Employee satisfaction and morale are the lifeblood of a company’s success. Happy employees are committed to a job well done, and positive work culture helps attract new talent to your organization. Employee benefits play a critical role in both factors–and including the voice of your workforce is a surefire way to both build the benefit plan that works best for your company and make your employees see how much you value them. Today, we outline seven reasons to include your employees in benefit decisions–after all, as the second-highest annual expense for your company, it is one of the most important decisions you’ll make.
#1: They Feel Like Their Opinion Matters
A large amount of employee frustration when it comes to benefits is feeling like they’re ignored or their feedback doesn’t matter to company leadership. Decisions are often made without their insight, despite the fact that it’s their paychecks that are impacted. Including your employees in benefit decisions shows them you care about both their financial and physical wellbeing and makes them feel valued and appreciated.
#2: Benefit Plans are a Key Factor in Employee Retention
With 50% of employees saying they’d leave their current position for a similar position with better benefits, employee retention should be top-of-mind when thinking about a new benefit plan. Who better to ask for feedback when creating an employee-focused benefit plan than your current employees? Utilizing their feedback to build the plan they’re looking for helps you retain the employees you have and attract the new employees you want.
#3: They Know What Prospective Talent Wants
Who better to build a benefit plan employees will love than your current employees? Stay in touch with what today’s workforce is looking for in terms of benefit solutions by using the feedback of your current workforce.
#4: Knowing What They Really Want Helps Cut Costs
We see it again and again at Waypoint Benefit Solutions–companies paying far too much money for services and benefits their employees don’t even need. Talk to your employees about which of your benefit features they’re actively using and need for their current lifestyle. This will help you narrow in on where you can make cuts in benefits, without cutting anything your employees rely on heavily. Not only does this help you reduce costs, but it prevents employee anger when you do need to make cuts. It also shows you where you may need to allocate more money to fund or expand a service your employees use more often than you thought.
#5: Ease the Workload on Your HR Team
Your HR team bears the brunt of benefit responsibilities–from introducing a new plan and educating your company about it, to handling employee complaints, to working directly with your broker to make sure things are actually running smoothly. Despite their hard work, HR is often one of the most under-appreciated and overlooked departments when it comes to benefit administration. Show them you care by asking for honest feedback and discussion about their experience working with your broker, and commit to helping them manage the workload to avoid burnout.
#6: Their Satisfaction Will Increase
When employees feel like their employer cares about their needs outside of work, they feel more satisfied and motivated to do their best in their current position. Knowing that their feedback is going towards such a major decision as benefits also helps them recognize their worth and value as a member of their company’s team.
#7: You’ll Offer a Plan Customized to Their Needs
What is the use in offering employee benefits if they aren’t even what your team wants and needs the most? Not only does this not make financial sense, it also leads to confusion and frustration among staff members who are struggling to finance their healthcare needs. If you want to know what to offer in your benefits plan, go directly to your employees themselves and customize your offerings around what they express.
Looking for a Benefits Broker who Includes Your Employees’ Feedback?
At Waypoint Benefit Solutions, we specialize in data-driven, customized solutions for companies in need of a benefits overhaul. We believe in transparency in benefit plans, and use our unique employee surveys and data-mining processes to remove conflicts of interest, hidden costs and excessive charges traditional brokers overlook. Learn more about our better benefits and lower costs by scheduling an introductory call today!