How Can Employee Benefits Be Improved?

During the final interview for a new job, potential employees are apt to ask what the company is offering as far as employee benefits. In fact, inadequate benefits could be a deal-breaker for some candidates.  

As an employer, it’s crucial to understand what kind of benefits will carry meaning for your employees (and future ones). Enhancing your benefits packages demonstrates that you appreciate your employees beyond their work, and this recognition can boost their motivation and productivity. With that in mind, we’ll describe how to reevaluate your employee benefits, modify benefits according to what employees want, and communicate updates to keep employees informed.   

Benefits That Keep Employees Healthier  

According to McKinsey, consumers are increasingly seeking personalized and customized wellness products and services that offer them greater control over their health outcomes. With this trend in mind, it’s not surprising that the most sought-after employee wellness programs are those related to: 

• Fitness: Employers are increasingly offering employee benefits such as gym memberships, fitness programs, and weight loss programs as they keep employees healthier and reduce medical claims. 
• Stopping Smoking: Smoking carries huge health risks for employees. One in five deaths is caused by cigarette smoking. That’s a good reason to offer programs to help employees quit smoking. 
• Mental Health: The pandemic created a greater focus on mental health and emotional well-being. Employees who may not have been open to receiving mental healthcare in the past are now willing to receive therapy and other mental health services. Employee assistance programs (EAP) generally assist employees with problems like alcoholism and addiction, and today’s programs also offer a broad range of problems such as childcare, financial problems, legal problems, trauma, and more.   

By offering these highly-valued benefits, employers can demonstrate a commitment to the overall well-being of their employees, which can lead to higher job satisfaction and better performance. 

Benefits That Help Employees Improve Wealth  

Finances can be a major source of stress, and employees commonly bring their stress into the workplace. Here are some of the employee benefits that can help your employees increase their wealth and keep more of their money to relieve their financial stress:  

• Low-cost group health plans  
• Matching contributions to their retirement accounts  
• Profit sharing  
• Stock options in the company stock  
• Financial counseling services  
• Tuition assistance for undergraduate and graduate degrees  
• Student loan repayment assistance  
• Career development and mentoring  

Employers can deduct up to 25% of profit-sharing contributions making it a win-win employee benefit. Benefits such as profit sharing and stock options also cause employees to be more heavily invested in your company, and they will likely be more loyal as a result.    

Consider the Benefits Your Employees Want Most  

The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index highlights five essential categories of well-being which include:  

1. Purpose – Need to achieve their goals  
2. Social – Need for healthy, supportive relationships  
3. Finances – Need for financial security  
4. Community – Need to enrich their communities  
5. Physical – Need for good physical and emotional health  

Employers that fulfill needs in these categories through employee benefits help employees to achieve their personal and professional goals overall.   

A practical approach to selecting the most attractive employee benefits is to consider who your employees are and what’s important to them in their current season of life.   

Are most of your employees about to retire? Do you recruit from the crop of recent college graduates? Our blog article entitled “The Most Important Employee Benefits by Generation” gives you a rundown of the most valued employee benefits by generation. In every generation, employees are looking for quality healthcare and dental care.   

Many employees are also looking for flexible paid time off, remote or hybrid work environments, and voluntary benefits such as life insurance, critical illness, accident insurance, disability, and life insurance.   

Tips for Communicating the Value of Employee Benefits  

The keys to helping your employees make the most of employee benefits are to regularly communicate with them about benefits and utilize technology.   

Make it a point to communicate the value of employee benefits at least quarterly. You can do this by setting up automated emails, putting out an employee newsletter, texting employees, or even putting a note in with their paycheck information. Communication is especially important as the new enrollment period nears, and it’s a good time to give them a heads-up about changes in employee benefits for the new period. Be sure to follow up after enrollment periods to see if employees have any questions.   

A health benefits portal and mobile app make it convenient for employees to access their employee benefits whenever and wherever they are. The sooner they can address information on benefits, it will get their mind off what’s bothering them so they can get their minds back on their work.   

Technology can also be useful for taking polls to find out how satisfied your employees are with their current employee benefits and what other benefits may be on their wish lists.   

Better Employee Benefits Improves Retention and Keep Employees Happier  

Some employers find that it’s only during an employee’s exit interview that they learn the employee chose to leave the company in part because they weren’t happy with their employee benefits.   

A proactive approach to improving benefits will result in healthier and happier employees and improved retention. By tracking and monitoring your cost savings, you can also make the best use of your employee benefits budget.   

To learn more about how to improve employee benefits, contact one of our representatives at Leap Carpenter Kemps Insurance Agency at 209-384-0727 today!  

Download Our Free eBook: The Ultimate Guide to Employee Benefits Programs

Our all-new guide is packed with information on how to create an employee benefits program that truly resonates with your employees. It will also show you how to create a cost-effective employee benefits program that increases employee loyalty, focus, productivity, and attendance.