Talent benefits and retention go hand in hand. In an increasingly competitive job market, companies that offer significant compensation get ahead when it comes to attracting the best professionals. So if you want to take advantage of war for talent, it is necessary to develop employee benefit strategies.
This is not an easy task, but when done well it can bring great results to the people management<span style=”font-weight: 400;”>. With this in mind, we explain in this article the main steps to create employee benefit strategies appropriately. Want to know more? Check out everything below!
Why are benefits important?
As we announced in the opening of the post, the biggest advantage of employee benefit strategies is the increase in the power of attracting and retaining talent<span style=”font-weight: 400;”>.
Even in a market in crisis, good professionals continue to have many employment options, due to the shortage of qualified labor in various sectors. In this scenario, only a good salary is not able to shine the eyes of candidates and collaborators. Something more is needed.
This differential lies in the benefits package. To give you an idea, in a study done in the USA, 32% of the participants stated that they plan to change jobs in the near future. Of these, 15% said the lack of satisfactory benefits is the main reason.
The attraction and retention of talents stand out, but they are not the only advantages of investing in employee benefit strategies. In the long run, this initiative helps to increase satisfaction, employee engagement and productivity. This means more quality in deliveries and more relevance for the company in the market.
However, to obtain these results, you need to go far beyond the basics. Many entrepreneurs think that offering transportation vouchers, meal ticket and health insurance style=”font-weight: 400;”> it's enough to keep employees close, but that's not how it works.
It is necessary invest in a complete package, with creative benefits, unique and, above all, relevant to the daily lives of employees. They do not need to be the same benefits offered by other companies, nor need they be very numerous. Prizes for quality rather than quantity.
Thus, it will be possible to guarantee happiness at work and increase pride in belonging to the organization.
>> To learn more about which benefits to choose, check out this other blog post:
Additional benefits: an out-of-the-box valuation. <
How to create employee benefit strategies?
Developing employee benefit strategies requires a lot of planning. There is no point in implementing benefits for fad or without doing a proper study. If they are unable to satisfy employees, all the time and money invested in the initiative will be in vain.
Next, check out the main steps to design this strategy efficiently:
- find out what employees want;
- evaluate options and cost-effectiveness;
- stay tuned to innovations in the area.
Find out what employees want
Not all the benefits are worth the investment<span style=”font-weight: 400;”>, mainly at the beginning of the strategy. Use your budget wisely, implementing only benefits that are really relevant to the employees' personal and professional daily lives.
Among the most popular, we can cite the benefits with a focus on health and wellness, career path and policies like home-office and flexible schedules, which increase the quality of life.
However, this is not a rule: what is important to the employees of one company may not be another, due to differences in the profile, generation and priorities of the professionals.
The best way to find out what employees really want is to asking them. Therefore, periodically perform a benefits research in the company. Thus, it will be possible to accurately assess team satisfaction with the current package and determine improvements to keep satisfaction high.
Evaluate options and cost-effectiveness
Once it is clear which benefits are most desired by employees, search for the best options available on the market.
Assess the investment that needs to be made and the cost benefit each partner or supplier. This study is essential to build a quality package without compromising the company's revenues.
There is no point in offering benefits that the company cannot afford. This will only generate financial imbalance and frustration in the team, in case of cancellations or delays in granting compensation.
So, how much to spend, exactly? This will depend a lot on the size of the company and the benefits included in the plan. Most organizations spend about 30% of each employee's salary in the benefits package. Try to keep your investment in this range, if the financial health of the business allows it.
Stay tuned for innovations in the area
To get the employee benefit strategies right, always be attentive to innovations in the area. This way, you will be aware of what is happening in the market, especially your competitors, and you will be able to create a powerful plan to attract and retain employees.
For example: one of the biggest global trends in corporate benefits is the on-demand salary. In this model, the employee can receive the salary of the days already worked in the month at any time, without waiting for a fixed payment date.
O HR Consultants UKy app it's the perfect example of how it works. Through a simple and intuitive platform, employees can track their earnings and request payment online. The money falls into the account immediately, without complications.
A benefit like this is able to help employees have more control over money itself, because it facilitates the planning of monthly expenses. It is this relevance that will impress the best professionals and help keep them in your company.
This extends to other benefits with multiple focuses. A good tactic is to be inspired by companies that are a reference in people management, like Google, when it comes to putting together your plan.
Include leisure areas, free snacks, a structured career plan, culture vouchers, practical help for the home and what else your creativity and your budget allow.
As we saw throughout the post, developing employee benefit strategies is not simple, but it can bring great results for the business. So put what you've learned into practice, doing a thorough study of what your employees expect from the company. The results are sure to be great.
Did you like the article? To go deeper into the subject, check out this other blog post and learn more about the relationship between benefits and organizational climate!