There are two things on every HR professional’s mind these days: how to find the best employees and what to do to keep them happy.
You would expect recruiting to become particularly difficult in a time of low unemployment, but finding the best people has always been a challenge. Keeping your employees loyal and happy will always be the best way to build your company.
When it comes to attracting and keeping talent, the first solution that comes to mind is, of course, pay. Offering someone more money is certainly a good way to get their attention, but it’s a problematic strategy at best. For one thing, it is easy for competitors to offer more money. For another thing, tossing out money hurts internal equity, which can actually hurt productivity and loyalty among your other employees. And that doesn’t even touch on the fact that higher salaries don’t necessarily result in lower turnover.
Compensation is more than just pay. A full compensation package involves health benefits, retirement benefits, and perks like tuition reimbursement and employee discounts.
Strong Employee Benefits Lead to Low Employee Turnover
It doesn’t take a huge leap of imagination to see the link between strong employee benefits and low turnover rates. As Tom Porell, Senior Vice President with Gallagher Benefit Insurance Services said in an interview, “Competitors will leverage their benefits in order to lure employees and candidates away from other companies. [It’s the] same or similar work, with an identical salary, but the benefits make the difference.”
Weak, or even poor employee benefits are a drag on the morale of employees – and employers are responding. According to the Society of Human Resource Management’s 2017 Employee Benefits Report, nearly one-third of employers reported boosting their employee benefits packages and offering new benefits such as wellness programs, pet insurance, and even paying student loans. Michelle Jukski, Benefit Technology Practice Leader with Hub International, confirmed this in an interview: “Employers can now offer … a wider range of employee benefits, such as student loan repayment plans, pet insurance, disability insurance… Benefits are now so much more than just medical plans.”
The results are in: in the battle for the best talent, employee benefits make the difference. Knowing this, how do you proceed? Changing benefits is not only difficult but expensive and confusing. How do you know what your next move should be?
How to Improve your Benefit Offerings
Fortunately, you don’t have to figure this out on your own. There are expert employee benefits managers in the field who can help you sort out your options. Not only can they help you navigate the marketplace, but as Tom Porell said in an interview, “[Benefits Administration Services] Providers can negotiate with carriers to get better considerations for their clients.” Not only can you get help choosing better benefits for your employees, but new technology can make those benefits more employee-friendly than ever before, allowing greater access and greater convenience.
As Michelle Jukski says, “[The right HCM] provides great value with employee engagement. There is now an inherent expectation that everything can be done from a mobile perspective … This allows employees to have more options and do more research in a way that better suits their perspective and needs.” Employee populations have an increasing number of millennials, people who grew up with technology in hand. The idea that the world should be connected by technology isn’t going anywhere. “Everything is going mobile,” says Tom Porrell. “It’s more prevalent with the bigger firms, but the technology is pushing down to the smaller companies. What you’re finding is a marriage between technology and … benefits.”
Technology to the Rescue
Technology has revolutionized business – and Human Resources is no exception. Improvements in employment benefits and services have been aided by improvement in HR technology, which has allowed the development of total HR solution platforms like iSolved. These packages can integrate all Human Resource functions, from payroll administration to performance management to employee benefits. Not only does this make for a smooth experience for employees, but it also helps your Human Resources run more effectively. As Michelle Jukski puts it, “From a Productivity perspective, it [HCM] eliminates all of the mundane tasks for HR and helps them focus on strategic activities.”
Employees who are happy with benefits and who don’t have to worry about the ins and outs of HR administration will be more productive and will be less likely to leave. That’s a good thing for everybody.
For more information on how Commonwealth Payroll & HR can work with you on your strategic human resources planning, call us today at 877-245-1159.
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