Jon Clark is a managing partner at Moving Traffic Media, a New York digital agency offering SEO, PPC and Amazon marketing services.
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Any successful business has its employees to thank, right? After all, our employees are the heartbeat of our businesses—they keep everything ticking over. With this in mind, it’s only right that we treat them well in return; if you don’t, someone else could end up taking your best talent.
A recent Consumer Affairs report revealed that 42% of those who are financially motivated to leave their jobs do so to seek better benefits in general. Considering that, here is what I have learned about how to deliver a benefits package that encourages your best talent to stay.
Why Employee Benefits Matter
Employee benefits show your workers that you care about them and their well-being. In return, employees are likely to be more loyal to your business. Benefits that are customized to meet the needs of the employee in question ensure their life is easier. Not only does this help your employee, but it enables them to do a better job because they can focus on work and they won’t have as many outside distractions.
For example, childcare is a big issue for a lot of workers. However, with childcare vouchers, you can ensure this is covered so your employees don’t have to worry about it.
Putting Together A Benefits Package
Now that you know why putting together an effective benefits package is so important, let’s take a look at some of the different things you can do to deliver an outstanding benefits package:
• Talk to your employees. You’ll never be able to deliver an effective benefits package if you don’t talk to your employees and understand what matters to them the most. You can do this with an informal conversation or by sending out an anonymous survey.
• Customize benefits packages to suit each employee. What one person finds useful may be of no use to another person. Childcare vouchers are a godsend for parents, but they’re of little use to workers who don’t have children. This is why customization is key. The good news is that you can get software today that enables employees to choose their own rewards, so this is an easy way of delivering customization.
• Review plans. People change. What they want and need changes, too. So make an effort to review benefits packages on a regular basis, i.e., once per year, so that employees are benefitting from a plan that is best for them.
Desirable Employee Benefits
When preparing a benefits package, there are a number of benefits that are always highly desired by employees:
• Private Dental Insurance: Just like private health insurance, private dental insurance benefits your business just as much as it does your employees. Yes, employees benefit from great dental care. However, such a policy means that health issues are unlikely to go untreated. You should have fewer days off due to dental or health problems if you provide these sorts of perks.
• Time Off For Mental Health Or Paid Self-Care Days: Burnout and mental health issues were pushed into the spotlight as a consequence of the pandemic. Of course, this simply highlighted underlying issues that a lot of people were already experiencing. Knowing that mental health is taken seriously can make a big difference to employees. In fact, a new poll from the American Psychological Association revealed that 81% of employees would rather work for a company that provided mental health support.
• Family Health Insurance: Individual health insurance is great, but family health insurance is even better. When an employee knows that their family’s health needs are catered to, that’s a big reason for them to stick around and stay loyal to your business. After all, there’s nothing more important than good health!
• Company-Sponsored Pension Or Retirement Plan: Retirement plans really do help to retain and attract workers. A recent study has shown that 93% of workers deem retirement planning assistance a priority when deciding where to work. Given economic uncertainty and inflation, this is more important than ever.
• Flexible Work Hours: Did you know that 84% of enterprise workers want at least some flexibility? If someone has to pick their son up from baseball practice, why not let them finish work earlier, so long as the hour lost is rescheduled to another part of the week? Is it really going to cost your business anything?
Out-Of-The-Box Benefits Ideas
Finally, another way to make your business stand out is by offering benefits that your employees are less likely to find elsewhere. Here are some rarer options to consider:
• Paid Volunteer Days: We’re becoming more socially aware as a nation. We want to help others. We want to give back to the community. However, it can be hard to do this when working nonstop. Paid volunteer days enable workers to give back to the causes they care about the most.
• Caregiver Services: I’ve mentioned childcare a few times in this post, but what about employees who are looking after elderly loved ones? Caregiver support could make a massive difference in an employee’s life, and you can also earn up to $5,000 in yearly tax credits.
• Financial Planning: In school, many of us didn’t receive financial planning lessons or learn about mortgages, education fees planning or investing in stocks and shares. As a consequence, a lot of people feel lost and struggle to manage their money effectively, which is why financial planning can be worth its weight in gold!
A stellar benefits package can be just the thing you need to set your business apart from the crowd. If your benefits package is customized and delivers real value, workers will have no reason to look elsewhere for another business that values them more and understands the struggles they face.
