Recruit and Retain Stellar Employees by Offering Excellent Benefits

One year after online discount site FatWallet began hiring employees, the executives realized they needed to recruit more talented programmers and IT staff. They also recognized they’d need to recruit them away from larger, more established companies. To do that, Entrepreneur.com reports, they created a benefits package that includes “health, dental and disability insurance, paid time off and a host of other amenities, including free daily lunches for its nearly 60 employees.”

According to a 2011 Harvard Business Review Analytic Services survey, 60 percent of human resource leaders said attractive benefits are “very important” in recruiting and retaining a strong team. Compare that to only 38 percent who said a high salary is very important.

Still not convinced? AccessPerks.com references Aflac, saying “96% of employees who are satisfied with their benefits are satisfied with their jobs,” while the 2016 Aflac WorkForces Report shares that:

• 60% of employees are likely to take a job with lower pay but better benefits
• 42% say improving their benefits is one thing their employees could do to keep them, second only to salary increases and more important than a promotion
• 16% say they’ve left or turned down a job in the past 12 months because of benefits offered

Creating an Enticing Benefits Package

Employees appreciate the more usual benefits, such as health care, retirement plans, vacation time and the like. So, these typically need to be part of a package that attracts quality employees. If you want to stand out from the crowd, though, be creative like FatWallet was when they added free meals to their benefits list.

Be Creative

Inc.com lists additional benefits that can appeal to employees. These include two that provide employees with flexibility: telecommuting options and flextime schedules. This might mean your employee can telecommute fulltime or on certain days of the week. Note: Some employees thrive in this environment, while others struggle to remain motivated to focus on the job but, with the right employees, this can make a huge difference in their job satisfaction. And, whether your team telecommutes or works together in an office, is it absolutely necessary they clock in at a particular time? The answer might be yes but, if not, offering employees flexibility can also provide significant job satisfaction. Other benefits listed include on-site childcare, gym access and open office floor plans with comfortable areas for relaxing when on break.

Here’s another game-changing benefit: a legal benefits plan. Just like health care plans can provide access to preventive medical and dental services, a legal benefits plan can provide your employees with affordable access to preventive law services. As one of a growing number of group voluntary benefits, most legal plans cover the most common legal issues, such as wills and estate planning, traffic violations, and family law matters. Legal benefits plans may be available at no cost to employers and are simple to administer.

U.S. Legal Services provides legal insurance plans that are a no-cost enhancement to benefits you offer your employees, providing them with affordable ways to prevent and/or resolve legal issues.

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