To build a successful organisation, one needs a team of dedicated and productive employees who love working for the company. Most people tend to lean in and prefer working for a company that offers them long-term stability, positive work culture, and a cohesive working environment. Competitive pay and company position are added benefits.
HR must understand the value of talented employees and look for possible ways for employee retention by providing job satisfaction. Thus, organisations area now aggressively focusing on the company’s core values by adding several aspects to the employee package that benefit them
What are Employee Benefits?
When an employee plans to join a company, surely a paycheck is the first thing they seek. However, there are several other benefits that a company can provide the employee to make them feel valued and appreciated, such as life insurance, flexible hours, wellness programs, paid vacation time, healthy snacks, financial security, etc. These benefits may be monetary as well as non-monetary.
10 Benefits and Perks employees look for
There is a wide range of aspects that employees look for within their employment package. Human resource management must understand that they are valuable assets and include these ten things to make your employment package a no-compromise option for potential employees in their career path.
1. Employee Recognition System
When an employee works hard toward a project or achieves a target, in most companies, the superior team members often carry away the appreciation. However, a company where the employee’s work is recognised and credited as theirs is more likely to help employees grow faster.
Appreciating the employees for the work they do can go a long way. It is an indirect way of telling them that they are wanted in the company. Employee satisfaction is very important.
One such way is to set up an employee recognition system, which helps promote employee engagement.
For example, a rating or grading system can be set up where the current employee is graded on several aspects. It can be based on the tasks that the employees do. However, it doesn’t need to be only work-oriented. Instead, this can be fun to reward employees for their sincerity, such as 100% attendance, regularly punching in on time, etc.
2. Primary Care
Excellent employee health is not only crucial for themselves but equally important for the company. A healthy employee shall be more active and dedicated to their work.
Including primary care as the company’s employee benefits package would be good. The organisation must focus on providing primary care for mental health and stressing having therapy sessions within the company premises for those who need it.
Secondly, human resource management may provide health insurance as an added benefit. Insuring your employees’ lives and their families can help take the company a step ahead in the eyes of the employees. For instance, adding menstrual leaves for female employees.
3. Employee Discount
Today, most employees are looking for smart companies offering several offers rather than just a paycheck. Employees working for a company are basically like their family members and prefer to be treated that way. To present this attitude to the employees, the company can provide offers and discounts on the company’s products and services. This is not only a way to boost sales and a means of marketing for company benefits but also to make the employee feel valued.
At the same time, when the employee uses the company’s products, the company can also ask them for honest feedback. It helps gain valuable insight and understand the user’s angle. This can help the company make necessary amends in the product, which helps them in the long run
4. Office Perks
Companies must see employees as a whole, not just as people working for the company. Thus, make the company culture a happy place people would like to visit frequently. Try reducing the difference between your employee’s personal and professional attitudes and motivate them to be genuine, even within the office premise.
One such way for HR is to make work more fun for employees. For instance, add in more healthy work competitions for additional benefits. Make teams and divide projects to inculcate team building.
Another office perk can be group lunches. For instance, a potluck, where employees are asked to bring home-cooked food. Invite all the employees to a common place and enjoy this multicultural lunch. This is also a great way to break through the work stress from the different strata of employees.
5. Work from Home Budget
As the concept of work-from-home has been taking over, most employees and companies prefer hiring employees remotely for jobs where possible, as it helps with flexible scheduling. This helps the company save a lot of money regarding office space and rent compared to full-time employees.
Consider flexible scheduling another chance to showcase your attitude towards your employees and make them feel valued.
Human resource management can provide a work-from-home office budget to pay employees’ wi-fi bills, phone bills, etc. Another option is to provide remote employees with a laptop to work on. The organisation may also send an ergonomic chair for the employees, which is a fantastic way of sending signals to employees and telling them how much the company thinks of their comfort.
6. Parental Leaves
Going beyond the basic maternal and paternal leaves are the paid parental leaves. Most companies need to address this, but having a family life is equally important and contributes greatly to the individual’s overall success. There are many things parents need to and must do together. It may be as small as attending the child’s parent-teacher meeting at school or visiting the fertility clinic.
Providing parental leaves helps develop a sense of mutual respect between the employer and the employee. Further, it helps reduce the stress and anxiety that an individual generally has as a parent of not being more involved. This helps them be more focused at work.
7. Retirement Plan
Most people worry about their post-retirement life. Managing and planning finances is always a big question mark for them. In this situation, the company can take matters into its own hands and provide retirement benefits that promote a healthy lifestyle.
Introducing a functional and well-versed pension plan and health insurance offers employees peace of mind. It provides them with an action plan and motivation to stick long enough in the company to be eligible for this plan. With the help of the retirement plan, employees don’t think of switching their jobs, as their current job offers them more security.
8. Travel Allowance
The paid travel allowance doesn’t imply the travel allowance for company-related travel. Instead, paid travel allowance is for personal or family trips and some time off. It can be a company-sponsored trip where all the employees and their families go out for a vacation. This becomes a good bonding time between employees and a fun perk of being a part of the company.
On the other hand, the company can even reimburse a certain amount of travel expenses incurred on their family tours for employee happiness. Even if the amount seems insignificant, it makes the employee feel valued and important to the company, which is the motto for adding employee perks.
9. Development Plans
Learning and developing new skills can never get out of style. It helps broaden the spectrum of knowledge and helps employees be updated with the current market trends and systems. In turn, it helps increase their job productivity. However, most good skill-enhancing courses these days are costly, making employees run away from them. A solution for this problem can be for human resource management to sponsor such courses.
HR may run special employee wellness programs to help the employees financially in upscaling their skills. At the end of the day, this shall benefit the company itself. Another way to help employees develop skills is to hold seminars or sessions on skills that can help all employees. For instance, courses on personal development and time management can be organised. This is also a way to bring all the employees closer and let them get to know one another better and improve the company culture.
10. Club Membership
Physical health is equally important as mental health and helps enhance the quality of life. A person who works out regularly has a lesser chance of falling sick or getting a heart attack. Offering a club or gym membership to the company’s employees is a way of taking care of their physical fitness, offering health care benefits, and showing them that human resource management cares.
Annual gym memberships are much cheaper and affordable. At the same time, the company may get amazing discounts and offers when registering for several memberships together. This helps to reduce healthcare costs.
Wrapping Up
A salary package is just not enough for today’s employees. Instead, people have started looking at the company’s perks and benefits and comparing companies to select the best one. As an HR, ensure to include these perks while drafting the employment contract to attract more employees. Take into consideration employee feedback as well while determining the company perks.
SumHR is an employee-dedicated software designed to cater to your employees’ needs. With the experts from SumHR at your perusal, you can never go wrong.