According to a report from Staffing Industry Analysts, the state of healthcare coverage for temporary employees in North America has greatly improved since 2014. The report is the result of a survey that respondents completed late last year, detailing their healthcare coverage and other benefits.
Healthcare coverage
The majority of temporary workers reported that they received healthcare coverage:
- From an independent source, such as their spouse or from veterans benefits (53%)
- From their staffing firm (26%)
- From both an independent source and their staffing firm (6%)
Only 15% said they did not have any healthcare benefits.
Even though 77% of temporary employees had access to healthcare benefits through their staffing firm, only 42% signed up to them. Most temporary workers said they were already receiving health coverage from alternative sources, such as:
- Spouse/partner benefits (42%)
- Private medical insurance (25%)
- State/federal healthcare exchange (24%)
There was also a lot of variation between healthcare coverage for temporary commercial staff and temporary professional staff:
| Healthcare benefits | Commercial | Professional |
| From an independent source | 54% | 52% |
| Provided by staffing firm | 15% | 32% |
| From both independent source and staffing firm | 5% | 7% |
| No healthcare benefits | 26% | 9% |
These numbers show improvements — back in 2014, 40% of commercial temporary workers and 20% of professionals were without healthcare coverage.
Other benefits
Outside of healthcare coverage, temporary workers reported receiving additional benefits from their staffing firms, such as dental (36%), vision (31%), 401-K (22%), and life insurance (20%). Staffing firms were more likely to offer such benefits to professional temporary employees.
More pay or better benefits?
When asked which was more important — a pay increase or improved benefits — most temporary workers preferred better pay.
Using a 0 to 6 scale — in which 0 placed the highest value on pay over benefits and 6 most valued benefits over pay — 36% of temporary employees chose the “0” option. Only 11% chose “6,” and 22% were in the middle at “3.”
Source: North America Temporary Worker Survey 2020, from Staffing Industry Analysts
