Offer More Benefits for Less
The employees you choose to bring onto your team can greatly impact your company and its chance for success. It’s important that you’re able to retain team members that significantly contribute to your firm’s growth. What’s an easy way to do that? 50 percent of workers say that if their employer improved their benefits package they would be more likely to stay with their job. Although benefits are becoming more expensive every year, there are ways to enhance your offerings without sacrificing the bottom line:
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Steps
Talk to Your Employees About What’s Important to Them
- Surprisingly, the most desirable benefits might not cost your company a dime. A flexible work schedule, where employees can work remotely, is one of the most requested benefits.
- Others might want their employer to back a personal loan so that they can pay back tuition.
- Workers with kids might value the opportunity to bring their kids to the office, if need be. The only way you’ll know how to create the best offering is to ask your employees and foster a dialogue about what’s working and what isn’t.
Tailor Benefits to Meet Employees’ Needs
- Traditionally, employers offered health insurance plans that covered the nuclear family – parents and children. But this one-size-fits-all model might not accommodate multigenerational families and other types of families that fall outside of this traditional structure.
- Firms can offer insurance plans that can be augmented to include other family members and friends.
Consider These Low-Cost Benefits
- Unlimited Vacation Time: Companies like Netflix, HubSpot and ZenPayroll have unlimited Paid-Time-Off policies. They provide guidelines on what’s been done in the past, but trust employees to do what’s best for the company, their work and themselves.
- Sabbaticals: If you tie sabbaticals to years of service, it can be a great way to get employees to stay with your company.
- Flex Time: Some companies require employees to work certain core hours but let them craft the rest of their schedule on their own. Others provide greater flexibility and allow employees to create their own schedules. No matter which option you choose, workers will appreciate the flexibility.
- Fitness Stipends: Providing your workers with stipends for gym memberships, fitness classes and other physical activities can lower your health insurance costs and maintain productivity on the job.
- Commuter Benefits: Many cities already make it easy for employers to get their employees to allocate tax-deductible funds toward transportation expenses. For example, in New York City all workers can lower their monthly expenses by using pre-tax income to pay for their commutes. This also lowers employers’ payroll taxes.
- Free Food: Eating outside or inside the office as a group can help employees bond and strengthen your workplace culture.
- Vendor Discounts: Discounts at local businesses in your neighborhood are fun perks that people love. Often times, providing these discounts won’t cost your company anything.
Tips
- Every workplace is different, but talking to your employees about what’s important to them, tailoring benefits to meet their needs and considering low-cost options will ensure you craft the best benefits package for your company.
