What is the correlation between the employee benefits offered and employee experience?
Your organization probably invests a lot of time, energy and also money to retain your top employees. And yet, at least occasionally, you still wind up losing them to competitors.
How do you put an end to that unproductive cycle? What can you offer your employees that means enough for them to stay? As an employer, what’s your real value proposition? A beautiful office? No, not when we’re working remotely. Free gym memberships or great retreats? Soon, hopefully, but not now.
To retain your top talent in today’s work environment, it’s not about perks. Retention is about what employees really need.
Our Guest: Chris Wakely of Benify
To get to the heart of this matter, I invited Chris Wakely, Executive Vice President of Global Sales at Benify, to join me on #WorkTrends this week. First, I was very interested to learn more about the big picture takeaways from Benify’s new report: The Benefits and Engagement Report: A European Employer’s Guide to Employee Experience for the 2020s. Chris quickly gave me the scoop.
“It’s been quite an interesting journey for us. When we planned this survey, who had any idea the world would turn out how it has?” Chris asked. He told us the survey was conducted in April, near the beginning of the global pandemic. “Despite all the craziness, about 5,000 people took the survey. We asked them what they think about their employer? What benefits, other than salary, do they want? It was a really interesting time to be asking these questions as people dug into their new reality. We really got an understanding of how employees think and act in the middle of change.”
More Than Ever: People Care About Benefits
Chris said the survey — for many respondents, even those concerned about job loss — revealed that people cared deeply about their benefits. They saw those benefits as security in an uncertain time. “Those benefits beyond salary, for many, were and are more important than ever before,” Chris said. He added: “It surprised me: Despite everything going on, this is still an employee’s market. People still demand more. And employers can’t afford to underestimate how important those things are to their people, especially now.”
When I asked Chris about the biggest myth the survey debunked, he didn’t hesitate. “There’s this idea that we should just be grateful we have a job. But the report shows that even during this pandemic, the show just goes on. After all this, recruiting goes on.”
Benefits Tied Directly to Employee Experience
During our conversation, one point really hit home: “9 out of 10 employees aged under 30 say they would consider changing employers to receive better employee benefits,” Chris said. Can you imagine? Even during a horrific pandemic, 90 percent of employees under 30 would leave for better benefits… and better employee experience!
Chris and I went on to talk about several topics. Those included which area of wellness employers should be giving the most attention, the correlation between engagement and an employee’s satisfaction with the benefits offered, the troubles companies are having with digital onboarding, and so much more. Make sure you dedicate enough time to listen to the entire conversation… it is worth every minute.
Continue the Conversation on Twitter
We’re sure you’ll want to hear more about how benefits improve employee experience from the good people at Benify. So, please join us next Wednesday, October 14th at 1:30pm ET for our next #WorkTrends Twitter chat. Chris will be there to help us answer these questions:
- Q1: Why do organizations struggle with providing the right benefits?
- Q2: What strategies can promote a better benefits experience for employees?
- Q3. Why is a total rewards experience a valuable hiring and retention tool?
We thank the Benify team in advance for spending more time with the TalentCulture community. And we’ll thank you for joining us on Twitter, next Wednesday, 10-14!
Find Chris on LinkedIn.
This podcast was sponsored by Benify.
Editor’s note: Have you noticed? #WorkTrends podcasts and Twitter chats have evolved to better meet your needs! For details, check the new FAQ page. And to see upcoming event topics and guests, check the calendar listing on the #WorkTrends Podcast page.
