A great paycheck is often a keystone in retaining employees , so it is not surprising that many employers offer competitive salaries . However , more and more companies are starting to use benefits as a core employee retention strategy . Should you ?
How Important are Benefits to Employees ? The Society for Human Resources found that 33 % of companies used benefits as a retention strategy for employees at all levels of the business ( vs 18 % in 2012 ). Benefits are becoming more and more important to employees . In a Monster . com survey , 32 % of job hunters said that health insurance and other benefits was their top priority , compared with 15 % who said a higher salary was most important .
What makes a benefit package a valuable employee retention tool ? Well , despite the growing importance of benefits to employees , only 49 % of employees are satisfied with their current benefits . That means the average employer can make benefits better for 51 % of their employees , resulting in greater retention .
Depending on your company ’ s willingness to invest in optional benefits , you can set up voluntary benefits as employer-paid , employee-paid , or a combination of the two . You can offer whole life insurance , legal and other plan benefits as portable coverage . The employee owns the policy or plan and can take it with them if they choose to leave the company .
The NATDA Enhanced Wellness Program can address the needs of all your employees . If you currently offer a health plan , these products can fill the gaps and assist with paying deductibles . If you do not have any benefits , this plan will let your employees address their needs individually .
To learn more about this program , visit promo . getmeridio . com / programs / natda or call 800-659-5016 .
What Benefits do Employees Want ? That is a difficult question to answer when you operate a diverse workplace . Men do not need all the same benefits as women . Married couples have different needs than single people . Seniors need different choices than younger employees as well .
Voluntary benefits let employees personalize their benefits to fill their personal benefit gaps . The people who want more options have access to benefits that are not in the basic benefit package . The people who do not want the optional benefits do not have to pay for them just because they are part of a company plan . Voluntary benefits include these and other options :
• Minimum Essential Coverage ( MEC ) - Medical
• Accident
• Critical Illness
• Hospital Indemnity
• Short-term Disability
• Term Life
• Whole Life
26 NATDA Magazine www . natda . org