(Bloomberg) -- Wages are still stagnant, yet employers havefound something else to help attract and retain employees:health-care benefits.

A good insurance plan has become a more vital tool than ever forhiring, according to a recent survey from the Society of HumanResources.

In general, the study found, companies are leaning on benefits towoo current and potential employees.

Read: Which workplace benefits are on the rise (andwhich aren't)

Of the 460 human resources professionals in the survey, 33percent said that in the last year their organizations usedbenefits of some kind—ranging from paid leave to wellnessprograms—to keep employees at all levels from leaving thecompany.

That marks a surge from just 18 percent who relied on benefitsto retain staff in 2012.

Of all the perks, however, health care was by far the mostfrequently used for employee retention. A full 80 percent ofHR professionals in the survey cited health benefits, morethan retirement and vacation, as a way to keep talent, up from 58percent in 2012.

"There are ways and combinations that employers can use to maketheir health-care plans more attractive," said Evren Esen, directorof the SHRM’s survey programs. "A company may offerhealth-care coverage, but it might not be the best coverage. Itmight not include certain kinds of benefits such as Lasik surgeryor bariatric surgery."

In addition to covering high-cost medical services, likefertility treatments and egg freezing, some companiesoffer a variety of health plans that a wider swath ofemployees find more attractive.

If the benefits package includes a health savings account, for example,an employer might kick in some seed money to jump-start thefund.

Some employers may also cover a larger chunk of theemployee benefit contribution, said Esen.

Employers eat, on average, about 76 percent of the cost ofhealth insurance premiums, according to the SHRM’s research.

That jibes with data from the Kaiser Family Foundation'sfindings in its 2015 Employer Health Benefits Survey, whichnoted that workers on average contribute just 18 percentof the premium for single coverage and 29 percent of the premiumfor family coverage—a figure that hasn't changed statisticallysince 2010.

Things might change soon. Employers would like to curb thecost of health care, which has risen for both employees andemployers over the last 10 years.

Total premiums have increased 61 percent, according to Kaiser,with employees footing a larger percentage of that bill thanever.

Respondents to the SHRM survey think employees will pay morethan half of the premium in the near future.

Yet with retention as the No. 1 issue facing companies, peranother SHRM survey, employers can't transfer too much of thefinancial burden to their employees.

"They know it’s so important to employees, but the costs aremaking it very difficult for employers to continue to offer healthcare the way that they have in the past," said Esen. "They arestuck between a rock and a hard place."

Still, health coverage as a benefit isn't going anywhere soon.Despite predictions that the exchanges created by thePatient Protection and Affordable CareAct would end the era of employer-sponsored healthcare, most employers haven't ditched the benefit.

"That would be too shocking for employees. They’ve been in thisrelationship with their employers for so long regarding healthcare," said Esen. "Maybe more companies expected that they wouldmove to a different type of system and they’re seeingthat’s just not really possible at this time."

Copyright 2018 Bloomberg. All rightsreserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten,or redistributed.