Benefits To Offer Employees in 2022

Five benefits your company should be offering in 2022

It may seem like employee benefits are a ‘nice to have’ for businesses; things that are added extras, but aren’t really that important for the core success of the organization. But the reality is somewhat different.

But with so many different benefits able to be offered, which ones are the best to resonate with the workforce and boost their satisfaction levels? In this blog, we’ll take a look at five key benefits that employees are looking for in 2022.

Health insurance

The pandemic has led many people to prioritize their overall health and well-being much more than perhaps they did in the past. Some will want their employer to be proactive in helping them take better care of themselves, and there are many ways that employers can do this. Benefits in this area can be more formal, such as private health care or dental cover, more fitness-oriented including gym memberships or corporate sports activities, and even simple healthy eating measures like providing fresh fruit in the office. This could also include the introduction of wellness programs that can encourage employees to maintain a healthy lifestyle, whether that be with physical or mental health. 

Flexible working

Many employees forced into remote working by the pandemic responded positively to the commuting time and money saved, and want to continue doing so in the long-term, either all or some of the time. This is why employers who can give their workforce as much flexibility as possible in where and when work takes place will stand out in a competitive job market. In an ideal world, individual employees will be given the autonomy to define their own workday schedules (within reasonable operational parameters) creating a more harmonious work-life balance, rather than having a fixed hybrid work schedule imposed upon them.

Paid time off

Paid time off can be given to employees for a variety of different reasons: it could be holiday allocation, time off sick, time off in lieu of overtime, maternity and parental leave, and for lots of other personal circumstances. PTO is therefore often very important to employees as it helps them balance their working commitments with their personal and family lives. It’s worth remembering, however, that paid time off normally has a financial value attached to it, and so it can also be paid as wages in many cases, and especially if an employee leaves the company or retires.

Flexible pay

Employees want more choice over where and when they work, but that’s only half the story - they want control over when and how they get paid, too. Tools like self-service payroll, on-demand pay and Earned Wage Access can give employees autonomy and control over their earnings. On-demand pay is a benefit offered by some employers to allow workers to draw down on their earned wages during the month, instead of having to wait until the end of the month to get paid. 

Skills development

According to the CIPD in the UK, 27% of employees feel their employers don’t give them opportunities to hone their working skills. Employees who don’t feel that they can progress in their job are far more likely to look for an alternative employer who will help them become better at their work. There are a range of different employee benefit options to help employees develop their skills and pursue career growth, including formal training, informal access to resources, sending employees to training events, and even mentoring and coaching programs.

Pensions

Financial benefits will always be highly valued by employees, and especially those that help them make retirement plans with confidence. It is said that retirement plans can double employee satisfaction with their benefits package. In some countries (such as the United Kingdom), there are legal responsibilities on employers to enrol their employees into workplace pensions. But whether required by law or not, employees in every country can benefit from schemes where any contributions they pay into a pension or retirement savings scheme are matched by their employer. 

In summary

All five of these ideas can make meaningful contributions to improving employee experiences and employee retention, overall, and so it's vital HR teams explore every opportunity to adopt them if their organization hasn’t done so already. Any organization equipped with these benefits programs and incentives will quickly find that their employees enjoy their jobs more, feel more productive that will, in turn, help your company culture, and feel more inclined to stay with the business in the long term.

CloudPay helps businesses like yours support positive employee experiences through user-friendly, flexible global payroll. Take a closer look at our solutions and services here.