Effective Strategies for Modernizing Your Employee Benefits

You can apply a range of strategies to your business to help attract and retain great employees. However, one of the most effective by far is to build a comprehensive employee benefits package.

Still, while many businesses apply a basic format when structuring their benefits offerings, it’s important to realize that today’s employees are often looking for a bit more from their employers. Because of this, it’s important to look for ways to modernize the benefits you provide so that they meet the ongoing needs of your workforce.

Thankfully, there are some proven ways you can achieve this without risking budget overruns.

Evaluate Your Employee Needs

When you start investigating how to improve your benefits offerings, it’s essential to gather information that can help you make the right decisions.

Start by Asking Your Employees

One of the best ways to ensure your benefits align with your employees’ needs is to ask them yourself. Sending an anonymous survey to your staff is a common strategy for doing this, and it allows you to get honest and transparent responses regarding the perceived value of current benefits or what your staff would prefer you cover.

Evaluating this feedback and using it to inform your strategies moving forward not only makes sure you’re making investments in the right areas, but it also shows your employees that their opinions really matter.

Understand Your Workforce Demographics

It isn’t always easy to build a benefits package that has something for everyone. Still, it’s important to try to understand your workforce demographics to better understand the type of individuals working for the business and their general lifestyle needs.

For example, younger employees might benefit significantly from financial assistance resources or benefits focused on helping them to take more responsibility for their future. Older employees or those with new families would likely benefit from extended healthcare coverage or childcare benefits.

Use the data housed in your benefits platform to help you uncover these insights and use them to fine-tune your offerings.

Research Industry Standards and Competitors

Another good place to look when trying to collect helpful information for your benefits selection process is other businesses in your industry. Leverage available data from your benefits platform to benchmark how your company’s offering compares to other companies of similar size and industry.

Try to make this analysis as broad as possible to establish an average baseline you can work off of. This will help you establish what the minimum industry standards are for benefits packages, giving you a good starting point to reference as you structure your own offerings.

Look for Ways to Enhance Your Core Offerings

While many employees may expect their employers to offer traditional benefit offerings, there are various ways you can enhance these coverage types.

Health Insurance

Health insurance coverage is a common inclusion in most employer benefits packages. However, while many of these plans can be rigid, finding ways to add more flexibility in coverage selection can be really beneficial to employees.

Consider offering multiple plan options and allowing each employee to choose the ones that are best for their own circumstances. Another option is to integrate telehealth services into your offerings. This can be an excellent convenience for many people and encourages them to have more regular health checkups.

Retirement Plans

To improve any retirement planning benefits you may have, consider evaluating whether or not you’re able to make or increase your employer contributions. 

Contributing a fair percentage of what your employees put into their retirement savings plans shows them that you’re actively investing in their future.

Disability and Life Insurance

Providing disability and life insurance options for your employees helps them create a financial safety net for themselves or their families in the event of life-changing events. When offering these types of benefits, it’s a good practice to review coverage levels regularly to ensure they’re still meeting the needs of your employees.

Consider offering supplemental life insurance options for employees that allow them to choose additional coverage based on their circumstances. 

Consider Adding Lifestyle and Wellness Perks

After you have figured out your core benefits offerings, exploring other options, such as lifestyle and wellness perks, can also improve the total value of the packages you create. Here are some options you could consider:

Flexible Work Arrangements

Offering employees more flexibility with their work arrangements is a highly valuable benefit for many individuals. Depending on your business needs, you could allow employees to work from home, set their own hours, or offer them additional paid time off to help them better manage their work and personal life.

Comprehensive Wellness Programs

When looking for additional ways to support your employees’ well-being, it’s important to think beyond standard healthcare offerings. Incorporating various wellness programs into structured benefits plans can be one way to support their overall health.

For example, you could offer free gym memberships, access to mental health services and resources, or implement various Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) that can help employees get the support they need for different personal or work-related issues.

Childcare Support

If your business has a large number of employees with families, adding different forms of childcare support can be really helpful. Depending on the size of your organization and the budget you’re working with, you could explore offering on-site childcare services or providing discount daycare services in nearby facilities.

Implement and Communicate Benefits Offerings Effectively 

After you’ve taken the time to create a great benefits offering, it’s essential to communicate all the features effectively to your employees. This helps them to appreciate the value of the benefits they’re receiving and encourages them to make the most of them.

To implement and communicate your benefits effectively, you can:

• Use a mix of communication channels, like emails, team meetings, and your company intranet.
  
• Keep all benefit information easy to find, clear, and simple to understand.
  
• Highlighting practical examples or scenarios that show how these benefits can make a real difference for your employees.

Start Increasing the Value of Your Benefits Offerings

Modernizing your benefits package can be incredibly valuable for your business, especially when it comes to attracting and retaining qualified employees. By following the strategies mentioned, you’ll ensure your business benefits continue to hit the mark for your employees while reducing their need to explore other employer options.

Author Bio: Frank Mengert

Frank Mengert continues to find success by spotting opportunities where others see nothing. As the founder and CEO of ebm, a leading provider of employee benefits solutions. Frank has built the business by bridging the gap between insurance and technology-driven solutions for brokers, consultants, carriers, and employers nationwide.