As a small business owner, you likely know how important it is to be able to attract and retain employees. One way to help ensure that you don’t lose good workers, is to offer valuable employee benefits.
In addition to a competitive salary, here are some of the top things that employees look for in a job:
- Medical Insurance. A survey by eHealth found that in addition to health insurance, 52% of small businesses offer dental insurance to their employees and 41% offer vision insurance. Offering medical insurance is not only convenient for your employees, but it shows them that you value their health and wellbeing.
- Retirement Plan. While offering a retirement plan to your employees might seem impossible, there are low-cost options available. In addition to being a major benefit for your employees, offering an employer-sponsored retirement plan could provide tax benefits for your business as well.
- Paid Time Off. Businesses in Massachusetts with 11 or more employees, and businesses in Rhode Island with 18 or more employees, are required by law to provide paid sick leave. If you have fewer employees, you must still provide sick time, but it doesn’t have to be paid. Offering your employees paid time off – even when they’re not sick – is worth considering. Paid holidays and paid vacations can help increase employee morale, reduce stress in the workplace, and can prevent your employees from looking elsewhere for a better job.
- Flex Time and Remote Work. Allowing your employees to work a flexible schedule or letting them work from home (either occasionally or on a regular basis) can help improve job satisfaction and reduce stress among your employees. Obviously, not all businesses are suitable for remote work, but allowing your employees some form of flexibility in their schedules can go a long way toward keeping them happy.
- Life Insurance. You might assume that only large companies can afford to offer life insurance to their employees, but there are group policies available for small businesses as well. Do some research into various providers and plan options to see if this might be a realistic benefit for you to offer.
In addition to the most common employee benefits, there are many other benefit options for you to consider as well. These include:
- Annual Bonuses. Awarding your existing employees with a once-a-year bonus could help boost morale and job satisfaction.
- Childcare Benefits. This could take the form of free, on-site childcare provided by your business, or subsidies offered to your employees to help cover their outside childcare costs.
- Fitness Incentives. You might consider providing your employees with assistance toward a gym membership or provide them with on-site exercise facilities.
- Training and Continuing Education. Investing in the ongoing education of your employees not only helps them hone their skills and become better at their jobs, but it can keep them motivated and happy as well.
You’ve likely heard that it costs more to hire a new employee than it does to keep an existing one. It takes a lot of time and effort to recruit a new employee and fully train them. That’s why when you have a good employee, you should do everything you can to keep them. Offering employee benefits is one way keep your staff satisfied and engaged. Just because you’re a small business owner doesn’t mean that you can’t find creative ways to turn your business into a valuable employer.
If you’re a small business owner looking to improve or expand upon your selection of employee benefits, contact BankFive today. We have solutions to help streamline the administrative demands of payroll, benefits, and HR, and we offer a unique Bank at Work program to help provide your employees with first-class financial services.