There are growing signs that the economy is improving. Perhaps the most notable marker is that more people are starting to come back to the workforce. The unemployment rate is continuing a downward trend, meaning that more employers are starting to hire again.
Of course, finding good employees is important to a company’s growth, but keeping their best employees is vital to an employer’s productivity. Keeping your best employees ensures a smoother transition for newer employees and keeps the job environment stable with their most seasoned employees.
Of course, with a growing job market, sometimes a company’s best employees begin looking at this as an opportunity to “test the waters” of their own value and see if there are better options. How does a small business owner retain good employees while attracting qualified candidates? By offering benefits.
What Workers Want
There are many benefits out there and employees put different values on each one. Which benefits should you offer? According to a Gallup poll in a recent post at Employee Benefits News, these are the 11 you should consider:
- Full-time flexible working locations (35%)
- Part-time flexible working locations (37%)
- Profit Sharing (40%)
- Paid leave for sick/medical/personal days (48%)
- Non-health insurance benefits like vision, dental, etc. (48%)
- Retirement plan/401(k) with employer matches (50%)
- Flex-time (51%)
- Retirement plan with defined benefits (51%)
- Paid vacation (53%)
- Monetary bonuses (54%)
- Health Insurance (61%)
Of course, cost factors into this and not everyone can offer everything, so it becomes crucial for an employer to know which ones to offer. An employee survey can help set a course.
Finding a trusted partner to help you set up a benefits plan and get them to you at an affordable cost becomes another issue. A Professional Employer Organization (PEO) like GMS can help create employee benefits policies and offer big company benefits at big company rates to help small business owners compete with larger companies for those great employees. Contact us today to talk with one of our benefits experts about your benefits package.