A great employee benefits package supports your organization as well as your employees. The right employee benefits help you attract and retain top talent, enhance morale, and create a productive work environment. In this article, we’ll explore steps you can take to create a comprehensive benefits package that both empowers your employees and strengthens your organization.
Why Benefits Matter
The right benefits package demonstrates that you value your employees. Some benefits, like workers’ compensation and, in some cases, health insurance and paid time off, are mandated by law. When you go above and beyond what’s legally required, however, you provide added incentive for job seekers to join your company and for current employees to put forth their best efforts and stay with you for the long haul. Competitive benefits go beyond the salary to provide employees added security, protect their well-being, and help them achieve their financial goals.
Building a Strong Benefits Package
You can build a strong, enticing benefits package by not only offering valuable benefits but also by helping employees understand their details, making it easy to enroll in benefit programs, and regularly communicating the value of the benefits you make available.
Demystify your benefits.
Whatever specific benefits you offer, your employees need to understand how they work. Make sure your employees are poised to receive the full value of their benefits package by educating them about what they provide and how to access them.
Health insurance is a crucial benefit for many employees. However, policy terms can be extraordinarily complex, making it difficult for employees to know whether specific costs will be covered, how much they may be left owing their providers, and how to ensure they’re getting cost-effective coverage for their healthcare needs. You can help employees get the full value of their health insurance benefits by educating them about their health coverage, including information about copays, coinsurance, out-of-pocket maximums, and in-network vs. out-of-network coverage.
Consider holding workshops to educate employees about health insurance as well as other benefits, including health savings or flexible spending accounts, retirement plans, paid leave, and employee wellness programs. By providing dedicated time for employees to learn and ask questions about their benefits, you help create a culture of support and communicate that you care about their well-being. Use this time to educate your employees about the following:
- Health Coverage
- The various healthcare policies available and comparisons of key features
- Copays, coinsurance, and deductibles
- How to find in-network providers
- Retirement Savings
- Employer matching for retirement contributions
- Annual contribution limits
- Investment choices
- Time Off
- How paid leave is accrued and tracked
- Policies for using sick, vacation, and other paid time off
- If applicable, laws that protect their rights to paid or unpaid leave
- Wellness Programs
- What services are available (e.g., apps, fitness classes, mental health support, discounted gym memberships)
- How to access services
- How employee privacy is protected when accessing services
Communication is critical for empowering your employees to get the most out of their benefits. Ensure your workforce understands the value of the benefits you offer and how these programs can support their physical, financial, and psychological well-being.
Streamline benefit enrollment.
Take time to ensure employees understand how to enroll in benefit programs. Make this a regular part of the onboarding process. Because onboarding can include a flood of new information, it’s also important to make enrollment instructions accessible for all employees and send out periodic reminders to employees who have not enrolled so they can easily do so at any time.
Go beyond the basics.
To make your benefits package more attractive, consider offering features that many competing employers don’t. For example, you might offer employee discounts, assistance with childcare costs, or tuition reimbursement for continuing education. To make it more affordable to offer robust benefits, stay abreast of the latest tax incentives that can offset your costs.
When you offer a valuable benefits package, you demonstrate your commitment to your employees and their well-being. When employees feel valued at work, they’re more engaged, productive, and loyal. Employer Solutions Staffing Group (ESSG) can help you create and administer an attractive benefits package. As an experienced provider of back-office solutions, we can ensure your benefits comply with evolving state and federal laws and provide your employees the value they deserve.
