Offer more job benefits instead!

Wouldn’t this request from a staff member sound a bit out of the ordinary to you?

Turns out 4 out of 5 workers prefer employee benefits to a pay raise.

Why is the benefits package so crucial for your workers? What are the best benefits for employees and how to implement them successfully in your company?

Read this ultimate guide on the most valued employee benefits to find everything out.

Why Job Benefits and Perks Are Vital for Your Employee Happiness and Your Business 

Look at the following statistics to see how people treat additional job bonuses and non-salary compensations: 

• According to a GlassDoor survey, 57% of employees state that benefits and perks are their #1 priority when they make a decision on a job offer. 
• 69% of workers would feel more loyal to their employers if they had a wider benefits package. 
• Better work benefits increase job satisfaction, as emphasized by 72% of employees. 

By offering the best employee benefits, you make your staff feel happy. And it turns your business game for the better. Satisfied workers are typically 20% more productive than dissatisfied ones, while the happiness of salespeople can help boost sales by 37%. 

As you can see, your people are one of the keys to your operational excellence and company success. That’s why it’s worth implementing a people-first approach and giving your staff the greatest employee benefits. Consider the top five of them below. 

5 Best Employee Benefits to Make Your Staff Happier 

1. Healthcare Benefits 

The mental and physical well-being of your staff should be your predominant concern, as 86% of employees rate healthcare and wellness benefits as extremely important for their workforce. 91% of organizations have already started providing mental health coverage from 2022. 

Your company can offer various insurance types to your workers: dental insurance, disability insurance, life insurance, etc. Then there’s a broad range of wellness programs that people would like to have in their benefits packages: 

• Salon and spa visits 
• Fitness incentives 
• Massage and gym memberships 
• Yoga and meditation courses 
• Nutrition marathons 
• Vaccinations 
• Stress reduction and tobacco-free programs 
• Preventive health screening, etc. 

“During the past two years, there has been a noticeable increase in the number of employers who provide sponsorships for senior living options: continuing care retirement communities (CCRCs), residential care homes, memory care facilities, and so on,” observes Nancy Mitchell, Director of Nursing Care at Assisted Living Center. 

“In 2020, for example, we cooperated with 7 organizations who were interested in adding such healthcare benefits to their packages. In 2022 already, this number grew to 29.  Remarkably, companies make these benefits available to employees’ family members as well,” Nancy emphasizes. 

2. Flexible Schedule and Remote Work

According to 51% of employees, work-life balance is one of the highest priorities companies should focus on. That’s when flexibility comes into play. 

In fact, Logan Mallory, VP of Motivosity, states that “The 9-to-5 workday has been slowly replaced by adjustable schedules. Flexible working hours and opportunities to work remotely allow brands to boost employee engagement and motivation, improve retention, attract top talent, and more.” 

Many companies let everyone set their own working hours. After this implementation, the employees report a greater feeling of control and job satisfaction, an increase in productivity, and a better balance between life and work. And what’s more, they have cut expenses on commuting and have been taking fewer sick leaves since then. 

During the COVID-19 outbreak, some businesses were forced to move to the digital workplace entirely. Some of them remained in that work mode even post-pandemic and now run business 100% remotely. Others took a hybrid approach because that’s what their workers actually wanted to see among essential employee benefits. 

As many as 83% of workers prefer a hybrid work model nowadays, based on Accenture’s research. Still, employers often hesitate to switch to a hybrid work mode so as not to worsen the communication and interactions between teams. For this not to happen, they take advantage of automated solutions for remote workers to bridge the gap between an office-based system and a remote workspace and maintain the flow of projects. 

3. Paid and Unpaid Time-offs 

The following benefits are among the most valuable paid time-offs: 

• Vacation days 
• Jury duties 
• Voting time 
• Family and medical leave (FMLA) 
• Military leave 
• Adverse weather time-off 
• Compassionate (bereavement) leave 
• Sabbatical leave or personal time-off, etc. 

Personal time off (a paid mental-health day, for instance) may be a good idea if your worker faces burnout. In this case, you can help your employee stabilize one’s condition and enhance individual productivity. 

What about unpaid time-offs? 

“It’s highly advisable to create two lists of time-offs: paid and unpaid leaves,” says President of Business Loans, Andrew Gonzales. 

“The unpaid time-offs at our company mostly concern volunteer work and furloughs (involuntary leaves or temporary layoffs due to particular economic conditions). All other leaves are paid. Additionally, we have a shared leave policy so that our employees could donate their vacations and sick leaves to their teammates, whenever they feel it’s appropriate and necessary,” Andrew mentions. 

4. Financial Benefits 

To support your employees financially, consider the top three employee benefits and weave them into your financial plans: 

• Student loan repayment 

Commenting on this financial benefit, Jeff Zhou, CEO at Fig Loans, notes that “Employer-assisted student loan repayments have become an indispensable part of non-salary compensation packages. By addressing the burden that is laid on the shoulders of your workers, you can retain more educated and productive talents. Paying student loans on time will also positively impact their credit score and help them remain more financially stable. Importantly, under the CARES Act that has been extended until 2025, employers don’t have to pay income tax on up to $5,250 of student loan payments per employee annually.” 

• 401(k) retirement plan 

A 401(k) plan, as defined by The Annuity Expert, “is a retirement savings plan that allows employees to contribute a portion of their pre-tax income to the plan.” 

US employers have started applying changes to their 401(k) plans recently, new studies show, in order to increase worker retention and offer more secure retirement options. They want to let employees make contributions to the plan from bonus payments as well, not only from the salary. 

You can learn from Adobe, Microsoft, NVIDIA, and other companies with great retirement plans and do your best to prepare your employees for financial security in retirement. 

• Employee stock purchase plan (ESPP) 

Nate Tsang, Founder & CEO of WallStreetZen, explains how it works: “ESPP is a company-run program when a staff member can buy shares of company stock at a reduced price. Typically, it’s between 10%–15% off the fair market value. Let’s take the fair market value of $20 per share on the applicable date. In case you offer a 10% discount, the price for your employee will be $18 per share.” 

PayPal, for example, offers the ESPP with a 15% discount for shares. The plan is open to everyone who works at least 20 hours per week for the company. 

5. Benefits for Professional and Personal Growth 

A whopping 94% of employees acknowledge they would work for an organization longer if it provided opportunities to develop their professional and personal skills for career advancements. 

“You should have a solid Learning and Development (L&D) program for your employees to grow both professionally and personally,” highlights George Tsagas, Owner & Founder of eMathZone. 

“At the start, 14 years ago, we concentrated on strictly math-related courses and certifications. Later, we refocused on the 360-degree approach to enable an all-round development of our colleagues,” George says. 

He also shares their company’s 360-degree view of L&D:  

• Paid courses and seminars on any preferred topic 
• Professional certifications 
• Internal and external mentorships 
• Diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) programs 
• Cybersecurity training and online survival guides 
• Tuition reimbursement grants for both math and non-math university programs 

Another example of a great L&D approach is AT&T University created by AT&T, a provider of telecommunications, media, and tech services. It offers employee training programs focused on leadership and management particularly. 

Continued training can help you enhance team skills and work effectiveness if we talk about team productivity. To do that, Etsy, a global eCommerce company, launched Etsy School with workshops and educational modules for Etsy Teams to learn and develop together. 

How to Incorporate Employee Benefits Into Your HR Strategy 

Use the below tips to set up a competitive employee benefits package. 

• Partner with others 

Amazon’s Career Choice program is a bright illustration of such a partnership. The company collaborates with hundreds of education partners across the US to pay full college tuition for their workers. 

• Establish an extensive and unique benefits package 

Go beyond the basic incentives and offer some unique perks like, for instance, Hotjar does. Among other bonuses, the company grants each employee €2,500/year as a Home Office Budget, €2,400/year as a Working Space Budget, and €2,000/year as a Holiday Budget. Plus, their paid holiday leave consists of 40 days/year. 

Another great example is a “Perk of the Week” initiative by Gymshark, a fitness wear and accessories brand. 

Once you decide on the proper benefits, bonuses, and perks for your workers, make sure you enumerate all of them when you advertise a job to attract quality candidates and get the top talent on board. 

• Automate processes to the fullest 

Flawless employee benefits management can be easily achieved with an automated HR system. You can define your workers’ benefits automatically and ensure guidance for your employees throughout the process. Such a system can calculate employee benefits in an error-free way: health insurance, sick leave payments, vacation days, etc. 

It goes in line with payroll automation so that you don’t have to worry about absence time tracking and payroll management overall. 

Create a Happy Workplace with the Most Desirable Employee Benefits 

As a key takeaway from this article, let’s remind you of the five best employee benefits: 

1. Healthcare and wellness benefits 
2. Flexibility + remote work options 
3. Time offs 
4. Financial benefits (repayment of student loans, 401(k) plan, ESPP) 
5. Personal and professional development programs 

Show that you value your employees’ needs and desires, integrate the above benefits seamlessly into your business process flow, and foster a happy workplace. Start now with Comidor and see how it works in action. 

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