Offering voluntary benefits is a great way to enhance your benefits package, differentiate from competitors and increase employee satisfaction—all with little impact on your budget. However, while employers may choose to offer numerous types of voluntary benefits that can deliver convenience and value for employees, many employees do not understand the advantages of these voluntary benefit options or are unclear about how they work. Educate your employees on the advantages of these voluntary benefits so that you both reap the rewards.
Demonstrate the Value
Many employees may fail to see the value of voluntary benefits that they must personally finance compared to employer-sponsored benefits. For example, one perk to voluntary benefits is that purchasing insurance through an employer group is often cheaper than buying individually, yet research shows that few employees are aware of this. When promoting your voluntary benefit options, discuss the benefits of having coverage and the risks of going without, and emphasize the convenience and value of purchasing through the company and paying through payroll deductions.
Coverage Education
It is important that employees fully understand their policy so that a misunderstanding does not lead to resentment toward the employer. For instance, if a consumer does not completely understand the nuances of property-casualty insurance and believes herself to be covered, it will come as a shock and possibly with misdirected frustration in the event of a major loss.
When offering any benefit option, employer-paid or voluntary, you should be sure your employees understand exactly how the coverage works. Here are a few ways to make sure your employees are sufficiently educated about their benefits:
- Invite current employees to the monthly or quarterly benefits meetings provided for newly hired individuals.
- Many voluntary benefits providers are willing to send a representative to discuss their coverage with employees.
- While most benefits administrators don’t have time to meet individually with employees, consider scheduling small-group meetings with a few employees who have questions.
- Enhance your existing benefits communication program with social media. Social media provides a convenient and effective way to reach out to your employees with educational information, tips and reminders.
Employer Advantage
In addition to boosting participation in your voluntary benefits programs, providing this meaningful education can position you as a valuable source of knowledge and strengthen employee satisfaction and loyalty to your company.
Talk to your The Unland Companies representative to learn more about available social media and employee benefit communication resources.
2017 Cyber Risk Survey
Cyber attacks are becoming more common and sophisticated, making cyber insurance a necessity. The 2017 Cyber Risk Survey provides a look at the current state of cyber coverage and the common exposures that businesses face.
8 Ways to Improve Your Culture
1. Recognize and reward valuable employee contributions. According to Deloitte, the top 20 percent of companies with a recognition-based culture have a 31 percent lower turnover rate. Fifty percent of workers surveyed by CareerBuilder believe that recognition is a factor that drives retention. To effectively implement a rewards-rich work environment, be sure to do the following:
- Identify specific behaviors and/or results that align with your company’s values and recognize them as frequently as possible.
- Make it easy for everyone at your company to recognize and reward co-workers’ behaviors. Peer-to-peer recognition is often the most effective way to infuse recognition into your culture.
2. Encourage employee autonomy. It’s no secret that micromanaging your employees rarely produces favorable outcomes. Trusting your employees to manage their responsibilities on their own is not as simple as it sounds, though. Some simple, yet effective ways to inspire employee autonomy include the following:
- Establishing autonomous work groups
- Reining in bosses or co-workers who tend to hover over others
- Creating decision-making opportunities
3. Incorporate flexibility into your organization. Workplace flexibility can improve morale and reduce turnover. In fact, 51 percent of workers surveyed by CareerBuilder believe that a flexible schedule is a factor that significantly drives retention. Workplace flexibility programs are up to the organization’s discretion, but common ways flexibility is demonstrated include the following:
- Telecommuting (work from home) opportunities
- Flexible scheduling opportunities
- Paid time off (PTO) policies
4. Provide regular and timely feedback. Once-a-year feedback is a thing of the past. Younger generations thrive in environments where they know exactly how they are doing. Continuous, meaningful feedback provides employees with the tools they need to improve and grow. Opportunities to provide feedback outside of performance reviews could include the following:
- Monthly or semi-monthly check-ins between a supervisor and employee
- Peer-to-peer weekly check-ins
- Mentoring programs
5. Embrace workplace transparency. Trust is the foundation of a great company culture. Transparency can improve employees’ trust in upper management, give employees insight into a company’s operations and future, and improve cross-departmental collaboration. One way to improve your organization’s transparency is to share with everyone the successes and challenges your organization and its employees face.
Another way to improve transparency in your organization is to implement modern communication and collaboration tools. These tools make it easy for your employees to connect with one another and share crucial information. Listed below are popular tools used by other companies for chat and collaboration, video conferencing, and project management purposes.
· Chat and collaboration
o Yammer
o HipChat
o Google Apps for Business
· Video conferencing
o Skype
o Google Hangout
· Project management
o Jira
o Trello
6. Promote strong professional co-worker relationships. According to the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, when individuals identify with and are invested in professional relationships with their colleagues, workplace productivity increases, employee morale increases, and burnout levels decrease. However, building strong relationships takes time and effort. To help your employees, consider the following suggestions:
- Encourage collaboration and peer-to-peer work.
- Create “collision points” in your office. Collision points include areas like a communal coffee station or cafeteria.
- Host events. Employer-sponsored events, no matter how small (think: team happy hour) or large (think: corporate outing), are a great way for employees to interact with peers that they normally would not on an average day.
7. Create a mentoring program. Providing employees with professional development opportunities is a low-cost retention tool and a simple way to improve employee engagement and your company culture. A mentor is an individual in the workplace who shares his or her knowledge and expertise to help another employee grow professionally. Some companies use group mentoring, third-party mentoring, or reverse mentoring, while others use peer mentoring, flash mentoring, or one-to-one pair mentoring.
Mentoring programs provide benefits to all parties involved. Benefits include the following:
- Skill development. Mentors teach mentees the skills and qualities necessary for success. Mentoring provides mentors with the opportunity to develop their communication and leadership skills.
- Improved networking and teamwork. Mentoring allows employees to build a professional relationship over a period of time and teaches them about the value of networking. This also instills a sense of cooperation and teamwork at your company.
8. Improve your “soft” benefits offerings. Various employer-sponsored programs encourage employee engagement, increase employee morale, and attract new talent. Workplace flexibility is a highly effective benefits offering. Other top benefits to offer are listed below.
· Wellness incentives
o Subsidize gym memberships.
o Provide healthier food and beverage choices.
o Sponsor company sports teams.
· Trendy, new voluntary benefits
o Identity theft protection
o Student loan repayment programs
o Financial counseling services
o Pet insurance
o Discount programs
· Child care benefits
o On-site childcare
· Fringe benefits
o Company-provided beverages and food
A great company culture attracts the best workers, increases retention, and improves employee performance. These eight suggestions can positively impact your existing or new company culture.