Lower Salaries & Better Employee Benefits: Part 2

Last week on the blog, we covered how employee recognition can help employers lower salary costs. Well this week, we take a less optimistic (but equally useful!) approach to the issue. As employers struggle to raise salaries, they need to keep in mind that employee benefits are part of compensation as well. Going beyond the "expected" benefits like health insurance, boosting an employee benefits program can be more cost effective and lead to employee satisfaction in the case of financial limitations. Adding benefits like a commuter program to help curb the cost of commuting or parking, or an organizational health and wellness initiative, or a company-wide employee recognition program that is well communication and used often can all be great ways for employers to boost benefits packages without boosting salaries. Adding these types of additional benefits allows employees to feel like they are getting something extra from their employers, while employers can apply fixed costs to these programs. Commuter programs can put a dent in employees' cost of commute. Health and wellness programs are a great way to motivate employees toward healthy behavior and maintain their own personal healthcare by offering preventative health screenings. Employee recognition programs are another way to provide non-cash bonuses in the form of a gift card or some extra time off that allow employees to indulge. Since all of these can be applied to an annual budget and used incrementally throughout the year it can put much less financial strain on the organization's total budget.
For more information on maintaining employee satisfaction through employee benefits check out Employee Benefits News.