Employers and employees alike have rarely had a more challenging year than 2020. We’ve all been through so much, and whether furloughed or not, every person has had to adapt and find new ways of coping with everything that has been thrown at us. Businesses need to have talented, motivated, and productive employees to be successful, and this where employee benefits can help in attracting and retaining quality people. So here are six reasons why there has never been a better time to review the benefits you offer to employees:
1. Changing employee needs
What employees want from their benefits is changing. There has been a return in popularity of traditional health and protection benefits e.g. death in service, private medical insurance, and illness cover. People see the increasing NHS waiting lists and worry about “what if?”. They seek peace of mind for themselves and their families.
2. Reviewing/ reducing costs
Do your employee benefits just automatically get renewed every year as there’s not enough time to shop around? Taking advantage of a free employee benefit review will make sure you know if you have the best products and pricing. Costs vary hugely from provider to provider, and there can be cost savings to be made by using a broker like us to conduct a whole market comparison.
3. Opportunity
Due to redundancies. there are some fantastically talented people unexpectedly becoming available to be hired. But job candidates rarely now look for salary alone, and having an attractive employee benefits package can make the difference between securing the best people, or having to settle for second best.
4. Return on investment
Are your employees engaged with the benefits you offer now? Do they understand them, and do they engage with them? If they don’t, your benefits spend is not doing what it should for your business. Is it time to refresh and recommunicate?
5. Employee motivation
Employee morale has been affected by the pandemic. Resentment has sometimes been seen between furloughed employees and those still working in the business. It’s not been easy for either group. There is work to be done to reunite teams and employee benefits can help to show employees that you are a caring employer and that you value them.
6. Mental wellbeing
It can sometimes be hard for employers to know how to best support their employees with their mental health, and all the things going on in their own lives. There have been many sources of worry of late, including money, job security, health, family, relationships. Have you got an Employee Assistance Programme in place? These are a very low-cost benefit to set up, but you may find that you already have one included in existing benefits that has been forgotten about. Time to dust off those policy documents and check what you’ve got.
