As business owners continue to wrestle with annual double-digit increases in health-care premiums, knowing how well their companies’ benefits compare with those of their competitors is increasingly important. Employers also want to know which benefits are most popular with their workers so they can offer attractive compensation packages.

By early next year, Iowa businesses will have a new tool for sizing up their benefits packages, using the results of a statewide survey now being conducted by Iowa Workforce Development. Judging by the response rate so far – 42 percent – companies are eager to have access to the data.

The Employer Benefits Survey is an enhanced version of a statewide survey that was eliminated in 1998 due to budget cuts, said Heidi Wicks, project manager for the department’s Community Workforce Research and Development Division.

“We had gotten so many requests for this type of information that we resurrected it,” Wicks said. Going out by mail since June to 11,000 randomly selected businesses, the surveys have garnered a 42 percent response rate so far, an indication of how “starved” businesses are for benefits data, she said. The last surveys will be mailed by mid-October.

Responses to the survey’s 198 questions will provide a comprehensive look at four benefits areas: insurance, paid leave, retirement and miscellaneous benefits such as child-care assistance and tuition reimbursement.

The results are expected to be available in February on the Iowa Workforce Development Web site as well as by mail to participating companies that requested a copy. Chamber and economic development groups can also arrange to receive tailored regional data from Iowa Workforce Development on a fee basis. Six regional groups have already reserved reports for a fee of $1,000 per county covered, Wicks said.

David P. Lind & Associates L.C., a Clive-based benefits consulting firm, already conducts a statewide benefits survey. Its president, David Lind, said though there’s some overlap between his existing program and Workforce Development’s, the state’s effort doesn’t duplicate his firm’s survey.

Lind & Associates sent out its seventh annual survey earlier this year to more than 2,100 randomly selected Iowa companies, including some with as few as 10 employees. The survey results from 720 respondents indicated a dramatic increase in shifting of health-care costs to employees as health insurance premiums increased an average 12.4 percent statewide from 2004.

For more information about the Workforce Development survey, visit www.iowaworkforce.com or contact Heidi Wicks at 281-7307.