More than half of senior executives in the United States cite providing healthcare benefits to their employees as the greatest business challenge they face, according to a new survey by Adecco Staffing US. Additionally, 35 percent of executives surveyed are holding back on hiring additional employees because of the passing of the recent healthcare reform act and price increases associated with it.

“While there certainly have been political and economic changes since the recession started in 2007, it's interesting to see that senior executives face the same challenges they did five years ago,” said Joyce Russell, president of Adecco Staffing US. “Business leaders continuing to find competitive healthcare and salary packages as their two biggest challenges calls attention to the impact that the economy and changing regulations can have for an organization. As regulations change, businesses are often put in situations where they're faced with figuring out how to adjust their systems and processes to comply with policies instead of completely focusing on ongoing business challenges and opportunities.”

Braun Research fielded the telephone survey of 501 senior level executives.