Employers are very concerned about healthcare costs and plan to curb them by continuing to shift more of the expense to employees, according to the latest Strategic Benefits-Healthcare Survey report from the Society for Human Resource Management.

The survey found 79% of respondents from organizations that provided healthcare coverage to their employees indicated their organization was “very concerned” about controlling healthcare costs; however, this is down from 83% in 2013 and 84% in 2012.

To halt some of the increasing costs, one-half of organizations indicated they increased employee contributions to healthcare costs in 2014 and 26% said they planned to increase employees’ share in 2015.

“A growing number of employers are asking employees to contribute a larger percentage of their healthcare costs,” said Evren Esen, director of SHRM’s survey programs. “But it is important that employers fully assess the potential impact of such a change, especially in today’s improved job market. Shifting healthcare costs to employees can lower employee job satisfaction and pose a barrier for attracting new talent.”

Almost one-fifth, 19 percent, of organizations that provide healthcare coverage indicated use of consumer-directed health plans, such as health reimbursement arrangements and health savings accounts, was the most successful tactic for controlling health care costs. About one-half of organizations, 56%, offered educational initiatives related to health and wellness and 48% offered lower-cost generic prescription drugs to help control the costs of healthcare.

The survey is one of SHRM’s six-part Strategic Benefits Survey and included the responses of 380 randomly selected SHRM members throughout the United States.