Hiring the most competent and talented employees and retaining them at a company is a top priority for any human resource (HR) department at an organization. To attract top talent, one of the most important methods in an HR professional's arsenal is offering a compensation package that employees find difficult to refuse.
According to the Society for Human Resource Management, 63% of U.S. employees said that compensation and benefits (such as employee child care benefits) are an important factor, second only to respectful treatment when determining job satisfaction.
Compensation and benefits are important aspects of employee satisfaction at a workplace, as they directly impact an employee's performance and motivation to work. It is, therefore, imperative that an HR department ensure the compensation and benefits offered to their employees are attractive enough to keep morale high.
Doing so will ensure that employees know that the company values them and wants to acknowledge the work they do. Humans, after all, are the most important asset for a company.
1. What Are Compensation and Benefits in the Workplace?
Compensation and benefits are two very important things for employees when deciding if they are going to take a job or not.
When it comes to compensation, this focuses more on a purely financial incentive for an employee. This can be anything from an hourly or yearly salary that they have to commission that they get for performing certain actions.
An example of this can be an employee making a sale for their company and getting a certain percentage of that sale as a commission. That would be compensation for the work they performed for that company.
As for benefits, this focuses on the perks and bonuses that an employee gets for working with a company. This is not financial, but rather an extra advantage to working with said company.
An example of this would be something like having paid vacation days or having your health insurance covered by the company that you work for.
You can use the total rewards model and reward employees that achieve specific business goals or you can go with Warr's vitamin model that focuses on overall employee satisfaction and wellbeing.
2. Why Are Compensation and Benefits Important?
So, now that you have a better idea of what compensation and benefits are, it is time to discuss why they are important. The simple answer is that compensation and benefits can help you attract and maintain a better team of employees.
Let's start with attracting talent. With the understanding that life can get expensive, employees with options are going to want to go to a place where they can feel financially secure.
This is where compensation comes in. If your company is offering a $100,000 salary where the industry standard is $80,000 per year, that will likely attract more people to your company. From there, you could have the option of choosing the best of the best employees.
As for benefits, this has to do with keeping employees happy and recognizing their hard work. Employees might come for stability, but they are still human. What this means is that even if they are making good money, they still might leave if they are miserable at a company.
This is where benefits can come in. More and more employees want balance in their work life and their social life. So, if your company can make that easier with things such as more paid vacation days and remote work, that may improve your chances of keeping the employees that you worked hard to get.
3. List of Employee Benefits and Compensation Ideas That You Can Provide to Your Employees
There are several different benefits and forms of compensation that you can offer to employees who will appreciate these items. Some of these items include but are not limited to:
- Insurance plans
- Disability insurance
- Tuition reimbursement
- Corporate discounts
- Paid vacation
- Retirement plans
- Paid sick leave
- Performance bonus
- Office perks
- Stock options
- Paid parental leave
- Wellness programs
- Profit-sharing
Any of these types of benefits and compensation can be things that help encourage an employee to not only work for you but stay with you longer than they may have intended.
4. 7 Most Sought-After Employee Benefits for Millennials
So, what are the benefits that people are after the most? Seven benefits that millennials want from their employer are:
- Student loan assistance
- State-of-the-art technology
- Bonuses through time off
- Corporate social responsibility initiatives
- Remove the 9-5 system
- Remote working
- Personal growth development
These can be crucial to get millennials to buy into your system. The pandemic opened the door for things like remote work and removing 9-5 hours to be more accepted.
Student loan debt has been an issue for years, with the average student leaving college with $30,000 of debt. Assisting with this can be a big financial relief for potential young employees.
5. Low-Cost Benefits for Employees
Benefits do not even have to be something that your company needs to invest a lot of money into. These low-cost benefits can make a difference for employees:
- Flexible schedule
- Free snacks
- Casual dress code
- Event tickets
- Telecommuting
- Bring your pet to work days
- Welcome packages for new hires
- Movie nights
- Casual Friday
All of these things require very little financial investment from a company. However, these are all things that allow employees to feel more comfortable where they work and to make their lives easier.
Learn More About Employee Child Care Benefits
These are some of the advantages companies have when they start offering employees benefits. Even low-cost benefits can make employees feel appreciated and more willing to stay with a company.
Larger benefits like commission, bonuses through time off, stock options, and insurance plans can help get more talented employees to your company in the first place.
What about employee child care benefits? Do you want to know more about that? Schedule a demo to find out all of the information that you need.
Are you looking for more child care management information? Check out our Ultimate Guide to Child Care Management.
Our child care management system makes running your child care program simple and efficient. Get back to what's most important. You shouldn't have to spend more time on the administrative tasks than you do with children and staff.
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Or schedule a demo with us to learn more about how our child care management system, Alliance Core, can streamline your administrative processes.
Do you run an early childhood association made up of child care providers? If so, check out our Ultimate Guide to Shared Service Alliance.
Header image courtesy of Jumpstory.
