Why It’s Important to Offer Value Added Employee Benefits and How to Do It

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When you think about employee benefits, your mind probably goes right to medical coverage. But there are actually a lot of other valuable added employee benefits to consider, from retirement plans and disability to vision and dental coverage.

If you don’t consider these added benefits to be a priority for your business, you might want to rethink that. Employee benefits are actually more important now than they ever have been before. Below are some of the reasons you should consider value added employee benefits beyond medical for your small business, along with tips for implementing those benefits.

Why You Should Offer Value Added Employee Benefits

They Help You Attract the Best Employees

According to a 2015 CareerBuilder study, 55 percent of employees consider affordable benefits to be more important than salary when job hunting. That means that more than half of potential workers out there would rather work for a company that offers comprehensive benefits than one that offers a slightly higher salary but limited benefits.

So if you don’t offer any valued added benefits to your employees, you could really be missing out on some great potential team members.
If more than half of people would pass on the opportunity to work for your company just because of the benefits, that greatly reduces the talent pool for your organization. And that means you’ll have less of a chance to actually find the best people for each job.

They Help Your Team Stay Focused on Work

Even if you do manage to hire a great team, it’s more difficult for employees to stay focused and engaged at work if they’re worried about money or experiencing financial issues, which is more likely if comprehensive benefits packages aren’t offered.

According to MetLife’s 14th Annual Employee Benefit Trends Study, 46 percent of employees who are financially distressed believe that their money worries have a negative impact on their productivity. And employers tend to agree.

In addition, since two-thirds of Americans report that they would have trouble coming up with $1,000 to cover an unexpected medical emergency or other crisis, insurance can have a big impact on whether or not many workers have to actually experience those financial burdens.

They Convince Your Team to Stick Around Longer

If you’re able to attract the right employees to your business and compensate them enough so that they can actually be productive and focused at work, then you likely want to get them to stick around as long as possible. Luckily, value added employee benefits can also help in that area.

Fair compensation, which often includes added benefits, can make employees feel that they are fairly compensated for their work. And if they’re satisfied and stable in their jobs, they’re more likely to stick around instead of looking for opportunities with better compensation elsewhere.
This not only allows your business to hold onto the best possible employees, but also potentially saves you money on training and HR expenses.

How to Offer Value Added Employee Benefits

Talk to Your Employees

There are many different types of employee benefits out there. Generally, more than half of employees tend to see retirement plans, dental coverage and life insurance options as “must-haves,” according to MetLife’s Employee Benefit Trends Study. And vision care insurance and disability insurance are also considered to be important.

But as a small business owner, you have access to even more specific information about what your employees want if you’re willing to just talk to them. If you know exactly what kinds of benefits they consider to be important, you can prioritize those over others.

Talk to Your Broker

On the other end of that, you also need to be sure that any benefits plan will work with your budget. But it is possible to get creative and pay for some benefits while offering others as self-pay options. And if you know what options are most important to your team already, you can find a way to work those into your benefits plan while still staying within a realistic budget.

Keep Looking Forward

You’ll also want to be sure that your benefits plans will work for the future of your business as well. Don’t spend so much in the short term that you’ll potentially harm your chances of affording great options in the future. But you also need to consider how added employee benefits might help your business going forward they help your team grow and stay productive.

Re-evaluate Regularly

As your team changes and evolves, so should your benefits. You’ll need to constantly re-consider different types of benefits so that you can make sure your plan is always what’s best for your team. In addition, as your budget grows or fluctuates, you can make adjustments that fit within what you can afford while still offering the best possible plans to employees.

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This article, "Why It’s Important to Offer Value Added Employee Benefits and How to Do It" was first published on Small Business Trends