There’s more to a job than the role and salary, so lots of businesses offer employee benefits and desirable packages in order to attract talent to their business and to retain their best staff. But how effective are these benefits and do employees really want fancy perks or are security and appreciation a larger priority?
Employee benefits can range anything from flexible working hours, to free gym memberships and employers believe that offering such things can improve job satisfaction and help them to stand out from their competitors. In order to attract the right employees to the company, employers must understand what it is that their target market want, whether it be financial security, or a good work-life balance.
Raconteur, have put together this research looking at how employees regard benefits, compared to how employers.
Employee vs employer views on benefits https://t.co/gP9kDZ9G2W #HR #employerbrand #recruiting #RECongress #hiring pic.twitter.com/7M61za2l9Z
— Jefferson (@Jefferson_MFG) February 28, 2016
Here are some of the key findings:
What are the most desired benefits?
- The most desired employee benefits is a contributory pension scheme, particularly among above-average earners.
- In second and third pace are childcare voucher and private medical insurance, also valued more by above-average earners.
- The most valued benefits by below-average earners are life insurance and a cash plan.
What are the most common benefits offered by employers?
- Childcare vouchers are most widely offered by employers.
- 25+ days’ holiday and work mobile phones are also popular benefits offered by employers.
- At the lower end of the top 10 benefits are bonuses and healthcare plans.
What effect do benefits have on employees?
- Benefits are not a deciding factor for most people when deciding to work for a company.
- Employers believe that the factors that improve employee performance and job satisfaction are that they receive recognition of their work from management and they feel that they belong to a successful team.
Why do employers offer benefits?
- The top reason that employers offer benefits is to retain their current staff and help them to maintain good health and wellbeing.
- They also use them as a way of attracting talent to the company.
- The effectiveness of these perks can be measured in employee engagement levels and their retention of staff.
How do employers ideas of what boosts retention differ to employees?
- Both employers and employees feel that the base salary offered for a job is the most important factor for retaining staff.
- Employers rated the length of the employees commute and job security as some of the most important factors for retaining staff; whereas these were not important factors for employees.
- Employees regard factors such as limiting work-related stress and learning opportunities as more important; two things that were not considered important by employers.
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