The employee benefits division of accounting giant Deloitte & Touche USA LLP tops the list of employee benefits consultants with 224 employees in L.A. County.

Deloitte works with many large companies defined as having 500 or more employees to provide consulting services for health and retirement benefits.

“Health care costs will be on the top of people’s minds for the foreseeable future,” said David Lusk, principal, Deloitte Consulting LLP. Lusk has seen health care costs rising less quickly than in the past, but the issue is still at the forefront of concerns over compensation.

With an aging workforce and more employees looking to retire, Lusk says more workers have started using vehicles to save for retiree medical expenses.

However, fewer companies have programs that offer retiree medical coverage.

“Retiree coverage is more common in the public sector,” Lusk said. “People will make decisions to switch jobs if they have a chance to earn retiree medical coverage.”

Another issue that employers are confronting is attraction and retention of top performers. Talent management issues have emerged as equally important as health care concerns for many large companies. Companies are investing heavily in technology and infrastructure that measure performance and learning.