The most sought-after employee benefits include flexible work schedules, healthcare options, and time off. It's hard enough already to find quality workers. If your company does not provide any of these benefits to your employees, you may miss out on an opportunity to attract and retain top talent.
Nearly half of all workers in the U.S. today are unhappy in their jobs, and poor company benefits hold a significant source of the blame. These workers will leave for a better opportunity. To combat this, your company must have a competitive benefits package. You can attract and retain top talent by strengthening your benefits package. Here's how:
1. Connect Benefits to Objectives
Determine your goal of offering a best-in-class benefits package. For most companies, that's to attract and retain top talent in their respective industries.
If that's your aim, look at which benefits are most likely to attract the best employees. Because health insurance is tied to employment, this consistently ranks in the top three most sought-after benefits by employees. However, getting competitive benefits for your small or medium-sized business can be cost-prohibitive. You need to balance the comprehensiveness of these benefits to fit within your budget.
2. Competitor Research
You need to be one step ahead of your rivals at all times. In the market, if you're not gaining, you're losing. The same is true for your company's benefits package.
Find out what your competitors are offering in their benefits package. This should be fairly easy to find, either on their website or in a recent job posting. By surpassing what your competitors offer in their benefits package, you can increase your chances of attracting and retaining the best employees.
Knowing what your competitors offer is vital to making sure your company is one step ahead. But also keep in mind that what your competitor's employees want may differ, even slightly, from what your employees want.
3. Employee Needs Assessment
Your employees have unique needs and understanding exactly what those are can help you craft a benefits package that meets their needs. If you currently have a benefits plan, speaking with your employees about what works for them and what doesn't can help you make decisions about what changes to make. Taking this approach will not only help you offer the benefits that your employees want but also make them feel a sense of ownership in the benefits package since you have asked for their help.
You don't need to constantly shift what benefits you offer. Employees like consistency. But reviewing your benefits package and how that compares to what your employees want every so often is key.
Looking for gaps between what you currently offer and what your employee's desire will give your company the chance to close that gap. By offering a benefits package that meets your employees' wants and needs, you can create more loyal and efficient employees.
4. Periodic Evaluation
Even if you review your benefits package and make adjustments to keep it best-in-class, that doesn't mean you're done. Your employees' needs will change over time. That's why it's best to review your benefits packages annually. Not only does this help you stay on top of getting the best rates, but it also lets you make any adjustments to match your employees' desires.
Considering your budget is always important but so is being flexible. If you can push your budget even just a bit, that could make a massive difference in employee satisfaction. By offering your employees the benefits they want, they become more loyal and less likely to jump ship to a competitor.
The best and most cost-effective way for many small and mid-sized companies to offer a best-in-class benefits package is to partner with a Professional Employer Organization (PEO). With a PEO, your company can get more comprehensive benefits at a lower cost than you could on your own.
PEOs work with many small business clients like your company. When you pool all of these companies together, the PEO has more negotiating power. Through economies of scale, a PEO can get Fortune 500 benefits at Fortune 500 prices. This serves to provide your employees with exactly what they want while also giving your company what it wants—affordable benefits. This is how a PEO helps your company attract top talent.
Benefits are an essential part of any business operation. A strong benefits package is one of the best ways to attract new employees to your company. While it does require a cost, think of it as an investment in your company. This investment provides workers what they seek, keeping them happy, engaged, efficient, and loyal.
Partnering with a PEO is the most cost-effective way for your business to provide these benefits to your employees while getting a positive ROI. The right PEO can help you evaluate your existing benefits package, conduct a gap analysis, and make strategic adjustments to your benefits offering on a regular basis. Through this process, you can ensure your company always beats your competitors' benefits package, helping you hire the best workers in your industry.