The 5 most coveted employee benefits and perks
We all know that having the most coveted employee benefits is essential to keep employee retention rates high, while also attracting new talent to your business. However, these employee benefits can be extremely costly, especially when many businesses are clueless as to which benefits are cost-effective, and which benefits are a straight-up waste of resources.
For this reason, implementing a small number of cost-effective employee benefits can go a long way to helping your business maintain higher employee retention rates and increased employee engagement level, while also minimizing investment costs on employee benefits and perks.
To help you figure out the most suitable benefits programs for your business, our employee-benefits experts at Pacific Prime Dubai have curated a compact list of the 5 most coveted employee benefits and perks that have shown to yield the highest returns on investments for businesses around the world.
1. Health insurance
Health insurance coverage continues to be the most sought-after benefit by employees as healthcare costs around the world keep rising.
For this reason, despite higher costs, providing a more comprehensive healthcare coverage gives businesses a competitive edge when it comes to attracting and retaining talent. Furthermore, providing extensive healthcare coverage can make the difference between your employees staying and leaving for another employer. These are three data points you should consider when choosing the correct health insurance plan for your employees:
- Over half of employees surveyed left their jobs because of satisfactory benefits offerings, citing healthcare coverage was the most important employee benefit.
- 83% of employees say health insurance is very or extremely important in deciding whether to stay in or change jobs.
- 44% of millennials (18-34) name health insurance as the most important benefit they receive.
2. Flexible and remote work options
Within the digital world that we live in, the requirement of having your employees to physically be in the workplace is becoming an increasingly outdated practice. Many employees can now perform their job functions from the comfort of their living room sofas or coffee shops without having to race through traffic to get to the office every morning.
Unlike providing healthcare coverage, implementing flexible and remote work practices has virtually no additional costs and have shown to even increase employee productivity.
EduBirdie’s 2019 State of Remote Work Report (last updated in October 2022), found that respondents cited the following as key benefits of remote working:
- Better work-life balance (91%)
- Increased productivity/improved focus (79%)
- Less stress (78%)
- Avoiding commute (78%)
Additionally, Flexjob’s 2018 survey found that 75% of workers said they experience greater productivity at home because they encounter:
- Fewer distractions (75%)
- Fewer interruptions from colleagues (74%)
- Less stress from commuting (71%)
- Fewer office politics (65%).
At the end of the day, a happier employee is a more productive employee. Flexible and remote work options are relatively low-cost employee benefits options that all employers should consider as we move into the second decade of the 21st century.
3. Financial wellbeing programs
Financial wellbeing programs are designed to help employees through their financial struggles, whether it be millennials trying to pay off their student loan, or a veteran employee trying to save up for retirement.
Financial stress has been found to be one of the most distracting factors in the workplace. Hence, implementing an effective financial wellbeing program will not only improve your employees’ job satisfaction but also increase their workplace productivity.
Moreover, financial wellbeing programs have been found to have a meaningful impact on employee retention rates. PwC’s 2019 Employee Financial Wellness Survey found that 78% of employees who are stressed about their finances stated they would be attracted to another company that cares more about financial wellbeing.
4. Mental wellbeing programs
Mental health issues are widespread in the corporate world, taking a toll on the overall wellbeing of your employees, as well as their job performance. Hence, providing mental wellbeing programs can help alleviate mental health problems, improve job performance, as well as increasing your employees’ loyalty towards your firm.
Healthshield’s survey found that over half of all respondents stated that mental wellbeing support provided at the workplace will increase their loyalty, productivity, as well as reduce absenteeism.
5. Healthy snacks
Having a comforting, relaxing area in the office ready with healthy snacks can reduce workplace stress and make your employees feel more at home. As perhaps the easiest office perk to implement with relatively low costs, providing complimentary healthy snacks in the office can significantly increase job satisfaction.
A survey by ZeroCater found that 88 percent of employees consider office snacks to be an important part of their work life.
If you want to take this perk a step further, organizing monthly office-funded meals for your employees can do a great deal to improve your workplace environment. Office meals have been shown to significantly strengthen inter-employee relationships. For your business, this can mean fewer distractions from office politics and more productivity in team-based projects.
Choosing the most coveted employee benefits
Given the wide variety of benefits out there, along with their varied effectiveness, choosing the correct benefit for your firm can be time-consuming and difficult, putting a heavy strain on your HR department.
This is where Pacific Prime Dubai comes in. As employee benefits experts with nearly 20 years of experience, we are able to give you the unbiased, professional consultation on the most effective benefits program that also fits your budget.
For more information, you can talk to our experts to find out about the top benefits of working in Dubai and the available employee benefits plans in Dubai, as well as group health insurance and company insurance options in the city.
In his free time, Phuwit enjoys reading and playing badminton. He also loves a good cup of coffee.
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