How to build a competitive employee benefits package?

There are several elements that define “success” in a business. It can include the number of new ideas that have been launched, the number of profits and revenues earned, and even the impact that the brand creates in their community. But the most pivotal among these is the impact that they create on their employees’ lives – something that reflects from a competitive employee benefits package.  

Besides tangible benefits like pay and intangible perks like mentoring and training, the business owner can positively impact their team’s life by offering comprehensive benefits and compensation. Moreover, once a brand starts getting known for its employee benefits programs, it becomes extremely easy to recruit talented employees and even retain skilled employees.  

So, for a company to thrive what is the answer to what do employee benefits include? An understanding of the answer lies in having clarity of how does employee benefits work. Employee benefits are a component of the employees’ tenure that is over and above their salary. They are the elements that help safeguard employees’ mental and physical wellbeing. While there are a number of employee benefits required by law, the USP of a business lies in going beyond what is mandated by the government.  

Benefits of employee benefits for small businesses 

1. Lower employee turnover 
2. Greater employee engagement and productivity levels 
3. Satisfied employees = job effectiveness 
4. Boost employee productivity  
5. Greater loyalty and dedication towards the business.  

These are some of the benefits that you get when you build a competitive employee benefits package. However, attaining them is dependent on the components that help build the must-have employee benefits. 

How to create a competitive employee benefits package? 

Designing a competitive employee benefits package requires a combination of basic offerings and ones that give the package an edge.  

Basic offerings  

Paid leaves: In a typical corporate setup, two to three weeks off per week is fairly standard. The choice of whether you want to stick with the standard or add more leaves to the list lies with you. Besides paid leaves, there should be the provision of sick leaves and sabbaticals.  

Paid leaves, while considered an important element of the benefits package, can sometimes pose a challenge. Employees can tend not to take leave thinking of the impression they would leave. This is where it becomes extremely important for the leaders to communicate the importance of taking leaves to their team.  

Health benefits: It has been mandated by the Indian government that businesses have to offer health benefits to their employees. However, the majority of group health insurance plans come with benefits that have very little coverage and benefits. This simply means that offering health insurance is not enough anymore.  

Businesses will have to go a step ahead and expand their health benefits offerings. This is the stage at which startups and SMEs contact Onsurity. Onsurity is a comprehensive employee healthcare service provider that brings a range of healthcare benefits like insurance provider-supported health and life insurance, doctor teleconsultations, online medicine delivery, health check-ups, etc.  

Learning and development opportunities: If there is one thing that tends to take a backseat in every professional’s life after a while, it will be skills-centric career growth. A lack of skillsets which is aligned with the market needs affects employee’s productivity and morale to a huge extent. You should introduce several L&D opportunities for your employees in the workplace by allowing them study breaks between work or enrolling them in online courses specific to their area of expertise. 

Ad-on benefits 

Work timing flexibility: The 9 to 5 work schedule is getting very blurry for employees to keep up with, especially in today’s always-on, fast-paced corporate culture. A flexible work culture helps employees maintain a healthy work-life balance while helping them with having a life on the sides where they have other priorities.  

Maternity benefits: Coming back to the office after a baby is one of the most difficult times for a woman employee. In fact, post-delivery is the one time that brings a sharp decline in the women workforce.  

Now while it is government mandated to provide maternity leave according to the maternity benefits act, you shouldn’t stop at leaves. Maternity leaves are not enough to keep the women workforce engaged. You should offer a range of other benefits like doctor teleconsultation, health checkups, day-care support, etc. to your mother employees.  

Dental and vision care: Vision and dental care are the two components that are generally never included in any health insurance plan. However, considering the sedentary lifestyle every employee lives in, both vision and dental care become an important criterion for the employers’ care package.  

You can truly get a competitive edge if you add vision and dental care to your employee benefits enrollment plan. At Onsurity, we have some excellent dental and vision plans that you can offer to your employees at a price point starting at Rs. 145 per month.  

While these are the surface-level benefits that hold the ability to make a competitive employee benefits package, there are a number of other perks that you can offer. We can help you. Reach out to the Onsurity team at partners@onsurity.com to get a personalized competitive employee benefits package.