How Innovative Employee Benefits Improve Lives
Today’s guest post discusses on how innovative employee benefits improve lives.
What can your company do for you? If you’ve never thought to ask that question, you could be missing out on opportunities to live a better life. It’s only natural to expect that employers compensate their team members with fair wages and insurance benefits that ease financial burdens. However, the cost of maintaining a quality benefits package leads some businesses to neglect their workers’ needs otherwise.
Fortunately, many businesses are finding it worthwhile to innovate their employee benefits plans in ways that help workers live their ideal lifestyles.
Education Opens New Career Opportunities
One of the most common benefit offerings that employers utilize to draw talent is tuition reimbursement. Workers who visibly care about furthering their careers are more likely to become valuable assets to a company. For example, with a degree in business, employees can learn skills such as accounting, finance, and marketing. Implementation of these skills can lead to a management position or the success of your very own business. Full-time workers can make use of typically more affordable online programs and other lifestyle tips to balance their job and classwork while pursuing some of these important fields:
- Business administration
- Nursing
- Computer science
- Education/teaching
- Accounting
- Foreign languages
- Engineering
Wellness Travel Is a Much-Needed Retreat
Employers with awareness for the physical and mental health of their teams are embracing the concept of wellness travel benefits. Taking the chance to reset and recharge is important to counteract burnout or fatigue. In a similar vein is the idea of a corporate wellness retreat for entire groups or departments. Recuperating alongside the team can be even more invigorating than going solo. Traveling alone or with colleagues can prove to be worthwhile for you and your employer alike when you return to your work with rekindled passion.
Self-care Is Vital for Good Health
Employees from all walks of life should care about self-improvement and self-care. Companies should acknowledge this and cultivate opportunities for people to better themselves. Workers who are more confident in themselves are more likely to exhibit similar confidence on the job. Many individuals neglect their own health without an established self-care schedule or outside motivation. Luckily, there are a few ways that businesses can already incorporate self-care plans such as these into employee benefits packages:
- Yoga sessions
- Professional coaching
- Stress management courses
- Nutrition education
- Counseling
- Ergonomics stipends
Work-Life Balance Gives Access to Everyone
As life gets busier and remote work becomes more common, people place more value in companies that offer better work-life balance options. Parents and freelancers require flexible scheduling, while professionals of any background can benefit from work-from-home opportunities where applicable. Individuals who consistently complete projects ahead of deadlines may also have the chance to utilize unlimited PTO offerings at their workplace. While implementing alternative PTO packages is no easy task for employers, many are finding it to be a worthwhile inclusion for attracting passionate talent.
A 2021 study shows that one-third of American workers don’t understand their employment benefits. While this reveals an underlying problem with the way benefits are presented, it can also indicate that employers aren’t offering benefits that interest workers today. People place value in opportunities that allow them to experience life on their own terms. Companies that meet this demand can enjoy the service of talented individuals who know how to seek out the benefits they want and deserve.
(How Innovative Employee Benefits Improve Lives is a guest post by Amy Collett of bizwell.org)
