When we talk about employee engagement in HR, there are multiple factors that come into play. A simple google search on “employee engagement ideas” can give hundreds of ideas. Implementing those strategies might be helpful, but what matters more is the culture and values that motivate employees to stick around with the company.
Job satisfaction is directly linked with employee benefits and wellbeing. Therefore, in order to improve employee engagement, one must pay attention to employee benefits.
Role Of Employee Benefits in Employee Engagement
Gone are those days when only offering big paychecks was enough to engage employees in their jobs. In today’s fast-paced world, generous employee benefits are a prerequisite for attracting and retaining top talents. As the fight to retain the top talent is getting fierce, offering employee benefits and perks can give your organisation a recruiting edge over competitors.
According to reports by the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM), employee benefits are one of the most important factors to consider while joining an organisation. The benefits offered by a company reflect their culture to the new joiner. Therefore, offering a solid benefits package can make a lot of difference in hiring and retaining top talents.
However, the majority of the employees in today’s work culture are young millennials and Generation Z, who take special interest in the overall benefits package offered by the company. Therefore, simply offering traditional benefits like overtime, incentives, commute facilities, food & beverage, ESI or provident funds etc. won’t be enough. So, which benefits should the modern workplace adopt to improve employee engagement?
Top Employee Benefits to Engage Employees
Benefits at Work
An employee spends the majority of their time working in the office. Therefore, there are certain perks at work that employees expect from their employers. Some common workplace benefits include:
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- flexible working hours
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- Free meals
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- Cab facilities
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- engagement activities.
By offering these benefits, you can engage your employees and keep them happy and motivated during working hours.
Offer Personal Growth and Training Program
Offering personal growth and development is also one of the best employee benefits that help in improving employee engagement. According to a report by Manpower group, millennials are more likely to stick to a company that provides professional training and development opportunities. Providing training employment not only helps in improving employee’s skills but also ensures job satisfaction. You can consider offering training assistance like educational assistance, tuition reimbursement, and skill development courses.
Employee Health and Wellness benefits
An employee will only be able to perform at their best when they feel both mentally and physically healthy. The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic has further emphasized on the importance of health and wellness benefits. The cost of health security has only increased over the years. A small issue in health can cost a lot of money on hospital beds and medicinal expenses. Therefore, employee health and wellness programs are becoming necessary for employee engagement. Some common health and wellness benefits include:
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- Gym membership
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- Group term insurance plans
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- Corporate health insurance plans
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- Mental health counseling
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- Yoga classes
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- Meditation classes
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- Corporate team building Tours
By offering these benefits to your employees, you can ensure employee engagement in your organisation and a higher rate of retention.
Financial Benefits
The most important employee benefit in current scenarios is Financial Benefits. A sudden medical emergency, unexpected car repair, home repair, or education fee revisions for children leads to immediate fund requirements for employees.
According to a report by newIndianexpress, 80 percent of employees run out of their salary by month end, and 34 percent run out of money by the middle of the month. As a result, employees had to rely on high interest unsecured credit borrowing to meet their short-term fund needs.
Although many MNCs are already offering financial benefits like salary advance, retirement plans, and discounted loan products. SMEs who do not have required funds to meet even their core business finance needs are not able to assist their employees in such financial benefits. Such employers themselves are facing a cash crunch in these post covid & inflation times. As per economic times SMEs are currently facing a $330 billion credit gap.
Let’s see some of the challenges which SMEs are facing in meeting such fund requirements for their employees.
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- Huge funds may required at substantial cost to arrange such benefits
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- Its not possible to provide employee advance to all the employees
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- Employees may feel dissatisfied & biased, as some of the employees may receive the fund & others not.
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- Additional finance team in maintaining such records
So what can SMEs do to provide short-term credit funds to their employees? Nowadays some organisations are providing very unique kind of solution i.e. Employee Benefits Administration to help organisations in providing benefits to their employees. Zimyo is one of the leading HR & Benefits solution providers in India, has recently launched an initiative where it is assisting SMEs in providing credit facilities like instant personal loans and earned salary advances. By offering these credit facilities, companies can foster employee loyalty and keep their employees engaged.
How Can Zimyo Help?
There is no denying the fact that employee benefits play one of the most crucial roles in employee engagement in HR. Many top companies are famous for offering top-notch perks to employees, such as lunch meals, yoga classes, mental health counseling, and many more. But not every organization can afford employee benefits packages as offered by top organisations. That is where the role of Zimyo comes into play.
With the benefits administration suite, Zimyo is helping SMEs to offer employee benefits programs, such as salary advances, personal loans, health insurance, and many such benefits. With the HR integrated and embedded solutions, Zimyo offers a safe and secure platform, saves employees time from the long documentation process, and provides a hassle-free claim settlement. Through benefits administration suite, Zimyo aims to bridge the gap between employee’s financial needs and employer’s availability to provide credit.
