Best Company Benefits – 8 Best Benefits To Keep Employees Engaged and Happy

Businesses have many assets, but perhaps none are more valuable than the employees who work hard day in and day out to ensure the company succeeds.

Because of this fact, more businesses are putting their resources towards company benefits and providing excellent work perks for their employees. Not only does investing more in your employees keep them engaged and happy, but they are more likely to stick around in the long term.

Sure, employers can cut costs by investing less in benefits, but that isn’t a great way to run a company. Less engaged employees mean they are less productive and unable or unwilling to do what it takes to help grow the company. In addition, businesses that skimp on their benefits can be perceived as not caring, which can lead to dissatisfied employees who will look elsewhere for employment.

With that, here are 8 of the best company benefits to make your employees feel appreciated, engaged, and satisfied at work. Keep in mind that depending on your company’s size, some of these benefits will and will not be realistic.

Offer Employer Tuition Assistance/Reimbursement

Large corporations and bigger businesses can and should offer employers tuition assistance for employees looking to attain an undergraduate or graduate degree. Offering programs that contain tuition assistance is a fantastic way to not only help your employees continue to better themselves through education, but it also illustrates your commitment to your employees. While yes, employees will always leave—even when they are given tuition assistance from their current employer. That’s just how it works today, with job-hopping continuing to be on the rise. Many companies require employees that receive tuition reimbursement to stick around for a select number of years before leaving.

The fact that employees may leave after you help them with their tuition should not deter you from helping your employees get the education they need to accomplish their dreams, whether it’s with you or another company.

Expand on Current Paternity Leave Benefits

The U.S. is seriously behind the ball when it comes to paternity leave for new parents. In fact, while this is a well-known issue within the country, there has been little progress made overall save for a few outliers here and there. Across the board, the U.S. is still struggling in this area.

If your company is still lagging behind or not offering a more robust, accommodating plan for parental leave, then it’s time to change that. New parents deserve time off, and as we have seen over the last several months, working from home from time to time is entirely possible. So, in addition to expanding on paid leave, companies should also consider letting new parents work from home after that paid leave is up.

Offer Mandatory Vacation Time

Unlimited PTO has been gaining traction in recent years, with the expectation that employees can take as much time off as they need, as long as it is reasonable and they are still getting their work done. However, as this article explains, there are some issues with unlimited PTO, including the fact that many unlimited PTO companies don’t actually see employees taking more time off. This is because employees can be timid in terms of actually taking days off under a policy of this nature.

Instead, employers should shift to mandatory PTO benefits. This makes it easier for employees to take days off because they aren’t afraid of abusing the policy and be seen as a “slacker.”

More Well-Rounded Healthcare Benefits

The U.S. healthcare system is complicated. In addition to offering healthcare coverage through your business to employees, you should also be looking for less obvious ways to help out your employees. For example, companies, both big and small likely have employees that have diabetes. And while you may be unaware of them, there are many great diabetes management benefits you can offer your employees.

Pops Diabetes Care’s Rebel+ Mina is one of those benefits that can drastically improve your employees’ day-to-day work-life with diabetes. Did you know that diabetes is the #1 healthcare cost in the U.S.? Rebel—a diabetes testing kit that is compact and can fit on the back of a phone—can help reduce the A1c levels of your employees with diabetes. A 1-point A1c reduction saves you more than $2,000 per employee per year!

In addition, Rebel and Mina, the personal assistant that comes with it, will reduce stress and make your employees’ lives easier. To learn more about how Pops can help you save money and improve your employee’s lives while in the office and at home, reach out today!

Increased Health and Wellness Solutions

Because companies can incorporate so many different health and wellness benefits into their benefits package, we just lumped them all together under one category. Examples include discounted gym memberships, healthy snack alternatives like SnackNation, yoga classes on-site, mediation rooms, hiking trips, paid mental health services, and many more.

It’s crucial that employees are given the opportunity to still do the necessary things each day, such as getting 30 minutes of exercise and eating healthy. Work shouldn’t get in the way of taking care of yourself, and employers are in a spot to ensure that their employees are still taken care of.

Introduce Diversity Programs

Greater Good Magazine describes diversity programs and initiatives as “…policies and practices designed to improve the workplace experiences and outcomes of target group members. These initiatives most often target women and ethnic or racial minorities, but they can target any group who faces pervasive disadvantages in the broader society.”

We should be all well aware of the issues of systematic racism in the U.S., and diversity programs are just one of the many ways in which companies can help out those that have been left behind in this country for far too long. It’s never too late to start a diversity program for your company, and the benefits speak for themselves.

Include Performance Bonuses

Recognition is always nice when you’re excelling in your role. But, companies should go above and beyond by offering performance-based bonuses for employees that are truly making a positive impact on the business. Creating individual goals and targets to hit those goals will lead to the bonus or profit-sharing each quarter. Depending on your business’s size and how much revenue you’re bringing in, the number of bonuses you can give out may be limited.

Implementing Flexible Schedules/Working From Home

As we mentioned before, we’ve now seen that allowing employees to work from home has not resulted in mass disorganization and rapid productivity drops. No, your employees are fully capable of working from home. As we return to work over the next several months to a year or however long it takes, look for more opportunities to start offering more flexible work schedules and allowing more employees to work from home when they need to. More flexible scheduling allows parents to get home in time for their kids’ sports games, or come in a little later if they have to get their kids ready for school. Life is hardly ever structured, and having a rigid schedule for your employees can be strenuous on their wellbeing. So, consider adding more flexibility for your employees, they’ll appreciate it!

Investing in your employees is a must in today’s world. Ensure that you’re taking the time to listen to what your employees need from you to make their lives easier. This will not only help them continue to grow and thrive while working with you, but your company will be much, much better off in the long run.