In today’s environment, it’s hard to maintain competitive benefits while also staying cost-effective and meeting the expectations of your employees. Add in the uncertainty of the healthcare reform and the need to consistently meet compliance standards, and that task goes from hard to exceptionally difficult.
One way to fill the gaps in your coverage strategy and meet your employees’ expectations is through voluntary benefits, non-traditional, add-on products or services used to supplement a benefits package. But before you can choose the right benefits for your company, you have to know what your employees are looking for.
We hear it all the time. “I know what my employees want, and they are happy with what they’ve got.” While that may be true in some instances, employee turnover rates say a different thing. The average annual rate of separation in 2018 was 44.3 percent, according to the United States Department of Labor, and this rate has been steadily increasing since 2009. Employees are looking for more out of their jobs and benefits packages than ever before.
Asking the right questions
So, how do you discover what your employees want? It’s pretty simple. Just ask. Use an online service like SurveyMonkey or TypeForm to send out an anonymous survey. This will help you uncover what your employees are really thinking so you can make data-driven decisions on your benefits strategy. Remember, during this stage, you aren’t making promises about boosting benefits, but rather offering an opportunity for your employees to be heard and truly listening to what they have to say.
Here are a few questions you can include in your survey:
- Are you happy with your benefits package?
- On a scale of 1 to 5, how satisfied are you with your current benefits package?
- How could your benefits package be improved?
- Would you be open to voluntary benefits, like financial wellness tools or identity theft protection?
- Are there benefits or perks you want but don’t currently have?
Analyzing the answers
Once you have the answers from the survey, take some time to comb through them. Pull out the most relevant information, and consider which voluntary benefits best fit their desires. Once you’ve done that, consider what your employees can actually afford. Voluntary benefits are 100% employee-paid, which is great for employers but can be taxing on employees. In fact, research shows that employees only pay for three voluntary benefits at a time. So keep that in mind when choosing the right voluntary benefits for your strategy.
Need help deciding? We’ve got you covered. Contact us to learn more about your options.
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