The Benefits that Employees Want the Most, Explained
The realm of employee benefits has expanded considerably in recent years. However, not all employee benefits are equally as valuable to every employee or company. With options like family and pet healthcare plans, tuition assistance, fitness perks, and many more to consider, business owners may wonder which benefits their employees want the most.
If well-designed, a benefits plan can increase employee retention rates, boost productivity, and contribute to healthy company culture. That’s why it’s essential to know which benefits will be most valuable to your employees and your company, as a whole. Below, we’ve developed a compressive look into the benefits and incentives that today’s workforce values the most.
What Counts as a Benefit?
Employee benefits are non-wage compensation offered to employees by employers. They are agreed upon before hiring and usually kick in about 90 days after the first day of official employment, following a probationary period.
The primary objective of offering non-salary benefits is two-fold. First, doing so will attract quality candidates to a business, thus increasing its competitiveness. Second, solid benefit packages improve the overall well-being of employees, who have many needs and concerns that extend beyond monetary compensation alone.
Due to their importance, some benefits are even codified and mandated by federal and state law. Some examples of standard employee benefits that are commonly required by states are:
- Healthcare
- Dental and Vision Insurance
- Paid Vacation and Sick-Time
- Paid Family/Maternity Leave
- Remote and Hybrid Work Options
- Retirement Savings Plans
- Paid Holidays Off
While not all of these are required by law in every state, your company’s employee benefits plan would be severely lacking if it only featured the benefits on this list. The overall well-being of employees is one of the main objectives for offering a benefits package. This means that workers’ mental, physical, and emotional health needs to be prioritized when creating a package for your employees. As many companies eventually find out, having a poorly developed employee benefits plan can be a great detriment to their business.
Why Offer Competitive Benefits?
You may be considering the cost of offering a highly modern and competitive benefits package. Does it matter that much to your business if your benefits package is underwhelming? In short, yes: aside from attracting high-caliber candidates to your company, a compelling benefits package can significantly boost your company’s productivity, morale, and profitability overtime.
Employee Recruitment
You could be missing out on huge talent if you fail to include critical benefits: most job seekers today expect incentives outside of their salary, making employee benefits an essential part of recruiting employees at any successful company. A robust benefits package can be just as if not more important than an impressive salary offer for many well-qualified candidates, especially if they have family members to consider when choosing employment. Moreover, an impressive benefits package shows that a business is financially sound and forward-minded. Applicants feel more secure working for a company that can afford to make its workers comfortable.
Employee Retention
Satisfied employees will be more dedicated to their work and their employer. Leaving your employees with a disappointing benefits package leaves them open to being swayed by offers from competitors. Employee poaching can have a ripple effect that leaves a business understaffed and struggling—not to mention how costly and time-consuming the hiring process can be. To avoid losing employees and adding on business expenses, it is crucial to make sure that your employees feel cared for.
Productivity and Morale
Again, happy employees are productive employees. When their needs are unmet, workers can become tired, unmotivated, and distracted. A comprehensive benefits package can help your employees take care of their personal needs, which helps them perform their jobs better. With a mind clear of external stressors, your employee will be able to focus and operate more efficiently. The more comfortable they are, the higher their acuity, which in time can increase both productivity and profits.
In time, these factors can also help boost your company’s morale, which is cyclically beneficial.
The Benefits that Employees Across the Country Want the Most
Download: The Benefits that Employees Want the Most, Explained
Creating Predictable Spending
This is the biggest benefit of creating a pay structure. Once you know all the positions in your company and you have them properly labeled, you can easily predict how much you’ll be spending on salaries or wages. If you’re a small business this may be particularly important. When trying to get your business off the ground, everything should be properly mapped out so there are no surprises. As your business grows, you can change things and slowly start to increase salaries. A pay structure is a great resource to have and will help make budgeting planning simple.
Establishing Growth Opportunities
Employees work better when there is a goal to reach. It’s hard to stay motivated when you believe that your job has no purpose and that you’ll never see any upward progress. By creating a pay structure, you create growth opportunities for your employees. Having a goal to reach will help keep employees motivated to do their best work and could increase productivity in your organization.
Increasing Employee Retention
When employees are working, it’s nice to know that there is something to look forward to. Creating a pay structure may help you increase employee retention. Giving employees growth incentives and opportunities, not only makes them more productive but also gives them something to look forward to at work. When employees are happy they are more likely to want to stay at their job. This will also create a healthier work culture. When everyone is happy with their salary and benefits, it makes work a more pleasant place and a more enjoyable experience.
Create Your Business’s Pay Structure with Canal HR
Creating a pay structure is overall beneficial to your company. Though it will take time, research and planning it will be integral to how your business functions in the long run. Canal HR works hard to ensure the happiness of employees and employers.
When you start a business, there are a lot of things that you have to focus on to ensure its success, your HR department does not have to be one of the things you worry about. Canal HR can help you with not only your payroll but your human resource needs as well. There is a common misconception that small businesses don’t need an HR department but they do. There are many instances that can be avoided by having an HR department from the start. We have a host of experts available to help you navigate pay structures and keep your employees happy and ready to work. You don’t have to do this all by yourself, contact us at any time and we’ll come up with a plan that works for you. Let us manage your HR and payroll so you can manage your business.
If you would like to learn more about our professional employer organization (PEO) you can contact us by phone at 504-470-0904. We can’t wait to help elevate your organization and supply you with fantastic payroll and human resources services.
