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Top Creative Benefits To Offer Employees

Top Creative Benefits To Offer Employees

Smart companies know that investing in employee benefits is integral to their success.

Offering employees standard, status-quo benefits is no longer a way to attract or retain your high-performing employees. Not only do companies need to get creative about the benefits they are offering, but also about the way that benefits are selected. Rather than the standard, one-size-fits-all approach to benefits, companies should tailor benefits to fit employees needs, interests and lifestyles. The breakdown of “creative” benefits is in offering non-traditional benefits that speak to employee needs and positive outcomes.

Details here:

Encourage Play

Regardless of what industry you’re in, encouraging a healthy amount of play for employees is an important aspect of the benefits package that you offer.

Many companies are integrating their company values or product into providing downtime for employees to enough life outside of their policies. For examples, a ski company in Denver gives employees “snow days,” where they are free to take the day off and head to the slopes with their company-purchased season ski passes. As companies continue to understand the importance of having happy employees that do their best work, integrating and encouraging play within the workplace (and work hours) will become an increasingly popular (and advantageous) benefit to offer.  

Flexible Work

Offering flexible work schedules and locations is not necessary a “new” benefit to offer, but is one that is gaining traction as an extremely popular benefit for employees and a beneficial one for companies. Allowing employees to adapt their work schedules to fit their lifestyle (kids, sports, energy levels, etc.) as well as allowing them to flexibility to work where they do their best work, is a radical structure that is slowly becoming commonplace.

A few companies have implemented a practice called “Duvet Days,” which allows employees to work from home last minute for whatever reason they decide. The idea behind this practice is to eliminate the amount of sick days employees take (either for illness or undisclosed other reasons) and promote flexibility of place for employees.

Volunteer Hours

Paid time to volunteer is a surprisingly high priority for employees of this generation, with 84 percent of millennials surveyed saying that making a positive difference in the world was more important than professional recognition.  

Encouraging employees to volunteer is a double benefit; employees feel their needs are being addressed while positively impacting your company’s reputation. At the same time, giving back is proven to boost overall happiness. Any smart business knows that happy employees are the key to a company’s success.

Complete Wellness

You can’t afford not to create vibrant, healthy work environments. Serious health problems seriously cost companies. Today’s workplace wellness goes beyond offering healthy snacks or starting a “steps” competition at work. Workplace wellness should target each individual employee’s wellness as a whole. A one-size-fits-all approach to wellness is no longer acceptable for employees or for promoting the potential of your workplace. Some great ways to implement complete wellness in your workplace is through:

• Encourage short breaks throughout the day
• Bring nature into the office
• Give employees time off
• Encourage healthy lifestyle choices like
  • Self Reflection
  • Sleep
  • Nutrition
  • Movement

Travel opportunities

Encouraging employees to travel extends beyond giving a generous PTO allowance, and is an innovative way to spark personal development. Exploring new places, cultures and experiences has generally shown to boost creativity and bring fresh perspectives back to the office. For a creative benefit that also promotes creativity of your team, encourage employees to travel. 

Offering creative benefits that speak to employees’ needs, interests and lifestyles is one of the best ways you can keep the talent you have, attract the talent you want, and improve the workplace culture of your company. Benefits work best when they’re aligned to company culture and growth goals. Learn more at beni.fit.

How Technology Is Changing Benefits

How Technology Is Changing Benefits

Many businesses still manage human resources information manually, using paper records that are kept in file folders, or in some cases, scanned and kept in a file on a computer. When it comes time to look for someone’s file or gather data, there is no easy way to access this information. Further, the person in charge of HR usually finds themselves spending too much time on mundane paperwork. Time that could be spent focusing on strategic initiatives and finding ways to improve company culture.

Technology and smartphones have revolutionized more than our personal lives — they are redefining business as we know it. Technology has also made it easier for employees to understand the benefits that they are receiving, promoting both loyalty to the company as well as maximizing the benefits they utilize.

With the benefits that technology provides both the HR department and the employee engagement and understanding of benefits, let’s take a look at how technology is changing benefits.

Accessibility  

It is extremely important that employees know how their benefits are allocated. For example, employees should have access to information like the amount they are paying in taxes and whether or not contributions are being made to a 401(K) account on their behalf. Employees want to see their benefit information without a delay or having to jump through hoops. In the past, this likely meant a lot of work for HR departments.

With the increase in technology, there are now several apps that keep things simple by automating recordkeeping and data organization. This provides employees the convenience of being able to explore their data online whenever they want. This is truly a win-win for everyone as employees have their information at their fingertips and the HR team’s burden of gathering, updating and monitoring this information is reduced.

Efficiency & Accuracy

Making errors is part of human nature. But when it comes to healthcare and benefits, it can have major consequences.

Data entry mistakes on behalf of a benefits administrator can result in employees being enrolled in the wrong health plan or not being enrolled at all. This could create a mess for everyone involved — employees and their families, payroll, insurance carriers, etc.

“Technology is a powerful tool in our everyday lives and especially for HR leaders, with the right solution offering countless opportunities for increased accuracy and efficiency,” says Martin Mucci, president and CEO of Paychex, a payroll, HR, retirement and insurance services provider.

Meaningful Engagement

Most HR professionals don’t value their job for the paperwork and reports. They do it because they value helping and engaging with people. One area that employees desperately need help and communication with is their benefits and healthcare. To avoid confusing communication that could lead to poor decisions at enrollment time, employers need a simple and engaging communication plan that can help employees with their benefits. That’s where technology comes into play.

Thanks to technology, organizations can extend self-service systems directly to employees via the internet. These online communication systems can identify specific information an individual needs. In addition, they can send tailored messages that resonate on a personal level. This helps drive more meaningful engagement and improves confidence when it comes to decisions about benefits.

Overall, there is no doubt that benefits management has gotten harder and the stakes are higher than ever. Fortunately, technology helps improve the accessibility to benefits, the efficiency and accuracy of managing benefits and employee engagement. Because of technology, benefits are more than a budget line item — it is a key part of long-term organizational success.

How does technology improve your ability to provide and explain benefits to your employees?  Share your ideas with us, and we’ll also include them in our post. We believe that when humans thrive, companies prosper. Learn more at Beni.fit.

Required vs. Voluntary Benefits: What To Know

Required vs. Voluntary Benefits: What To Know

Benefits are a typically overwhelming topic that many executives would prefer to avoid, but are one of the most important aspects in attracting and retaining top talent. Learning and understanding the ins and outs of the benefits that work for your company takes time and knowing where to go for the right resources. Here is a quick breakdown of required vs. voluntary benefits, and what you need to know about each. Providing excellent benefits is extremely important to the success of your business. Learn more below:

Required Benefits

Required Benefits are provided by the state or federal government, and are mandatory under law.  Here are the main Required Benefits and how they can be distinguished from voluntary benefits:

Social security

Social security tax and withholding is known as a payroll tax, meaning the employer will deduct half of the tax from their employee’s paycheck, and contribute the other half of the tax. These transactions are reflected in the W2 form and paychecks, and sent to the IRS.

Workers compensation

Workers compensation protects employees who might miss work because of illness or injury they receive while executing duties at their job. This compensation reimburses the employees for their trouble, and also covers any possible medical bills.

Unemployment insurance

If an employee is laid off due to company circumstances outside of their culture, such as downsizing the company, rebranding, etc., they can apply for unemployment insurance. Once signed up, they can receive income for up to 26 weeks.

Family and medical leave

The Family and Medical Leave Act requires companies with 50 employees or more to provide workers with job-protected and unpaid leave for specific medical and family issues. A few qualified medical and family reasons include: family military leave, pregnancy, adoption, and personal or family illness.

Voluntary Benefits

Voluntary benefits are not required. These benefits are decided on by the individual businesses and corporations that can outline specifically what and how much of the voluntary benefits they offer. They are often paid through employees’ payroll deferral. Here are some of the most popular voluntary benefits companies offer:

Dental Insurance

Approximately 80 percent of employers offer dental insurance. Dental care directly affects other parts of the employee’s health, including potential for diabetes, blindness, heart disease, etc. Therefore, it is in the employer’s best interest to help maintain employee’s dental care.

Vision Insurance

Vision coverage is also very important to overall health. Employers recognize that employees may need healthy eyesight in their field, and to help maintain that as much as possible. Approximately 84 percent of employers provide vision voluntary benefits.

Accident Insurance

Many companies offer voluntary accident insurance as a way to offset potential medical expenses that may come after an accident occurs. This insurance is often implemented with the idea “better safe than sorry,” and corporations are slowly moving to add this to their voluntary benefits.

Life Insurance

Approximately 94 percent of companies surveyed offer voluntary life insurance. Life insurance provides beneficiary funds in case the employer dies. Typically, an employee will pay a monthly premium in order to cover life insurance.

Disability

According to the Social Security Administration, approximately 30 percent of people will suffer from a disability of three months or longer during their working life. Disability insurance insures an employee’s earned income in case a disability makes it more difficult for a worker to complete their tasks.
Create an environment where your people thrive and your business performance skyrockets. We’d love to hear what innovative benefits you are providing to your workforce. Share your ideas with us, and we’ll include them in our post. When humans thrive, companies prosper. Learn more at Beni.fit.

Why Tailoring Benefits To Your Employees Is Better

Why Tailoring Benefits To Your Employees Is Better

If you haven’t already heard: the one-size-fits-all approach to employee benefits and wellness is a quickly dying approach to employee benefits that does not yield best results, for employee or employer.

Benefits management is not just an annual event. It starts with knowing what’s important to your people and requires a strategy that aligns with these values as well as company goals. Providing choice and resources for your entire employee population is a trend that will continue in the future. So adapting your approach to creating a benefit plan is imperative. Read More