The Importance of Employee Benefits
Do you realize the importance of employee benefits on your workforce and profits?
Because happiness at work has such a significant impact on overall quality of life, employers shouldn’t discount the importance of employee benefits. Happy employees mean a lower turnover rate, which in turn make a positive impact on your budget, talent sourcing, productivity and other elements figured directly into your bottom line.
If you’re looking to revamp your list of benefits to create happier employees or searching for a way to improve your work environment, consider the following:
Cash Compensation
In addition to paying fair wages, employers can bolster the attitude around the workplace by offering cash incentives for meeting specific objectives. Bonuses should be tied directly to employee results, however, and not a passive addition to their paychecks. This provides incentive for improved performance, as well as providing a reward for hard work—something employees identify as an important element in job satisfaction.
Health Insurance
Using the help of a PEO, even small businesses can tap into impressive healthcare plans. Paying 100 percent of your employees’ costs isn’t necessary. Robust coverage with low copays will make you a competitive force in the hiring market. A quality health insurance plan can help lower turnover rates. It doesn’t benefit your workplace to have disgruntled employees. Providing a quality healthcare plan will help people working for you truly appreciate their jobs.
In addition to improving employee relationships, supplying your workers with a quality healthcare plan helps you to meet the requirements set forth by the Affordable Care Act. Businesses that violate the provisions of President Obama’s new health insurance laws will face steep fines.
Retirement Plans
While younger workers will have their eyes on bonuses, if they stick with the company long enough they’ll wish they would have had a 401(k) or SEP-IRA to contribute to early on. If you hire experienced workers, candidates will expect some level of matching contribution in order to consider your offer competitive. However, you may be able to balance retirement plans with other long-term benefit options, such as ultra-affordable life or disability insurance, to gain their interest.
Popular Alternatives
The largest businesses can offer their employees the whole kit-n-kaboodle when it comes to benefit plans. Along with covering the basics, they may throw in extras like childcare and adult care assistance programs, help in smoking cessation or free marriage counseling sessions. Other businesses cater to the here-and-now concerns of working by providing more flexibility and on-site amenities, such as an on-site daycare.
Providing your workforce with the support and perks needed to enjoy coming to work every day pays off in a big way. Happier workers have fewer sick days and want to come to work. Happier employees also spread the word, boosting your employer brand and attracting cream-of-the-crop candidates.
Adding a few new benefits and perks to your compensation plan can go a long way toward creating a much more productive and pleasant work environment. While there may be an investment involved, the return on investment will be a more successful and profitable business.
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