Employee benefits are a way to attract, reward and keep good people. That’s why you offer them, and you’re pretty sure you’re doing the best you can based on your knowledge and instinct.
But what if the benefits you’re offering aren’t the benefits your employees want? What if the benefits you’re not providing are the ones that would have kept those highly valued employees from turning in their playbooks and moving on to another team?
How do you know what to do? Ask them.
Conduct an employee survey about which fringe benefits your employees truly value. Their opinion may be different from yours.
You might find you’re spending money on benefits like expensive company outings or obscure insurance offerings. You think you’re doing the right thing. Your employees, however, privately wonder why money is going one way when they’d like to see it go another.
It’s not that you don’t want to make the best decision. But here’s the problem: ye know not because ye ask not.
Finding out what employees would like is one thing. Finding out what they don’t like is equally important – particularly if you learn that information before an annoyance somewhere within your benefits program mushrooms into a serious problem.
An important safety tip about surveying employees: take care to survey them, get the information you seek, and then act on it. Asking employees’ their opinions is an important factor in their participation in the company life you’re building for them. However, if they feel it’s just for show the survey will do more harm than good.
There are resources that can help you find the path to benefits prosperity. The Employee Benefits Research Institute, has a mountain of information on 401k plans, health benefits plans, and other vital information that can help give you guidance on directions for your benefit programs.
Ultimately, employee engagement is what we’re talking about. As employees see you structuring their benefits with their interest – and their engagement – in play, the greater your chance of achieving your goal: happy employees helping to build your business.