Modern-day employees are attracted to companies that offer them multiple features. Younger employees are opting to work in areas that they find interesting, others seek workplaces that will serve as stepping stones to their future. Similarly, what is universal in workplace preferences is the quality of the workplace environment and its benefits. One of the most important factors behind choosing (or leaving) an employer or company is a strong Employee Healthcare Benefits benefits package.
If a firm wants to attract the best talent in the industry (or to retain this talent), it has to provide a competitive benefits package. In the past, businesses might be able to get away with just issuing a paycheck. Nowadays employees are savvier when it comes to choosing employment. Instead of just looking at the pay they get, they evaluate their options on the perks that the company offers.
Most skilled and specialized employees in a sector know how much they are worth to a company. businesses also need to show their employees that it is also aware of their worth and treat them accordingly. Listed below are factors a business should consider when designing an employee benefits package to attract the right talent.
1. Understand Ideal Employee Demographics
What is your desired employee demographic, or what is your employee pool? Knowing this will help in designing a customized benefits package. Acknowledging that different employee groups require customized benefits plans is a step in the right direction. The age of the one-type-fits-all package is gone. Benefits need to be customized according to the ideal employee age targeted by your company. For instance, younger workforces will be strongly enticed by competitive financial wellness packages and single health and medical benefits. A more mature workforce might prioritize family benefits.
Recognizing that different groups may desire different benefits helps to design better packages. Post covid many employees prefer having options of hybrid, flexible or remote working. Others may appreciate a commuting allowance, high stress jobs require mental wellness training and many workplaces offer yoga or gym training to help employees handle stress better. Whatever is done should reflect the needs of an employer’s unique team.
2. Ask What Benefits Are Useful
Asking for feedback from employees helps filter out fluff benefits and what is useful. Once you see which benefits are being utilized (and are valued), a lot of time and money can be saved for the future. At times employees are more realistic and ask for simple things like relaxed work timings for a certain period, or half day holidays to avoid taking leaves, such administrative relaxation can be made part of benefits and prove to be useful for busy, full-time employees.
3. Aim To Provide Value To All Employees
The objective behind every benefit inclusion should be to offer value to the maximum number of employees and not just a limited group. When the business spends resources on something relevant to only a limited section of employees, such as daycare, they can question the investment. Offering a more customized plan, and superior employee experience will give greater value to the employees and their families.
4. Offer Employee Ownership Opportunities
Offering employees ownership opportunities in their place of employment has several advantages. Apart from getting engaged employees, growing businesses can save on fixed cash outflows while investing in their growth. Almost all categories of employees respond well to such an option.
5. Provide Remote and Flexible Work Benefits
This is a talent retention move as remote work opens more options for employees. Many qualified resources are now working for offshore employers at much better pay than they would make working a regular job for a local company.
Remote work benefits include upgraded technology and funds to pay for better home office facilities. It can also include other options to upgrade allied benefits.
6. Consider Soft Benefits
Employers need to consider soft benefits, such as work flexibility, and work-from-home office allowances, with a particular focus on a strong culture to stand out from their peers. With employees working from home, certain benefits have fallen to the wayside, like free lunches and office snacks, so employers must promote a strong culture of collaboration and inclusivity.
7. Let Employees Choose
Wanting a choice is a human trait. It gives us feelings of power and control. Consider giving your employees a choice each year to vote for which voluntary benefit offering they would like to opt for. The majority wins, and that benefit is added to the open enrollment line-up. Doing this also gives a message to prospective recruits and new hires that hat you value employees’ opinions and give them a peek into your work culture.
8. Conduct a Cost/Benefit Evaluation
When trying to create an attractive benefits package, employers should conduct a cost-benefit analysis to see which benefits are being utilized the most. It is also important to know if your employees are aware of how to maximize their benefits. Employee interaction and feedback can help an organization understand what is important to their employees to help them design an attractive benefits package.
Bottom Line
There is no way to design the perfect benefits package that will satisfy all employees, and the options suggested here will only benefit a few segments of a workplace’s employee pool.
As human resource managers, you must work to find voluntary benefits that suit your workforce’s requirements, without putting too much of a dent in your payroll budgets.
At times specific healthcare needs such as helping reduce costs of specific care (maybe ADHD or autism treatment for children, or cancer support management etc.) may be customized but highly needed and appreciated measures that will not impact your company’s bottom line but will significantly impact employee motivation and morale.
At times adding more options for health insurance policies can be useful in maintaining a diverse range of benefits that help satisfy the needs of employees. It can be hard to narrow down a plan for each individual but having flexible voluntary benefits help.
Employees need to feel looked after and cared for when considering their employment options, and benefits packages are a major make-or-break part of the hiring process. The best way to get top talent is to provide them with incentives, and these benefit package principles will help you hire great employees and give them what they need to thrive.
Sadia Zaheer holds a Masters in Business Administration from IBA, Karachi. After working in several financial institutions in Client Management, Corporate Lending, Islamic Banking and Product Management she jumped careers to pursue a career in writing.
She is a Finance, Business and HR Development writer with four years of experience. She reads a lot and takes care of her multiple cats to remain calm.
