Employee Benefits – Why Your Company Can’t Ignore Them

The lifeblood of any company is its employees. They are your shareholder, and they are your stakeholders, without them, you as a business institution would not have existed in the first place. Keeping your employees happy is mandatory. Whether you do it through a specialized app such as Employee Benefits Administration or conventional methods such as pub crawls, flexible working hours, etc., your key objective is to make them happy.

But why? Some of you might wonder. Well, this is why we are here. Today we’ll be discussing the importance of having an employee benefit program in place, as well as we’ll cover how it can affect your performance, especially in the long-run. There’s a lot to cover, so let’s get started!

1. Employee Benefits & You

Now one of the most critical policies at Tabulera is to keep our employees happy and acknowledged. We do this because a happy employee is a productive employee, plus their success is ours, so it is a win-win situation. For many, this might seem obvious, but you’d be forgiven if you didn’t think it also contributes to their loyalty to the company.

So, why not give them something that they can wear professionally, which also shows their individual participation in company tasks? Lanyards and Badge Reels would be the best thing to give them. You may also pick specified, logo-designed, and hook-style lanyards provided by 4inlanyards, which specify an employee’s post-type.

With the pandemic at hand, keeping high-profile specialists at hand is becoming increasingly more authoritarian in current economic times. Retaining your talent means customers will refer to you for help. And a higher salary isn’t something your employees are always after.

Often, it all boils down to what you have on offer as an extra. According to HSBC, things such as a flexible working hour and the ability to work remotely are ranked higher than a couple of hundred dollars on top.

While some employees might want a higher salary, very skilled ones are most likely already satisfied with their current salary. It is a tricky situation to pinpoint precisely. What your employees wish to, but it is a worthy endeavour.

2. Advantages of Having Employee Benefits

On the surface, having an employee benefit program in place looks like an added expense that doesn’t yield anything substantial. However, only when you dig a little deeper than you can start noticing some serious pros.

i. Recruiting Advantages

Take, for instance, recruiting. Your HR department will have a better time persuading new candidates to join your company as they’ll have more levers to pull. In such cases, an excellent welcome package can make all the difference. Plus, couple this will make a competitive salary and an exciting project to work on, and you have yourself a winning formula.

ii. Contributes to Retention

Another benefit stems from employee loyalty. A right benefits package will make your people feel valued. Therefore, they will remain longer in your company. This will be your trump card in more challenging economic times.

Also, benefits such as company recognition or even a social media post about a person’s accomplishment can significantly boost morale, meaning that it is not always about physical rewards.

iii. Productivity Boosts

A motivated employee is twice as productive. If you manage to provide your employees with the right benefits, you can certainly expect them to not only perform better but longer. It is a known fact that if an employee doesn’t feel acknowledged and valued, he will not only perform worse but will most likely leave soon, resulting in wasted time and money.

Also part of the productivity advantage, employees that have personal issues are often less productive and in some cases, even damaging to your brand. A sound employee benefits system will help alleviate some of the problems your worker might have outside of your work, and help them concentrate on tasks much quicker.

Partially, this might work because in half the cases, employee issues are often related to their work. Think about it; it can be either childcare, health problems, financial difficulties, etc.

iv. Solves Absenteeism

Absenteeism is perhaps the most troubling issue an employer has to deal with it. If one of your employees is continuously out of the loop, they might have a problem outside of work. How so? Well, let’s say that one of your employees continually has to run urgent errands they can’t skip doing.

How do employee benefits help? Well, you can allow for flexible working hours and push it as a benefit. Your employee will be happy because of the alleviated stress, and the job will be done.

3. How to Create a Competitive Benefit Offer

Now before we begin discussing the winning formula, let’s first differentiate one thing. The government mandates some benefits, and some are “nice-to-have”. We’ll be covering both, so you don’t miss anything.

i. Mandatory Benefits

Such benefits are often mandated and regulated by the law. Although the services themselves might vary from country to country, they usually cover the following ones:

• Social security. These provide employees with minimal income after they retire or in case they are no longer able to work as a result of sustained injury (i.e. become disabled).
• Health Insurance. Such programs are typically offered to people that have reached a certain age. However, this benefit is provided to younger people who suffer from medical conditions or disabilities in some cases.
• Work Injury Compensation. As the name suggests, this benefit is provided to anyone, regardless of age, who had a job-related injury. Typically, such compensations cover rehabilitation and replacement income.
• Unemployment compensation. Such compensation is only provided when an employee has unwillingly lost their job. Usually, the payment covers half of the original income, although this can vary from country to country.

ii. Supplemental Benefits

These benefits are not mandated by law and are offered by the employer on a case by case basis. The services themselves can cover fitness discounts, free dental and vision checks, among other things.

iii. Nice-to-have Benefits

As the name implies, these aren’t mandated and aren’t supplemental but rather lovely to have ones. Often, companies include at least some of them into their employee benefits package or offer them on a case-by-case basis. Here are some of the most popular ones:

• Retirement plan options
• Paid sick time
• Food
• Flexible working hours
• Child care assistance
• Professional development help
• Various insurances
• Training sessions
• Parking passes
• Discounts at certain restaurants

When developing your employee benefits package, you must take into account the demographics of your workforce. Some of them might prefer entertainment over retirement plans and vice versa. Carefully study your staff and if need be, conduct surveys and questionnaires to gather as much data as needed.

4. Final Notes

Employee benefits are something that directly relates to the success of your business. Ignoring your employee needs means you are missing business continuity. By providing your employees with the right benefits at the right time, you are bound to stay afloat. While true, employee benefits aren’t some panacea, they can genuinely make the difference.