Sixty-three percent of HR professionals say the recessionnegatively affected their employee benefit offerings "to someextent" within the past year, according to a new report from theSocietyfor Human Resource Management.

About a third (28 percent) said the recession didn't have anyeffect on their employee benefit packages, with only 9 percentreporting it had a "large" affect on what they were able to keepproviding to their employees.

The findings are detailed in the SHRM 2010 Employee BenefitsResearch Report, released last week at SHRM's 62nd AnnualConference and Exposition in San Diego.

Must haves like family-friendly benefits remain largelyunchanged from last year while several types of housing andrelocation benefits took a hit. The report also shows a downwardtrend, some significant, in several employee benefit categoriesover the past five years, from 2006 to 2010.

The percent of payroll paid on benefits holds steady in 2010when compared with 2009. On average 19 percent of an employee'sannual salary was spent on mandatory benefits, 18 percent onvoluntary, and 11 percent on pay for time not worked benefits. In2009, HR professionals reported that 20 percent of payroll costswere spent on mandatory benefits, 19 percent for voluntary benefits, and 11 percent for paid leave benefits.

Mandatory benefits typically include unemployment, worker's compensation, and Social Security. Voluntarybenefits include medical plans, dental plans, prescription coverage, flexible spending accounts, vision plans, and survivor benefits.

"Although the recession has presented challenges in thecontinued support of some employee benefits, some organizations arefinding creative ways to replace the more costly benefits withalternative, less costly, family-friendly benefits," said MarkSchmit, director of research at SHRM. "These progressive companieswill likely fare better in retaining key talent as employmentopportunities increase post-recession."

Key findings from the survey include:

• Two of the 14 different types of housing and relocationbenefits saw significant cuts from 2009 to 2010. In 2009,36 percent of HR professionals said their company provided"location visit assistance" compared to 20 percent in 2010. Also,the number that provided "rental assistance" dropped from 12percent in 2009 to three percent in 2010. Since 2006, rentalassistance benefits fell 19 percent and location visit assistance20 percent.
• Business travel benefits cuts were minor from 2009 to2010, but the changes have been significant over the pastfive years. Only four percent of organizations cut benefits thatallow employees to keep frequent flier miles, hotel points, andmake paid long-distance calls home while on business travel. Overfive years, however, 24 percent of employers cut paid long-distancecall benefits, eight percent reduced travel accident insurancebenefits, and eight percent also cut paid dry cleaning businesstravel benefits.
• Cuts to retirement savings and financial planningbenefits changed little from 2009 to 2010 but did sosignificantly over five years. Among the 15 different types ofbenefits in this category, the number of organizations offering"individual investment advice" dropped from 48 percent in 2006 to40 percent in 2010. Even more dropped "retirement planningservices" -- 52 percent in 2006 to 39 percent in 2010. The"traditional defined benefit pension plan" is also offered by feweremployers with 48 percent offering it in 2006 compared with 27percent in 2010.
• Opposite-sex domestic partners continue to be includedin family-friendly benefit plans. Family-friendly benefitsfor domestic partners -- same-sex and opposite-sex -- are offeredby 13 percent of organizations in the 2010 survey. SHRM begantracking the trend in 2008 and the numbers hold steady.
• Health care and welfare benefits for domestic partnersare holding steady. In the report released today, 37percent of organizations report offering the benefit to same-sexdomestic partners, while 38 percent offer the benefits toopposite-sex domestic partners. The numbers hold steady to 2008when tracking began.
• Overall, health care and welfare benefits were a mixedbag of offerings in the 2010 report. While the"rehabilitation assistance" benefit increased from 37 percent in2009 to 45 percent in 2010, the "long-term health care insurance"benefit dropped from 39 percent to 31 percent during the same timeperiod. "Mental health coverage" benefits continue to increase --from 80 percent in 2009 to 82 percent in 2010, and from 73 percentin 2006.
• The other benefits category continues to decline inseveral types of coverage. HR professionals reported fewercompanies offering: noncash company-wide performance awards;company-purchased tickets to events cultural, sporting, and themepark; Also on the decline are take your child to work day, holidayparties, company picnics, and milestone awards.