Feature
How To Attract And Retain Employees:
A Focus On Non-Monetary Benefits
By Roland Salmi, MBA | Westminster Consulting
E
mployees often feel under-appreciated by their
employers. Maintaining the employer-employee
relationship is essential for an employee’s satisfaction
and a company’s long term growth. Since training is a top
three cost in the work place, reducing employee turnover
should save costs. Why not focus on employee retention
and engagement instead?
In many ways employment is like a marriage. The employer
and employee enter into an engagement together with certain
expectations. Trading labor for wages is the most basic
level of expectation; but most employees aspire to more
and have higher expectations over time. If over time the
expectations of “spouses” are not met, the relationship will
begin to break down. (When I think of this relationship, I
always quote my mother: “happy wife, happy life”.)
To promote employee satisfaction, non-financial incentives
have been embraced by employers. A Towers Watson survey
states nearly half of the respondents (320 U.S. companies)
expect voluntary benefits and services to become more
important to employees in the next five years. Non-financial
incentives can make an employee feel like a valued player
and companies can embrace these incentives to retain their
top talent and affirm vital relationships with employees.
24 | WINTER 2015
New employees, from different generations, will have
different expectations for starting a career with a new
company. Generation Y, the wellspring for new hires, is
more interested in flexibility and plans which will mold to
their needs. Non-financial incentives will attract employees
by offering choice and convenience. These non-financial
benefits may be particularly well suited to attracting and
retaining the new Gen Y workforce.
Let’s look at some examples of non-financial incentive
programs and how they may be received and implemented.
Non-financial incentives: Wellness Programs
Wellness program attempt to reduce absenteeism by
supporting a healthy lifestyle. Common offerings of wellness
programs include: free health screenings, counseling services,
financial counseling, stress-management and exercise
initiatives. Often these initiatives are better received if
upper management themselves are the first to embrace
these offerings and exemplify their importance to their
workers. Once the wellness program is established, you can
customize the plan to match the needs of your work force.
For example, the wellness program could offer community
gym memberships (or simply have a gym onsite). An