Dive Brief:

• For the past two decades, you might say employers have rolled with the punches when it comes to employee benefits, according to the Society for Human Resource Management's (SHRM) recently released 2016 Employee Benefits Survey.

• Mainly, employers increased and decreased benefits strategically — sometimes responding to economic and technological changes, and other times adjusting to workplace and employee needs. And sometimes employers made changes to meet both challenges, the SHRM report found.

• For example, employers today are responding to younger workers (millennials mainly) desire for more flexibility by increasing telecommuting, flex time and other strategies. In fact, since 1996 the percentage of employers offering telecommuting has tripled (20% to 60%).

Dive Insight:

Evren Esen, director of survey programs at SHRM, said the most surprising finding is that despite the number and types of benefits offerings that increased since 1996, core employee benefits are relatively the same. "Benefits such as health care, retirement planning and employee assistance programs are offered to employees at the same level as in 1996," he said.

"The number of benefits employers are offering is consistent with recent years," Esen added. "However, employers are always looking for new and innovative benefits that are cost-effective and best fit their workforce."

Esen cites how some employers have begun paying for more professional membership dues as a recruiting tool, as 88% of companies pay for professional membership dues today, compared to 65% in 1996.