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Employers may see themselves struggling to recruit if they do not match their benefits to the changing needs of employees, according to a new survey from workplace specialists, Croner.
The survey highlighted the fact that although employers offer many different perks, 52.9% of employers admitted that employees were not utilising the benefits because they did not fit in with their individual lifestyle requirements.
This figure clearly demonstrates that whilst businesses are aware of a discrepancy between the benefits that employees would find useful and the perks they are offered, they are continuing to offer packages that are out of sync with today’s workers.
Out of the top five benefits offered by employers only two appear in employees’ top five most desired perks.
Employers favour the company pension and death in service as their top benefits at 93.1% and 72.4% respectively. However, figures differ greatly for employees with 80.4% of employees viewing the company pension scheme as important and 29.9% viewing death in service as a priority perk.
Nearly half (43.9%) of employees would like to have the benefit of private medical insurance and a third (33.6%) would like to be able to work flexitime, both of which are not widely offered by employers.
Croner is advising businesses to review their company benefits scheme and consider implementing those that are seen as a priority by their staff. This will not only help businesses attract the top graduate talent, but also contribute towards employees achieving a healthy work-life balance.
Here are some top tips from Croner for improving the company benefits scheme and recruiting and maintaining a happy workforce:
• Consider the needs of both the business and employees. Achieving a balance between the two will help maintain a stable working relationship between employer and employee.
• Review the current company benefits scheme. Decide what needs to be changed and what can remain the same.
• Involve staff. Involve staff in agreeing working patterns in line with the ebb and flow of business. Show workers that their needs are being considered by conducting an internal survey. This will give you, as an employer, an insight into exactly what your workforce require, making the review process a little easier.
• Achieve a benefits balance. Try to achieve a balance between offering the more traditional benefits, such as a pension scheme and the ‘softer’ benefits, such as flexitime and duvet days.
• Have clear policies on benefits and fully brief line managers. Explain the details of the benefits to line managers and ensure that they implement the organisation’s policies fairly.
• Improve recruitment processes. When recruiting new talent, ensure that recruiters emphasise the benefits opportunities, setting them out in a clear manner so that prospective candidates are fully aware of what the company can offer them.
• Measure results. Establish benchmarks for recruitment, retention and absence, and measure these regularly to establish the effect the new scheme has had on the workforce.
• Count the cost. Estimate the cost of implementing new benefits as it is important to recover the investment.
• Review. Review on a regular basis how the benefits operate to ensure that operations are not compromised, all staff have equal opportunities, and that expected business improvements have materialised.
• Allow for change. In your policies, ensure that there are provisions for future change to meet developing business needs.
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