Top 5 Reasons Your Employee Benefits Program Really Matters

With so many other concerns pressing in on you and your business, it is easy to forget about providing a top-tier employee benefits package to your workers. The conventional wisdom in some circles seems to be that benefits don't really matter.

​But nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, offering "your people" an excellent benefits program is one of the best ways to give your business a marketplace advantage. Here are the five biggest reasons why it matters so much:

1. Attracting & Retaining Top Talent
It isn't enough to compete by providing superior products/services, engage in effective marketing campaigns, and offer workers a good salary. Today, truly successful businesses must stay competitive when it comes to competing for labor as well.

Many highly skilled workers whom you would love to have "on your team" expect health insurance and other benefits as part of their overall employee compensation. If they don't get it with you, they are likely to look for it elsewhere. And your best current employees may start looking around too if they don't like the benefits.

2. Maintaining High "Employee Morale"
Even if employee retention isn't a major issue, a low-quality (or non-existent) benefits package can hurt your business in other ways. Workers might stay, but they might not like it.

Happier workers are generally more productive workers. And high morale also means fewer complaints to your HR department, and fewer problems and less stress in dealing with disgruntled employees. 

3. Creating Incentives For Workers
Beyond keeping good workers around and reasonably happy, you also want to encourage employee development over the years because that contributes to business growth and development.

Certain employee benefits, like free or discounted training programs that can lead to advancement, encourage workers to make a high-energy, creative career out of working for your company. Also, when being a better employee for longer gets you access to bigger and better benefits - that's an incentiviser too!

4. Strengthening Your Business' Reputation
It's not only current employees who will know about your benefits package. Consumers and potential future employees will hear about how you treat your current employees.

Word really does get around. And having a great business reputation in this regard can affect current sales and future growth.

5. Benefits Can Be A Two-way Street!
Yes, employee benefits can come back to benefit the employer as well. Now, that IS good news! Here are some examples of how:

• Quality, affordable health insurance makes for healthier workers. And healthy workers miss fewer workdays and produce more from day to day.
• A solid pension program engenders employee loyalty. Loyal workers are more concerned to not do anything that might lose them their job and to strive for promotions. They are in it for the long run.
• Special perks and discounts for employees who buy your products/services do more than keep workers happy. It effectively turns employees into advocates for your business. And that kind of word of mouth will help boost sales.

We could probably go on to list dozens of ways that employee benefits have a positive impact on businesses, but these 5 stand out as especially important.

If you need help in organizing and implementing a superior employee benefits program at your business, talk to the experts at Summerlin Benefits Consulting for some timely assistance!