A smile and a handshake aren’t always enough to keep your employees satisfied in their jobs – not without delivering desirable benefits to them along the way. Tracking employee benefits trends can be quite challenging for a business owner, though. Some help from professional employee benefits consulting services can ensure your company remains fairly competitive in this area, but it helps to look ahead a little, too.

Look at the examples below of benefits that are sure to affect your employee hiring and retention in the coming year.

Making Your Employee’s Health Insurance More Affordable

Receiving health insurance is one of the biggest benefits that employees value when deciding to take a job. Everyone wants affordable health insurance options that don’t sacrifice the quality of care. Some options employers might be offering more frequently to reduce the cost of insurance include:

• Additional virtual doctor appointment platforms
• Incentives for meeting wellness goals
• More HSA and FSA options

Some employers will also choose to offer their employees more pricing tiers within their health insurance options. Increased deductibles can make healthcare more affordable for employees who rarely need to see a doctor.

Enhancing Mental Health Care Options at Work

How well are your employees able to focus on maintaining their mental health? Employee benefits trends are reflecting this need as employees start prioritizing employers who provide enhanced wellness programs. As an employer, then, you might offer employees bonuses or reduced medical insurance costs if someone meets certain mental health goals, such as:

• Good sleep hygiene
• Exercise milestones
• Stopping smoking or drinking

If a company offers help with preventative care for free, employees enjoy reduced out-of-pocket healthcare costs. Such preventative care services can, therefore, reduce the cost of medical care as employees become healthier.

Maybe your employees need therapy appointments during work time or the option to volunteer once a month at a non-profit instead of coming into the office. You may find that giving your employees these opportunities helps them refresh their mental well-being. Extra benefits and programs like this can make people more productive and happier overall.

Increasing Customized Flexible Work Options

Have you heard talk of some employees who want the ability to work from home occasionally or flexibility in which hours they spend at the office? A strict 8-to-5 office schedule five days a week just spikes labor turnover if the employee benefits trends are anything to go by.

Do your competitors offer more flexibility? Certainly, some jobs don’t lend themselves to remote work, but there’s still value in flexibility when it comes to the hours your workforce has to endure. Couldn’t people work four 10-hour days rather than five eight-hour days if they wanted to?

Offering Fully Personalized Benefit Plans To Employees

Modern companies are using software that allows employees to see and manage their selections for benefits. Convenient apps help the employee use a smartphone to do this and track their progress. The employee benefits trends show that taking advantage of this kind of technology gives employees power – they can personalize the benefits.

Why require every employee to participate in the same set of benefits? When you operate a business with employees across multiple generations and backgrounds, everyone has their own goals. Younger employees may want more options for working from home or childcare, while older employees may like better health insurance benefits or flexible rest days.

Could your employees select their benefits? They may stay longer with your business.

Prioritizing Creative Financial Wellness Benefits at Work

Finally, you shouldn’t be afraid to get creative when it comes to finance-related benefits for your employees. If you took a survey, you could learn which of your employees’ financial responsibilities are most important to them or most stressful. If you understand the reality your people face, you could take full advantage of these employee benefits trends – and iron things out before your competitors draw your employees away.

Aiding in Finding Housing

Is housing tight in your city? Offer sign-on bonuses that employees can use for down payments on homes or for security deposits on apartments. Some caring companies even provide company-funded apartments for the first six months of employment.

Delivering Caregiver Benefits

Finding safe and reliable care for loved ones is a significant problem for many in the workforce. One of the emerging employee benefits trends is more family-friendly solutions for child, elder, and pet care during the workday. Employers are starting to offer more help with the costs or providing on-site, company-provided childcare options.

Offering Financial Well-Being Programs

Some employees may appreciate help with budgeting, planning for retirement, or saving for a goal. Employees also appreciate a strong, reliable company match for 401(k) contributions. As part of a traditional 401(k) offering, why not provide access to free services and other ways employees can prepare for their retirement?

Giving Options for Debt Repayment

Have you considered debt payoffs for employees who are struggling with repaying educational loans or who have medical debt? You might offer:

• Employee debt counseling for free
• Employee longevity bonuses in the form of help with debt repayment rather than in cash
• Employee benefits that include free financial planning tools or educational services related to financial management

You could also personalize such services to meet the current lifestyle needs of both younger and older employees.

Granting Early Access to Wages

Younger employees may want to use alternatives to traditional banking or to receive their pay earlier. New technologies and services are available that make these options far easier to implement and track. There’s no need to be stuck in the Dark Ages on employee benefits.

Trust Union Risk Services for Help With Selecting the Employee Benefits Your Business Can Offer

Don’t risk losing valuable employees to competitors because you aren’t providing the benefits they want. Understanding the impact of employee well-being on the strength of your business starts with paying attention to factors like employee benefits trends.

Union Risk Services can help. Call us today at (718) 370-3131 to take your business to new heights, including happier, well-cared-for employees.