What the 2026 Northwest Employee Benefits Survey Reveals About Employer Priorities

Rising benefit costs continue to challenge employers across the Northwest, but the results of the 2026 Northwest Employee Benefits Survey suggest that organizations are making deliberate choices about where to invest their benefit dollars. Rather than shifting significant healthcare costs to employees, employers appear to be refining their benefit offerings and focusing resources on the programs employees value most.

Employers Are Protecting Core Benefits

One of the most notable findings from this year's survey is how stable healthcare premium sharing between employer and employee remains despite ongoing budget pressures.

Health insurance participation remains exceptionally strong, with 100% of respondents offering health insurance. Dental coverage increased to 97.5% of organizations from 92% in 2025, while vision coverage rose from 88% to 95%. At the same time, employee-only medical premium contributions remained virtually unchanged year over year.

This suggests that many employers are choosing to preserve foundational healthcare benefits rather than reducing coverage or significantly increasing employee cost responsibility.

Investment Is Shifting Toward High Value Healthcare Benefits

While employers continue to maintain core health benefits, they are also expanding programs that support employee well-being and access to care.

Some of the largest increases from the survey include:

• Mental health coverage increased from 83% to 95%.
• Telemedicine offerings increased from 61% to 73%.
• Naturopathic coverage increased from 64% to 75%.
• Contraceptive coverage increased from 74% to 88%.

These areas represent benefits that employees consistently identify as important, and employers appear to be prioritizing them even as budgets remain tight.

Optional Perks Are Seeing More Scrutiny

At the same time, several lower priority or less utilized benefits experienced declines.

Survey results showed decreases in:

• Gym membership benefits from 31% to 20%.
• Nutrition education programs from 21% to 13%.
• Stress reduction programs from 18% to 13%.
• Commuter benefits from 14% to 6%.

Taken together, these trends suggest that organizations are not necessarily spending less on benefits overall. Instead, they are reallocating resources away from optional perks and toward healthcare benefits that provide broader employee value.

Workplace Flexibility Continues to Evolve

Another interesting trend is the changing definition of flexibility.

Hybrid work arrangements remained steady at roughly 65% of organizations, while remote work declined from 59% to 48%. At the same time, compressed work schedules increased significantly from 36% to 50%.

Employers appear to be exploring new ways to offer flexibility while balancing operational needs, collaboration, and employee engagement.

Compensation Strategy Remains a Priority

The survey also points to a continued focus on compensation structure and pay administration.

Key findings include:

• Organizations with established pay ranges increased from 71% to 78%.
• Organizations reporting no formal compensation structure declined from 19% to 13%.

As employers continue to formalize compensation programs, access to reliable market data becomes increasingly important.

Cascade Employers Association members have an additional resource available through Payscale, an online compensation platform that provides national and regional market data for more than 5,000 positions. Payscale is included at no additional cost for Cascade Premium and Pro members and is available to Essential and Small members for an annual subscription fee of $650, representing approximately 90% savings compared to purchasing directly through Payscale.

For organizations evaluating pay ranges, benchmarking jobs, or strengthening compensation programs, Payscale can serve as a valuable complement to the survey data.

Accessing the Full Survey

The 2026 Northwest Employee Benefits Survey contains significantly more data than can be covered in a single article, including detailed information on healthcare plans, retirement benefits, paid leave, compensation practices, workplace flexibility, turnaround trends, and other policy practices. Additional reports for even greater comparisons include the Non-Profit Report (non-profit data only) and Small Employers Report (organizations with less than 50 employees).

Survey participants receive preferred pricing benefits:

• Member participants receive the reports at no charge.
• Nonmember participants receive a 50% discount.
• Organizations that did not participate may purchase the final reports.

The survey continues to provide one of the most comprehensive snapshots of benefit and workplace practices across the Northwest and offers valuable insights for organizations planning for the year ahead.