Turns out that money isn’t the most valuable thing you can offer your employees.
In fact, 4 in 5 employees say they want benefits or perks more than a pay raise, and 60% of employees (especially that coveted Millennial generation) say that employee benefits are a major factor when accepting a job offer.
Here’s what your human resources department needs to know about the impact of employee benefits on your hiring process–and employee retention.
Why Employee Benefits May Be More Important Than Salary
Remember the days when a salary was a golden ticket? That’s not the case anymore for new employees.
Prior to the 1930s, Americans paid for their own healthcare, mostly because medicine wasn’t as advanced or valuable. The only case where employment and insurance were linked was jobs with a higher likelihood of injury, like mining or construction sites.
These days, 40% of middle-class Americans are one missed paycheck away from poverty, and 66.5% of bankruptcies are due to unpaid medical expenses. Americans, especially young workers, know that benefits are more than just a perk–they can be a lifeline.
This applies in the present day and in the long term. On one hand, health scares can be quite expensive, and strong health insurance can mitigate them. But in the long run, “free money” from employers in the form of retirement benefits can also help kickstart the future (and pay off more than a salary in the long run). Employee benefits can even affect tax savings.
What Benefits Do New Employees Look For?
That said, there’s a whole library of potential benefits out there that human resources can float to new and current employees. Tech company Fourlane, for example, rolled out a childcare benefit during the pandemic, where all employees who have been with the company for at least 90 days can receive up to $1,000 per week to cover childcare expenses.
Not all benefits are created equal. According to the Harvard Business Review, the most popular employee benefits, in order, include:
- Better health, vision, and dental insurance
- More flexible hours
- More vacation time
- Work-from-home options
- Unlimited vacation
- Student loan assistance
- Tuition assistance
- Paid maternity/paternity leave
- Free gym membership
- Free daycare services
- Free fitness classes
- Free snacks
- Free coffee
- Company-wide retreats
- Weekly free employee outings
- On-site gym
- Team bonding events
Far and away the most important benefit was health, vision, and dental insurance, with 88% of respondents indicating they would give the benefit heavy consideration (54%) or some consideration (34%) when choosing a job. That makes a lot of sense when you remember that health insurance is the most expensive benefit to provide, and if employees have to cover it themselves, their take-home salary goes way down.
We Make It Easy to Offer Great Benefits and Boost Employee Retention
At D2E, we know the power of great employee benefits. But having dedicated our careers to connecting people with healthcare that meets their needs, we also know that cost and quality don’t always go hand in hand.
Our approach is simple: to simplify the process of bringing you great health insurance. We form contracting relationships with medical insurance providers so that we can bring you great coverage and you can provide your employees with the benefit they value the most.
Sound good? We think so too. So if you’re ready to give your employees the benefits they demand, fill out this form to get started.