Skip to content

What Are Employee Benefits?

  • by

A great benefits package will help your business in the same way (if it is not greater) than your employees.

Many companies offer employee benefits and many employees want them. But if you’re running small-sized business and a tight budget, you might wonder if benefits for employees are worth the price.

The simple answer? Yes, benefits are important. A well-designed benefits program can help keep and attract the top employees. It also can result in happier and more productive workers, and ultimately will help you grow your business.

To explain what we are talking about, let’s look at the top five reasons you should offer an employee benefits package.

1. Employers with the best skills

If you want to hire the most talented, enthusiastic people who will help your company grow, then a robust employee benefits package is an excellent beginning point.

The reason is that, well, everyone else is doing it. A lot (if not most) businesses provide some type of employee benefits. Even small-sized businesses, in fact. A study showed that 50% of businesses with less than 50 employees offer health benefits in addition, 96% companies with more than 100 employees do.

In other words, in order to be competitive when hiring employees you must have employee benefits. In the absence of benefits, you’ll likely lose the best candidates to businesses that offer an employee benefits package. For many employees, a benefits program could be the deciding aspect in deciding where to work. It’s a crucial component of the total compensation.

But it goes beyond compensation. When you offer benefits to your employees and benefits, it indicates that you trust in your business, you have enough money to be able to provide benefits, and that you are willing to invest in your workforce. Simply put, benefits show you’ve got what it takes to be a great employer–which is why you attract top employees.

While we used the insurance example as an illustration, you may want to consider more comprehensive benefits. As we’ve mentioned, having the benefits offered to employees can be the primary factor in an in-demand job seeker. If you’re looking for the best workers and benefits, you must have top-of-the-line benefits.

2. Minimize the time employees spend on work

While hiring matters as well, it is important to think about how to keep your employees engaged. And once more, benefits will be of great help.

Like we said when talking about hiring, a well-designed benefits package can prevent your employees from being influenced by other job offers. When you offer benefits, you’ll let your employees feel that the company (and their job) is stable and secure They’ll be less inclined to begin putting out resumes.

What’s the end result? lower turnover of employees and greater retention of employees for your company.

This means you’ll save money on hiring and training because you won’t have to handle either frequently. You’re less likely to let clients and projects fall into the wrong hands as employees leave. Also, it allows you to form a competent team that can swiftly and effectively tackle the various issues that would trip up the younger workforce, thanks to the employee loyalty you’ve built through benefits.

If you’d like to retain employees for the long run then you must have an incentive plan that will make people want to remain.

When searching for employee benefit services make sure you contact blackhawknetworkextras.co.uk

3. Maintain a fit and healthy workforce

It’s likely that you’ve experienced it yourself: when you feel better, you perform better. So if you want a more productive employee Benefits, especially health benefits, can help.

For example, if you provide dental insurancefor your employees, even a tiny cavity is not likely to turn into the kind of root canal that distracts your employee and makes them take several days off work. Similar is the case with medical insurance and vision insurance.

Paid sick leave works the same way. By encouraging employees to take a break when they are sick and preventing one sick worker from infecting the entire group. Wouldn’t it be better to keep one person out rather than a dozen?

Furthermore, sick time lets your workers focus on healing up and getting better. While an employee could be gone for a day or two, they will return refreshed and ready to go, rather than struggling to to work through illness for days or even weeks.

The bottom line is that healthier employees could lead to an improved business. It’s a good business idea to provide health insurance and other benefits for wellness.

4. Boost employee productivity

At this point, we’ve told you how a strong benefits package can get you talent-driven employees, help them stay for the long haul, and provide you a more healthy workforce. What’s the natural outcome of all of that? More productivity.

Imagine that you have hired a better, motivated workforce that can be a force to get things done. You’ll have kept employees around for long enough to create good workflow and processes. Additionally, you’ll have helped keep your staff healthy and give them the physical capacity to remain productive as well.

Furthermore, benefits give those employees mental headspace to be productive as well. They won’t be concerned about paying for health insurance, saving for retirement, caring for their children, or other issues that benefits may deal with. That means they have more brain power and enthusiasm to work to help your business.

It’s not a bad trade-off It’s not?

5. Have a better employee morale

Additionally, having a well-designed benefits package will boost employee morale, which will result in an improved work environment overall.

After all, providing benefits to employees will make your employees feel you care about their needs. This, in turn can increase loyalty of employees and satisfaction. They’ll show their best work. (As an added benefit this makes your work as a business owner and boss a lot more rewarding.)

And that, is a way to result in a positive cycle for you. Employees who are happy and loyal will be positive about your company, which makes it easier for you to find talent when you have job openings. Then, those new employees will stay with you because of the great benefits you offer. And, well, you are able to see the direction this is headed.

To ensure that your employees are satisfied and have the motivation that goes with it, you’ve got to offer good benefits.

Examples of employee benefits

Are you not sure what you should include in benefit packages? We’re here to help you with suggestions.

A basic benefits package might consist of the following:

Medical insurance
Dental insurance
Vision insurance
Leave for sick
Time for vacation
Parental leave
Retirement plan

Of course, it is possible to tailor your benefits program to suit your particular business. Some companies, for example might offer more than just an 401(k) retirement plan, but also matching contributions to that retirement plan. Additionally, some companies choose to provide unlimited time off, while others stick to a set number of sick day and holiday days.

And you can always choose to provide more and develop an extremely effective employee benefits plan. In addition to the benefits mentioned earlier, best employee benefits packages often include additional benefits like:

Disability insurance
Life insurance
Tuition reimbursement
Gym memberships
Financial Wellness programs
Commuter benefits
Pet insurance
Childcare
Meals that are catered
Time off for volunteering

The sky’s the limit. You’ll have to think about what benefits your business can afford and what kind of advantages your employees would like.

Just remember that better benefits can lead to a better business.

The takeaway

While employee benefits could cost more at first, the long-term advantages are far greater than the cost and aid in your overall success. Your benefits will attract more employees and help them stay for the long-term. You’ll reap the rewards of an active, healthy, and happy employees.

Put simply it’s a good idea to have an employee benefits program that is worth the investment. Don’t forget that you don’t need to provide all the benefits available in the world today. Small businesses can begin with basic benefits (like medical insurance) and then expand your employee benefits program as the workforce expands.

If you decide to start large as well as small think your business will be able to reap the benefits.