More and more UK businesses are now offering their members of staff additional benefits on top of their monthly salary.
Research from Aviva showed that 13% of the 2,000 people surveyed took a business’ benefits package into account when starting a new job, with the same percentage of people claiming that the benefits package was a reason that they would stay in a job.
There are many reasons that you should offer your team more than just a regular pay packet. Carry on reading to find out why.
Sometimes a benefit could be a legal requirement, such as an annual leave allowance, but you can include other benefits for your employees.
Whilst you have to offer some form of holiday pay to your employees by law, this doesn’t mean that you can’t advertise this as a benefit, especially if the leave allowance excludes bank holidays.
In 2020, laws surrounding annual leave have changed for workers with no fixed hours, so you need to be aware of this.
As of 2018, all employers in the UK have to offer a workplace pension that employees will automatically be enrolled onto. This means that if employees do not want a workplace pension they will need to opt-out of the scheme.
Again, just because it is a legal requirement, doesn’t mean that your pension scheme can’t be classed as a benefit to your employees, especially if your pension provider is a strong, reputable brand.
It isn’t a legal requirement to offer career development opportunities or training to your employees, but it is not only beneficial for your staff but it’s also beneficial to your business to offer this as a benefit.
Although you will need to spend money on training, your employees will use this training to help make your business better, but it also makes them feel that you are investing in them.
What better way to incentivise productivity from your team than giving them an extra bonus for contribution towards achieving the company objectives.
At least once a year, you should be having a conversation with each employee to find out how they are progressing in their role and advise them of performance targets and personal objectives that you can measure against.
Based on your business’ performance, you can then award your staff an annual bonus depending on how well they performed.
Now that we have seen the kinds of things that you can offer as an employer, let’s take a look at the reasons that you should offer these benefits.
By offering something extra than just a salary, you will be able to attract more talent. When applying for a job, many people apply for several places at once, meaning that if you find a candidate to be outstanding, other businesses will too.
If you have a great benefits package, this could be the difference between the candidate choosing you over a competitor.
Not only can you encourage people to join your team, but a great benefits package can also be the reason people stay.
Career progression, a benefits package, pension contribution, bonus and perks were all in Aviva’s research that outlined why people stay in their job, so offering these types of benefits to your employees can help you keep talent in your business.
Some benefits are there to motivate your staff in their day to day work. The bonus, for example, can be a performance-based one-off payment, a pay increase or even a mixture of both.
You will need to have reviews with your staff to ensure that they are performing as expected to be able to decide whether or not they will be eligible for a bonus.
Some benefits you offer can be to boost morale around your business. Some of the things that businesses are doing to help boost their employees’ morale are having a football table in the social areas, free food or drinks or even flexible working hours. These are all ways of boosting employee morale.
By helping to keep your team happy in the workplace, they will be more likely to be efficient workers, and by offering a fun or relaxing work environment, they are more inclined to stay.
If you help colleagues look after their health, the less time they will be unavailable for work and therefore will spend more time helping build your business.
Benefits such as paid sick leave, dental insurance or subsidized check-ups will ensure that your employees can keep themselves in good health.
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