Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

By Rosana Beechum

Employee benefits play a big part in protecting the wellbeing of staff, both in terms of their mental wellbeing and their physical safety. Paid holiday, pension schemes, life insurance, sick pay, holiday allowances, income protection, and pension schemes all fall under the umbrella of employee benefits. However, only the latter three are mandatory for inclusion by law.

Obviously, any one of these schemes can be perceived as a nifty workplace perk. But why are they so important in the grand scheme of things? Read on to find out more.

Effortless management

Business practices have evolved alongside the surge in technology, developing new tricks and techniques to make management easier.

A good example of how far things have come is the employee benefits technology from Zest Benefits. Their powerful automation tools completely remove the burden of administration, giving HR professionals quicker access to the system with a rundown of easy to understand data. There’s no complications or hiccups, just pure efficiency, which in turn will drive down costs also.

That fluidity and elegance in a benefits scheme will go on to affect every other limb of a company. Firm’s thrive on efficiency, and for many it starts with how they deal with their admin and management responsibilities. Fortunately, tech makes it all much easier, making what were once laborious and time consuming tasks quick and easy.

Better hires

If a company offers a wider selection of employee benefits, they’ll irrefutably have access to a wider and more diverse talent pool. If you’re an international company, this can have wide-ranging and global benefits.

Employees are people first and foremost, and each person comes with their own specific circumstances. From combatting personal disabilities to family obligations, workers who feel like a job is tailored perfectly to their private life will undoubtedly be attracted to the role. Therefore, when employers go the extra mile here, they can actually end up onboarding untapped talent.

Whether it’s a multinational firm or an SME, the purpose of employee benefits is to make worker’s everyday lives easier in the long run. Different kinds of people have different ideas, ways of working, and methods of problem solving. Hiring people with a unique perspective and skillset could be just what your company needs to give it a bit of kick.

Staff retention

Once the staff are hired, they need to stay hired, and employee benefits give many workers the incentive to stick around.

When workers feel like they’re well-looked after, a sense of loyalty to their employment will be created. When candidates are applying for roles, the main question they’re asking today is; ‘does this firm offer me a good quality of life?’ Businesses that can’t handle that and treat their workforce like faceless drones will find their staff turnover rate surging, so it’s important to take it seriously.

Employee benefits are a benefit not just to the employer, but to all. If a talent scout arrives or your employee is offered a new job elsewhere, they’ll be far less likely to abandon their role to take up a new one. These schemes give firms their personality and humanity, which is what anchors workers to their posts through thick and thin.

Everyone benefits

Employee benefits can markedly improve the health and safety of workers and even help other businesses too.

Unfortunately, there have been reports of people cancelling their gym memberships in great numbers, as difficult circumstances force them out of their favourite past times. It’s a great shame, because these kids of activities can be vital for people’s wellbeing, both in the physical and mental sense. It gets people out there and active, destressed and ready to start work.

However, employee benefits often include little incentives like gym memberships, so in this circumstance these schemes could help the worker stay healthy, while helping the gym to retain business. Therefore, these arrangements are to the benefit of all, in one way or another.

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Rosana Beechum is a business and marketing undergraduate from Nottingham Trent University from the UK, who is attempting to share her knowledge through writing articles for small business owners.