At a time when it’s not just hard to find good workers but even tougher to keep them, it’s a bit shocking that companies everywhere are asking, “Do we really need to give workers benefits?”
Yes, you do need to.
Here’s why.
A recent study by Gallup, called “State of the Global Workplace 2022“, showed that more than half of all workers are not interested and unhappy at work. It also showed that 50% of US workers feel stress every day at work.
“Oh, but that can’t be MY workers.”
If you think this, you might want to think again. You should know that the best workers often won’t even show you they’re unhappy…until they leave and you’re stuck trying to find someone to take their place.
Workers today need to know they’re spending their time and energy at a company that cares about them, too.
Sure, saving for retirement is good. Health care is important, too.
But when your company also gets the day-to-day stress your workers are likely feeling and you offer ways to help with those worries through solid worker benefits packages, that’s how you earn trust over the long term.
In this post, we’ll show you the secrets to making workers really loyal with benefits packages.
So, what are employee benefits?
Employee benefits are additional benefits over and above one’s already established salary.
There are specific benefits an employer is required by law to provide – including unemployment and workers’ compensation insurance, social security insurance, and reasonable unpaid leave under the FMLA (Family and Medical Leave Act).
In addition to the required benefits, you can offer other powerful employee benefits that can boost overall morale, loyalty to your company, and productivity.
These optional benefits include everything from health insurance, life insurance, 401k matching, gym memberships or wellness programs at the office, and paid time off just to name a few.
So, are your employees satisfied with the benefits you’re offering?
That’s the million-dollar question, isn’t it?
A lot of the time, you won’t know they’re unhappy until it’s too late. So if you want to keep your top talent, it’s best to be proactive instead of reactive.
If your employees are:
- Not using the benefits
- Not receiving all the benefits required by law
- Talking about how they’re unhappy
- Mentioning a lack of benefits in salary and raise negotiations
…Those are clear signs you need to take action and make changes in your HR life cycle. But the best thing to do? Make sure your benefits are competitive with similar companies with great talent.
For many companies, especially in today’s workforce, finding and maintaining reliable, hard-working employees that keep the lights on and the doors open to your business can be a challenge.
Thriving companies in today’s market provide an attractive employee benefit package and typically also include perks. Employees may not see the need for long-term employee benefits but they do ‘perk-up’ when they hear perks!
If your employees are not satisfied with the long-term benefits you are offering, it may just need to be explained and better communicated so that your employees have a deeper understanding of the over-and-above salary assistance they are receiving.
4 Reasons Why Great Employee Benefits Are So Important
If you are on the fence about providing employee benefits or maybe you’re still wondering, are employee benefits really necessary? Consider the following:
#1: They increase productivity
Employees without little-to-no benefits are more focused on personal financial difficulties, which leads to less productivity at the workplace.
This decrease in productivity obviously creates an issue for your company.
So, providing additional perks and benefits can cost you less by avoiding wage increases, ultimately benefiting your company more by boosting your employee’s overall workplace attitude while alleviating stress.
The Gallup findings in the “State of the Global Workplace 2022” mentioned above also discovered that 70% of overall team engagement is influenced and linked to management leadership.
When engaging with employees, discovering their vision of a future with your company and their overall goals – both personal and professional – will help to build an open line of communication.
This open conversation leads to a boost in morale, team comradery, and overall trust.
#2: They boost long-term buy-in to your company
Teddy Roosevelt said it best, “people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care”.
This applies in the workplace, if your employees know that you care about their future, their family’s well-being, and health, they begin to feel a part of a workplace ‘family’ environment.
Inviting employees to take part in benefits like profit sharing, allows them to feel like a real ‘part of the team’. They have skin in the game. And because you are taking care of them, they care as well and want to take part in your vision for the company – for the long haul.
#3: They reduce turnover rates
Employee benefits packages from competing companies could sway your current top-performing employees to make a switch and seek a new work environment where they feel valued — and where a company invests in their livelihood, health, and future.
As discussed earlier, this year’s Gallup study found that over 50% of US workers experience daily stress at their job.
In a recent Aflac Workforces Report, “The latest study found that nearly half (49%) of employees are at least somewhat likely to look for a new job this year, with the majority of those identifying themselves as top performers with their company.”
On average, replacing an employee that makes $60k per year can cost $30k-$45k in recruiting and training a new hire according to the Society for Human Resource Management.
So, keeping quality employees by providing competitive and valuable employee benefits can be extremely effective in avoiding turnover, saving thousands of dollars and time.
#4: They set you apart from other competing companies
Providing employee benefits is important to the health of your company and can determine the quality of applicants interested in applying for a position within your organization.
Employee benefits packages are becoming increasingly more competitive between companies.
More than likely, the companies you are competing with to hire long-lasting, quality workers are offering employee benefits.
This means new leads you are actively investing in to fill positions may choose to go with a competing company because they offered an employee benefits package that provided additional security a candidate needed to commit to that company.
If that is the case, it can be easily resolved by creating an employee benefits package that stands out and seals the deal for quality team members that you want working for your company!
Types of Valuable Employee Benefits
#1. Insurance Benefits:
Insurance benefits for employees will always be one of the most important benefits offered.
Health, life, dental, vision, and disability insurance are the most common insurance provided to full-time employees.
Not all companies provide this amount of insurance coverage and depending on the size of your business you may or may not be able to cover all these bases.
Ramsey Solutions is an example of a larger company that does provide all the above insurance coverages to their full-time employees as well as other perks including gym membership discounts and even counseling reimbursement.
This type of benefit tells your employees and prospects, “We understand life is hard. Humans aren’t robots and we want to help our team with the emotional struggles life throws at you.”
When your employee benefits package provides so much security to your employees, you can create a culture known for taking care of people. This is one reason Ramsey was voted “Top places to work” multiple times.
#2. Wellness Programs
Wellness programs and discounts on gym memberships promote a healthy lifestyle. This perk can be a huge game changer for the overall health of your company.
Promoting a healthy lifestyle allows employees to feel more engaged at work and less stressed.
Studies show that regular exercise can reduce anxiety by 20%, and can improve the overall quality of life.
Providing additional perks outside of health insurance is not a necessity but, they are a huge bonus to your employees. And it helps productivity, too.
#3. Perks & Discounts that provide additional financial relief
Abenity offers great employee perks and discounts for small businesses, alumni groups, professional associations, and even customer loyalty and affinity groups.
“Using Abenity is like giving every employee a pay raise.”
– Curtis Borntrager (Owner at Shining Light Gymnastics – 40 Employees)
Abenity has partnered with hundreds of top brands across the country and even worldwide.
Allowing their employees to follow an app giving real-time notifications on deals based on their current location. Saving employees on everything from pharmacies to hotels and rentals worldwide.
They can also discover discounts on movie tickets, childcare facilities, theme parks, fitness centers, tax prep locations, restaurants, and much more.
Providing employees with these kinds of perks packages allows you to save money by avoiding salary increases while still offering extremely helpful discounts.
Saving you and your employees time and money thus reducing financial stresses while simultaneously showing you care about them!
Which Benefits should you offer to YOUR employees?
Now you know the value and importance of employee benefits to the overall health and longevity of your employees (who are essentially the backbone of your company).
But developing a package that shows your loyalty and care for their future can be a daunting task.
Depending on the size and budget of your company (which you can track with Excel accounting sheets or accounting software), you may not be able to offer all the bells and whistles a bigger corporation may be able to provide but, with companies like Abenity, you are able to customize perks and discounts to fit your budget.
Finding out what is important to your employees is key!
Opening the line of communication to understand what is important to current employees can also give you an idea of what may be important to future prospects as well.
When putting together a benefits package, think through the types of benefits and discounts that will speak to the activities and interests of the people you hire.
Being able to pick and choose an employee benefits package with great perks allows you to save money and show your employees you’re listening to them.
Lululemon Athletica is another great example of providing benefits that speak to the type of person that company is recruiting and vice versa.
Their workplace culture supports “whole person development”. Along with deep discounts on apparel, Lululemon Athletica has partnered with local gyms near the store locations that allow their employees to workout for free.
Applicants for Lululemon already have some sort of passion for fitness so, a benefits package that includes workouts at local studios is a definite perk that speaks to that potential hire and/or long-term committed team member.
“We believe that when life works, work works. And that starts with our core benefits”. Lululemon Careers.
Start Offering Employee Benefits Today
After reading this article and the Gallup statistics on the overall employee experience in today’s work environment, providing employee benefits is a great way to improve the quality of life for your employees as well as the quality of work at the office.
Boost your team’s overall morale and office culture by offering employee benefits that reduce stress, encourage trust and provide a vision for the long-term future, (for both you and your employees).
And, if you are a smaller company that cannot afford to add more insurance coverage on top of the already required insurance benefits regulated by the government, consider Abenity’s Fortune 500 perks and discounts.
Abenity allows you to customize your perks packages based on your budget.
We’re designed for small businesses to save you money while also putting you in a position to compete with other companies in attracting quality talent.
The Perks and discounts that Abenity offers allow you to stretch your payroll dollars by $4,500+ saving your business and your employees’ money.
We love a good win/win which is why employee benefits are so important!
