Employee benefits definition including break down of areas in the definition. Analyzing the definition of key term often provides more insight about concepts. Employee benefits can be defined as: Additional compensation paid to or on behalf of employees, such as premiums for medical, dental, life, and disability insurance, and contributions to pension plans. Employee benefits are a form of income, employee benefits being received for work that was done but not all employee benefits are taxable. The fact that some employee benefits are not taxed results in an incentive for these employee benefits.