open enrollment meeting once a year, employers should look for ways to make benefits a living part of the workplace conversation.

That could mean monthly spotlights on different offerings, onboarding check-ins for new hires, or regular feedback loops. When employees are engaged with their benefits year-round, they’re more likely to see them as part of their overall compensation and support system.

In high-turnover situations, benefit communication becomes even more important. If your remaining employees are unsure what still applies, or new hires feel overwhelmed by jargon-filled documents, you’re at risk of disengagement, even before someone files their first claim.

How Margolis & Associates Supports Smarter Benefits Planning

When a company comes out of a tough turnover year, it’s easy to feel stuck between damage control and moving forward. That’s where strategic insurance brokers on Long Island like Margolis & Associates can be your biggest ally.

Rather than offering off-the-shelf solutions, we work closely with clients to assess what’s working, what needs updating, and what can be introduced to support retention and attraction. That includes vendor analysis, plan design, cost benchmarking, and employee feedback tools.

They understand that benefits are not just an HR function, but rather, a business investment. And like any investment, they need to be reviewed, adjusted, and optimized over time.

Let Turnover Be a Turning Point

A high-turnover year can feel like a setback, but it can also be an opportunity. It forces you to look at your business from a new angle, including how well your current systems support the people doing the work.

Your benefits package is a powerful signal of what your company values. When it reflects empathy, flexibility, and relevance, it becomes more than just a set of offerings, it becomes a reason for employees to stay.

Margolis & Associates is here to help you rethink your approach. With expert guidance, thoughtful planning, and a deep understanding of workforce trends, they can help you rebuild not just your benefits plan, but your team’s confidence in the future. Start plotting your roadmap today but reaching out to a team that puts you and your company at the top of their priority list.