Successful businesses often have satisfied employees who like their work and the benefits that they receive. Employee benefits can attract new talent and help companies do an excellent job of keeping workers. If you want to ensure continuous productivity from your employees, then you should offer benefits that make them feel enthusiastic about their careers. Here are some of the most important employee benefits that your business should consider.
1. Retirement benefits
Most individuals find it difficult to privately arrange for their pensions, and there is no doubt that the government and private employers are the biggest contributors to pension funds. The fact that your business cares about what happens to your employees once they retire can send a very meaningful signal.
On the other hand, retirement funding is a very tax-efficient method of payment. Your employees pay less tax on certain brackets of employer pension contributions, so you can compensate them better without increasing their tax burden if you pay into a pension fund on their behalf. For these reasons, large companies often run vast pension plans with billions invested on behalf of their employees.
2. Healthcare and related benefits
A healthy employee is a productive employee. If you can keep your employees healthy and in attendance, then you will get more economic production out of your workforce. Therefore, so many employers opt for offering health insurance to their employees, which ensures that workers are back on the job as soon as possible in case they fall ill.
Health benefits are offered by companies around the world and often go beyond health insurance. Your business can offer gym memberships, and if you really want to help your employees get fit you can roll out a corporate wellness program. Through this you can also offer your employee’s discounted pricing on fitness gear such as compression workout clothes which are used for working out, improved circulation and recovering muscles.
3. Flexibility around working
It is increasingly becoming the norm for employees to work from home at least some of the time or work flexible hours. Flexible working is not a possibility for every company, but as a start, you can consider specifying a range of core hours during which employees should attend along with a minimum number of hours of attendance for a specific day.
Giving your employees the choice to work from home one or more days a week is an excellent way of motivating them. This can also save an employee from losing annual leave days on mundane tasks such as waiting for a delivery, and for many people, the occasional work-from-home day is a welcome break from commuting.
4. Training and education benefits
Investing in your workforce through training and education brings two benefits. First, you are developing the skills of your employees, which leads to higher productivity and the opportunity for your business to grow faster. Training and education is effectively an investment in the future of your business.
Second, most employees see complimentary training and education as a benefit. Education is expensive, and many people skip on furthering theirs as adults due to the expense involved. Businesses that offer free training and education will get a positive response from their workers as well as a good dose of loyalty.
5. Paid maternity and paternity leave
A new member of the family involves a lot of stress, and paying for childcare makes the situation even tougher for employees to deal with. Consider offering industry-leading paid maternity and paternity leave – doing so is sure to build loyalty and gratitude among your workers.
Extensive paid leave that allows your employees to bond with their newborn children can also help you avoid the need to replace them. If your workers know that they will get this type of leave, then they will be much less likely to resign to look after their babies.
How to decide which benefits to offer
Getting the most out of your employee benefits program does not necessarily mean that you need to spend a large amount of money. The ratio of the cost of the benefit to the satisfaction of the employee is not completely linear – some benefits can generate a very high sense of satisfaction but cost very little to implement.
When planning your benefits program, ask your employees what they value most and pick the benefits that are the most cost-effective. Some employee benefits might be of more monetary value to your company than the value that your employees place on it, in which case your overriding concern should be the value that the benefit brings to your business.
