The right employee benefits portfolio looks different for every business. Prioritize your employees’ needs, your company’s values and a realistic budget when selecting your plan.
Key takeaways:
- Many employees would rather have better benefits than a pay increase.
- Better employee benefits help you attract and retain top talent, particularly during this challenging labor market.
- Recommendations for employee benefits plan selection include budgeting, aligning values and considering employee needs.
Due to economic shifts and industry trends, employee priorities are always changing. Employees continue to value and prioritize health insurance, wellness incentives, retirement savings accounts and other perks.
Your employee benefits package is just as important as the salaries you offer.
Whether you’re selecting a benefits package for the first time or it’s time to consider your open enrollment update for the next plan year, it’s important to ensure you’re satisfying employees and staying aligned with your mission. This guide will help you understand why it’s so important to choose the right plan, and how to establish a stronger program that will attract and retain great talent.
Why Selecting the Right Employee Benefits Matters
Positive employee support encompasses culture, wages, satisfaction and a comprehensive and affordable benefits package.
Employee benefits packages are a key component of their compensation — many people would even give up more money for better perks. Recent NFP research found that nearly 60% of employees would give up some of their salary for better healthcare, for instance.
This is why businesses are more frequently negotiating employee benefits, such as paid time off, retirement or wellness perks, when making a job offer to top talent to sweeten the deal. Candidates will leverage what they can, even outside of their salary, to find the right situation for their lifestyle and goals.
Why? Because the landscape continues to change with employee vs employer expectations.
Prioritizing benefits that employees can afford and value helps them establish and maintain more work-life integration. Selecting the right employee benefits plan is critical for workplace satisfaction and engagement. When workers feel like they’re supported at work, they’re more likely to stay, helping you reduce turnover.
Additionally, when you can build and launch a competitive employee benefits plan, you’ll attract and retain top talent in your industry. Focus on selecting the benefits package that meets the expectations of the employees you hope to hire and retain.
How to Select the Right Employee Benefits Plan
When you’re looking for better employee benefits, you have a lot of options. Your choices will have a sizable impact on employee wellness and satisfaction. Here are strategies for selecting the right plan:
1. Consider Employees’ Unique Needs
Each of your employees has a unique set of expectations, needs and desires you should factor into decision making. Align what you choose with what’s most important to your people.
To find out what they’re thinking about, send around an employee benefits survey to ask if staff is happy with the current plan and what should change. Hold internal focus groups where employees can share their needs. Research what benefits are trending and which options may help you stand out in the job market. Your goal should be to understand what would you’re your people feel satisfied and secure.
2. Budget Effectively
Any business has to weigh employee benefits with cost. Benefits packages are one of the biggest expenses for a business, and premium offerings aren’t always easy to take on for smaller companies.
Be strategic with your budgeting. Make sure you pursue options that are realistic for your budget while prioritizing benefits that are most important to employees. One way to find the right balance is to work with a professional employer organization (PEO). The purchasing power of a PEO gives you access to premium employee benefits, typically reserved for large companies, but at affordable costs.
You should also weigh the costs of employee benefits plans against costs associated with employee turnover. Spending more on competitive benefits packages now may actually save your company money in the long run if it helps reduce churn – which is a notoriously high variable cost.
3. Prioritize Company Values
Your organization’s core values should be present in every aspect of the business, including employee benefits selections. When looking at your options, ask yourself which ones would align with your values. For instance, are you delivering on your promises to employees? Are you staying committed to prioritizing their well-being through possible ancillary offerings coupled with medical insurance options?
Check in with your mission and make sure you’re not compromising anything important just to save money.
4. Consider Competitive Employer Contributions
One key component of your employee benefits plan is the employer contribution for medical insurance. A strong contribution strategy is a major determining factor of employee satisfaction.
Paying a higher amount toward coverage for your employees – and possibly dependents – shows your business is invested in them as people, not just workers.
But again, it’s not always easy to understand options or take on the cost of this perk. Working with a PEO can help your business save money and ensure competitive returns for your employees.
5. Provide Options
There are many moving parts to your employee benefits program, just as your employees have many different perspectives and needs. Your employees are at different life stages and may prioritize conflicting benefits, like more retirement savings or better health insurance.
Consider the different people you aim to please with your employee benefits plan. Where possible, offer plenty of options so they can customize their package to their unique individual needs. This is made easier when you integrate a software platform that helps employees view, select and manage their benefits in one place.
Working with a PEO for Better Employee Benefits Selection
Businesses are all as different and as unique as their employees. Thus, there is no one perfect benefits plan. Be mindful of how you’re approaching changes to your benefits plan, and make sure you’re selecting options and perks that resonate most with your employees.
Whether you’re preparing for the next year or upcoming open enrollment, it’s the perfect time to partner with a PEO to access better options and processes. PrestigePEO prioritizes the benefits plans your employees care about most, from competitive health insurance to retirement planning to optional perks and discounts. We help you access affordable options so you can fully support your workforce.
Get in touch with PrestigePEO today to find out more.
