Posted on: August 29, 2024
Most successful organizations know the value of good employees and go to great lengths to make their relationship with employees as valuable as possible. This helps them retain their best employees and develop a reputation that makes recruiting easier. Organizations that compete for talented workers recognize the importance of having a reputation as an excellent employer. Here are some of the keys to making your workplace great.
Create a positive culture.
If salary and benefits were the only things that mattered, it would be much easier to recruit and retain employees. But employees also want to work for a business whose mission includes taking care of the needs of its employees. They want to feel their coworkers are extended family members, not just a group of random people they happen to work with every day.
A Forbes survey found employees and employers aligned fairly closely on the most important elements of company culture:
| Element | Priority for Employees | Priority for Employers |
|---|---|---|
| Work-life balance | 51% | 47% |
| Building trust | 20% | 27% |
| Team camaraderie | 11% | 8% |
Sponsoring employee service projects, family activities, and friendly team competitions can help build a cohesive workplace. It’s also important to recognize employees whose service and work achievements support the mission. These employee experiences will help create a positive business culture vital to being a great workplace.
Give meaningful benefits and perks.
Many employees today examine the benefits and perks in employee packages when considering job offers. The Forbes survey found employer-covered healthcare to be the most important benefit (67% of employees), followed by life insurance (45% of employees), and pension and retirement plans (34% of employees).
One in three full-time employees surveyed said that money worries have negatively impacted their productivity at work, with financially stressed employees nearly five times as likely to admit personal finance issues have been a distraction at work. Offering strong financial benefits is important, and financial counseling could be a useful benefit for your employees.
Unfortunately, 84% of employees with student loans said that debt limits their ability to save for retirement. Borrowers with student loans have lower credit scores, on average, and are 36% less likely to buy a home, as well. It’s no surprise that many are delaying the purchase of a home or car, or starting a family.
Offer assistance with student loan debt.
Every generation in today’s workplace has borrowers who carry student loan debt. To help them, employers can add a student loan repayment benefit like BenefitEd’s Employer-Assisted Student Loan Repayment. With BenefitEd, employers can easily identify the employees eligible for the benefit, the amount they’ll contribute, and how often they’ll make contributions during the calendar year.
To help employees with student loan debt who haven’t been able to save for retirement, employers can implement a provision of the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act 2.0 that allows them to recognize their employees’ eligible student loan payments as qualifying contributions to their 401(k) for matching purposes. BenefitEd can help employers integrate SECURE 2.0 provisions into their benefits so they can help these employees start saving for the future while they pay down debt.
Encourage work-life balance.
According to the Forbes survey, one top-five benefit employees want from employers that employers don’t provide is mandatory paid time off: While 31% of employees named this as a top benefit, it didn’t reach the top five list among employers. With the employees surveyed emphasizing the importance of work-life balance as an important part of culture, it’s not surprising that paid time off was a priority.
Flexible hours was the top fringe benefit mentioned by both the in-office and remote workers surveyed by Forbes. The second-most popular fringe benefit mentioned by surveyed in-office employees was work-from-home options. Not surprisingly, these perks also support work-life balance for those who may need to flexibility to accommodate a variety of life situations.
Foster growth and development.
Great workplaces acknowledge that employees today have many goals and dreams and support their desires for growth. It’s smart to provide leadership training experiences and develop a succession plan to help employees see their long-term fit in the organization.
Employers need to meet with employees regularly to discuss their career goals. Helping to assess employees’ skills and find ways to help them receive the training and education needed to achieve their career goals can help employees feel that their employer is invested in them. Offering tuition assistance or tuition reimbursement is an investment in employees that engages the employee at the workplace while they receive their degree, and often creates a lasting sense of loyalty as well.
BenefitEd offers a full range of flexible education benefits. Our expert team works with you to customize meaningful benefits that will help enhance your workplace environment and add value for your employees. Reach out today to get started.