2018 has been shaping up to be a good year for employee benefits. Many more firms than ever before are offering employee benefits and going so far as to extend their budget just to attract more talent and retain the ones they already have. Let’s start with the more popular trends.
Personalized Employee Benefits
A survey by SHRM found that 72% of the companies they interviewed felt that benefits offerings were more important than ever before. New talent, particularly those from millennial and Gen Z generations, value personalization more, thanks partly to the highly customized nature of Internet activities such as social media and streaming services. This customized experience extends into the office space and workers now want flexibility with regards to their work hours, remote work options and flexible weekends.
With Power2Motivate member benefits you can design an effective value-added benefits program for employees. It is both scalable and cost-effective.
Wellness Programs
Employers are realizing that it is far better to improve employee health in the long run than having to pay for a health crisis that could have been prevented in the first place. This started a trend of wellness programs that involved the installation of gym equipment, consultation with yoga instructors and regularly visiting physicians to screen diseases and prevent them. Wellness programs are now being designed to help employees lose weight and improve their health. The most prominent of these are educational seminars and tobacco cessation programs.
Corporate wellness programs should offer versatile programs that handle employee health, financial health and incorporate general health ideas into the workplace. Many companies host cooking classes, healthy recipe exchanges and even include fitness challenges into the overall wellness program. Just make sure that these new regulations are not forcefully imposed on employees lest the feel-good employee wellness program rubs them the wrong way.
Value-Added Benefits Help to Attract the Best Talent
Employees consider value-added benefits, and sometimes give more consideration to them instead of their overall salary. These talented employees would rather work for a firm that offers more comprehensive benefits packages than one that offers slightly higher salaries but limited packages. If your firm is not offering any benefits, then it may have a chance of missing out on great potential team members.
A study by CareerBuilder found that at least 55 percent of employees expect their employers to offer benefits packages. Given the current landscape in which more companies are answering their call, it doesn’t make any sense to not jump the bandwagon and attract the talent to your company. Your business simply cannot afford to miss out on half the talent that could help it grow in the long run.
Student Loan Assistance
Many workers that come fresh out of colleges are in student loan or graduate student loan debt due to tuition costs. Some of them are already struggling with making payments on time. Most of the time, their salaries aren’t enough to cover the monthly loan and provide for their expenditures. When employers step in to take care of the tuition by covering it partly or completely, it makes employees feel more committed to the workplace than ever before.