The benefits package is something that employees consider a relevant and important part of their remuneration. While there was an old belief that money was the main or ultimate motivator to employees, it’s now acknowledged that it goes well beyond that.
Benefits matter to employees for various reasons. Sometimes, it’s because the company can secure lower group rates than they can do on their own; this applies mostly to healthcare insurance. Other benefits increase the appeal of a job and make the company somewhere they’d like to develop a career. Here is how to manage benefits for employees and how to offer those that matter.
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Manage the Benefits Program Well
Any benefits program must be managed well. When that’s not the case, employees will begin to lose faith or trust in what’s being offered. For instance, if the benefit is not provided and they need to follow up several times to get that rectified, it doesn’t inspire confidence in their value to their employer. A mistake to their employer might be viewed quite differently by the employee. Therefore, it makes good sense to use software like Zenefits to administer employee benefits since it’s designed to do just that. This ensures the companies don’t end up with a poorly managed benefits program.
Offer the Right Range of Benefits
A poorly chosen selection of benefits may be a demotivating factor and cause some employees to go elsewhere. Such is the level of attraction of benefits as part of their remuneration. Companies should consider what will be most popular, and if necessary, survey the staff to get their take on things. Even if there are already some benefits being offered, a reshuffle or reconfiguring of the benefits offered provides an opportunity to reconsider.
Currently, additional paid leave is the top benefit for many employees. This may vary depending on age, gender, and the industry, but overall, this comes out on top. Most likely this is because the standard two weeks of vacation time lags woefully behind most of the rest of the world.
Consider Allowing Employees to Choose
Some companies allow employees to choose what benefits they wish to receive and those that they will pass on accepting. It is genuinely more difficult to manage with this kind of flexibility with benefits, so it’s usually better to solicit the opinion from staff on the most attractive potential benefit and reconfigure a package rather than allow a completely a la carte approach.
Don’t Ignore Demographic Differences
For companies with employees who span the age range and demographics, this needs to be heavily factored into the benefits offered. Otherwise, they may seem largely irrelevant to some groups of staff.
For example, Gen Z who have recently entered the workforce and the Millennial generation before them often prefer experiences over possessions. In which case, additional paid leave and greater flexi-time options are preferred. For Gen X who might be in their 50s, then they will likely be more focused on their 401(k), potential retirement benefits, etc.
While administering the benefits program well is necessary to track everything properly, that’s only the beginning. Offering enough options to suit different groups of like-minded employees is also necessary to make the benefits more attractive.
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