Every employer knows that keeping top talent is vital for continued growth. Hanging on to those skilled employees becomes more difficult as the unemployment rate falls. It’s easy to lose your top talent to companies that offer better benefit packages even if you’re compensation scale is competitive.
The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) conducted a survey recently that found 34 percent of member organizations had increased their benefits packages in the last year. Nearly every respondent indicated the company was closely examining its current perk and benefit offerings to make sure they remain in sync with their competitors.
Of course, balancing the cost of employee perks was cited as the biggest challenge as companies struggle with ways to offer additional employee benefits.
Here are five ways to give your top talent extra perks along with a few cost-saving tips.
- Transportation Perks
Providing low-cost transportation benefits for employees is particularly important in metro areas. Check with the local mass transit train and bus services to see what kind of discounts and programs they offer if you sign the company up to offer employees low-cost ways to get to work.
If members of your staff use company vehicles, check local services to see what kind of discounts or lower cost options you can use in place of purchasing, leasing and insuring a fleet. For example, in the D.C. area, a service called Inride, founded by Alex Perdikis offers monthly rentals that could save your company thousands.
- Beyond Basic Health Care
Health care packages aren’t optional if you want to retain your top employees. But, expanded health care benefits have become important as well. Health savings accounts, wellness programs, spouse and domestic partner coverage, parental leave and some lifestyle account benefits are all additional perks employees look for.
To reduce health care costs, look into joining other employers in your industry to form a larger group as you shop for health insurance.
- Financial Planning and Retirement Programs
Most people struggle with maintaining a healthy financial status and staying on course for the future. If employees feel like they’re walking a financial tightrope, they won’t feel secure, and you could lose them.
That’s probably why a survey conducted by Fidelity Investments® and the National Business Group on Health® found that 84 percent of the company respondents said they now offer financial wellness programs as part of their employee retention strategy.
Financial and retirement planning programs include classes and seminars conducted by experts on saving, investment strategies, debt management, retirement plans and financial planning.
- Profit Sharing Plans
What better way to retain top talent than to give them the opportunity to invest in the company? Profit sharing is a win/win because it gives employees and the company a common goal — working toward the company’s success.
- Telecommuting
Giving your employees the opportunity to work from home is another win/win scenario. A Stanford study found that employees who worked from home performed 13 percent better than in a corporate office environment. Telecommuting also saves on company expenditures necessary to keep a fulltime in-house staff.
Not every perk works for every company. But, if you incorporate additional benefits into your employment packages, you stand a much better chance of retaining those valuable employees.
