Crafting a positive benefits experience for your employees doesn't have to be difficult, especially if you know what to focus on. For companies, the importance of offering benefits that employees need can go a long way. Aside from helping you attract and retain top talent in an increasingly competitive market, it can have a significant impact on their performance, productivity, and overall enthusiasm. In this Pacific Prime article, we'll take a look at some steps to enhance the employee benefits experience.
The best employee benefits and perks
When thinking about what benefits and perks to offer, it's important to choose those that give value to your employees as well as give you the highest Return on Investment (ROI). Aside from health insurance, the most desirable benefits and perks help improve work-life balance and provide more freedom and flexibility.
Flexible work schedules
It probably comes as no surprise that a flexible work schedule is one of the most popular and recommended benefits. This type of schedule, which includes work-from-home and telecommuting options, can significantly improve work-life balance.
What's more, since flexibility and accountability go hand-in-hand, employees have the power to choose if they will go to the gym during the day, work from home when they aren't feeling like socializing, or leave for work after rush hour to avoid a stressful commute.
Having the freedom to occasionally work remotely or move hours to fit their life keeps employees happy and maintains engagement. Knowing that their employer encourages them to achieve work-life balance goes a long way and makes them feel appreciated and more motivated to put in the work.
While clocking in might have been necessary during the last century, the abundance of technology has made working remotely easier than ever. Nowadays, thanks to more remote opportunities, apps, tools, and so on, it's possible for people to fulfill personal and professional responsibilities in a way that works for them.
Even more so, flexible working allows teams to be productive regardless of where they are. Team members can be available on team messaging apps, such as Slack, during working hours and keep track of their tasks in task management tools like Trello. This makes it possible for team members to know what's going on without even being in the same location.
If your work doesn't require your team's physical presence for work to be completed, definitely consider giving them the flexibility to work in their best way.
Generous paid time off
After flexible work schedules, more paid time off is a benefit that most employees can appreciate. Many employers have a tight hold on annual and personal leave. In fact, some employers even discourage the use of those days and reward those who do not take time off, despite it being permitted by company policy.
Aside from creating a serious liability, as evident from unused paid time off, it can cause team members to experience burnout. Additionally, employees often leave this type of company at the first sign of a more favorable opportunity.
Employers that give employees plenty of time off give their employees more opportunities to unwind from work and follow their passions, which can dramatically improve their performance at work. It also prevents them from becoming stressed and frustrated with not being able to take more than a few days off at a time or only one vacation a year.
More or unlimited paid time off makes employees feel comfortable about taking time off without being penalized. This means they don't have to stress about taking some time out of the day when they have an important appointment or emergency, and how doing so would deduct from their annual time off.
Encouraging employees to excel at both work and life sends an important message to existing and prospective employees about organizational culture.
Incentives
Incentives, such as bonuses, prizes, and awards, also increase engagement and improve retention. Employees are motivated to perform at their best when work is turned into a game or competition. You don't have to come up with elaborate incentives either since simple rewards for a job well done can do the trick.
Employers that make use of incentives will typically be able to notice that extra determination once employees know rewards are involved. For example, some companies offer a fancy brunch or a long weekend if a project is completed earlier than expected. Simple gestures such as these tend to encourage employees to improve their performance.
Health insurance
Health insurance is often the most costly benefit and is also the one that's the most generally desired. Out-of-pocket costs for insurance are expensive, but not having insurance to cover hospital fees is even worse. As a result, it's easy to see why many candidates make career choices based on insurance benefits.
Offering a series of health-related benefits, such as group insurance plans and dental insurance, is highly recommended for any business.
Looking for the best health insurance?
If you're looking to attract top talent and show your current employees that you appreciate them, you need to have the best health insurance to ensure you stand out from the competition. It's important to remember that, while health insurance is crucial, employees are looking for other benefits as well.
Pacific Prime provides a wide variety of group health insurance and employee benefits plans that you can customize to meet your unique requirements. Contact us today to speak to one of our employee benefits consultants and find out more about our employee benefits solutions.
