Employee benefits are a crucial part of any job. Not only does it attract potential employee’s attention to available job openings but it also helps retain current employees. The reason that employee benefits are so important is that they convey to employees that their employer is invested in their well being as well as their future.
Benefits go beyond what an employee is being compensated for a job. A good employee benefits package encompasses everything from paid vacation days, health insurance, pension plans and much more.
The type of employee benefit plan being offered will vary between industries but a benefits package can not be overlooked.
If you are having some difficulty coming up with a good employee benefits package, do not worry. Below are 5 tips that will help guide you through the benefit making process.
In creating excellent benefit plans, you will set yourself apart as a company that has a reputation of being interested and engaged in their employees.
1. Make Employee Benefits Easy to Understand
Did you know that 75 percent of employees don’t completely understand what benefits they are offered and how they work? This is a shocking statistic and even more sobering to realize that due to this disconnect most employees are not taking advantage of all the benefits offered to them.
This is a shame as a key way an employer works to show their appreciation to their employees is through their benefits packages.
What is the remedy to this misperception? The first step is to make sure that the benefit plan offered is properly communicated.
As opposed to laying out all potential benefit programs and plans in one difficult to read email, consider periodically sending out shorter bite-sized emails that outline a single benefit at a time.
In doing so, the employees will get a better understanding of each benefit and feel much more confident and engaged in the process. Employee Engagement is an entire topic for another day. Employees are much more likely to get excited about the benefits that are being offered to them when they are communicated.
Even if one benefit is outlined each month, the employees will be able to fully absorb the information and in turn, be much more eager to use the entirety of their benefit plan.
2. Get Creative
When most people think of employee benefits, the first thing that comes to mind is health insurance, paid time off, etc. And while those benefits are so popular because they are so widely appreciated, there are other more unconventional benefits that you might consider offering,
Some non-traditional benefits that you could offer could include some“in-office benefits”. These benefits could incorporate things such as free coffee and snacks in the kitchens, productivity tools such as headphones or online software or even something as simple as bagels every Friday morning.
Other creative benefits that are not as tied to the office space could include a performance-based benefit such as profit sharing, a bonus, or even information on the latest technology.
While these benefits range in their value, each of these options is of some benefit to an employee and are sure to make their lives just a little bit easier.
By choosing a few non-traditional benefits to couples with the more traditional benefits like health insurance, you will convey to your employees that you are invested in their day to day comfort as well.
3. Wellness Programs
Wellness benefits go far beyond just offering health insurance. While health insurance benefits are always appreciated, other less popular benefits can add to an employee’s overall health.
Some companies include on-site gyms or pay for an employee’s gym membership. This can prevent any illness as well as promote physical health to your employees. This perk is also proven to increase engagement and productivity among clients.
In addition to physical health, you may want to consider mental health benefits as well. One in five adults face mental health struggles. By offering tools and resources or even mental health insurance, you are communicating to your employees that you care about their well being beyond just the workplace.
4. Customize Your Packages
When making a benefit program, it is important to consider your employees and what their specific needs are. To do this, take an overview of your company.
What is the age range of your employees? Are they single or do they have a family who is dependent on them? What type of people typically work in your field and what are their general interests?
Once you have conducted your research, it can be useful to make a few different “stereotypes” of employees that work in your industry. The intent behind this exercise is to find a way to accurately represent the variety of people who work within your company.
Once you have compiled this list together, you can start to put together an assortment of benefit packages that can support every type of employee at a company. For example, an employee who is a mother could benefit from paid parental leave whereas the recent college graduate is not as interested in a package with that benefit included.
By understanding who works in your company, you can find a way to best cater to their needs through your benefits packages.
5. Consider a Mentorship Program
Perhaps one of the more overlooked benefits to offer is the mentorship program. The least expensive benefit a company could offer, a mentorship program that helps boost business and retain clients. Here is how it is so effective.
A mentorship program benefits not only the mentee’s but the mentors as well. The individuals being mentored learn invaluable skills and receive feedback from their higher-ups which then improves the learning curve of taking a new job. The mentors benefit from these programs by boosting their confidence and exercising their management skills.
Through a mentorship program, you will be able to improve communication and collaboration in the office while employees grow their skill set.
Conclusion
There are 5 tips to help come up with good employee benefits. Benefits packages have been proven to be one of the main reasons that companies retain their employees.
With a little creative thinking and research, you will be able to create an employee benefit package that will cater to everyone’s well being.
My name is Gabe Nelson and I work with Synccentric.com, where we offer resources and guides aimed to help bloggers in the online marketing and Amazon niche to help engage readers with valuable content.
